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“Desmond Brewer and… Jeremiah Stillwater. You two will be working on…” The rest of his history teacher's words drowned in his thoughts. He was partnered with Desmond. In arguably his worst subject. This was going to be a disaster.
He looked to Madison for help. She’s the only one who knew of his crush, or who knew for a fact he was gay. She just grinned and gave him two thumbs up. This was going to be the worst disaster known to man.
He looks at Desmond next, who was already looking at him. This was going to be a disaster. He could barely function from making eye contact with the boy, how was he supposed to make actual conversation?
Jeremiah had thought about this moment for years. The moment they would finally talk. He had been in love with Desmond Brewer since his freshman year, the first time he saw the football player in the hallway he fell head over heels. And yet, a year and a half later, he hadn’t even uttered a word to his crush.
Desmond gave him an awkward smile, gathered up his stuff and moved to sit in Madison’s seat next to the aspiring priest. When had she moved? Why would she move? How could she abandon him at a time like this? Who was she even partnered with? He hated her at this moment, full of resent he cast the meanest glare he could muster at the back of her head.
The clearing of a throat caught his attention. Desmond had been talking and he wasn’t paying attention. Desmond Brewer was talking to him, and he hadn’t paid any attention. “So? What do you think?”
“I’m sorry, could you repeat what you said.” Jeremiah signed his fate in red sparkly pen. Desmond already was annoyed at him.
The older boy sighed, “I was just asking if we should do…”
He looked so pretty right now. The morning sun that had barely risen over the school building caught in his hair just right to make it look bright ginger. His blue eyes were dark, a mix of hazel near the pupil. Jeremiah could see every feature from this close.
“Okay dude. I get if you don’t want to help me on the project, but please don’t look at me like ‘m stupid. Okay?” Shit. He zoned out and missed what he was saying again. He was the worst partner for a project in the world.
He couldn’t even reply, all the words stuck in his throat. He was scared if he opened his mouth, he would say something stupid about God or how good Desmond looked. So, he just nodded and faced forward. Peaking over at his partner’s paper to see what their project was even on, he started writing down everything he knew about it off the top of his head. He didn’t even know what the project was about. A poster? A diagram? A PowerPoint? This was going to be a disaster.
And it was! Desmond did most of the work in class, Jeremiah getting distracted either by him or just simply not knowing anything on the subject, or what they were supposed to be doing. He probably seemed like such a prick; he was such a prick.
Class was dismissed and he scrambled to get out of the class and away from his crush. Desmond definitely did not like him now and hell would freeze over before he would ever date Jeremiah.