Chapter Text
It’s not love at first sight, but it’s… something along those lines. At lunch you notice a reedy-looking guy hovering near the lunch line with a full tray in his hand looking lost. He’s tense, something about his stance reminds you of your friend Brendan; coiled tight and defensive. His thin, pink lips are pursed in anxiety, but it doesn’t make him unattractive. It complements the delicate curves of his face. The same thing goes for the rings beneath his eyes, so dark and deep they look permanent.
He looks like too strong a breeze would do him in. Despite how delicate he looks something tells you that he shouldn’t be messed with.
“Hey!” you call to him, his brow furrows and he turns towards your voice and suddenly you’re struck by blue Blue eyes. The spots of color contrast with the red bruising beneath his slanted gaze making them all the more ridiculously vibrant. His eyes are like magnets, it feels like you’re being dragged in, you can’t pull your gaze away. You blink and find your voice. “You new here?”
It had felt like an eternity but in reality, it had only been a few seconds. The kid probably hadn’t noticed the lull, he was probably used to it. Maybe it happened every time he made eye contact with a person for the first time. Just a moment where everything stutter stops before moving on smoothly like nothing had happened.
He glances around him like he’s expecting you to be talking to someone else before nodding. “Yeah,” he says quietly. The more you’re exposed to those eyes the less jarring it is already.
“Wanna sit at my table?” You ask, trying to come off as non-threatening. You send him one of your sunniest smiles.
He stalls at the question, seemingly unprepared to be approached like this. He takes one last scan of the busy lunchroom turning his eyes back on you and nodding.
“Yeah, alright,” he nods and ducks his head down as he follows you to your table. “Thanks,” he says as he drops his tray at the spot opposite yours. “I was supposed to meet someone for lunch here, but I’m not seeing her.”
He settles into his seat. This close you can see the beauty marks peppering his skin up and down his face and neck. You think how many more must be covering the rest of his body as you sit down.
“What’s her name? Maybe I could help you find her.” you offer, the boy bites his lip, his eyes downcast as he shakes his head, starting to scoop up the food on his tray with his spork.
“No, that’s ok. I don’t remember it, but I’ll figure it out when I see her in class.” he shrugs self consciously, staring down into the mushy lunch food.
“Why don’t I give you my number in case you need somebody to eat lunch with again?”
He blinks those brilliant blue eyes at you again and hesitates, apparently unsure of your motives. Maybe he should be because right now you’re doing your best not to imagine running your fingers through the soft-looking dirty blond curls at the base of his neck.
Another one of those things about him that reminds you of Brendan. He has curly hair too, but his is thicker, longer, and darker. This boy’s hair looks softer, more malleable than Brendan’s.
He shrugs, dropping his spork onto his tray and leans back in his seat, drawing your eyes down the long stretch of his thin body so he can reach into his front pocket and pull out a phone. He taps at the screen a couple of times before stretching his arm over the table to hand it to you.
The phone case is clear, you notice a scrap of paper tucked into it with a colorful drawing on it. You inspect it once he hands it to you. It’s a goofy-looking green alien with antennas floating through a galaxy of color and shapes. “I like your phone case,” you comment as you start filling in your contact information.
He bites his lip and ducks his head shyly, his hand slipping up to play with the skin on the back of his neck. “Thanks,”
“Did you draw this?”’ You ask when you’re done, flipping the phone over to look at it again,
He nods.
“It looks really good! You think that’s what you wanna do when you graduate? Graphic design?” He purses his lips and shrugs and you understand that more than you care to admit.
“That’s alright,” you say, handing his phone back to him, “No one has their whole lives figured out when they’re our age.” your fingers brush when he takes his phone back.
“My name’s Cam,”
He breaths out a sharp laugh, “Right,” he laughs, setting his phone on the table face down and holding his hand out for you to shake. “Uh- August,” he says it uncertainly his voice wavering just slightly at the end like it’s more of a question than an answer.
The palm of his hand is soft against yours but his grip is strong, stronger than you expected. “August,” you repeat, trying it out. “Nice to meet you,” you say with a sunny smile.
August smiles back and your heart just about beats out of your chest when his cheeks fold into dimples.
“Nice to meet you too, Cam,” he says letting your hands come apart. You are already so gone for this boy.