Steam Punk Goggles and Ink Stained Hands

DREW’S POV

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Hands entwined, Barrone and I walked through the deserted hallways; we’d had our lunch and wanted to have a walk about before we had to go we had to endure another painstakingly boring history lesson. It was surprisingly quiet around, but then again, I suppose most people were socialising in the canteen rather than wandering the more deserted upper floors where only the art rooms were. Two people we had passed though, were Vicki and a dark haired boy I knew from English called Billie Joe. The two were giggling about something or another, both blissfully unaware of the tense lunch we’d just had. In fact, Vicki hadn’t been sitting with us at lunch lately, even before Laurence voiced his opinions on Kier being so open about how he’s head over heels for her.

As we walked, I couldn’t help but wonder just how Kier and Laurence’s conversation was going. Kier had still seemed pretty hostile towards Laurence when they left earlier, but at least he was willing to talk to him. Good thing too, I think if Laurence didn’t tell him soon, he was going to go crazy. To be honest, I just wanted to know it was going well; if Laurence told him how he felt and Kier re-acted badly, it could tear them apart as friends. Still, as I said to Laurence, if he didn’t tell Kier, their friendship would be in tatters anyway. In a nutshell, things could either stay the same, or get better; I just hoped option two was the way it would pan out.

We rounded the corner at the end of the hallway, heading away from the art rooms and along to the stairs which would take us to history; the bell would be going soon, and I didn’t particularly feel like another detention – I’d had enough of those since I met Barrone.

It was as we rounded the corner that I realised my earlier concern was not needed. In fact, the discussion looked like it couldn’t have gone any better. Laurence was leaning casually against the wall, his arms wrapped around Kier, who stood just centimetres away from him. Kier’s arms were looped around Laurence neck, one of his hands gently cupping his face. Caught in the moment, they had yet to realise that Barrone and I were but metres away, watching them kiss; well, that was until Barrone had to ruin the moment by fan-girling out loud.

Jumping apart like they’d been electrocuted, the pair both blushed and separated as they noticed us standing there.

“Damn it, Barrone! You ruined the moment! I was enjoying that, you know?” I giggled, slapping the side of his arm lightly with my hand which wasn’t already busy holding his.

“Creepers! Are you two alright there, just staring at us like it’s free porn?!” Laurence exclaimed, faking outrage.

“Yes, I am thank you” I replied, because I’m a smart ass and I could.

Kier rolled his eyes before awkwardly switching his gaze to the floor, most probably because – no matter how great a couple him and Laurence make – he did just cheat on his girlfriend. Barrone seemed to not have registered this fact yet though, as he just bounced around beside me, grilling the pair on what happened.

“So, are you two a couple now?” he asked, looking between both boys. Laurence nodded shyly, a grin playing on his lips as he took Kier’s hand in his own.

Don’t get me wrong, I was delighted for them. Laurence was with the boy he loved and I’m presuming Kier felt the same way since they were now together; but I couldn’t help but bring up the topic that no-one had mentioned, purely because it was important.

“But Kier, what about Vicki?! You can’t date Laurence while you’re with her, that’s just not right!” I pointed out, causing Barrone’s happy smile to drop a little. He’d obviously only just remembered about Kier’s girlfriend.

The red fringed boy looked up at me with wide eyes and shook his head frantically, biting his lip slightly as if trying to work out how to explain.

“I know that wouldn’t be right, and the thing is, I’m not dating her anymore… A few days ago, Vicki and I sat down and had a talk and we realised that it just wasn’t working anymore. We both felt more like friends than anything else and realised we’d tried to mould that friendship into something it wasn’t meant to be. We both started liking other people – I, Laurence and her, Billie Joe Armstrong from her maths class – and we decided to break up. I just didn’t tell you guys because I was still angry at Laurence and didn’t want him to get any satisfaction from knowing we weren’t together anymore, seeing as how he disliked our relationship. Of course, if I had known it was because he had feelings more me and not because he was being a dick, I would have told him straight away. I was only mad because I didn’t understand why Laurence felt the way he did. Still, that’s in the past now. I’ve apologised and it’s all good. Now maybe we can stop with the bitch fights and put our time to better use, like, I don’t know, going on dates?” Kier ended by aiming a question at Laurence with a playful smile.

At that particular moment, I felt nothing but happiness. Kier and Laurence were together and there were no hard feelings and I had Barrone standing by my side, holding my hand. Looking around at us all, I couldn’t help but smile; even the prospect of history next seemed a little brighter.

The shrill school bell rang out, signifying the end of our lunch and that it was time for us all to head to our separate lessons. That lunch break definitely went better than how I thought it would and the outcomes were definitely worth all the tension that came before.