I think that the thing that stood out the most about him was his gravity-defying hair.

Yeah, that was definitely it.

Pretty much everyone knew him. About 98% of the people that knew him hated him. The 2% were probably his mother, his friend (Crony, totally. He just stands behind him and stares at you.) Christian, and his ex girlfriend Samantha (I hate that bitch.). The rest of the population just didn’t like the guy—could anyone blame them? He was an ass. Not like just a normal asshole, you know, the one that has issues in his life so he’s a jerk now and then. No, this guy was like the epitome of being an ass. He loved messing with people. He had so much fun just being an ass to people.

Well...who could blame him?

He didn’t really know that I existed. I was ok with that. I mean, I’m not exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer at times. You know that guy in Blade Trinity who just never shuts up and never learns his lesson? Yeah, that’s me. I kind of look like him too.

Just kidding I totally don’t look anything like him.

So I was slightly happy that I’d never become a target for his tormenting. I’d never not let the smart things slip off my tongue and I’d never learn my lesson. He’d probably just eventually end up killing me just to shut me up. Not that I could blame him.

I was, again, observing him from afar. I secretly (Not! Everyone who knows me knows that I freaking stalk the guy.) was fascinated by him. The way he moved, the way he talked, his gorgeous green eyes and gravity-defying blonde and red hair. I idly played with a deck of cards in my hands, watching the sun catch in the sunglasses nestled in the almost eraser-head hairdo. You know Trigun, that anime? Yeah, his hair was kind of like Vash’s. (Yeah, I like comics, so sue me.) Only...hotter.

“You’re at it again, Avri?” I heard a tell-tale voice sing behind me. I didn’t remove my eyes from that button-up white shirt across the courtyard. A flash of porcelain skin—ooh, that was a bonus.

“Hello, Jett,” I said, doing a few Vegas style card shuffles in my hands, not paying attention to anything but him. I heard my brother sigh.

“You’re crazy, Avri,” he said, and I knew he was rolling his eyes. After seventeen years, three months, one week, a day, seven hours and approximately forty three seconds of living with my almost twin brother, I knew him well. (Almost twin brother as in we’re twins, but look absolutely nothing alike. Nor act alike at all.)

“I know this. So was our mother. She named you Jett and me Avri. Don’t you find that strange?”

“You say that every time I say you’re crazy, psycho.”

“Every time I’m crazy-psycho? No, as I recall, it’s simply when you call me just crazy.”

“Oh, shut the fuck up,” he said, but I knew he was grinning. I raised an eyebrow, finally averting my gaze from the wonder, icy blue eyes peering out of the corners of my eyes at my brother. Yes indeed, he was grinning his face off. I gave a small smirk and my eyes flickered back to their target.

“What’s so awesome about him, anyway?” Jett asked, throwing an arm across my shoulders and leaning his chin on my left one, looking with me. “He’s got weird hair.”

“You’ve got a weird face,” I mumbled, and he punched me in the arm, though still chuckling. We never fought—as our mother used to say, “With you two, it’s like getting mad at yourself—you just don’t want to.”

“But seriously, bro,” he replied, poking me in the ribs, earning a twitch. “What’s the big deal about that guy? He’s an ass.”

“Just because he shoved you into a trash can on the first day of school doesn’t mean that I have to hate him.”

“But, but,” he said, pulling the puppy dog eyes card on me. Ooh, fast one, he was. “You’re my big brother—“

“Oh yeah, by like four minutes.”

“—And you’re supposed to be morally obligated to dislike those who pick on your baby brother!”

“Am not,” I muttered, ignoring his logic. I didn’t care, he was fascinating, and I liked watching him.

The puppy dog face split into a dry expression. “Oh, fine, be a butthead.”

“That would be extraordinarily disgusting.”

I just knew that he’d rolled his eyes again. “Well, I’m gonna catch the subway home, you got money for yours too?”

“Yeah, I’m all good.”

“Ok. Later Avri.”

