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I didn’t see Azure the whole rest of the day. I wished that I could just skip class and go to look for him. I should have, in retrospect.

I saw Garrett just far more than I’d anticipated. He showed up in not only my History class, but he turned and followed me out of first period into Physics. I thought I was rid of him—at last—after that, but I turned into English… and sure enough, the apologetic bastard was sitting there, waiting patiently for me to take my seat.

Grumbling, I sat down next to him; this time, he must have asked the teacher to take the desk next to mine. A well-timed strategic move on his part, I admitted.

He whispered to me anxiously, ignoring the teacher’s introduction of The Crucible, “Libby, what’s wrong?”

I looked at him incredulously, “What’s wrong? Ugh, I don’t know, Garrett. You knocked out my boyfriend, and now he’s sulking. That’s kind of got me in a rut, you know?” The blonde boy seemed to turn this over in his head, I imagined him having to sound out the words to understand what I meant.

“Boyfriend,” he stated.

The ceiling seemed like a safe place to avert my eyes to, “Uh, yeah: boyfriend.” That particular word looked like it was causing him some sort of physical pain, but the sort that he could repress. I decided to ignore that reaction, for the most part.

“Sulking,” it seemed like he might have some limit on the words he could use to ask a question. Probably not, but if the pattern continued, I might have to look into it.

“Well, I haven’t seen him since yesterday.”

“That’s interesting. I saw his car this morning…” I wondered if he was trying to tease me with this line of thought, trying to make me curious. It was working, because now I was going over all of the reasons I could think for Garrett to have seen the Rogue, but I didn’t want to give in and ask about it.

“And what’s my favorite way to refer to Abigail… Garrett?” Miss July asked vaguely, testing the new boy with something she’d stated not two minutes before.

“Err,” he’d obviously not been multitasking, I almost felt sorry for him. Not really, though, since he was trying to antagonize me and all.

“Yes, I love to refer to Abby as err, very good, Delaine,” she turned to me, probably guessing that I, also, had not been listening, “Care to elaborate, Libby?”

“She’s a crazy lady,” I said confidently. This was followed by a golf clap and a light praise.

“Crazy lady?” Garrett whispered, confused.

“Whatever; the Crucible is cool,” I rebutted without further explanation. I saw a twinge of frustration on his face, this pleased me immensely.

The class continued on without much interruption. One thing about Garrett became clear: he wasn’t stupid, but (God help him) he couldn’t pay attention to a lecture worth two dingo kidneys. The bell sounded, like some doomsday alarm, and I gathered up my notes carefully. I was very aware of my cell phone in my pocket, Azure’s number programmed in. Rather than take my chances with whatever Garrett could cook up after school, calling a safe person seemed wise.

My phone chimed happily by my ear: one ring, two rings, three rings… Finally, on the fifth ring, Azure picked up. He sounded tired.

“Libby?”

“Yep; where were you, today?” I tried not to sound too elated at the sound of his voice.

A sigh, he was thinking about his answer, “I felt… sick. I decided to stay home. Why?”

I felt Garrett’s eyes on my back, I tried to ignore them, saying “I was just going to walk home, so I thought I’d see where you were.”

“Do you want a ride?”

“Don’t get out of bed for my sake; I’ll be fine walking…” Just that he wasn’t ignoring me was enough for this conversation.

“It really isn’t any trouble,” I could hear the engine revving on the other line, this was more relieving than I could have thought possible.

“Alright, see you in a few…”

“I’ll be there as soon as I possibly can,” and sounded like he meant it.

“I know.”

Reluctantly pushing the end button on the keypad, I turned to slowly face Garrett. He was seething, just as I’d expected.

Not sure why this was acceptable behavior, I didn’t feel particularly insensitive asking, “Is there anything you’d like to say?” By now, the class was cleared out, there wasn’t anyone to overhear whatever it was that was bothering Garrett.

“Why him?” he said, a little more depressed-sounding than I’d anticipated, “I told you that I wouldn’t blame you, but… I just don’t understand.”

