Don't Close Your Eyes

“Do you want to come to my house after school?” Bam was asking it before he knew what was happening.

“Me?” Ville blinked, just as surprised as Bam.

“Yeah. If you want to, I mean. If you’re busy, that’s okay.”

“I--.”

“It’s just that my mom really liked you and everything. She’d probably make you dinner again.”

“I—.” Ville tried again.

“We could play my X-Box. Or not. Really. Whatever you want is fine with me. But if you can’t, that’s cool too.”

“Would you let me finish?” the older boy laughed. Bam stopped, blushing. “I would love to go, Bam. Thank you for inviting me.”

“Cool,” the hockey player tried not to look as excited as he felt. He stood up from the lunch table and left, trying not to look like he was floating on air. Shortly, Ville and the others excused themselves. Hayley and Rake could linger, not having a class after lunch.

“I think it might be working!” Hayley giggled to Rake. Mige, rushing to his next class, looked at her.

“Hayley--,” her lips pursed themselves into a thin line. She glared at him, arms crossed over her chest.
“Don’t be like that.”

“Whatever ‘that’ is like is the only way I can be right now. I’ll call you later, maybe I’ll be in a better mood to talk to you. Right now Mige, I’m so pissed.” She stared him down. He cringed and back away, then hurried towards the hall.

“Yeah! Maybe it is.” Rake looked happy too. He hung a brotherly arm around her shoulders and squeezed.
“So, Matchmaker, when are you going to hook me up with Arabella?”

“I never promised a date!” she held up a finger as they walked down the hall. They broke into happy laughter as they made their way to the library to continue working.

Mige had been hiding behind one of the soda machines. His heart pounded in his chest as he heard them laughing, as he took in Rake’s arm around her shoulders. He noted the brightness of her smile, the way her eyes fairly sparkled.

He’d heard her talking. How she never promised a date. Was she talking about going on a date with Rake? What was going on? What did she mean? He tried to swallow the lump that had risen in his throat.

Holding his books tightly against his chest, Mige managed to drag himself to his American history class.

**

Ville and Bam sat together on the bus, a good gap of space between them. Ville held his backpack on his lap, picking at some of the patches he’d made Hayley sew on for him.

Bam’s was dropped by his feet. He sat next to the window, and occupied himself with counting the number of mailboxes they passed.

“Are you sure your parents won’t mind?” the figure skater asked quietly. Bam nodded slowly.

“Ape will be overjoyed. She loves having people to cook for. Especially you. She says a strong wind might come along and blow you away.” Bam snorted. Ville chuckled and scooted just a little bit closer to his new friend.

“Your parents are wonderful.”

“I guess,” Bam said bitterly, remembering the scene in the hospital room. They still hadn’t relented, had remained firm that he couldn’t play. He sighed and then smiled at Ville.
“So what do you want to do?”

“Oh, ah.” Ville squirmed. He knew what he thought he might like to do. It involved a bed and fingers on flesh.

But he was quite sure Bam would shoot that down, spoil sport that he was.

“Video games?” Bam suggested.

“Sounds great.”

Bam beamed. He loved it when people indulged him in
electronic mayhem. He scooted a tiny bit closer to Ville. Now there was just a precious half inch between them. He could almost feel the warmth coming off the Finn.

The bus took a sharp turn and Ville was suddenly leaning against him. He felt a hot blush rise in his cheeks. Bam’s arm slipped around his shoulders, all the better to help him sit up.

“S-sorry,” Ville stammered.

“It’s okay,” Bam muttered. They both breathed a sigh of relief when their stop loomed in front of them. They scrambled off the bus and slowly walked up the driveway to the quiet suburban house.

“APE!” Bam shouted as they walked in. The woman appeared from the living room.

“What? Do you have to yell--? Oh! Ville!” she smiled. He grinned back shyly.

“Hi, April.”

“I brought a friend home.”

“Thank you, Captain Obvious.” April rolled her eyes. “Would you like to stay for dinner, honey? Do your parents know where you are?”

“I’d love you, and I was just about to call them.” He slipped into the kitchen to use the phone. Bam waited for him while eating the thickest peanut butter and jelly sandwich he’d ever seen.

The hockey player also made another one while Ville ate his own. Then he brushed the crumbs from his hands and announced that it was time to go and play video games. The Finnish boy glanced at the open jay of peanut butter and the sticky jelly jar left on the counter.

“Shouldn’t we clean up?”

“Nah, Ape’ll do it. She likes it. It makes her feel needed.” He shrugged and made his way towards the stairs. He glanced back his friend, who was looking almost mournfully at the food.
“Oh, jeeze. FINE! We’ll clean up.” He rolled his eyes.

But somehow, he thought it might be worth it when he saw the way Ville was smiling.