Page 26 of The Not So Super Hero
Zane came into the café, looking a smidge better than usual.Bailey assumed he finally passed out from lack of sleep, thus garnered a good night’s rest.Zane approached the counter.Bailey moved to retrieve Zane’s usual order while asking, “Are you feeling any better?”
Zane hummed, taking his beloved caffeine before he walked off to his usual booth.Bailey was glad he got some type of answer that wasn’t a grunt or a glare.Rather than study, he made his way over to Zane since there were no other customers.Sipping his coffee, Zane’s blue eyes peered over the cup with a glint of curiosity in them.
“At least break is coming up, so you’ll get some time off work, right?”Bailey inquired.
“Shouldn’t you be studying?”Zane asked, sitting his cup down.He crossed his arms and leaned back into the booth.Honestly, he looked ready to pass out right.If he did, Bailey was so drawing on his face.
“I’ve studied enough.”
Zane snorted.“With your luck?”
“You’re not meant to make college students panic more during finals week.”
Zane shrugged, smirking while he drank the last of his coffee.As he finished, a customer walked in.Bailey shouted he would be right with them, then pushed himself out of the booth.Zane got up, too.Before Bailey asked again if Zane was all right, the man did something unusual.He ruffled Bailey’s hair.Dare he think it, affectionately.It stopped as soon as it started, and Zane walked away while saying, “Good luck.”
Bailey stood in the center of the café like a total idiot.Did that really happen?It was more likely he had died.Surely Zane wouldn’t do something as nice as ruffle his hair or wish him luck.No way.He was dead.That was the only plausible explanation.
He would have continued standing there like a buffoon, but there was a customer who cleared their throat to get his attention.The flustered boy blushed, then ran behind the counter to ring them up.He wasn’t sure what the hell had just happened.Whatever it was, it made a colony of butterflies take up potentially permanent residency in his chest.
Apparently, finals did a similar thing to Bailey’s heart, though it wasn’t nearly as uplifting.Quite the opposite, in fact.His heart was ready to burst from sheer fear as he finished his last exam.He actually hesitated to turn the test in, questioning if his bad luck would come into play and he actually skipped circles…
“My luck will be the death of me!”Bailey cried outside the classroom when Amery finally joined him.
“Well, obviously.”Amery giggled after she leaned down to flick Bailey in the forehead.“But you did fine, Bailey.We studied our asses off, and I’m sure it paid off.”
Bailey’s face was currently planted on the hallway floor.He wasn’t sure why he thought that was a good idea, seeing as the amount of germs on his face was probably astronomical.However, he was in the middle of a crisis, so he didn’t care.
“I hate finals,” he said, pushing himself up before he brushed off his clothes.
“Ditto.”
Luckily, Bailey didn’t have tests on Friday.He had two days to finish packing up his belongings.Students had to leave by Sunday for their 6-week vacation.Amery and Ryan were already gone by Sunday, as were most of the students.Many left the moment their finals were done, leaving Bailey as one of the last students packing his car.He quadruple checked he had everything, making sure the most important things like his laptop, phone and charger were all in his vehicle.Once Bailey was sure he safely tucked away his belongings inside, he started up his car and backed up.Then his tire blew out.
“Tell me you’re joking,” he cried.
Nope.His back tire blew out.He checked it the other day, and it was fine!Now he had to get a new tire?!Circling his car, the opposite back tire was on the verge of blowing out too.Groaning, he pulled out his cell and searched for the nearest garage, only to discover that they were closed on Sundays.He slammed his head against his car once, twice, and a third time before slinking to the ground like a pile of goo.Why was he even surprised?Obviously, something had to happen because that was his life, but whatever, he would find a way out of it.
He already turned his room key in, and he wasn’t sure if they would give it back.What if they said no?Then he would have to sleep in his car because he really didn’t want to spend money on a hotel room.Bailey peered into the car windows to see that he wouldn’t be able to lean his seat back.There was no way he was sleeping sitting up.He had, like, a 4-hour drive home, so rest was kind of necessary.
As he searched for a way to save himself, a certain someone came out of the dorm doors that caught his attention.Zane rubbed his tired eyes while making his way to his own vehicle.In that moment, Bailey got an idea that he wasn’t so sure he wanted to go through with.When he looked back into his car though, and imagined the uncomfortable position he would sleep in, he decided, the hell with it, it was worth a shot.
“Zane!”Bailey called.
“What?”Zane asked, rubbing a tired eye.
“Uh, well, funny story.My tire kind of blew out and I turned my room key in.”
Zane’s movements stopped.Bailey assumed that was because he knew exactly where Bailey was going.Zane narrowed his eyes as if to challenge him to continue that sentence.Bailey was not one to back down from a challenge.
“I have no idea how to change a tire and I don’t have a spare.The garage is closed, so could I possibly stay with—“
“No.”
“Please, the garage opens in the morning.I’ll leave and get my tires changed as soon as I can!”
“No.”Zane walked towards his car.Bailey followed.
“You won’t even know I’m there.”
