Jade Bradford (dimmingsoul) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2017-10-01 13:28:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | #flashback, #september 2017, jade, jade x sabrina, sabrina |
A Separate Peace
Who: Jade and Sabrina
When: September 5, afternoon
Where: walking home from school
Jade was perched on the far top corner of the school steps, halfway getting up his energy to walk home and halfway waiting for Sabrina. Sometimes they walked home together, and it wasn’t always prearranged, but she’d know to look for him here to see if he’d gone yet. If she didn’t show in the next ten minutes or so, he’d start walking. Instead of playing with his phone like several of the students he could see around him, Jade was reading a battered copy of A Separate Peace that had been on his bookshelf at home for years. It might have been Luke’s from school or his dad might have picked it up somewhere; he had no idea. It was pretty good, at least.
The day had warmed up enough that he’d shed his denim jacket, and it rested on top of his backpack. It was the time of year when people had to dress in layers, adding and removing as necessary. He took another quick glance around and then turned a page.
Sabrina was more than a little late getting outside to meet Jade to walk home. She was afraid he might leave without her, so after she shoved her books into her locker, she slammed it shut and hurried off down the halls, pulling the straps of her back pack over her shoulders as she ran. If he had gone already, she'd live, but honestly, Sabrina always preferred walking home with her friends than having to do it alone. When she pushed her way out of the front doors, she sidestepped a few students and caught a glimpse of Jade sitting on the steps, a book in his hand.
Sighing with relief, Sabrina hurried over and skipped down onto the step below where he was sitting. She ruffled his hair affectionately. "Thanks for waiting," she said, still slightly out of breath. "Ms. Gaines held me back about my homework. Psh. So anyway. Are you ready?"
Jade smiled at the hair ruffle, beginning the process of putting his book into his pack before he got up. “I was about to take off, in like ten seconds.” He was teasing, of course. He probably would have waited a while longer, just in case. It was nice to have someone with whom he was comfortable to walk with after school, decompress a little. He was probably more tuned in to Sabrina and Mak than anyone else at school at this point. Fastening his pack, he stood up and hoisted it onto one shoulder. “Yeah, let’s go. Did you not do your homework, or did you screw it up?” He smirked.
“I did it,” Sabrina said. “I just sort of… half assed it. I forgot it was due today so I tried to scribble it out this morning and whatever...got a lecture about holiday weekends being plenty of time to get my homework done, blah, blah.” Sabrina rolled her eyes. “It’s whatever. I got a C-, so I’ll live.” She walked with Jade down the steps, her hands holding on loosely to her backpack. “Like they actually expect us to do work on a holiday. Sure.” She had sort of slacked off on most of her homework, which was probably not a good sign during the first couple weeks of school. Maybe she had been struck with Senioritis too early.
“I’m a nerd and I did mine Friday night,” Jade confessed. “Wanted to get it over with, because yeah. Holiday weekend.” He’d still been on a buzz from having lunch with Hunter Barrett that day, and it wasn’t like he’d really had any plans for the weekend, but he hadn’t wanted to be doing homework, at least. “Did you go to the parade?” He’d been there, because he hadn’t had anything better to do, and it had been reasonably fun.
"Nerd," Sabrina said, aware that he'd already called himself the same. She was just reaffirming it for him. In an affectionate way, of course. "I went toward the end of the parade and snagged a hot dog at the park after. I feel like if you've seen one Labor Day parade, you've seen every Labor Day parade, and I wanted to sleep in." Once they were far enough away from the school, Sabrina reached into her bag to pull out her cigarettes. "So, like, something kind of weird happened Saturday night. I was going to text you about it, but then figured I'd wait until we hung out again. But, like, I need advice." Sabrina offered the pack to Jade with a raised brow. She didn't think he would take one, but she was a friend and friends always offered.
“I wasn’t there early, either,” Jade said. He loved school day holidays and had also savored sleeping until about 10 that morning. “I guess I just didn’t want to miss anything.” Maybe that was a dopey reason to go somewhere, but he knew it wasn’t good for him to constantly mope around the house. If he forced himself out, he usually felt better. She’d gotten him curious with what she said next, and he absently waved away the offered cigarette as he said, “What happened?” Something weird could cover nearly anything in this kind of town.
