Chapter Four - Meeting Place
"Hey Mom, I'm home," Daimian said, entering the front door of the small house at the end of a long day of patrolling. The walls to the living room sat still with a light beige coat, various family pictures hanging around the wall. He stumbled over the short coffee table that rested between the couch and television before he made it to the lacking hallway. He looked to his right into the blue-gray kitchen that functioned as a laundry room. Walking further and peering into the room to his right, he examined it's blank walls barely visible if not for the queen-sized mattress laying in the middle of the floor, sheets loosely thrown onto it. He kept walking, looking through the window of the gated backdoor, where he saw Faith working in the backyard.
"Mom," Daimian called out from inside the house. "You alright?"
"Oh, welcome back sweetie," Faith said with a wave. "I'll be with you in a sec, just finishing up some stuff in here."
Daimian gave a quick thumbs up and retreated back inside. He stood around for a minute, back to the door, when he looked at his school backpack. He lurched to his feet and walked over to it, remembering there was something he had to do. Pulling out a small slip of paper, he looked up at the kitchen clock, reading '11:43' to himself. He shrugged and rushed to his room on the other end of the hallway. He closed the door and took out his phone, jumping back-first into his bed.
"Let's see how Alex feels about my 'not having friends now,'" Daimian nagged to himself as he slowly typed the number into his phone. He paused for a second, taking a deep breath, before pressing 'dial.' His phone rang once as he eagerly put it up to his ear. Another ring. Then another.
On the forth ring, Daimian had given up hope. He slowly lowered his phone to his chest.
~khgh"-ello?"
Wide-eyed, Daimian swiftly pulled the phone up to his ear and tried to say words that worked together. "K-kelly?"
A gasp came from the other end. "Oh my gosh, Daimian? Is that you?" Kelly clapped her hands with a slight crackle from the reception.
"Yeah, it's me," Daimian said, slightly sweating as his eyes darted around his room. "Just wanted to test if the number worked. Sorry if this's a bad time though."
"Oh no, it's fine, you're fine," Kelly assured him. With a slight chuckle, she put her phone closer to her face. "It's pretty boring here anyway. I'm glad you called."
"Oh, heh heh, good to know." Daimian tossed over to his chest on his bed. "Well, how was your appointment?"
"It was fine. Just that sort of 'every once in a while check in' thing they do. You know."
"Yeah, I guess I do."
"What about you? You do anything fun this weekend?"
"Uh," Daimian paused, looking across the room at his backpack that contained all of his Obscurity gear. "I guess so. Checked out downtown a bit and bought a schnitzel."
"Nice, nice." Kelly shuffled her phone around a bit before continuing with a snicker. "Sorry, brother's being a pain." The sound of a hearty laugh came through the speaker. "You got any sibling's that mess you up?"
"Oh yeah, I got a sister." Daimian faded his expression from interest to slight sorrow as he looked down at the floor. "But she moved out not too long ago, so I don't get to see her very much."
"Aw. Well, at least you don't have to deal with the hassle of a brother, I guess," Kelly said with another laugh.
Daimian chuckled alongside her, but sighed after a few seconds. Just then, he heard the backdoor of his house shut with a metallic crunch. "Shit, I should probably get going. Feeling a bit tired."
"Well, it was nice hearing from you, Daimian," Kelly said as Faith stepped through the house. "See you Monday."
"Yeah," Daimian said, shuffling the phone. "See ya. Night." He hung up the call and let out a massive sigh of relief. Just then, he heard a knock at his bedroom door.
"You in bed," Faith asked from the other side.
Daimian got up and opened the door with his eyes slightly lowered, causing his mother to jump a little. "Eh, kinda. What's up?"
"I just wanted to say good night to my baby boy," Faith said, motioning for a hug.
After an exaggerated sigh, Daimian fell into her arms for a moment. "Night, Mom."
"Good night, Daimian. Sweet dreams."
Daimian looked down at his phone as Faith walked to her room. He smiled and shut his door.
"Will do."
The Monday Daimian went back to school, he was ecstatic and seemingly filled with energy compared to when he came in the week before. The day seemed to roll by quick as he anticipated his final class of the day. When the bells let out the last lunches, he carefully sped through the hallway and up the stairs to make it to French. But when he entered the classroom, he didn't see her. The room was filled with his other classmates, but Kelly was nowhere to be found. The late bells rang, making him sludge to his seat. A few minutes after class had started, Daimian got a text.
