Make a Move (Odion)

Odion had been pacing in his own dorm for almost an hour, wondering if it would be wise to even visit Rhett at all. But the boy just couldn’t shake what had happened yesterday. He wanted to see, no, he needed to see him again. Plus, it would be nice to go out on the town with someone, and not look like a complete loser. He couldn't eat breakfast, he was too nervous. For the same reason he hadn't gotten any sleep last night.

He had known all along where Rhett’s dorm was, he just never worked up the courage to go – until now. Odion tapped the door gingerly, crossing his arms in front of him. When the blonde finally had opened the door, a smirk was dancing across Odi’s lips. “Sorry, I haven’t perfected my ability to speed up time,” he said, but as he spoke, he was distracted by the little white dog in Rhett’s hands. “What a suitable name,” he said as he made his way into the blonde’s dorm room.

The sweetest smile sprung to Rhett’s face and Odion patted Trouble on the head, the dog responded by licking the ginger’s hand, making him chuckle. “You always did like animals better than humans,” he said, drawing his hand back towards his body and into his pocket.

Odion had changed his clothes a few times before visiting Rhett, his hair was messy from the process. It had taken him a while to even get here, but deciding on what to wear had taken forever. He was wearing black skinny jeans and green converse, a sleek black button up shirt adorned his torso. He was having a quick look around the room, glad to see Rhett had a good living space. “Your roommates don’t mind?” He asked, looking back to Rhett, and then Trouble. “Of course, you probably don’t care what they have to say about your little pet,” he added.

“So are we going or what?” He asked his friend, unwilling to stick around and chat while in Rhett’s dorm.

Oidon grinned in amusement as Rhett managed to keep Trouble trapped in his room – he really did have it down to an art. He felt bad for the pup but the blonde beckoned him to leave, and he wasn’t going to object. He would have to see if he could do anything about getting that dog outside every once in a while without getting anyone in trouble. There seemed to be at least four people who knew about the puppy, all who would probably be punished if an adult happened upon Trouble.

Following Rhett outdoors and into a cab, Odion forced himself to look outside. He really should have explored the town already, but he just hadn’t yet. It wasn’t because he was busy with school, exploring just wasn’t the same without... “So town,” Odi was snapped out of his reverie and glanced at the blonde beside him. He nodded as Rhett explained the gist of things. “A bar?” He asked, a small grin on his face.

The redhead continued to look outside. Pilot Ridge wasn’t anything spectacular, but it sure was peaceful. “Hmm?” Odion hummed, looking back to Rhett after his name was spoken. “Depends, are you paying?” He asked, playfulness in his tone of voice. Money wasn’t really something either of them had ever worried about. “Like I said before, I’m not making you do anything you don’t want to do,” he said, his eyes looking past Rhett and to a street with small shops.

“Stop here,” he said, tapping the taxi driver’s shoulder. He handed the man the fair and a little bit extra before stepping out of the car. “Never been on a date before Goddard?” He asked his friend, a devious smile on his face. Odion looked at what appeared to be a coffee shop – it was about three stores down. Next he looked at what seemed to be a jewellery shop and he smiled – it was across the street. “Pick something,” he said, looking at Rhett.

It was nice to hear Rhett laugh. It was a rare thing. Still, it sounded almost forced to Odion. It didn’t surprise him that his friend hadn’t frequented any bars, that was more his thing. Besides, there probably wasn’t any way they’d be getting into a bar or club of any sort.

Odion frowned, “Again, you’re the one who brought it up,” he said, wondering why today felt like a repeat of yesterday. Rhett mentioned something and when he tried to answer, the blonde just wanted to stop talking about said subject. It’s like he wanted to know what Odion was thinking but was unwilling to share what was on his own mind. Odion made a note of this and decided to be a bit more careful in his choice of words. Couldn’t they just have fun?

Following Rhett to the coffee shop, Odion happily accepted the cold drink, sipping at the straw. The redhead found himself following his older mate out of the shop as quickly as they came in. It was strange, he wasn’t on a leash and yet he seemed to be following Goddard around like a puppy. I am not Trouble he thought, shaking the thoughts away.

