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The clock on Xeno’s desktop read 11:54 P.M. He was no stranger to late nights, working on his own personal research and experiments, but he hated having to stay up working on things he wasn’t interested in. On his computer was his half-finished English paper that was due the next day.
Everyone thought that because Xeno excelled in STEM, he would naturally be a straight-A student that was very dedicated to his studies, but that was far from the truth. He couldn’t care less about English or whatever book he had to write his stupid paper about.
Lord of the Flies. A book that he cared very little about and barely knew the plot of, other than the general idea. It was just another book that the state decided was required curriculum to teach students reading comprehension and critical thinking. Xeno was not lacking in either department and did not care one bit about whatever it was that they were attempting to teach. English class was just a means to an end, a grade on a paper, a class he had to pass in order to graduate, so that he could move on to bigger and better things.
All he needed to do was get at least a B minus and he would be fine, which he managed to do every semester thus far. Although it was easy for him, it didn’t mean he couldn’t complain about it. Xeno wanted nothing more than to forget about the essay and go to sleep, but if he didn’t turn in it the next day, his grade would drop by a whole letter. The last thing Xeno needed was a drop that significant so close to the end of the year.
It was the second semester of junior year. The year that would ‘make or break his high school career’ according to all of his teachers. It was all nonsense to Xeno. It mattered to a lot of people, but Xeno was confident in himself. He knew where he was going after high school and he had all the grades, extracurriculars, awards, and volunteer hours to make it there. He just had to bide his time and wait for it all to be over. Xeno wasn’t the type to sit and wait, but, as everyone is, he was required by law to finish his education before moving on to the next big thing.
Xeno could have graduated early, this year in fact, if he had chosen to do so, but he had decided to stay in high school until its natural end. He told himself staying longer would be easier and required less work for him, but it was all a lie. He never cared about making his life easier or reducing heavy workloads. He was a man of science, so he was used to rigorous work. In the end, Xeno had decided to stay because of his best friend, Stanley Snyder.
Unlike Xeno, Stanley had no big aspirations after high school, so he milked high school for everything it was worth because he had nothing in his future that he was necessarily working toward It was not as grim as it appeared, however. Stanley had the motivation, the drive, and the smarts, but he just didn’t have any goals. Both Xeno and Stanley could have left early if they wanted to, but as they had discussed at the beginning of high school, there was no need to rush. After graduation, Xeno and Stanley would go their separate ways. Why would Xeno want to rush that?
Xeno could’ve left Stanley behind, but he didn’t have it in him. For someone who prided himself on being logical and thinking with his head rather than his heart, there was something about Stanley that tugged at his heart strings. Maybe he was just sentimental, but he always thought irrationally when it came to Stanley. So Xeno stayed and now he was bent over his desk, writing a stupid paper because of it.
Pulling him out of his thoughts was the familiar sound of small pebbles hitting his bedroom window. He smiled to himself, already knowing who was waiting for him outside. Speak of the devil and he shall appear, as the saying goes.
Xeno got up from his desk chair and looked out his window, making sure to school his expression so he didn’t look too excited. He unlocked the window and opened it. “It’s midnight, Stan,” Xeno said.
“Past your bedtime?” Stanley teased with a self-satisfied smirk on his face. He stood in Xeno’s lawn with two bags at his feet, his backpack and his duffel bag that he would bring with him to practice. He was dressed in a graphic t-shirt with a familiar band emblem imprinted on it, simple gray sweatpants, and his beaten up track sneakers untied on his feet. That was to say that it looked like he had decided on a whim to come to Xeno’s, which was probably the case.
This wasn’t the first time Stanley had shown up at his house unannounced. Or his window. Stanley had been sneaking out of his house to come to Xeno’s since they were kids. Xeno didn’t mind, but he wished that Stanley would at least give him a heads-up before coming.
There had been times where Xeno had been sleeping and didn’t hear Stanley's attempts to get his attention, so Stanley had pried open his window with a pocket knife to get inside. He was always welcomed, but he didn’t want Stanley to have to resort to breaking and entering. Luckily, Xeno was awake, so he didn’t have to go through the trouble of making sure his window wasn’t broken from another one of Stanley’s forced entries.
Xeno playfully rolled his eyes as he leaned over the window sill, his arm brushing the vinyl siding of his house. “I’m writing my English paper,” he said.
“When’s that due?”
“Tomorrow.”
“Shit,” Stanley cursed, placing his hand on his hip. “I haven’t even started mine yet.” He paused, thinking for a moment before grinning . The conniving grin he had when he came up with an idea. “How about you—“
“No,” Xeno quickly cut him off, already knowing where he was going.
“—Write it for me.”