I heard him walk away and I sighed deeply, glancing at my watch for an instant. Maybe I should get something to eat before I went home. I glanced down at the cards in my hands. They were getting slightly old and sticking. I needed new ones too. Might as well grab some chow along with a new deck.

I stood, brushing off my jeans and turning. My eyes glanced over one more time before I stepped out of the courtyard entrance I was at and onto the busy city street. I went to the right, the direction he’d been in, but I was going to stop at the nearest place that had sushi.

I think that the first moment he noticed my existence was when he stepped out of the other courtyard entrance just in front of me, and we lurched to a stop a centimeter from each other.

For half a moment, my ice blue eyes stared into his emerald green ones, the closest they’d ever been. I rarely saw him up close.

Luckily, I’ve always had quick reactions, and took a step back. “My apologies,” I said, stepping around him, feeling both extremely privileged and also terrified.

Little did I notice as I walked away the pair of green eyes glued to the back of my head.

--

It was a normal day for me—catching glances between classes of an eraser head, halfway focusing in classes, entirely focusing in French, eating something Asian or unhealthy for lunch. The usual routine.

The school had just let us out, and I’d immediately taken off to my tree. I didn’t know many people, and I mostly just hung out with my brother, when I hung out with anyone. Which, usually, I didn’t. I was a “solo psychotic stalker,” as my brother so affectionately called me. He was the only person remaining in the world that knew me at all. No one else had bothered.

I flipped open my new book, already two chapters in. After school, my brother generally went home or hung out with the gazillion people he knew, and I almost always read, went to the small park near our apartment, or wandered, finding new little Asian things to put in my room. I liked the style, that was all. Interested me.

The sun was very bright that day, so I found it odd when a shadow was suddenly cast over myself and my book. I blinked, glancing up.

Holy. Shit.

“Hey, it’s Avri, right?”

I was still staring. Blonde and red hair.

“Hello?”

Green eyes.

“You are Avri, right?”

“Oh!” I said, suddenly standing way to quickly. My head spun and I grabbed the tree trunk behind me as my vision swam, the blood rushing from my head. “Yeah, that’s me, sorry,” I said, my vision coming back as I squinted at him—just about the same height.

“I’m...Neal...” he said, giving me and my hand a weird look. My hand just stared back.

“Oh, hi,” I said, sounding stupid. I grinned to cover it up. Nope, grins don’t work for me. They work for him, but they don’t work for me.

“Right.” He blinked a few times. “I almost ran into your at the courtyard downtown yesterday, right?”

“That you did,” I said, nodding.

“Oh. Well, I recognized you from around I guess. I asked your brother about where you hung out.”

“You asked Jett?”

“That’s his name? Uh, yeah, I did.”

“Well,” I said, still in awe of the heavenly beauty standing before me, his gravity-defying hair taunting me. I wanted to touch it...so bad. “How can I help you?”

“Yeah, about that...” he said, eyes trailing off. I finally looked around the rest of the world, spotting megabitch and crony standing a ways off behind him. Hissss. “I wanted to know if you’d like to go grab an ice cream with my friends and I.”

Wait, what? “Wait, what?” I said, voicing my thoughts.

“Yeah...” he said. He said that a lot. Well, who was I to blame him? “I know, it’s weird, I usually don’t like getting along with people, but you seem cool.”

I stared for half a second before nodding. “YeahsureI’dloveto.”

“Uh, what was that?” he said. “Slow down.”

“Yeah, sure I’d l-love to,” I said, staring like a total idiot.

“Alright well...we’re taking the subway downtown so...let’s go!” He turned and I followed after him as we approached megabitch and crony.

“Well, this is Christian,” point to crony, “and Samantha.” Point to megabitch.

“I’m Avri,” I said, attempting not to sound flaming gay. Because, you know, I am.

“That’s a cool name,” Samantha said as we started walking. I did a double-take. Didn’t this girl call me a skankface hoebag in the eighth grade?

