⋇ ⋯ 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑜𝑛 𝑝𝘩𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑝𝑠.

‘ Do you want me to try and fix it? ’

‘ Alright... Look, I’m only going to ask you this once and it’d be peachy if you could tell me the truth ––––– –– Are you HIGH right now? ’

‘ That... Is yet to be seen... ’ He grits his teeth and turns back towards the garage door, laughing as he returns his gaze back to the woman. ‘ Uh, science club, mathletes, a young inventors initiative, I helped with the yearbook a little too, was on the badminton team, obviously that’s all OVER now though because highschool doesn’t last forever, no matter how much some people want it to, so this is just for fun. ’

‘ Well, you see, me personally? I LOVE it, but there’s this huge debate surrounding it so half of the time I keep my mouth shut... Which is pretty rare, in my case, but I don’t wanna’ get attacked for my pineapple-on-pizza beliefs! This’ll be pretty awkward now if you don’t like it, possibly signalling the death of this blossoming friendship, but hey, pineapple on pizza is great, it needs its defenders. ’

‘ No way, Emma, are you serious?! I’ve been looking for those pancakes for years, I thought they’d discontinued them or something, I tried cooking different recipes for forever but––––– –– This is amazing! Is that too much enthusiasm for some burnt burgers and freezer pancakes? ’

‘ Science makes the w o r l d go round! Makes things easier to understand. So... You haven’t wanted him to kiss you? Because I’m right 99% of the time and I’m pretty sure I was right about you having a thing for him. ––––– ––– So no running, what did you do? ’

‘ Not to be overly enthusiastic but green peppers? Were clearly genetically engineered to have the best flavor possible. Someone tried to tell me red were the best once, which is wrong! Obviously. I always get yelled at because I put w a y too many on. ’

‘ Let me think... Is the Hubble telescope just a telescope? No! Of course not, it means something, it does something incredible; so what about the kiss? I mean, it’s no secret to ME that you’ve been wanting Lou to plant one on you for the better part of the past year, but does he know? Did you tell him? Oh god... Did you run away? ’

The teen stood up so abruptly he thwacked his head nicely upon his hanging garage door, a loud yell sounding from his lips as he looked at her with a sheepish grin. “ Yeah! Yeah, solar panels––––– –– Or a knock-off version, anyway. I’m trying to figure out how create a similar energy output with cheaper materials, in turn reducing the COST of solar panels and hopefully increasing the amount of clean energy usage before we all end up ten feet underwater in twenty years time. ”

‘ They are high in saturated fats, enough saturated fats to cancel all the good stuff out, kinda’ stuff that gives you a total energy high for about five seconds and then! Kaput! Have you considered vegetables? ’

“ That... Doesn’t sound good, though I guess that’s a bit Captain Obvious of me, right? Wanna’ grab an ice-cream and talk about your existential teen life crisis? ”

The grin that spreads across his boyish features is hardly containable, the pride emanating from his sister, the one person he’s desperate for validation from, causing him to beam. “ Alright, alright! No more complimenting your brilliant volcano! –––– –– Genius? Maybe... I think prodigy might be more appropriate, we should save the ‘ genius ’ for when I get a Fields Medal! You’ll be in the audience for that, right? ...No, no, I get it, family feud isn’t the best backdrop for high school achievement, all ‘ Hey Mom, I won a prize, but by the way I told Emma first and I know you’ll hate that because you think she’s the reason my shitty Dad left! ’ –––– Sorry, I keep... Doing that, going too far, saying too much. Wanna’ tell me about your week? Catch up a bit more? ”

“ Yeah, yeah! Pinch it with your thumb and forefinger, tilt your head forward... See, you didn’t even need me! ” He offers a nervous laugh in return, bright hues glancing around their back garden as he considers the pros and cons of rushing inside to get some ice, “ come on, ” he places a tentative hand on her back, pushing her towards the house. “ You even know to ice it! I mean, what am I here for, right? ”

‘ I mean, it’s nothing, really! Just some... Stuff I threw together, last minute, kinda’ lame––– –– You’re really proud of me? Simulates, but you were close enough, what’s a letter, right? I bet your volcano was pretty cool though, painted all nice, food colouring, the works, I’d give it a gold medal, even though gold medals these days aren’t really gold but more of an alloy. –––– –– Mom? I haven’t really gotten around to it yet, I thought I’d tell YOU first. ’

He runs over, immense guilt lessening slightly when he hears her familiar, aggravated tone. ‘ At least you’re not dead! ’ He chimes cheerfully in an attempt to lighten the mood, eyebrows knitting together then relaxing in quick succession as she uncovers her nose. ‘ Not broken! Definitely not broken, thank god. Thank. god... You are bleeding a little though, here. ’ He shrugs off his hoodie, holding the fabric underneath her nose, ‘ it should stop soon, the average nosebleed lasts less than ten minutes. ’

‘ Me? In engineering? Yeah! Well, no, kinda’, I will be one day, just not today. What you’re not touching is a very important project I need to get a very important internship that may, or may not, decide if I’m destined to lead a life of eating stale Cheetos at 3am whilst crying over code, or if I’ll be living it up in a three storey mansion with fifty toilets, none of which my twin sister can use. Kidding, don’t tell her I said that. ’

‘ No! You do not touch that! Two semesters minimum of holographic engineering before you touch this! ’