“No,” he repeated. One essay was enough. He thought he’d lose his mind if he had to write another.
Stanley huffed a laugh. “Worth a shot.”
They both paused before coming to the same conclusion on how to resolve the situation. Stanley hadn’t even started his essay and Xeno wasn’t finished with his, nor was he willing to write another one. “Let’s skip,” they said in unison, nodding to each other like it was the most logical solution to their problems.
“Don’t you have practice tomorrow?” Xeno asked, remembering Stanley’s strict schedule. It was baseball season after all and Stanley was their school’s starting pitcher. Xeno wasn’t that into sports, but he knew that their team would be lost without Stanley, along with every other team in every other sport he participated in.
Stanley shrugged as if it wasn’t a big deal to him. “Yeah, but,” he replied, but never elaborated. It didn’t really matter whether Stanley skipped practice or not. The coach would be upset about it, but they wouldn’t hold it against him. Stanley had brought home so many trophies and awards that he could get away with practically anything, including skipping practice.
Stanley bent down and picked his bags. “Catch!” he said as he threw his backpack and his duffel bag at Xeno, one after the other.
Xeno was caught off guard and almost fell backward trying to catch them, but he managed someone and haphazardly tossed both bags on his bedroom floor. “How do you plan on getting inside?” he asked.
Stanley squatted and began feeling the grass with his hands. He walked around a bit, running his hands through the grass as he went but gave up very quickly. “I would already be inside if you left your ladder outside like you usually do,” he huffed as he stood up.
Xeno snorted. “I have no control where and when the ladder appears. You just happen to be very lucky.”
Xeno’s bedroom window wasn’t that high up. The distance between his window and the ground outside was somewhere between nine and ten feet which didn’t seem all that much unless you were to try to climb inside the house through the window like a cat burglar.
“Just give me a hand, Xe,” Stanley said impatiently.
Xeno leaned over his window sill, stuck out his hand for Stanley to take, and began trying to pull him inside. They both greatly underestimated Xeno’s physical prowess and after a few seconds of struggle, Stanley pulled on Xeno’s hand too hard and yanked him through the window.
“Shit!” Stanley exclaimed before Xeno came at him flying. They fell to the ground, Stanley cushioning Xeno’s fall with a grunt.
Xeno quickly got off on him, ignoring the pain in his knees where he made contact with the ground. “Are you alright, Stan?” he asked frantically.
Stanley was laying flat on his back, his face contorted in pain. Based on the fact that he was clutching his limbs or head in agony, Xeno guessed that nothing was broken. “Fine. My head is fine,” he clarified. Stanley had gotten enough concussions for a lifetime and Xeno was certain that anymore would cause him some serious damage, but luckily, he seemed to come out of this one unscathed.
Xeno helped him to his feet and brushed off as much dirt from his back as he could. After regaining his composure, Xeno looked up at his window and crossed his arms. “Well, nice going, Stanley,” he said sarcastically. “Now neither of us is inside.”
“Quit complaining and give me a boost,” Stanley chuckled.
“Me give you a boost?” he asked incredulously. As if he had the strength to lift Stanley. Xeno scoffed at the thought.
“It’s easy. Relax.” Stanley positioned him under the window. He instructed Xeno to squat a bit and keep his knees bent. Then, he had Xeno cup his hands to use as leverage. “Ready?” he asked.
All Xeno gave in response was a frown.
“I’ll take that as a yes.” Stanley counted down from three, then stepped on Xeno’s hand and pushed off. Xeno put all of his strength into lifting him up and was able to give him enough momentum to put his arms over the window sill. Stanley did the rest himself and used his upper body strength to pull himself inside. “Like I said. Easy,” Stanley said.
“Hurry and pull me up,” Xeno snapped. “I’m not wearing any shoes.”
Stanley reached out, took Xeno’s hand, and pulled him inside. It was much easier the second time around having Stanley be the one doing most of the work. Once inside, Xeno went straight for his dresser and pulled out a new set of pajamas and socks since the ones he was wearing had been dirtied from rolling around in the grass. He took out a shirt and sweatpants that Stanley had left in Xeno’s dresser and tossed them to him.
They went to opposite sides of the room and faced away from each other as they changed. After they were done, Xeno sat back down at his computer to finish the paragraph he had been working on. He wasn’t going to school the next day, but he wanted to finish his train of thought.
Stanley sat on the floor next to Xeno’s chair and began looking through his backpack. “Xeno,” he said once he finally found what he was looking for. “Guess what I brought.”
Having finished the paragraph, Xeno saved his work and closed out the window on his computer. “A joint,” he said as spun his chair in Stanley’s direction.
He pulled a joint out of his bag that was contained in a sandwich bag. “How’d you know?”