“Thanks...” I said, perplexed. We came to the subway and all got on, me sitting awkwardly between gorgeous and crony as we went on our way. I started to get nervous and reached into my pocket, pulling out my new deck of cards and sliding them out to break them in. I quickly started doing some really hard and complicated shuffling tricks, as featured in Las Vegas. The conversation between megabitch and gorgeous soon terminated, all three staring at my hands, myself totally not paying attention and staring into space as I played with the cards.

“How do you do that without looking?” I blinked and looked up, Neal’s beautiful eyes wide as he stared at me in awe.

“Huhwhat?” I said, snapping back into the reality. I looked down. I realized I’d just been doing a few simple riffles and bridges, but then I’d done a triple cut and a one handed shuffle. “Oh, sorry,” I mumbled, sliding the cards back together expertly and putting them in the sleeve.

I watched them stare at me. “What?”

“You’re like really good,” Samantha said.

“Thanks,” I replied quietly. Before anyone could say anything else, we were at our stop and out the door. I snuck a look at Neal’s ass. Damn.

The three friends split off into their conversation and I walked just behind them, fiddling with my watch, pretending that this wasn’t awkward.

Then again, I was always involved with awkward conversations. I usually created them. Why was this so different?

I glanced up as we approached a small ice cream shop. It was cute, tucked away in the corner. I blinked and stared at it for a moment, digging out my wallet.

The other three ordered and I stepped up, asking for a small strawberry sundae. I glanced over at the three, Samantha distracted by the guy behind the counter, Christian already having at the decadent chocolate contraption he had in his hand, and Neal...staring back at me, with a small smile. I blinked before turning away, feeling an unfamiliar heat rise in my face. I paid and carried my sundae over to where the three of them were now lounging—a public bench outside the shop. I sat myself cross-legged on the ground, sneaking glances at gorgeous as the three conversed.

“So, Avri right?”

I blinked. Christian was speaking to me. “Yeah,” I replied.

“How come you never chill with anyone at the school?” He raised his eyebrows, and I realized he was trying to be friendly with me.

“People, in general, are strange creatures, and some of their stupidity annoys me, so I simply avoid it.”

“Well, that makes sense,” Neal said with an amused snort. “That’s what I do, except I try to get them to never try to reach out to me.”

“So that explains it...” I muttered, but luckily, no one caught it. I raised my eyebrows to myself and finished off the sundae with record speed, chucking it with an ex basketball player’s accuracy into the trash can. “Woosh,” I mumbled very quietly, ice blue eyes flickering up to those above me. Neal raised an eyebrow at me with a smirk and I shrugged, smiling lightly back.

Time passed quickly, myself getting into light conversations. We finally made our way back to the subway. Samantha got off first, then Christian.

Leaving me and Neal...alone.

“You’re an odd guy, Avri,” he said, glancing over at me as I did the side riffle with the cards in my hands.

“I know,” I replied, doing a triple cut before putting the cards away.

“Haha, nice answer,” he replied with a grin, leaning back and putting his hands behind his head. I sent a smile over at him.

“So, I’ve been meaning to ask,” I said, shoving the neatly ordered cards into my pocket. “Why did you invite me? I didn’t think you knew I existed.”

“Why?” Neal said, smiling brightly. “I don’t know...you finally caught my attention? I finally started thinking a little bit? I mean, I’ve seen you around, everyone sees you around, but no one but your brother really knows you. Did you know that almost all the girls and half the boys have a small crush on you at that school?”

“Do they really?” I replied with an amused expression. “I’d never noticed.”

“Funny. You’re attractive, especially your eyes,” he said. I felt that heat rise in my face but I pretended it didn’t exist. Cause that totally works, right?

“Thanks,” I said, as nonchalant as I could. Which wasn’t very.

“Sure,” he said, smirking. The subway let off the warning for the next stop—mine.

“Well, thanks for inviting me and for the company and all,” I said, smiling as I stood.

“Sure. Nice meeting you, Avri,” Neal said with a smile. “See you tomorrow.” I almost thought I saw him wink but blew it off as a figment of my psychotic and overactive imagination, waving and disappearing out the open doors.

