The break was short. Rudy spent the last five days bouncing between trying to fix the passenger side door on his truck, finishing movies on VHS in the living room and making half assed meals for himself and his sister, Nala, when she came back from her little trip. There was always music on. Always. Okay… not always, just when their dad was at work. But it was always loud, echoing off the walls and he was sort of surprised no one came to complain. That whole break was just weird. Having this stretch of nothingness between New Year’s and school… weird. It was simply too quiet for someone like Rudy, who thrived on noise and movement and filling silences before they had a chance to settle. He hadn’t really thought about Lizzy much after that eventful night. Not in a “crush” way, at least. More like how you think about something curious that interrupts your usual pattern. A cool song you heard once and forgot the name of. Something warm that didn’t stick around long enough to know if it was real heat or just body temperature against cold air.
She’d just been… a nice walk home. Unexpectedly nice and that was it. Right?
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January 5th came and Rudy was already in a mood to go back and finally see all his friends again by the time he elbowed his way into his denim jacket and almost knocked the side mirror of the truck on the trash bins. Nala sat in the passenger seat, flipping through a J-14 with Avril Lavigne on the cover, her legs up on the dash despite his tenth warning. ”Do you even want to see fourteen?“ he muttered, ruffling her hair just enough to mess up the braids she’d tried to do herself. He drove like he always did, one hand lazily slung over the top of the steering wheel, elbow propped against the open window even though it was colder. The radio crackled and kicked between stations never landing on something halfway tolerable so he grabbed his CD labeled Morning bangers >:) and slammed it into the player. He drummed his fingers against the wheel, tried to get the lyrics right, pausing only to reach across Nala and bang the glove compartment shut when it popped open again.
Dropping Nala off, he pulled into Fernwood Heights and he didn’t even finish parking the truck before he spotted a few familiar heads bobbing in the crowd near the front steps. Rudy smirked and honked twice, loud, obnoxious, before slinging his bag over one shoulder and hopping out. He did so in one fluid swing - legs hitting pavement with a little bounce, adjusting the bottom of his jacket with a single tug and immediately tossing his keys up in the air to catch with the same hand. He just moved like a guy who couldn’t not be doing something… his hands always fiddling with a bracelet, twisting the ring on his thumb, bouncing a balled up receipt from one palm to the other… Most often playing with a pack of gum in his pocket.
He shoved his hans into the pockets of his jacket, already halfway through a joke before he even made it to the front doors. It was one he crafted over the weekend, very dumb and specific and entirely about Jack’s tragic attempt to snowboard on a metal cafeteria tray. The punchline landed like he knew it would and Rudy’s head fell back in an easy laugh, that weak morning winter sun catching the edge of his jaw as he clapped his hand on someone’s shoulder. ” Bro, you should not have survived that. Like… on a biological level.“ His voice cut above the rest for a second, gravelly and loud. As they walked in he listened to them but also scanned the crowd, nodding at a few people he didn’t even like that much… just habit, muscle memory. But he did miss this, all of it. Everyone around him talking, the slap of lockers, that weirdly specific smell of old textbooks and polished floors.
He had a whole rhythm going already… leaned casual against the trophy case, one foot kicked up, arms crossed just loose enough that he could gesture dramatically when the story demanded it. His friends circled around him without needing to be asked. He didn’t try too hard, never had to. There was an ease to the way he stood, leaned, laughed… like the school itself bent slightly around him, not the other way around. Everyone was buzzing, stories tripping over each other about who hooked up with who, what happened on New Year’s and how Alex’s cousin straight up tried to steal a soda machine from a gas station while blackout drunk. Rudy was there when it happened so he was the one retelling it, to save Alex from the embarrassment.. ” Like, ripped it off the counter,“ Rudy said, eyes wide for effect, fingers miming the heist. The laughter came fast, shoulders shaking, someone nearly choking on their coffee. “My man really thought that thing was portable?” ”Thought? He got it to the parking lot before they tackled him. Still holding it like a baby.“ Another round of laughter. Even someone from the edge of the group, barely listening, let out a wheeze. He could feel the energy… This was his space, his people. His boots squeaked slightly when he shifted, pushing off the wall a little to stand straighter.
And then, just for a second his eyes slid past the cluster of shoulders and bags and lockers and landed. He didn’t plan it… Didn’t even clock it at first. But there she was.
Walking in quietly with her head down. Rudy didn’t say anything but the noise around him faded just a notch.
Then someone shoved his arm, dragging him back into the noise, asking about what he’s been up to, who he was with that night. And just like that Rudy was grinning again, hands raised in mock surrender before telling them, ”I’ll be back in a second,“ Shoulder bumping his friend lightly in parting as he made his way toward her, walking like he’s not in a rush but somehow still moving fast, a bounce in his step that looks almost unintentional. She was standing with her locker open, going through her books with that quiet little frown people make when they’re concentrating too hard. He paused behind her for a half second, rocking back on his heels, then leaned a shoulder to the locker next to hers. ”How’s '05 treating you, ma’am?“ he said, his voice smooth but playful. The sound of her locker slamming shut was satisfying. Comically timed.
Listening to her, he smiled, the kind that made him look like he was trying not to laugh, but absolutely was. His eyebrows lifted as he tilted his head to the side in mock admiration, arms crossing loosely again. ”Weight lifting cars?“ He repeated. ”So you weren’t kidding about that, huh?“ She was still talking. Something about movie marathons… and he was nodding along, but also biting his lip a little, like he was fighting a smile, his tongue pressed to the inside of his cheek just for a second.
”And you? How’s it been for you?“ He took that question as his cue to exaggerate a deep, philosophical exhale. Like the weight of the world rested on his 17-year-old shoulders. ”Oh.. you know.“ he started, pulling his hand out of his pocket to gesture vaguely at the air. ”Just chilling. Movie marathons, weight lifting cars, studying.“ He said it like it was all just obvious… duh, before cracking that smile again. ”Well… okay, maybe not the studying part. And maybe not the weight lifting either. But technically I did carry a crate of soda from the garage to the kitchen so that kinda counts?“ He scratched the back of his neck with one hand, ruffling his already messy hair, then let his fingers drop lazily to his collar as he looked up, eyes catching the ugly plastic wall clock bolted above the hallway exit. He squinted at it, then turned his head back to her, grinning.
”I can put you on some real good movies, top shelf.“ he offered, voice dropping slightly into that confident register. A pause, then, almost like an afterthought, but not really, because Rudy was already trying to figure out how long he could get away with hanging around her before someone called him back. ”What class you got first?“ he asked, nodding toward the hallway with the tiniest tilt of his chin. ”I can walk you?“ The offer came out easy, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. The smile on his face shifted slightly…still playful but a little quieter now, like he was half serious underneath the grin. Then, with a quick glance toward the hallway and back to her, he added, voice dipping just slightly, ”Is that gonna become a thing?“ Said with that mock serious tone of his, like he was joking…clearly joking, but also maybe not.
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