Love You, Senior

Dean wakes up and sees Riley is still sleeping. He removed the duvet from Riley's face to wake him up but was shocked to see Riley's wide-open eyes and dark circles under them. 

"What's wrong with you man? You scared me." Dean yelled as he ran off the bed and stood away from Riley. For a second, Dean thought Riley was dead. 

Riley sat up in the bed and rubbed his eyes before crying,

" Waaaaaa!! I couldn't sleep a wink!! All night he kept coming in my dreams." 

Dean didn't need to ask about whom Riley was talking about. Of course, it was Miles. He didn't know what Riley saw, but in his dreams, Miles kept chasing Riley with two big knives in his hands to kill Riley. 

" Ah. Actually, I didn't see any dreams. I. I..." Riley wanted to tell the truth—that he had been thinking about Miles all night. Every time he tried to close his eyes, his mind dragged him back to Miles' memories, like how he touched his head and how he talked to him. When he brought him chocolates, when he took him to the infirmary, when he bought him food, and a lot more times when Miles was nice to him. And now, whenever he wanted to see Miles, he didn't even step out of the classroom; Miles would come to him with food. Miles even started talking to him nicely.

 "You don't need to tell me anything. I know what you are thinking. But stop it before you really fall for him." Dean said, coming near the bed and putting on his shoes. 

"I won't. You know why I'm doing all this." Riley said, looking down at his hands.

"And that's why I'm saying stop it. You've already wasted three months. In September, our tests are coming. You will fail if you don't study." 

" I will pass. You are worrying about nothing." Riley replied, looking at Dean.

" Yeah. I'm worrying about nothing. So go do whatever you like to do." Dean got up from bed. 

" You are going home?" Riley asked, seeing Dean pick up his jacket and mobile from the table. 

" Hmm. I have to go to school. You are going too, right?" Dean asked as he turned to look at Riley. 

" No." Riley shook his head."I'm tired. I don't think I will be able to concentrate on the lectures when I'm like this. So I'm going to stay at home and sleep all day." Riley said with a smile and fell back onto the bed.

"Even if you were okay, you wouldn't pay attention," Dean muttered, but Riley heard.

" Aye, don't say that. You know that I am such a studious student." Riley joked and pulled the duvet over his face. 

Dean shook his head, seeing Riley act like a child. 

"Okay. I'm going." Dean said, opening the door. 

" Wait." Riley pulled the duvet off his face and said, "Tell mom not to come to wake me up. My head is hurting." Riley touched his head, although it wasn't hurting at all. 

"At least don't lie to your mom," Dean said, getting angry. Riley's mom was really nice to Dean, so he didn't like to lie to her. 

"She believes you. If you don't say, she will drag me out of bed and send me to school, and you know my condition." Riley made a sad puppy face. 

Dean sighed. "Okay, I will tell Auntie. Bye." Dean closed the door behind him and went downstairs. 

Riley closes his eyes, thinking that now he would get some sleep. But, of course, it wasn't going to happen. 

*** 

(At The School) 

Miles came to Riley's class because he didn't see Riley anywhere, and moreover, Riley didn't come to him even once all day. There was a time when Miles didn't like to see Riley's face, but now he feels something off if he doesn't hear Riley's voice or see his face.

Miles looked around Riley's class but didn't see Riley anywhere. But in the last, in a corner, Miles saw Dean with his head bowed on the desk. Miles walked up to him and patted his shoulder. 

Dean clenches his eyes even more tightly. He doesn't want to open his eyes and see the devil. In fact, he had already seen Miles by the time he entered the class and thought that he had come to beat Riley, but as Riley didn't come today, maybe it will be his turn. 

"I know you aren't sleeping, so raise your head," Miles said, patting Dean's shoulder once again. 

Dean slowly raises his head and looks at Miles before looking away. 

"I didn't do anything senior. I don't know anything." Dean immediately covered his face with his arms, so Miles wouldn't hit him. 

"Why are you hiding your face? Don't be afraid; I won't hit you." Miles said as he sat next to the dean on the desk. Miles didn't know that he had such a bad image that even when he comes to talk to someone, they think he was there to beat them. 

Dean lowered his arms and saw Miles sitting so close to him. It almost gave him a heart attack. 

"Brother, why are you sitting here? I mean...let me get out, then you can have the whole desk." Dean said, getting up from his desk. He was ready to run away from there. 

"I told you. I won't do anything to you. Tell me where your friend is." Miles asked in a calm tone. 