I worked my way up to the air of the city. Ahh, I wanted to go to China Town, or the bay...But Jett would be worrying already.

I sighed and took off in the direction of my home.

--

“What the fuck are you doing?”

I glanced up, an ear sticking out of my mouth. “...Eh?”

“God, Avri, sometimes I think that you’re such a fuckhead,” Neal said, snorting as he plopped down next to me.

“What?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. “I’m not allowed to eat an entire chocolate rabbit in twenty-four seconds?”

“You’re gonna get diabetes, you maniac,” Neal said, falling back to lay down on the grass in the small park down by my home. I admired the small inch of taut stomach now laying next to me, half raising an eyebrow before flicking my gaze up to his face, thanking the gods that he hadn’t noticed. He never noticed.

“Probably,” I replied with a shrug, finishing off the remaining ear and laying down next to him, looking at the clouds beyond the skyscrapers. He snorted and I glanced over, staring at his perfect face, blonde and red hair, beautiful green eyes. For three months had I been hanging out with Neal, Samantha, and Christian. They weren’t bad people, they just didn’t like other people. Not that I could blame them. I sighed lightly, wishing that something would just happen already. But no, Neal just wanted to be friends, and I knew that. I mean, he’d never said that, but he’d never really done anything implying otherwise, so I just watched in silence, wondering if he even knew that I was gay.

As gay as it gets, as Jett always said.

“You going to try to get to Vegas some day?” Neal asked out of the blue. I looked over at him, staring at me.

“Maybe,” I said, quickly changing the object of my focus so that I wouldn’t get all flustered. “I’d like to.”

“That would be cool. I’d come and visit you. It’s our last year, at last.”

“Would you really come and visit?” I asked.

“Duh. I’d have to come and play at the casino you’d be working at, see if I could beat you in a game of cards.”

“In your dreams,” I said, reaching forward and seemingly flicking a card out from behind his ear. He suddenly got full on eye contact with me, and I felt my heart flutter. I turned away.

A comfortable silence fell between us, or what appeared to be comfortable. Probably was for him, but not for me. My heart was pounding, my brain spitting out thoughts at me that I didn’t want to hear. Why can’t you ever be normal, Avri?

“I gotta go,” I said, suddenly sitting up. He looked at me, raising an eyebrow.

“You never have to,” he said, sitting up also. “You never have anything to do, you always say that.”

“Jett wanted help with something,” I half lied, hating it the moment it slipped out. I didn’t like lying, especially not to Neal.

“Well, alright,” Neal said with a shrug. “I’ll head home.”

“Ok,” I said quietly. “Bye.”

“See ya,” Neal said as he stood, walking away and waving a hand lazily over his shoulder.

Not even to my own surprise, a tear slipped down my cheek as he walked away.

--

“What’s tearing you apart, bro?” Jett said, invading my field of vision. In fact, almost the entire field, sticking his face where the book was so I couldn’t read.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said smartly, snapping the book shut and standing up, walking to my room.

“Liar!” Jett sang, following me. “I know you better than that. You always acted like this when mom died too, and before that, when dad left. So stoic, not your usual, funny self. So tell me what’s wrong.”

“Shut up, Jett,” I said, letting my head drop against the top of the window as I stared out at the busy streets beneath me. He ‘hmph’ed behind me but I ignored him. I heard his footsteps pad away and I glanced under my arm, seeing him now working in the kitchen. I sighed and turned, walking into my room and closing the door. I stood in front of my dresser, gazing at the picture of a pretty blonde lady with ice blue eyes. “Mom...what do I do?” I asked quietly, setting the book down next to the picture. “I don’t know how to fix this.”

I stared at the picture for a few more seconds until I gave up, throwing myself onto the bed, sighing deeply and letting the tears silently flow.

--

“I have to transfer...”

I stared. No. No no no. Not now. Don’t...do this to me.

I wanted to scream it at him, so bad. I wanted to make it all his fault. But I couldn’t. I couldn’t even let the words out.

“I’m finishing my senior year in Utah. I...I’m sorry, Avri.”