“I know you too well.” Xeno turned off his computer, stood up from his desk, and pushed in his chair. Neither of them were the type to partake in recreational drugs, but they would occasionally allow themselves the luxury. But not too often as neither of them wanted to experience any of the lasting cognitive side effects. Unlike many of their peers, Xeno and Stanley actually paid attention in D.A.R.E. “Let’s wait until tomorrow. No one’s home, so we can do whatever we want.”
Stanley put the joint in his pencil case and put it back in his backpack. “No one’s home and you made me climb through the window?” he asked in disbelief.
“I thought it would be funny to watch you struggle,” he admitted.
“That’s some egg on your face,” Stanley laughed.
“Keep laughing and you’re going to be sleeping on the floor,” Xeno said. He lifted the covers off of his bed and moved to the farthest side, leaving enough space for Stanley.
Stanley turned off the light, engulfing them in darkness, before taking the empty space and pulling the covers over both of them. He fluffed his pillow a bit and patted it before laying down. “How long do you think it’ll take me to write that essay?” he asked.
“Don’t worry,” Xeno said. “I’ll help you write it.” English was a pain. Their teacher piled so much work on them that it was hard to keep up with, so as much as he didn’t want to spend anymore unnecessary time on it, he would do it for him. Only because it was Stanley.
“Thanks, man. Appreciate it,” Stanley said and Xeno could hear his smile through his voice. “Say, what would you do if you were one of those boys that crashed on the island.”
“Use my superior intellect to rule over them all until help arrived,” Xeno answered immediately.
“Maybe,” he chuckled, “but the strong rule over the weak. What’s your plan then, Copernicus?”
“That’s what I have you for. I’d give out orders and you’d keep them in line.”
It had always been that way since day one. They were a dynamic duo; Xeno, the brain and Stanley, the brain and brawn. With Xeno’s knowledge and raw intellect combined with Stanley’s strategy, finesse, and strength, they could do anything they set their minds to. They were a match made in heaven.
Xeno was a man of science and didn’t believe in fate or destiny or anything of the sort, but he couldn’t imagine that it was anything but that brought them together. It was too perfect. If Xeno ever found himself in a dire straits, he knew that Stanley would be there, whether that be right there beside him in the same boat or coming to his aid. And Xeno would do the exact same and much more for him.
Stanley paused, mulling it over. “Yeah,” he agreed. “I’d like that.”
As powerful as they were together, things couldn’t always stay that way, and Xeno knew it. Not only did he know it, but he dreaded it. They were nearing the end of their junior year and after that, they only had one year together before they went on with their own lives.
One of the recruiters from the air force had managed to sink their claws into Stanley and convinced him to enlist after graduation. Stanley was smart, but since he never put any effort into his studies, his GPA was very low. His low grade point combined with his athletic prowess made Stanley a prime target for recruitment.
Xeno tried to talk him out of it since he was the only one that Stanley ever listened to, but that decision had been the only one that Stanley ever made that defied Xeno. Not that Xeno wanted Stanley to bend to his every whim, but he wished that Stanley would trust him on this one. But instead of fighting him everyday about it, Xeno decided to keep his mouth shut and support him. What point would fighting be if Stanley was going to do it anyway?
And when Stanley went to boot camp, Xeno would be starting his first semester of college. Something he was excited for, of course. He would finally be studying what he loved. Only he wished Stanley would be there with him. Xeno had been so wrapped up in how great they were together that he never imagined them apart. Now it wasn’t long before Xeno would have to face the music.
“Xeno?” Stanley whispered.
“W-What?” Xeno hissed.
“You okay, man?”
Xeno didn’t realize he had been crying. His breathing was unsteady as he had unknowingly been trying to stop himself. He brought his hand up to his face and felt wetness on his cheeks. “I’m fine,” he insisted.
Xeno wasn’t an emotional person, and as comfortable as he was with Stanley, the last thing he wanted to do was tell him he had been crying thinking about what came next and what that meant for him. For them.
The covers rustled as Stanley shifted closer to him. Xeno felt Stanley’s arm carefully wrap around him in a way that was wordlessly asking permission. He was giving Xeno some leverage to push him away if he wanted to, but Xeno let Stanley embrace him. This wasn’t the first time Stanley had held him like this, but it felt new every single time.
“Okay?” Stanley asked him.
“Okay,” Xeno confirmed.
Stanley waited a moment before speaking, just in case Xeno wanted to talk about it, but Xeno stayed silent. He didn’t want to bring it up. Tonight had been too perfect and he didn’t want the next day to be tainted with his worries.
“Night, Xeno,” Stanley said into Xeno’s shoulder.
“Goodnight, Stan.”