Page 33 of Icarus

“I’ll bring you coffee, next time I come.”

Sweet

Icarus picked a brand with a price that made his eyes water. Then, he ordered a pour-over brewing system and an insulated glass water bottle to transport it.

Coffee from the diner across the street was fine. This would be better.

Tuesday

Julian gave him a curious pale orange drink with ice in it.

“What is this?”

“Orange Julius with a bit of caffeine. They don’t make them at Starbucks so I had to give instructions,” he said, plonking down in his seat.

Icarus took a sip and grimaced. “I won’t say it’s good, but it could be nastier.”

Julian winked and clicked his tongue twice, cheekily. “Noted.”

His frizzy curls were kind of flat on the left, like that was the side he slept on, and he was wearing a brown corduroy jacket. The way the sun was shining through the window lit up all the fuzzies on his clothes, the translucent hairs on his skin, the ends of his ringlets in gold.

The pencil in Icarus’s hand started scratching his silhouette on the paper in front of him aimlessly. He smudged the graphite across the page until it caught the light, pressed until the shadows were dark as ink.

The hollow behind Julian’s ear was sweet and soft, the stitching on his jacket was a lighter brown than the fabric. When he turned just right, Icarus could get the tip of an eyelash peeking out from behind his cheek.

“Do you want to be my partner?” Julian whirled around. “I’ve got some free library time today.”

Julian paused and looked down at Icarus’s work. Icarus startled and felt his cheeks begin to color, but Julian didn’t comment on the drawing.

“We just got an assignment. It’s due Friday and it’s like fifteen percent of our grade. I figured you probably weren’t paying attention and it looks like I was right.” Julian scowled. “Don’t you have an entire class to do this art shit?”

“You don’t have to babysit me, Julian, I’m not going to forget to do my work.” Icarus covered the drawing with his hand. He didn’t like the way Julian was looking at it.

Julian flicked the top of Icarus’s hand hard.

“Ow! What the fuck,” Icarus hissed.

“You can do art whenever. Are you going to be my partner or not?”

“Why do you even want to be my partner?” Icarus rubbed at his new welt. “Why can’t anyone else work with you?”

Julian rolled his eyes. “None of my other friends are in this class. I’ll meet you in the library at fifth period.” He stood up and slung his backpack on his shoulder.

“You better show up, idiot.”

“You can’t tell me what to do,” Icarus called after him, but Julian was already halfway out the door.

“Fifth period, Gallagher!”

Cost

Julian was waiting for him at the front door, practically pushed him through it.

“Glad you showed up.”

Icarus slung his messenger bag over one of the chairs and settled down across from Julian. Julian took out a notebook and a permanent marker. He liked writing big and bold even when it bled through the page.

“I think we should split this project up into pieces we can do on our own and then come together in the library to arrange the presentation together before it’s due,” Julian said. “That way we don’t have to keep meeting up outside of school hours for the rest of the semester.”