Why? Why why why? I didn’t get it. He was the first one to reach out to me, to actually talk to me. I couldn’t let the gorgeous boy with green eyes leave. I just couldn’t.

But I had to.

“You...have a good rest of your year. And life. It was really nice to be your friend, Avri.”

I hate myself for not being able to say anything. I just nodded and cast my gaze away. I just let my tears fall, time and time again, the moment he turned away and left. I just cried and cried.

-Five years later-

“Hit me.”

I resisted the urge to chuckle. This tourist—he had twenty and here he was, telling me to give him another card.

I dealt him another card and he let out a very colorful string of words. I let out a small snicker, and he didn’t catch it between his curses.

“Are you certain you know how to play this game, honey?” his wife asked him, raising an eyebrow.

“Of course I’m sure!” he snarled, and put in another bet. From the corner of my eye I saw a new player saunter up to the table and settle himself in. I dealt the cards. The tourist from before let out another string of curses, so loud that I almost didn’t catch “blackjack,” uttered from the new player.

I glanced up, my icy blue eyes colliding with brilliant green. My breath hitched in my throat, but only for a moment. I knew those eyes.

“Good play, sir,” I said, getting over the surprise externally quite quickly. He thanked me as a new dealer came up behind me, tapping my shoulder. “You’re off, Avri,” he said, and I nodded, turning and leaving the table. A man with green eyes followed me.

“You know, after not seeing me for five years, I figured you might at least say hi,” I heard a cocky voice say. I turned, finally getting my wits about me.

“You’re a big, fat, ass!” I blurted out, saying the words I’d wanted to say since the day when we got ice cream and he told me about how he hated people.

“Well that works too, I guess,” he said with a grin, sauntering up in his special unique way, the way I’d memorized over the many times I’d watched him, the many times he’d walked with me to the subway. “How are you, Avri?”

God, he was so handsome. Even more so than high school.

“I live in Las Vegas,” I said, biting my lip nervously as I paused. “I’m a dealer part-time and I do tricks the other time. I live in a posh condo near the casino. I’m working my way up through the ranks, I live with gourmet food and the best wine, but I’m always alone in my condo, despite the many offers, and I’m fucking miserable.”

“Honesty is a good thing,” Neal said, raising his eyebrows, seeming surprised. “So why do you turn down offers?”

“Because, I fell in love once, and I never fell out again, and the bastard moved away and broke my heart. I watched him, fascinated with him for months until he decided that he wanted to talk to me, and not five months after this, he left me. I always loved his eyes, and he never noticed the way I would stare at them or catch glances at him when he wasn’t looking. I always loved his ridiculous hair.”

“Did you?” he said, stepping closer, seeming surprised but going with it.

“Yes, I did,” I said. His hair was shorter now, but still with small red streaks in the blonde.

“Well, that’s good, cause I always loved the way you would stare at me and not think that I’d notice, or the way you stared at me before that, in the courtyard where you first saw me, and I went back every Tuesday and Thursday after that ‘cause I knew you were watching me, and I liked it. And then one day, I left, and you didn’t say anything, you just nodded and wouldn’t look at me, and as soon as I’d turned around, I started crying, wishing you’d tell me to stay, even though I couldn’t. So I came to Las Vegas like I said I would, and I’ve been in like fifty casinos looking for you, and I finally found you, you ass!” He promptly shoved me up against a wall, crashing his lips against mine with force.

“Hmph—mmmm...” I said, intelligently.

He broke after a few moments, hot breath fanning against my face. “So, you still live with your brother or can we have that posh condo all to ourselves?”

“Nah, he lives next door,” I said with a grin, and he immediately grabbed my hand, yanking me out of the casino and into the rest of my life.

He always did have a thing about defying gravity, and making me fly.

--

The last part seems rushed, huh? I always do that. I get all impatient. It’s a flaw, I need to work on it. Gahaha.

So, readers...review.

I’m not sure if this is a one-shot or a continued story yet. Enlighten me. Haha

-Jaws