Chapter Text
It wasn’t Reggie’s fault that he’d agreed to run a marathon despite the fact that he knew it was a bad idea. He was desperate. And he was running out of options. To be precise, he was down to two. He could run the marathon or wave goodbye to ever having a dog while living under his parents’ roof.
Letting his shoes scuff against the sidewalk, he stared out at the park to his side. A couple distractedly threw a ball for a scrappy little terrier as he walked by and Reggie could feel his heart tug. He could do it. He could figure out how to run a marathon in record time. He kinda had to. Picking up his pace, Reggie realized he was going to be late for his first period. Which wouldn’t exactly help his case.
Reggie slid into his seat just as the second bell rang. Sighing softly, he felt a sharp tug on his shirt. He turned to look behind him and saw Alex staring at him with wide eyes.
“Dude! Where were you?” the worry in Alex’s voice brought a smile to Reggie’s lips.
He shrugged slightly, shifting in his seat so it at least kind of seemed like he was listening to the teacher. “I just got distracted.”
Alex’s voice dipped lower, just barely above a whisper, “I was a minute away from saying you were sick.”
Reggie appreciated the gesture. He knew Alex had him and that was enough. “Thanks, man.”
He didn’t tell him about why he’d been distracted, because he still wasn’t entirely sure what he was going to do. And Alex wasn’t the best with half-baked plans. It was better to keep quiet about it. At least until he had an idea of what to do about the marathon.
His first few classes slipped by quickly, all boring him half to death. School made no sense to him. It felt like it was something that existed only to make him suffer.
But lunch. Lunch was his friend.
Searching the sea of students for Alex’s head, Reggie wandered past the numerous tables. Finally, he saw Alex through the cafeteria and started toward him. But as he walked, his foot got caught on something. And he went down. His lunch met his face as he landed on the tile floor. Lifting his head, his eyeline was blocked by a pair of dirty sneakers. Reggie frowned and his eyes trailed upward, settling on a face he recognized but didn’t know personally. Shit.
“Whoa, you ok?” Luke Patterson’s voice drifted down to him.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
Reggie scrambled up to him feet, leaving his lunch tray abandoned on the ground. He wiped his face with his sleeve and smiled nervously. “Yeah, I’m, uh… I’m all good. Thanks for asking.”
And then he turned and hurried away, leaving Luke Patterson behind him.
Staring at his reflection, Reggie turned the tap on and grabbed a handful of paper towels. He still had marinara all over him. On his face. In his hair. On his clothes. He was a mess. And he was hungry.
Wetting the paper towels, he heard the bathroom door open and shut. Looking in the mirror to see who it was, he let out a breath when he saw Alex. Reggie wasn’t sure he could’ve handled someone else seeing him like that. He wasn’t mentally prepared to laugh it off yet.
“Reg, do you need help? I saw what happened out there,” Alex gestured back to the door and Reggie focused on the stain on his shirt. Of course, it would happen when he decided to wear a white shirt. Of course.
“I don’t know how you could help… Unless you have like a stain stick or something?” a soft laugh bubbled out with his words. Partially because he was joking and partially because he wouldn’t have been surprised if Alex had actually had a stain stick with him for some reason. But Alex just frowned. Reggie was stuck with his stain.
He wiped at the sauce still clinging to the front of his hair, managing to get most of it out. Sparing a glance at Alex, Reggie smiled and rolled his eyes. “So, did anyone pick up my lunch tray? I didn’t mean to leave it…”
“Yeah, uh, yeah. Julie was gonna grab it, but Luke got to it first since he was right there.”
“Oh, good.”
Thoughts were piling up in Reggie’s head. Well, really one thought over and over. And the thought was this, Luke Patterson had watched him trip and fall in spaghetti. If Reggie was anybody else, he would’ve been mortified. As it was, he was simply embarrassed. And definitely wishing he’d had a different first impression on Luke. But when did he get what he wanted?
Alex stayed with Reggie as he finished cleaning himself up. They headed out, Reggie still branded with a marinara stain on his shirt, as the first bell rang.
The two of them split up as they walked to class, Reggie heading to science and Alex making his way to drama. Sitting down, Reggie rubbed at the stain again hoping it would magically disappear if he kept at it. But no matter how hard he tried, the stain was still there. Practically mocking him. He frowned down at it and gave up. It wasn’t worth his time and effort.
“Did you get anything to eat?” the voice came from somewhere on his right, but Reggie ignored it. He didn’t want to eavesdrop on someone else’s conversation. Especially one as boring as that. But the voice sounded again, and he couldn’t tune it out. “Hey, spaghetti guy.”
Reggie winced and looked over at who was talking. He masked his previous expression with an easy smile and replied, “Sorry, I didn’t know you were talking to me.”
Luke grinned back, it was a lopsided and endearing smile and Reggie almost couldn’t keep looking at him. “It’s all good. I just- Do you want some of this?”
He offered a protein bar and Reggie stared at it, not sure whether he should take it. His stomach growled quietly, betraying him, and he nodded. Taking the bar, Reggie hid it under his desk as he opened it. He took a big bite of it and, without waiting to swallow, spoke again. “Thanks, my lunch was… well, you know.”
Luke nodded, a soft laugh joining it.
“Do you always have protein bars to give to people covered in spaghetti?” Reggie asked as he finished the bar.
“Oh,” another laugh. “No, I have them on me because of track. You just got lucky.”
Reggie looked at the wrapper in his hand and then back at Luke. Track. He’d known Luke ran track. It was common knowledge. But he hadn’t thought about it. Not until he said it. But… He couldn’t come out and ask Luke for help. Could he? That would be too much. They didn’t even know each other. Still, it was the only plan he’d been able to come up with. And it didn’t seem like a terrible idea. It also didn’t seem like a great one though.
But before he could ask, or decide not to, the teacher started the lesson and Luke had turned away. He’d missed his chance.
Sighing, Reggie settled into science class. He heard the teacher droning on about elements and reactions and all sorts of other things, but he was busy thinking about Luke and what him being on the track team could mean. It could mean nothing. Or…
Or it could be his first step to getting a dog.