Sabrina supposed she could have made most of the parade, since it hadn't started until ten o'clock, but she had been lazy around the apartment that morning. Sabrina slipped her cigarettes back into her bag when he waved them away, and she lit it quickly with her lighter, careful to blow the smoke away from Jade. She was aware that 'weird' could be a whole bunch of stuff, but her weird wasn't exactly Point Pleasant weird. "I kind of made out with Mak Saturday night," Sabrina admitted, glancing at Jade. "On Sweetbriar Bridge."
Jade blinked. He knew Mak liked girls and that Sabrina was bi, but somehow he hadn’t expected that. “Really?” He glanced over at her. He didn’t have a straight guy’s view that it would be hot if two chicks made out; it just felt weird to hear given how much thinking he’d been doing lately about his own sexuality. Not that he’d shared any of that with anyone. “You guys weren’t on a date or anything though, right?” He was blushing a little, something he did way too often. “Did you just randomly start making out?” He’d often wondered how that happened, maybe because he’d only experienced it once himself, and that had been lubricated by liquor.
"Not a date," Sabrina said, shaking her head. She took a drag from the cigarette and let her mind drift over details of that day. "I went to her house to work on the flyers for the S.A.F.E. meeting. We took a walk, ended up on Sweetbriar Bridge and smoked a joint. So like, I think she told me she wanted to kiss me. So we did. It wasn't random or anything. Or, I guess it was? But we were flirting so maybe it wasn't so random." Sabrina looked at Jade. "She's like, one of my best friends? So I'm not really sure what it means yet. I've been Miss Avoidance."
Probably more random than not, Jade thought. Not that there was anything wrong with that. He adjusted the straps of his pack by tugging on them and said, “I guess the question is if you want it to mean something. Do you know what she wants?” It seemed like a recipe for maybe ruining a friendship if they wanted different things, and he hoped that didn’t happen. The two of them were his best friends, and it would suck if they suddenly couldn’t stand each other.
“I don’t know,” Sabrina said, the perfect answer to both of his questions. “I don’t want to fuck up our friendship, right? Mak’s like… fucking smart. And she’s going to become the next Steve Google, or whatever his name is. I’m… not.” Sabrina smiled and looked over at Jade. “I’ll figure it out. I always do, eventually. What about you, though? Like, any new school year crushes yet?”
“I think you mean Steve Jobs,” Jade said, apropos of nothing. “And you’re smart too. Everyone has their own stuff going for them.” He was great at being encouraging to others even if he couldn’t seem to handle his own shit. That was something, he supposed. When she asked about crushes, he faced front again, hoping his cheeks didn’t color. He had a gigantic one, but he couldn’t talk about it, because then he’d have to level with her about the fact that he was about 98 percent sure that he was gay. “Maybe,” he said, not wanting to completely lie. “But it’s a secret.” He kept his tone dryly ironic, as if being coy about it might be part of his persona of newspaper geek.
“Jobs, Google, same diff.” Sabrina shrugged with a grin. She took a pull from her cigarette and eyed him closely. Jade was keeping a secret, which meant it was a big secret. Because she liked to think they told each other everything. “It’s a secret,” Sabrina repeated. “That’s interesting. Is it me? It’s me, isn’t it? I love you, Jade, but you’re more like a brother to me, you know? It’d just be super weird if we went out.” She nudged him playfully, opting not to pry. He would tell her when he wanted to tell her. “Just tell me this… are they at least a non-asshole?”
There was a part of Jade that wanted to tell her, but he just couldn’t. It felt like something terrible would happen if he let his closely guarded secret out into the air, out into broad daylight. He stuck out his tongue at her and then nudged her back when she nudged him. “Very much a non-asshole,” he said to her question, making sure to look straight ahead in case he revealed some vital piece of the truth in his expression. He sucked at keeping secrets, but he felt like he had to keep this one.
"Well, I guess that's something," Sabrina said with an overly dramatic sigh. "I'll just wait until you're ready to tell me. I can be patient." That was such a lie, and they both knew it, but she liked Jade too much to nag him about it. Sabrina knew all about keeping secrets. Sort of. She could keep them, at least. Sort of? Either way, it was cool that Jade had a crush on someone. Hopefully he was telling the truth and they weren't jerks, because there were a lot of hot jerks in school and Jade deserved better.
“‘Cause patience is a virtue,” Jade said, smirking at her. He’d like to imagine a headspace in which he could openly admit to having a crush on another guy. Not that he thought Sabrina would judge him for it… it just felt too weird to say. He switched his pack to the other shoulder as he walked and then said, “This week already feels endless.” It was only Tuesday, he thought. How long until Fall Break? Sheesh.
