I'm New to This

“Um, it’s Dell,” I said, hoping it would help the employee. He still struggled on which adapter to get for me. More than once I tried to intervene, but didn’t have the chance. This was his job. Right?

“He’s from America, ya know? So why don’t you get the ones you sell to tourists, yeah?” Liam said suddenly. He seemed a bit irritated and it surprised me. He was all smiles and giggles up until now.

But, the employee seemed to realize something and finally produced the right adapter. I bought the damn thing and got out of there.

“Thanks for taking me here, my laptop is--” I stop myself before I can sound freaky. “Important.” I put simply.

Liam smiles at me from all the way up there (he’s tall), and he does it in this way that makes me uncomfortable for a reason I cannot explain, like almost as if he’s putting too much feeling into…--

But I loose that little hunch instantly and forget it, as if it floats away. And then Liam just speaks like normal.

“Don’t sweat it,”

Releasing a satisfied sigh, I looked at Liam while we were walking.

“So, tell me about yourself. What’s it like to live in Australia your whole life?” I ask, trying to make small talk.

“Well, I’m sixteen and I--”

“Wait, wait, wait!” I stopped him immediately. He looked surprised, but he halted. “You’re sixteen? Why am I in your class?”

“Huh? You’re not sixteen?” he asked confusedly.

“No!” I exclaimed. “I’m seventeen, I thought you were seventeen---you’re sixteen?!”

“Yeah, I thought you were sixteen, too,”

“Well--I’m--… why am I in your class, then?”

Liam shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“Huh.” I huffed, a bit disappointed. Maybe I was put in the wrong class, but something in the back of my mind told me otherwise; I’m just not as smart as I should be. At that instant, I cursed the Education system in the U.S.

While I was off in my own world pondering this new anomaly, someone had approached Liam and was talking to him. I began to tune back in, coming into the conversation halfway through.

“…waves, ya know, Jesse’s out there askin’ about you, wonderin’ what you’re doing…” the new person says, and I begin to tune out again, because he’s speaking way fast. I’m standing idling until Liam grabs me and sort of shakes me.

“I’m telling’ ya, I’m showing him around town. ‘s Felix. He’s from America.” he says as he throws his arm around my shoulder. I’m definitely shocked at this sudden attention, so, without helping it, I sort of have this scared-mouse look to my face.

“Yeah?” the other boy asks.

“Yeah.” Liam confirms. Noticing this as my cue, I do a little semi-circle wave.

“Hey,”

“Hey.” he says back.

And then I look at him. He’s nothing special, nothing over the top. But somehow, I gulp. I gulp and I have to hold back my gasp because something inside me is screaming. And everything just grew quiet and clear. My heart began to beat fast, my palms becoming clammy. Noting this, I awkwardly wiped my palms on my pants.

Liam then introduced the new boy. “This is my brother Owen. He’s you’re age.”