Odion didn’t smile, he just kept a straight face after Rhett asked his question. Everything was still about him, and if the ginger said he did miss the blonde, he would just change the subject, or laugh. “No,” he said simply. Anything he could talk about would only bore Rhett. “Merci pour le boisson,” he said, appreciation in his voice.

Now, would Rhett be willing to share what was happening to him here at Pilot Ridge, in Hammel? "So why should I be jealous?" He asked as a segway into what had been going on at the American meta-school. Odion wasn't sure where they were walking, but he trusted that Rhett knew.

“I don’t know what I’m supposed to be jealous about,” he said, wondering where Rhett was going with this. “Try me,” he said, trying to mentally prepare himself for whatever his friend had to say. Anything would be better than the constant sarcasm Odion usually received from his fair haired counterpart. But he didn’t try, he changed the subject – again.

“You’ve been blind until yesterday I’d say,” he said, very frustrated. “If we both know that you’ve been changing your mind and going back and forth with me here, then why should I indulge any of those questions?” He asked, wondering why Rhett wanted to know why he was here. “Besides, you’re here with me aren’t you? You’re talking to me. You showed me Trouble. You care about me, you just don’t want to talk about it.” There, he had said it.

“You can read minds or whatever, you’re smart, you can figure it out,” he added, wondering why he had to state the obvious. He sighed, dropping his empty plastic cup into a garbage can as they walked by it. “If I didn’t like you, I wouldn’t be here. I would’ve left after you kissed me, so stop being a dolt and stop asking stupid questions.” Odion wasn’t sure when he had decided to be so upfront. But unlike everyone else in Hammel, Rhett already knew who he was – he couldn’t pretend to be ‘Rhett’, he couldn’t be convincingly shy or charming. He almost had to be himself.

Why was a whole different story – a complicated one. Odion wasn’t sure when it started, but he had looked up to Rhett from the start. He had the patience to teach the ginger how to survive on the streets and they had worked together for years. They were good together. They had each other’s backs, they brought in the best stuff for their group. They could be around the other in silence and still be comfortable. Rhett was fun, exciting, and truly interesting. A puzzle that could never really be put together but that was the beauty of being around him – it was always different, stimulating. It was hard to be without someone it felt right to be around.

“I’m not telling you why, you have to earn that.”

Possibly the most interesting thing about the two, was that they could never pinpoint one another like they could when observing others. It kept things fresh, mostly because they could never truly figure the other out. Even though it was often annoying, and almost not worth the trouble.

Odion sighed, “Whatever,” he said, blowing off Rhett. If he didn’t want to fill Odion in that was his prerogative. Evidently nothing had changed, the blonde still wanted his secrets to himself, he still didn’t really trust Odi as much as the redhead trusted him. He wanted to think it wasn’t a big deal, but it bugged the younger boy. Wasn’t it Rhett who asked him to go out today to talk? Well, when was that going to start exactly?

“Well what do you think then? You said you wanted to talk...” Odion said, trying to get his friend to open up, this time taking a more subtle approach. Being aggressive had worked yesterday, it wasn’t working today though. Again, Rhett was tricky to deal with. If the blonde felt bad about not being able to read Odion perfectly, maybe he would find solace in that Odion couldn’t figure Rhett out completely either. Something he wasn’t about to admit to. For now, the ginger would just pretend that he had the upper hand and try to convince his friend of the same thing.

“What we always do,” Odion said with a smile, looking at the town like it was his oyster, “wing it.” Another mischievous grin passed over his face. The thought crossed the boys mind to put his arm around Rhett and give him a sort of side hug, but that would be awkward. It would’ve been even more awkward if the blonde could read his mind at this very moment. But luckily he couldn’t, assuming Rhett had told the truth.

A group of middle aged men were walking past, staring at the two boys. Odion looked at the ground as they passed, his hands in his pockets. After the moment lapsed, the ginger pulled his hands out, a white gold chain bracelet and a twenty dollar bill in either hand. The redhead reached over to Rhett without a second thought, putting it around the other boy’s wrist.