Sabrina snorted. “I guess it’s the only virtue I have right now, and that’s because you’re forcing it on me!” That was okay, though. She could be patient when she had to be. She sighed and nodded. “Yeah, school sucks. It really makes every day drag, you know? Like, when is it going to be winter break? I’m ready!” At least she had her friends to make things tolerable. “Are you coming to the SAFE meeting?” she asked, nudging Jade gently. “Mak’s going, and I think she said Hunter would be there too.”
Jade suddenly had an urgent need to adjust the strap of his pack, and he walked along with his eyes on that. “Yeah,” he said nonchalantly. “For, you know, the paper. And to be supportive.” Just the thought of Hunter made him warmer than average. He’d never had such a blatant crush before, and it felt… weird. Not really bad-weird, but weird. It was a thing. He finished with the unnecessary adjustment to his backpack and faced forward again.
“And to be supportive,” Sabrina echoed with a smile. “I appreciate that.” She appreciated that about Jade. He seemed to always do whatever Sabrina wanted to do with very little complaining. Thankfully the SAFE group was for everyone, so she was glad he was going to come along, and hopefully be a part of it all year. “Hey, I know we’ve got homework and shit to do, but do you want to stop by Moxie’s for like… something to eat before we go home?”
“Yeah, let’s do that,” Jade said, making the impulsive decision that his Calculus homework could wait a while. He had no real reason to rush home; it wasn’t like Luke forced him to keep any set hours. His brother didn’t want Jade sneaking out like he was prone to do once in a while, but Jade could understand that… even if he wouldn’t admit it when he was annoyed with Luke. “I could definitely go for some onion rings.”
“Awesome.” Relieved that he seemed game to hang for a bit, Sabrina gripped his elbow to move him toward the street so they could cross, their destination now different. “Onion rings sound good. And a burger. Maybe a milkshake. Then I’ll walk you home to make sure you get there safely,” she added with a teasing grin.
“Onion rings and a milkshake,” Jade decided. “Their milkshakes are awesome.” He didn’t worry about spoiling his dinner since they usually didn’t have official dinners. He’d been thinking about making a three cheese macaroni and cheese, which was easy enough that even he could do it, but he still could. It was early yet. He snorted when she said she’d walk him home. “Yeah, yeah, somebody might grab me off the side of the road if you don’t.”
“Hey, don’t even joke about that!” Sabrina ignored the fact that she had just joked about it. “In this town, that could totally happen. It has happened. See, now you’ve got me all paranoid and now I have to really walk you home and protect you.” She nudged him playfully with her elbow. Even if things were said teasingly, she knew better than anyone how quickly someone could disappear in this town. It scared her, but things were easier to deal with when she used humor.
Jade nudged her back. “How are you gonna protect me? I’m bigger than you.” He wasn’t a huge guy, but he was both taller and broader than she was. “Wait, let me guess, you’re carrying a gun.” It was fun to joke around with Sabrina. He didn’t get self-conscious and wonder if he should have said something else or kept his mouth shut like he did with some people. He was also aware that there was a risk of disappearance in Point Pleasant, more so than other places, but he couldn’t hide inside all the time. Maybe he’d just been lucky so far.
“Psh. I don’t need a gun. I’ve got these.” She lifted her boot clad foot. “I kick people in the groin really hard. Guns make me nervous.” That much was true, anyway. She didn’t think she ever wanted to learn how to shoot one. And it wasn’t like Point Pleasant was infested with crime. It was just… a weird place to live. Scary sometimes, but for other reasons. Unexplainable ones. Jade was one of the only people in town she could talk to about that kind of stuff. Jade and Mak. Mostly because they had lived here all their lives too, so they understood it better than most.
“Groin kicking boot of doom,” Jade said mock-thoughtfully. “I’ll have to keep that one in mind.” He didn’t have a problem with guns; he felt sure his brother had at least one somewhere in the house, probably more. He wouldn’t fool with one himself without being shown how, though. That would just be stupid. Sometimes he wondered if guns would even help with some of the weirdness around.
Sabrina tapped her forehead. “Not just a hat rack, right?” She really had no idea what the best line of defense was in Point Pleasant. Probably sarcasm and avoidance, but that only took one so far. It worked for Sabrina at the moment though, so she would stick with it until it stopped. Right now she had one of her best friends with her, and some Moxie’s food coming her way, so Sabrina didn’t want to ruin the mood by talking about anymore weirdness.