“What isn’t there to understand? Would you rather I’d chosen you? Why, Garrett, would I have done that?” I didn’t comprehend his insinuations at all.

He sighed, “There’s no more reason for you to want him than me, so I don’t get why you’d pick him.”

“I don’t know why you’d expect that to make sense to me.”

“I guess you wouldn’t have realized that much, anyway…” he trailed off in a voice that could’ve won him a Grammy.

“Azure’s probably here, by now,” I pointed out, “Are there any more cryptic things you’d like me to know?”

Garrett didn’t answer me, so I didn’t wait very long before turning to the exit.

I pleaded with my feet to slow down, not wanting to trip in fall in my shamelessly overflowing enthusiasm to get to Azure more quickly. Even knowing how much I was overreacting, I couldn’t help rejoicing as my reigns were passed from Garrett to the much more capable Azure’s hands.

He stood, lovely as can be, in front of his midnight car, wearing a grin that I hadn’t seen since before the fight of the previous day. I banished that line of thought, concentrating on the present.

“Hey,” I said simply, trying to mirror his smile. I couldn’t do it justice.

“Did you have a good day, even without me there?” he asked politely, a light worry tainting his expression.

“Goodness, no... Did you know that Garrett enrolled in school? Ugh, that guy’s a jerk. Why do you even know him?” My intention was not to sneak answers out of him, but I guess that’s how he interpreted it.

“Not that I want to think of him more than is strictly necessary, but you know that I can’t really talk about it…”

“Did you know about him at school, though? I mean, he’s in three of my classes…”

“Three? That doesn’t seem right…” he frowned.

“I know! It’s really unfair.”

“Do you want to talk about it on the way home? The car’s probably a lot warmer…” Azure seemed to change the subject like he was simply flipping a switch, but the prospect of a warmer space was more than enough to convince me.

At my eager nod, he opened my passenger-side door, and I climbed in just as happily as if I’d been stranded on an island and been offered a cute, little sailboat.
“So, I gather that Garrett has been a nuisance, today?”

“Quite the nuisance; he kept looking at me like he wished he could shout to high heavens some apology… Of course, I didn’t really let him. But it was still annoying, you know?”
His eyebrows furrowed ever-so-slightly, “Oh yes, I know. That person… he can be quite the pest.” We’d already reached my house, but he hadn’t made the motions to get up. Not only was I far too comfortable to want to leave the car, but I didn’t want to prompt him to leave at all. Even if he followed me inside, that would take us one step closer to him going home for the night. This gave me a miniscule idea.

“Azure… where do you live, anyway? I’d love to see your house.”

His expression went blank for a minute, his lovely eyes searching for an answer. I was mildly concerned that he kept having to think about these things—it shouldn’t be so hard to answer a question like where do you live.

“I hope you’ll laugh,” he said quietly.

“At what?”

“The answer, I hope you’ll laugh at it. Rather than cry or yell at me or something crazy like that,” he seemed honestly worried about those prospects.

“Well, we won’t know until you tell me, right?”

“Right.”

“So? Where does the mysterious Azure live?”

“… I live inside of this car.”

I barely could muffle my giggles, but I made a good effort to contain them in hopes that I wouldn’t hurt his pride, “You live in the car?” I asked to confirm what I’d heard very clearly. I just wanted to make sure.

“I live in the car.”

“That’s different,” I allowed, trying to force the suppressed snickers to subside.

“I’m not so rich, you see. I only really have enough money to keep the car running, and for food…” he trailed off, a little embarrassed.

“Why don’t you do something about it? Get a job or something… I’m sure that someone around here would board you for a while. The neighborhood’s pretty generous on a whole.”

A hint of blush crossed his face, “Well, truth be told, your mother’s already offered up your house. I turned her down, of course. I couldn’t bear taking advantage of her hospitality like that, even if it meant I saw you more often…” the embarrassment still held his tongue firmly.

My house loomed in front of us, teasing my imagination. Immediately, images of the two of us living together were infecting my brain. I couldn’t decide if I needed these images, but I definitely knew that I’d like to have them.