[Meet me by the closest restrooms ;)]
A bit confused, he checked the number to find it was Kelly. He delightfully raised his hand midway through the class period. "May I please use the restroom?"
"En Francais?"
"Uh..." Daimian paniced a moment. "Toillet?"
His teacher squinted and smirked before motioning her hand to the door. "Sign out."
Daimian rushed to the clipboard on the table next to the door, signing his name and the time as quickly as possible. Swiftly exiting the door, he peered through the large, empty hallways. "Man, never realized how bleek this place was without people running around here."
"Soothing, isn't it," Kelly asked from behind. "It's nice to get away from all of the noise every once and a while."
"Hey Kelly," Daimian turned around and nervously waved. "What's up?"
"Oh, you know. I just wanted to show you something," Kelly called as she brushed past Daimian, who looked back at her. "Hope you don't have anything to do for the rest of the day. We're probably not gonna be back until after the bells ring." She motioned her hand for Daimian to follow her.
"Now THIS is the place to be," Kelly said with a smile, arms opened wide. "No people, no walls. Just a sense of bliss when you're up here."
"Woah..."
"You like it?"
Daimian quietly nodded. "It's nice. Gives you a pretty good view of campus." He looked down at his feet to find a swarm of neon green surrounding the two of them. "Are these tennis balls?"
"Oh yeah," Kelly stared into the sky, "those things are everywhere. But the CTE's so much worse. They got, like, a layer of soccer balls and other shit up there, see?" She looked across the school's soccer field to the shorter building across from them, which held a variety of balls from every sport students played.
"Damn," Daimian said as he peered off at the roof. He and Kelly walked to the edge of the roof and supported their bodies on their arms. Daimian stared off with Kelly for a second before asking "did you have a nice weekend?"
"It was alright," she shrugged, looking at Daimian a second after she answered. "Glad you called."
Daimian, still staring at the sky, slightly choked before letting out a hearty "uh huh."
Kelly chuckled as she turned back to face away from the field, her hands holding onto the rim behind her. After a bit of silence, she asked Daimian "you do anything?" He turned to look at her slightly confused. She held one of her hands out before finishing with "like, after school?"
"Oh." Daimian paused, unsure of what to say. After thinking for a moment, he turned to be in the same position as Kelly. Ehhh, homework. That's all I really do when I get out." He squinted his eyes from the sun to look at Kelly. "Sometimes I'll just go to the library and study for a couple hours. Might even get some sort of treat while I'm out."
Kelly nodded. "Huh. Maybe we can bet together for a study session. I got this seminar test comin' up and I really can't fail that shit." Both of them let out a little laugh before continuing to look around the sky in silence. "Got any plans after high school," she chimed in again.
"No, but I'm sure I can find something though," Daimian said with a heavy sigh.
"Well, I'd recommend finding that out about now," Kelly pointed at him. "I'll tell you this much, once you find what you want to do, you'll feel so much better with your life. That at least gives you a goal to work towards. Do you have a career cluster completed yet?"
Daimian looked up before letting out a soft "I don't think so."
"Aw, come on man, nothing," Kelly asked, watching Daimian shake his head. "Well, maybe you'll find something. Your graduation's a lot closer than you might think it is."
"I'm sure I'll figure something out," Daimian nodded, turning his head to look at the campus two stories below them. They sat quietly for a while, watching as a few people walked around the campus and the buses rolled into their places. Under them, the bell rang to let everyone know that it was time to go home. Daimian put his arms over his head and stretched his back, letting a small pop out of his spine. "I should probably get going soon. Gotta get my work done and stuff like that."
Kelly rubbed her eyes and sat up. "Alright then." She waved as Daimian walked back the way they came up before saying "same time next week?"
Slightly blushing, Daimian nodded, climbing back down to the second story. Sneaking his way back into the building, he grabbed his things without his teacher noticing and booked it through the hall, going down the steps and leaving the door in a hurry. Running through the field, he looked back at the roof to see Kelly waving at him from above. Smiling back at her, he turned his head, running closer to his car. Unlocking it, he opened the door, stepped in, threw his backpack in the backseat and gave a sigh-laugh.
"Holy shit! Did... did she just ask me out?”