It was, sort of romantic right? In its own quirky, pickpocketing, sentimental way.

Odion had made his move in giving Rhett the bracelet. Okay it was stolen, but it reminded the redhead of the old times they used to share, and he hoped that the blonde would see he wanted to have more of those moments with him. Actually, Odi had been making moves all day, trying to prompt conversation, and he was crossing his fingers in hopes that it would lead to some kind of thought provoking outcome.

There might’ve been a communication barrier in that instead of just truly being themselves, which they were both afraid of doing, they were constantly trying to figure the other out; thereby, their personalities kept changing to try and match the other. It was a never ending, vicious cycle of trying to figure someone out who didn’t even know who they were to begin with due to the fact that they were always trying to be social chameleons. It would be hard to know how to act when neither boy knew what the other wanted. It had always been this complicated of a relationship, neither of the two had tried to figure the other out until recently though. Maybe this was why they never talked things out to begin with – it was difficult.

Odion was mentally face-palming himself. “Maybe we should just start over...” He suggested with a shrug. A glittering smile was over his lips, reflecting that which dropped from Rhett’s hand. “You’re welcome, should we go to a pawn shop and see who’s the better catch?” he asked, resisting the urge to send his friend a wink. Odi wasn’t even sure if there was a pawn ship in Pilot Ridge, but he was just joking around.

The redhead always had a soft spot for sparkly things. That, and stuffed animals. “Thanks, you’re so sentimental,” he said, putting the damn thing under his shirt after Rhett spun him around. People were going to think he was some kind of street walker if they saw the gaudy thing glittering over his dark shirt.

Odion then smiled broadly, a smile he hadn’t experienced before. It was a cute moment, but it wouldn’t be treated as such. “I’ll be on time next time,” he said, feeling his ears burn red. “I’m getting tired of you spinning me around all the time,” he muttered, even though he really didn’t mind.

“Let’s get back to the school,” Odion said, deciding maybe today wasn’t the day to talk about anything... Anything.

Apparently it was neither aggressive behaviour nor nonchalant behaviour which made Rhett more curious about the inner mind of Odion. No, it seemed like every time the redhead wanted to run away from anything, Rhett was always pulling him back. Now why was that exactly? Could it be due to the fact that they were always running away, sometimes together, sometimes not. Maybe going after one another was an automatic reaction. Odion could remember a time where not going after Rhett meant he could get into serious danger. Was that really the only thing keeping the blonde interested? An internal instinct?

Odion glanced at Rhett, about to answer, but then he shut his mouth. A sly grin appeared on his freckled face, “You took the words right out of my mouth,” he said, “it’s nice to actually agree on something.” The redhead tried to reiterate what he meant, even though Rhett had seemingly changed his mind, yet again. This time, Odion wasn’t allowing him to do so. “I just thought maybe we could start something new here, you know?” He said, unsure of how to explain what he was feeling so desperately. He just wanted to be close to Rhett again, but differently – it made sense in his head anyways.

Standing there, looking at Rhett, Odion simply just tried to listen to his friend without trying to predict what the outcome of this social interaction would be. Now that he stopped to really think about the blonde’s words, he was making about as much sense as Odi, which wasn't much at all. The ginger grinned, finding his partner’s attempts at explaining himself adorable – at least he was trying. Odion was truly impressed by this alone.

One second his hand was held and the next, it was dropped. Odi could sense the anxiety Rhett was feeling. It was new to both of them, something they really hadn’t anticipated. It was interesting that the blonde had chosen the same words Odion had just used. Nothing about their lives had been normal though, and Odion simply stared at Rhett, giving him the chance to say anything he wanted to. After a moment’s silence, blue eyes held the blonde’s grey ones, “You keep changing your mind...” Yes he was stating the obvious, but he really didn’t know what else to say.

“But I think I would like to try,” he said finally, his first two fingers finding their way into the palm of Rhett’s hand, his thumb stroking the back of the blonde’s hand. Odion held his ground, he needed to see how his friend (was he more than a friend?) would react to this.