Knowing Miles is there for Riley and won't do anything to him, Dean sat down in his seat. 

" Ah, well...he is sick." Dean lied.

"Huh? Sick? How? He was just fine yesterday." Miles asked as he thought about Riley's smiling face from the other day. 

" Yeah. He just got sick last night." Dean said, hiding the fact that all night they were playing video games, and because Riley couldn't sleep well last night, he thought to take a leave. 

"Okay. I go then." Miles got up from the desk and walked out of the class. 

Dean took a sigh of relief and put his hand on his heart. He felt like he was going to die today. 'But thinking that Miles had come to see Riley, it seemed not only Riley but also Miles had fallen into the trap of love.' Dean thought to himself and smiled.

***

Riley sat on his bed, and now the dark circles under his eyes were even darker—there had been no change. Although from morning to evening he tried to sleep, he couldn't close his eyes even for a half minute. His mom told him to do something else if his head was okay, but Riley was feeling too tired and his eyes were hurting to do anything. 

It was five in the evening, and Riley was playing a video game with his wide-open eyes. Although he couldn't concentrate on the game, he still played, hoping it would help him fall asleep, but it didn't work.

After a while, Riley's cell phone rang. He picked it up and saw an unfamiliar number. He still accepted the call and answered it. 

" Hello." 

" Hello. Are you okay?" 

" Who?" Riley asked. 

"Miles." From the other side, a gentle voice came. 

Riley's wide eyes became brighter, and he was overjoyed.

"Yes, I feel much better now," Riley said with a smile, feeling the urge to go to bed. 

"Oh, that's good then. I just... called you to ask this," the voice said. "Okay, bye then." 

"Yeah, bye... and love you, senior," Riley said, quickly hanging up the phone before falling back on the bed.

Miles heard it, and he felt like throwing the phone on the floor. He was so worried about this boy, and he was talking nonsense. Miles was angry, but he didn't dislike it. Somewhere in his heart, he liked this much attention from Riley.

Miles put his phone in his pocket and walked outside to the garden, where his mother was drinking evening tea and enjoying the beautiful sunset.

Miles sat down on the chair in front of his mother and looked at the flowers his mom planted last time.

" What happened to you? You look worried," Mom asked, putting the cup down on the table and looking at Miles. 

"Nothing much. A student from junior class is bothering me." Miles spoke with a sad face. 

As soon as Mom heard that, she started laughing. She knew what kind of reputation Miles had in school, and according to that, not even senior students from other classes could dare to touch him, and here he was saying that a junior was disturbing him. 

Miles sighed as his mother didn't believe him. How she can laugh when her son tells her his problem.

"Oh, don't make such a joke, I can't stop laughing." Mom laughed more. 

"But I'm not joking. I'm serious!" Miles almost yelled. 

"But I'm not joking. I really like you." The words Riley said echoed in Miles' head right after he spoke. 

'What is this?....can it be that... he is serious? Does he really like me? No, no, no, that can't be possible. He just loves to bother me.' Miles thought to himself. 

Miles looked at his mother, and she was drinking her tea quietly. She was surprised when Miles yelled. Usually, he doesn't get angry so easily, and even when he does, he never speaks so loudly to her. 

"I'm going."Miles got up from the chair, but before taking a step away, Miles turned around and said, "I'm sorry, mom." and took his leave. 

His mother was now more surprised; she was wondering if Miles was okay. He never said sorry before. 

***

Miles came back to his room, thinking about what Riley had said to him.

"He doesn't need to think about his bully," Miles said to himself. For Miles, Riley was a bully who bothered him with his nonsense. 

Miles lays on his bed, and his mind races to what it would be like if he really dated Riley, like it would be something new. He had never dated a guy before, and about girls, yeah, only once, and after that, he had never gone out with anyone. But here this boy, Riley, kept dangling with him, saying the same words again and again. He didn't know what to do with him, but he was happy that, after so long, someone was interested in him.

" But we can't date; we both are boys," Miles said to himself. 

Miles immediately sat up on his bed and said, "But what's wrong with that? There are so many boy-boy couples out there." It was as if he was fighting with his thoughts. 

"Wait, what I'm saying Date me and him? Haha, haha, haha. No way. That's so funny." Miles falls back on the bed and keeps laughing. 

On the other side, Riley was sleeping soundly, with a slight smile on his face. It was as if, after chatting with his senior, he got the satisfaction he wanted and could sleep with peace of mind.