Two

October 4

She had helped tutor him for the past few weeks now, the incident with the door almost completely forgotten by the two. They had fallen into a nice routine, where, after they had finished at about four thirty, they would walk out of the classroom together and down the hall, until they parted. She went right and he went left.

She thought it was nice to have someone to walk with. He was really only concerned about the time. He had to make sure he was at the daycare by five to pick up his sister Lisa.

"Hey, it's four twenty-eight. You wanna wrap it up?" James said after giving her forearm a light poke. He wasn't even having trouble with the math, which made Alia happy. Even if he'd never really been struggling with math.

"Hm?" She looked from her paper to the clock, curls that spilled from her bun swaying with the movement. "Oh, yeah. Sorry about that." She closed her textbook with papers still stuck in between the pages. "You get it, right? No trouble or anything?"

He felt like his eyes would roll into the back of his head if she kept asking that question every time. "Yes, I'm fine." He replied a minute later when she continued to stare at him fiercely.

"But if you don't get something and you need help, just text me, okay?" She reminded him as they both pulled on their backpacks and began to leave the room.

Again, he rolled his eyes. "I know. You tell me the same thing every day."

"So do you. You always complain about how I'm trying to help you!" She countered.

James groaned and knew there wasn't much he could say against that. She was working as a free tutor after school to try and help him. But still, he never even really needed the help, it had just become part of his routine in the past few weeks to go to that classroom, do the work, then leave with Alia.

The repeated function was comforting to him somehow. Maybe it's just the feeling of familiarity. Maybe it's just nice having someone to walk with. Or maybe it's just because it's her.

"What are you doing after school today?" She asked him, even though she knew the answer.

He answered like she expected, "Picking up my sister from daycare. The same thing I do every day." He glanced at her to see her facing forward before doing the same. "What about you?"

James expected her to say something about sleep or Netflix. But what she said caught him off guard. "Oh, I'm going to the movies with my boyfriend at around six." He tripped on the sole of his shoe. Why hadn't he expected her to have a boyfriend? "You okay?"

It took him a second to realize she was talking about tripping over his shoe. "Yeah, I'm fine."

She stared at him skeptically. "Oh yeah, I'll apologize in advance if I can't answer any texts. And if you really need help, I can always come over after the movie, okay?" In response, he nodded.

He knew he wouldn't be texting or calling her, but it was still reassuring to know that if he did, she would be there as soon as possible. They parted ways at the fork in the long hall. She waved to him with a smile and he nodded to her in a small response. He probably would never admit it, but he was glad she was his friend.

___

Alia stood outside her front door at five fifty-three, fully expecting Alex to be here by now. If they didn't leave soon, they wouldn't be late but they probably wouldn't get good seats.

For the tenth time, she checked the time on her phone. Maybe there was traffic the way he came? It was possible, but she didn't think it was likely. The route he usually took was almost always void of any cars.

She tapped her foot nervously as vicious thoughts invaded her mind. What if he'd gotten into an accident on his way to get her? Or what if he'd gotten mugged when he stopped at a gas station?

Or what if he-- "Hey," Alex stood in front of her, a smile slipping from his face when he saw her worried expression. "What's wrong?"

Instead of telling him what she had really thought, she crossed her arms and huffed, "You're late."

A smile eased back onto the lips she'd kissed a thousand times over. "Sorry," He pecked her lips quickly. "I had to stop at a gas station or else I probably wouldn't have gotten here at all."

She kept her arms crossed with a completely fake expression of annoyance. With a smile, Alex began peppering her face with gentle kisses. Quickly, the fake annoyance turned to genuine happiness.

Satisfied, he began to pull away from her grinning face. Before he could, however, she placed her hands on his shoulders and pulled him to her. They smiled against each other's lips. He rested his chin on her head and told her, "You look beautiful, Al."

"I always look beautiful." She said confidently from under his chin. Alia could feel him smile. With a gentle smile, she said, "Thank you." Her cheeks burned every time he told her.

___

Across town from Alia's house, James sat in the apartment at a small round table in the corner of their kitchen helping his sister with her homework. He stared at the simple addition on the page, his head in his hand as he watched her write oversized numbers in the blanks after the equation.

"Is that right?" Lisa asked while pointing at the problem she'd just finished. With a glance at the large printed six next to 3+3 he nodded.

"Good job, Champ." He gave her head a gentle pat as a kind of reward for her work. She giggled at the interaction. "Was that the last problem?" She nodded enthusiastically. "Then put it in your bag and get in the shower, cool?"

"Kay!" She hopped from her chair and ran in the direction of her room.

He sat on the couch and heard the shower running when the sound of thunder shook the complex. James checked the time on his phone. 6:06 it read. He wondered what Alia was doing.

Then he remembered. She'll probably be at the movies right now with her boyfriend. He rolled his eyes and jumped a train in Subway Surfers a few seconds into the game.

He sighed. I hope she's having a good time, at least.