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Thursday, September 9, 2010

Check, mate.

Prescott laughs easily though into his coffee, a shine in his eyes that's barely visible to the untrained eye.
We're pretending to be normal together, pretending to do the things that everyone else does.
I watch his chest move up and down with his lungs, then catch his eye and smile, too.
"Are you ready?" he asks, standing up to get my chair for me. I nod.
"And a bottle 'a rum, kid. Let's get out of here." We leave, slipping out the door unnoticed and heading into the brisk September air. 
He takes my hand and I curl my fingers around his. "Beach?" he asks.  
"Beach." My voice sounds small and quiet, and Prescott catches on. 
"Something up?" There's a lapse in the air and everything ripples over, like a bird's feathers on a cold day. I watch the breeze settle. 
"Nah, it's cool. I, uh...just disappointed school had to start." 
He nods for a moment, understanding. "Sure's a shocker, but what can you do?" 
We walk in silence across the hardening sand, kicking at rocks and beach glass as we go. Neither one of us is defined as right, so we're wrong together for however long we feel like and that's fine.
"Prescott?" I ask, slipping my hand up into his sleeve for warmth. 
"Hm?" He looks over at me.
And instead of spilling everything there is behind my lies, I just smile at him, and he smiles back, and we walk in the silence that we've set out before ourselves. But this time, we're not alone. 

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