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OLLY’S ON THE wall again when I enter the room. This time he’s climbed all the way to
the top.
“Don’t your fingertips ever get tired?” I ask.
“I’ve got them on a strict workout regimen,” he says, grinning at me. My stomach does
a little flip thing that I’m really going to have to get used to, since it seems to be a side
effect of seeing him.
I was in this room to do my homework yesterday. I know it’s exactly the same as I left
it, but it looks and feels different. The room is so much more alive with Olly in it. If all the
fake plants and trees swayed to life right now, I wouldn’t be surprised.
I walk to the couch and settle into the corner farthest away from him.
Down from the wall, he sits cross-legged and leans his back against it.
I tuck my legs beneath me, adjust my mass of hair, hug my waist. What is it about
being in the same room with him that makes me so conscious of my body and all its
parts? He even makes me aware of my skin.
“You’re wearing shoes today,” he says, notices. He’s definitely a noticer, the kind of boy
who would know if you’d rearranged a painting or added a new vase to a room.
I look down at my shoes. “I have nine pairs of these exact same shoes.”
“And you complain about my wardrobe choices?”
“You only wear black! It makes you look sepulchral.”
“I need a dictionary to talk to you.”
“Of or relating to a sepulcher.”
“Not that helpful a definition.”
“Basically you’re the angel of death.”
He grins at me. “The scythe gave me away, didn’t it? I thought I hid it so well.”
He changes positions. Now he’s lying flat on his back, knees bent, hands laced behind
his head.
I shift my body again for no reason, pulling my legs into my chest and wrapping my
arms around them. Our bodies are having their own conversation separate and apart from
us. Is this the difference between friendship and something else? This awareness that I
have of him?
The air filters cycle on, making a low hum beneath the sound of the fan.
“How does that work?” His eyes are scanning the ceiling.
“It’s industrial. The windows are sealed so air only comes in through the filters on the
roof. Nothing over 0.3 microns gets in. Also, the circulation system completely changes all