Mom and I would have to come up with a better strategy to convince him to move in. I couldn’t do it on my own, but if the two of us combined forces… there could be no equal in planning! I was already smiling broadly in anticipation. I think he misinterpreted my excited expression, though for what, I couldn’t tell you.

“You know that I think of you like that, don’t you, Libby?”

“Err,” I wasn’t really expecting a question like that, so I really didn’t know what to say at all, “Like what?”

He must’ve figured on embarrassing himself to his limits, “Naïve girl… I think of you in a strictly non-platonic way. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

My smile shrunk, though it didn’t disappear. It’s not like I wasn’t happy to hear this, it just made me a bit uncomfortable, “I think I do, yes…”

“And what do you make of it?”

The tiny bit of my good mood was waning, replaced by awkwardness. This wasn’t the way I’d wanted this conversation to go. I wasn’t nearly so good at manipulation as to change it back to a pleasant topic, “I’m… happy,” I decided quickly that the truth was probably my best policy, “But I’m still not sure what to make of it, if anything.”

“That is… understandable.” He said after a long pause, “But please, tell me if this ever changes: If you ever like that Garrett person more than you like me… please let me know, all right? That information… it is vital to me.”

I thought that he was being silly, to think that I could ever like Garrett more than him. They were on completely different wavelengths to me. How could a professional architect be compared to an elementary school art student? “I promise, Azure. If that ever changes, you’ll be the first to know.”

His expression was still intense, but it was a bit more relaxed now that I’d reassured him, “Thank you, Libby.”

We sat in a silence that was less awkward, but certainly not comfortable. It was warm, yes, and we were together, yes… but I could tell that we both had Garrett on our minds. How could he be such a big issue of our relationship… so easily? His being here only four days had already thrown Azure and I off this much.

He broke the quiet, this time, “Would you rather go inside, or… stay here a while longer?”

“You’re coming with me, if I go in. So whichever is more pleasant for you is fine with me.”

“…then we shall go in.”

Description
I didn’t see Azure the whole rest of the day. I wished that I could just skip class and go to look for him. I should have, in retrospect.

I saw Garrett just far more than I’d anticipated. He showed up in not only my History class, but he turned and followed me out of first period into Physics. I thought I was rid of him—at last—after that, but I turned into English… and sure enough, the apologetic bastard was sitting there, waiting patiently for me to take my seat.

Grumbling, I sat down next to him; this time, he must have asked the teacher to take the desk next to mine. A well-timed strategic move on his part, I admitted.

He whispered to me anxiously, ignoring the teacher’s introduction of The Crucible, “Libby, what’s wrong?”

I looked at him incredulously, “What’s wrong? Ugh, I don’t know, Garrett. You knocked out my boyfriend, and now he’s sulking. That’s kind of got me in a rut, you know?” The blonde boy seemed to turn this over in his head, I imagined him having to sound out the words to understand what I meant.

“Boyfriend,” he stated.

The ceiling seemed like a safe place to avert my eyes to, “Uh, yeah: boyfriend.” That particular word looked like it was causing him some sort of physical pain, but the sort that he could repress. I decided to ignore that reaction, for the most part.

“Sulking,” it seemed like he might have some limit on the words he could use to ask a question. Probably not, but if the pattern continued, I might have to look into it.

“Well, I haven’t seen him since yesterday.”

“That’s interesting. I saw his car this morning…” I wondered if he was trying to tease me with this line of thought, trying to make me curious. It was working, because now I was going over all of the reasons I could think for Garrett to have seen the Rogue, but I didn’t want to give in and ask about it.

“And what’s my favorite way to refer to Abigail… Garrett?” Miss July asked vaguely, testing the new boy with something she’d stated not two minutes before.

“Err,” he’d obviously not been multitasking, I almost felt sorry for him. Not really, though, since he was trying to antagonize me and all.

“Yes, I love to refer to Abby as err, very good, Delaine,” she turned to me, probably guessing that I, also, had not been listening, “Care to elaborate, Libby?”

