Oran’s point of view

I am laying on the ground, the room is empty and dark. Sparky has disappeared from my side and the room looks slightly different than what I remember. It is warm in here, my chest feels heavy and I cannot move my limbs. It is quiet, all I can hear is my pounding heart and slightly panicked breathing I scan the room and see Tallius.

He walks over to me and stands next to my body, quietly. He climbs on top of me and kisses me. I struggle to move then gasp for air.

Then I wake up, it was all a dream. Sparky is sleeping soundly beside me, Tallius is sleeping on the next futon and Kiyoshi is no where to be found. The sunlight is filtering through the blinds and slightly stinging my skin. I have always been sensitive to the sun, I sunburn easily.

I wipe my eyes and stretch a bit. I check my phone, it’s the middle of the day. Should I wake them up? I get up quietly and go to the restroom. I pat my bedhead down enough to look presentable and sneak back into the room.

Tallius is sitting up and on his phone. He nudges Sparky, “time to wake up, it’s nearly noon..”

Sparky groans and turns over, “stop that..!”

Tallius pinches his cheek, “We have to get going, we have school tomorrow.”

Sparky grumbles again and sits up rubbing his eyes, “Wah, how long have you been awake Ori?”

“Just a few minutes, the sun woke me up..” I laugh.

They both put their clothes on and we head out to the bus stop.

“I’m hungry” Sparky sniffles.

“We can eat on campus, not much longer.” Tallius replies.

“Mmmft.” Sparky crosses his arms, “It’s cold.”

Tallius tosses his jacket to him, “stop complaining.”

“You’re so mean sometimes Talli!” Sparky shouts and covers himself.

After an uncomfortable time on the bus between the two bickering boys, we arrive at the campus bus stop. We walk up to campus and put the code in for the gates to open.

“I’m gonna go get a cereal bar, my tummy hurts.” Sparky whines.

Tallius and I go on back to the dorm.

“I’m going to shower..” I tell Tallius.

“Mhm..” he answers.

I take my clothes off and step into the shower. My chest still hurts, I wonder what happened. I finish up my shower, when I notice I didn’t bring a change of clothes. I want to die. I’m really insecure about my body, so I can’t walk out in a towel. I peep my head out the door, he’s still there. I have no idea when he will leave.

He may never leave; he probably wants to shower too. Gosh this sucks. It would be weird to wear my towel like this, covering my chest. It would be even more weird to wear two towels. I take a deep breath and walk out of the shower, Tallius is reading a book and doing homework. I walk over and grab whatever clothes I can get my hands on.

He looks up at me slightly and our eyes meet. I quickly look away and rush into the bathroom. I shut the door and get dressed. My heart is pounding, and my face is beet red. I want to disappear. Once I exit the bathroom, Tallius is already in the shower. I sigh a breath of relief.

While he’s in the shower I organize my school supplies in my bookbag. At this time Sparky comes back.

“Ori! My friends and I are going to the public bath, wanna come with us? It’s really fun!” He shouts entering the room.

“Ah, I just showered, and I’m still quite tired…” I decline.

“Oh.. Okay! Next time then?” He smiles, grabbing clean clothes to take.

“Sure.” I smile back.

Sparky leaves again and I lay down in bed.

Tallius gets out of the shower and enters the room in just a towel. He isn’t acting weird or trying to hide his body at all, must be nice. I catch myself staring when my eyes move up to him staring back at me.

“Ah, sorry.” I blush, “I-I… I was just thinking I would like to be fit like you!”

Why did I say that? There was nothing else to say. I did not want to seem weird.

“I don’t work out.” He says drying his hair. He gets dressed quickly and I look away with my phone in my face.

Way to brag, ‘I don’t work out’ he must just look like that naturally. It is not fair.

“Are you hungry?” He asks.

“Kind of..” I answer, my stomach rumbling.

I have never had a great diet, since I cannot eat many things due to my allergies and conditions.

“There are some vending machines around the cafeteria that have instant rice, but dinner is served at 7pm.” He talks.

I don’t want to go alone, but I don’t want to bother him.

“Where is Sparky?” He asks.

“He went to the public bath with his friends.” I answer.

“You didn’t want to go?” he asks.

“N-No! It’s not really my thing… It’s kind of embarrassing. I like being alone” I answer, blushing.

Tallius laughs a little, “Ah, I see.”

“I’m heading out for a little while, enjoy your alone time.” He slightly smiles.

“I-I didn’t mean it like that..” I stutter.

“I know, I have something to do anyways.” He answers.