https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srTS12gHxK8&ab_channel=OnlyGoodVibeVideos -> for some good vibes.

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Fuck, I’m late. He scrambled all the necessary papers for his assignment and shoved them into his binder pocket. Underpants, socks, outdoor clothes, indoor clothes, toothbrush. He ran from side to side assembling his collection. He picked up some shorts, smelled them, and threw them back. Usually, he wasn’t the messy type, but he struggled with doing his laundry. His room was rather small but had all the bare necessities. Nothing too fancy. Once he had everything, he put on his leather sneakers and took the steps two to three at once. Descending the last staircase he slipped and barely caught himself by the railing. The hot sweat that ran down his forehead turned cold, his wavy, middle-long, brown hair bathed in it. He ran for his life around the block down Cambridge Street where the last few passengers were getting into the train. Ruby stood at the entrance of one of the wagons and held a lookout for Shawn. “I told him not to be late, bloody hell.” Shawn ran as fast as he could, his backpack was swinging on his back and he heaved like a racehorse. Ruby caught sight of him as she heard the conductor’s whistle. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. I can make it, I can make it! Shawn thought as he made his way through the pedestrians. “Watch out, idiot,” one of them yelled. Fortunately, the conductor stood in front of the same wagon that Ruby stood in. “Would you please hold on for a few seconds more?” she pleaded “Do you see that guy sprinting over there, he is coming in.” The conductor took a look, smirked, and without saying anything waited another 15 seconds for Shawn to make it. 

“Aren’t you a lucky one, if it wasn’t for your friend over here you’d be on the other side of the train now”.

“Thank you so much,” Shawn muffled, catching his breath. Then had a coughing fit again.

Ruby stood there with her arms folded and a triumphant told-you-so expression, but got grossed out by Shawn’s cough. Shawn looked at her, while he tried to recover leaning against the railing. She’s beautiful, he thought, seeing her with the sun on her back. “How does all that anger fit into that small body of yours?” Shawn threw a jab. Ruby was probably a head smaller than Shawn, albeit she wasn’t that tiny either.

“You’re only so tall so that you can fit all that extra dumb inside of you I’d say” she countered. They both laughed.

Then he looked at her with a smile letting her know he appreciated.

“Let’s go find our seats, I got you a ticket too, so you owe me.” 

He thanked her again.

Shawn preferred sitting at the window but he got the short end of the stick this time. They sat in a double seat. Shawn believed he was over it. Ruby was his first genuine love, and maybe because they were both so young, it was also the purest. He told her he loved her on the evening of Ruby’s twelfth birthday. Things got awkward from there on and they went their own way for a few years, but up until that point they were quite inseparable. New Galloway wasn’t a big place and neither of them did well with the kids from the neighborhood. Both of them found solace in each other’s company. They spent warm summer evenings on a swing at one of the playgrounds and talked and laughed until late in the night. If it wasn’t on the swing, they’d talk through Skype until one of them passed out. Once they accidentally bumped into each other again, both fully grown, they immediately clicked as if no time had passed and hung out again. Whether by design or chance, they were going to the same university. They hadn’t talked about the love confession, but both acted as if it never happened. Now they sat next to each other and the space was rather limited. Occasionally, Ruby’s thigh touched Shawn’s. Utterly aware of it, and definitely not disliking it either,  Shawn felt torn. Should I pull away? Is she aware of it? He kept it there. 

What he liked most about her were her long and straight red hair, her heart-shaped lips, and sage green eyes. They resembled each other a bit. Both were somewhat pale and freckled. Shawn’s vibrant brown hair wasn’t a far fetch from red, and his light-green eyes looked similar, however, Ruby’s were more greyish than green. They could have been siblings. He always thought, that if one saw her in the forest, she’d look like a fairy, likewise if one saw her at the coast, she’d look like a siren. Her close connection with nature made him wonder sometimes. She might as well be one.

“So… freckleface,” she started the conversation, “what’s bothering you?” 

“What do you mean?” he said.

“You’ve been staring into empty space far too much, even for you.”

“Well, don’t feel like seeing the old man, nor the house.”

She didn’t say anything.

“Also, granny has not been doing well lately,” he added.

 “How much time does she have?”

“Not much,” he stared into the seat in front of him, “two months ago they said half a year.”

She leaned her head on his shoulder for a moment, then regretted it because Shawn was soaked in sweat.

“What about you?” he asked.

“Yeah, stoked about the studies, but a bit tired of my mother.”

“Is she at it again?”

“Yeah, dumping all her worries on me,” Ruby said while shaking her head, “should be the other way around you know? The whole time I receive calls and messages with her monologues about how tired and sick she is…” 

“Sucks,” Shawn replied.

“She constantly involves me in her love life. She asks me for dating advice and tells me all the disgusting things they have,”

“Ouch.”

“Ouch indeed.”

“Thought of withdrawing?” Shawn asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you could turn off your phone? Or let her know it’s been a bit too much?”

“It hurts. In the end, she’s my mom… you know. I really want to be there for her and listen. She has no one besides me. It’s just so draining sometimes, especially when I have my own stuff going on.”

“I can only imagine, my mother keeps it all stuffed inside of her. Never says a word.”

“That’s not nice either, is it?”

“Nah.”

“Plans for the weekend?” Ruby asked.

“See grandma, then do the assignment for Mr. S.”

“Should we do something?”

“Sure.”