“She’s a crazy lady,” I said confidently. This was followed by a golf clap and a light praise.

“Crazy lady?” Garrett whispered, confused.

“Whatever; the Crucible is cool,” I rebutted without further explanation. I saw a twinge of frustration on his face, this pleased me immensely.

The class continued on without much interruption. One thing about Garrett became clear: he wasn’t stupid, but (God help him) he couldn’t pay attention to a lecture worth two dingo kidneys. The bell sounded, like some doomsday alarm, and I gathered up my notes carefully. I was very aware of my cell phone in my pocket, Azure’s number programmed in. Rather than take my chances with whatever Garrett could cook up after school, calling a safe person seemed wise.

My phone chimed happily by my ear: one ring, two rings, three rings… Finally, on the fifth ring, Azure picked up. He sounded tired.

“Libby?”

“Yep; where were you, today?” I tried not to sound too elated at the sound of his voice.

A sigh, he was thinking about his answer, “I felt… sick. I decided to stay home. Why?”

I felt Garrett’s eyes on my back, I tried to ignore them, saying “I was just going to walk home, so I thought I’d see where you were.”

“Do you want a ride?”

“Don’t get out of bed for my sake; I’ll be fine walking…” Just that he wasn’t ignoring me was enough for this conversation.

“It really isn’t any trouble,” I could hear the engine revving on the other line, this was more relieving than I could have thought possible.

“Alright, see you in a few…”

“I’ll be there as soon as I possibly can,” and sounded like he meant it.

“I know.”

Reluctantly pushing the end button on the keypad, I turned to slowly face Garrett. He was seething, just as I’d expected.

Not sure why this was acceptable behavior, I didn’t feel particularly insensitive asking, “Is there anything you’d like to say?” By now, the class was cleared out, there wasn’t anyone to overhear whatever it was that was bothering Garrett.

“Why him?” he said, a little more depressed-sounding than I’d anticipated, “I told you that I wouldn’t blame you, but… I just don’t understand.”

“What isn’t there to understand? Would you rather I’d chosen you? Why, Garrett, would I have done that?” I didn’t comprehend his insinuations at all.

He sighed, “There’s no more reason for you to want him than me, so I don’t get why you’d pick him.”

“I don’t know why you’d expect that to make sense to me.”

“I guess you wouldn’t have realized that much, anyway…” he trailed off in a voice that could’ve won him a Grammy.

“Azure’s probably here, by now,” I pointed out, “Are there any more cryptic things you’d like me to know?”

Garrett didn’t answer me, so I didn’t wait very long before turning to the exit.

I pleaded with my feet to slow down, not wanting to trip in fall in my shamelessly overflowing enthusiasm to get to Azure more quickly. Even knowing how much I was overreacting, I couldn’t help rejoicing as my reigns were passed from Garrett to the much more capable Azure’s hands.

He stood, lovely as can be, in front of his midnight car, wearing a grin that I hadn’t seen since before the fight of the previous day. I banished that line of thought, concentrating on the present.

“Hey,” I said simply, trying to mirror his smile. I couldn’t do it justice.

“Did you have a good day, even without me there?” he asked politely, a light worry tainting his expression.

“Goodness, no... Did you know that Garrett enrolled in school? Ugh, that guy’s a jerk. Why do you even know him?” My intention was not to sneak answers out of him, but I guess that’s how he interpreted it.

“Not that I want to think of him more than is strictly necessary, but you know that I can’t really talk about it…”

“Did you know about him at school, though? I mean, he’s in three of my classes…”

“Three? That doesn’t seem right…” he frowned.

“I know! It’s really unfair.”

“Do you want to talk about it on the way home? The car’s probably a lot warmer…” Azure seemed to change the subject like he was simply flipping a switch, but the prospect of a warmer space was more than enough to convince me.

At my eager nod, he opened my passenger-side door, and I climbed in just as happily as if I’d been stranded on an island and been offered a cute, little sailboat.
“So, I gather that Garrett has been a nuisance, today?”

