Lime

-

Nothing was gonna be the same after this.

That was all Gary could think about as he sat perched on the edge of that ratty green couch, a thrilling buzz running up and down his legs in anticipation.

It hadn’t taken him long to come to this conclusion. Which was surprising considering how many hours he usually spent dwelling on one subject, how he’d turn the same thought over and over inside his head until he couldn’t tell where it had even started from. Jimmy had been one of those things at some point. A sudden newcomer threatening to erase and shift the set dynamics of his school. So of course Gary had been wary. Although that word didn’t come close to the sheer amount of sleuthing and narrowed inspections Gary had conducted on Jimmy since the moment he arrived.

He swallowed down the strange fullness in his chest, a gripping sensation that had refused to cease since that moron had started to treat him as if they knew each other. As if they could be anything more than destined opposites set polar to each other across time and people and being. Gary hates it, he thinks. Nothing about that squinty look Jimmy sometimes gives him, nor his increasingly casual initiation of touches, gave Gary any sort of enjoyment or camaraderie.

He tries to quell the sudden rush of heat to his face.

There wasn’t much longer until the truth would come to light. Soon Gary would reveal that he had known all along and had always been five, no, ten steps ahead of Jimmy. That the entire ploy of friendship and teamwork and all the lies he had carefully manufactured over the past few months would crumble apart and he’d finally get someone before they got him. He couldn’t wait to see the realization in Jimmy’s eyes. Then the malice Gary craved for the other to finally reveal.

He didn’t realize he had been muttering to himself until he heard Jimmy’s telltale heavy steps coming up from behind. There was an exhilarating and nervous rush that washed over him. His hands were shaky.

And when he turns his head to glance at Jimmy, that anxiousness drops hard into the pit of his stomach. Jimmy looks happy to see him. Gary hates it. No, he’s glad of it. It’ll make that inevitable fall all the more satisfying.

Ducking his head down hastily, he quickly gets up before Jimmy could fully reach him, rushing around and trying to get him to follow behind before Jimmy got a good look at Gary’s face. No doubt that his expression would give it away.