“Quite the nuisance; he kept looking at me like he wished he could shout to high heavens some apology… Of course, I didn’t really let him. But it was still annoying, you know?”
His eyebrows furrowed ever-so-slightly, “Oh yes, I know. That person… he can be quite the pest.” We’d already reached my house, but he hadn’t made the motions to get up. Not only was I far too comfortable to want to leave the car, but I didn’t want to prompt him to leave at all. Even if he followed me inside, that would take us one step closer to him going home for the night. This gave me a miniscule idea.

“Azure… where do you live, anyway? I’d love to see your house.”

His expression went blank for a minute, his lovely eyes searching for an answer. I was mildly concerned that he kept having to think about these things—it shouldn’t be so hard to answer a question like where do you live.

“I hope you’ll laugh,” he said quietly.

“At what?”

“The answer, I hope you’ll laugh at it. Rather than cry or yell at me or something crazy like that,” he seemed honestly worried about those prospects.

“Well, we won’t know until you tell me, right?”

“Right.”

“So? Where does the mysterious Azure live?”

“… I live inside of this car.”

I barely could muffle my giggles, but I made a good effort to contain them in hopes that I wouldn’t hurt his pride, “You live in the car?” I asked to confirm what I’d heard very clearly. I just wanted to make sure.

“I live in the car.”

“That’s different,” I allowed, trying to force the suppressed snickers to subside.

“I’m not so rich, you see. I only really have enough money to keep the car running, and for food…” he trailed off, a little embarrassed.

“Why don’t you do something about it? Get a job or something… I’m sure that someone around here would board you for a while. The neighborhood’s pretty generous on a whole.”

A hint of blush crossed his face, “Well, truth be told, your mother’s already offered up your house. I turned her down, of course. I couldn’t bear taking advantage of her hospitality like that, even if it meant I saw you more often…” the embarrassment still held his tongue firmly.

My house loomed in front of us, teasing my imagination. Immediately, images of the two of us living together were infecting my brain. I couldn’t decide if I needed these images, but I definitely knew that I’d like to have them.

Mom and I would have to come up with a better strategy to convince him to move in. I couldn’t do it on my own, but if the two of us combined forces… there could be no equal in planning! I was already smiling broadly in anticipation. I think he misinterpreted my excited expression, though for what, I couldn’t tell you.

“You know that I think of you like that, don’t you, Libby?”

“Err,” I wasn’t really expecting a question like that, so I really didn’t know what to say at all, “Like what?”

He must’ve figured on embarrassing himself to his limits, “Naïve girl… I think of you in a strictly non-platonic way. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

My smile shrunk, though it didn’t disappear. It’s not like I wasn’t happy to hear this, it just made me a bit uncomfortable, “I think I do, yes…”

“And what do you make of it?”

The tiny bit of my good mood was waning, replaced by awkwardness. This wasn’t the way I’d wanted this conversation to go. I wasn’t nearly so good at manipulation as to change it back to a pleasant topic, “I’m… happy,” I decided quickly that the truth was probably my best policy, “But I’m still not sure what to make of it, if anything.”

“That is… understandable.” He said after a long pause, “But please, tell me if this ever changes: If you ever like that Garrett person more than you like me… please let me know, all right? That information… it is vital to me.”

I thought that he was being silly, to think that I could ever like Garrett more than him. They were on completely different wavelengths to me. How could a professional architect be compared to an elementary school art student? “I promise, Azure. If that ever changes, you’ll be the first to know.”

His expression was still intense, but it was a bit more relaxed now that I’d reassured him, “Thank you, Libby.”

We sat in a silence that was less awkward, but certainly not comfortable. It was warm, yes, and we were together, yes… but I could tell that we both had Garrett on our minds. How could he be such a big issue of our relationship… so easily? His being here only four days had already thrown Azure and I off this much.

He broke the quiet, this time, “Would you rather go inside, or… stay here a while longer?”

“You’re coming with me, if I go in. So whichever is more pleasant for you is fine with me.”

“…then we shall go in.”