r i s i n g

Was he avoiding the room? No. He wanted to think he was instead avoiding this city that smelled bad and was too busy. He’d grown up in a city and hopped from city to city on his way to Boston, but there was a reason he’d gone right past New York City. It was too expensive, too dirty, and he didn’t understand the parking rules.

With a six-pack of beer resting in a small cooler next to him, he was content to stay alone and do some schoolwork. He was trying to fill out his final required literature elective and it was honestly a worse experience than some of the toilets he’d had to plunge at Turing. When he heard someone else walk on the deck, he was eager to close his book and actually be the one to start a conversation. “How’re your lectures and shit going?”

Ines quickly took a peek at her phone to see what time it was and she discovered it was actually later than she thought it was. It shouldn’t have surprised her, since it happened more often than not, especially nearing publication day. “Uh- yeah, if it’s not too out of your way,” Sal already knew her apartment on Phillips Steet after he helped her with her Christmas tree, but Ines still had no idea where he lived. She appreciated his offer for a ride but she didn’t want to make him drive around the city if he happened to be heading in an opposite direction. “Or, you know, I could give you a hand with this stuff. As a thank you for the ride,” she offered, tilting her head to whatever bulky stash of things was under the tarp. Sure, she wasn’t nearly as tall or strong as he was, but an extra pair of hands might be helpful to him.

“It’s no problem,” he insisted quickly. He looked at the tied on tarp and shook his head. “No, I’m all set.” He moved to open the passenger side door for her, trying to get off the topic of what he was hauling as soon as possible. “Staying late for The Epigram?”

Christmas with Sal had been lovely, even with the not so subtle comments from her aunts that ‘her friend’ was a looker and she really shouldn’t let that one get away. It hadn’t been toom embarrassing, she supposed, because even after being expose to Ines’ family, he had still reached out a few times for them to get lunch or coffee when he had some free hours to spare from work and his studies. And honestly, every new time she met with him, it was further confirmed for Ines that she liked him. She didn’t just like him as a person, she liked him liked him. It was a little unnerving and exciting, because- goodness it had been quite a while since she last felt this drawn to someone else.

She worked the late hours, as usual, making sure everything was ready for the next issue of The Epigram, which would be printed and publised online in just two days. After all those final revisions were done, Ines walked through an empty Turing Academy, ready to head home. That was when she spotted Sal, hauling something large into his truck. From where she was she couldn’t quite see what it was, and then he just covered it, tyding a tarp to his truck. “Hi,” she greeted with a smile. “What are they making you move now?” she asked with a soft chuckle, not envying whather he’d been tasked to do. It looked bulky and like it was a lot of stuff.

“Uh, just some old stuff,” he replied vaguely. He tugged a little tighter on the tarp to make sure it would stay in place before looking around the parking lot. “Do you need a ride home?” It was late enough that he was concerned about her walking home or even taking public transportation. He figured what he had could wait a little longer before he dropped it off at Jonah’s, and the tarp would keep it secure - and hopefully out of Ines’s view enough that she didn’t ask more questions. He wanted to talk to her, wanted to help her, but he didn’t feel comfortable giving her any details on what he was helping with. He couldn’t. 

“Yeah…” she sighed. It seemed like a massive hit of bad luck that their little sanctuary was about to be demolished to build some shiny, new building. “Well… some of us aren’t thinking of staying with our arms crossed,” Elena mentioned with raised eyebrows. It wasn’t so easy to persuade someone into- well, steal stuff from the academy. And Sal already had a record, so if anyone had to be careful in case they got caught, it was him. So she didn’t actually try to sell the idea to Sal, she just briefly went over the fact that she’d just met with a few members of the group and that Jonas had suggested they move the equipment to his apartment. He was their resident tech guy, mastermind of the hardware and all, so in a way it made sense. And being a rich kid, he had the space to spare, probably. “What do you think? You want to help?”.

Sal didn’t say anything at first, though the tone already had him feeling uneasy. Had June said something? The school probably didn’t actually even know all of what was in that old building, they wouldn’t know if some old computers were missing. He could even maybe forge a paper about donating it all to somewhere that recycles old technology. 

No, he couldn’t be doing that. He didn’t want a paper trail, nothing that might lead him right back to the reputation he’d been running from for years. The mention of Jonah’s apartment did nothing to settle his nerves, and he remained there still as a stone until she was done talking. “I don’t think the school’s going to miss anything,” he said finally. He needed the Grid. Thinking of it now, all he wanted was to go back in. It’d been too long. But there’d also be no shot at it again if the computers were gone or destroyed. “Anyone else got a car?”

@the-epigram​

Even living under the same roof, Elena and Sal had been having only brief interactions lately. Their schedules didn’t quite match and most days they only saw each other for dinner, a brief chat, and then they both headed to bed after exhausting days. “Hey,” she waved a hand from where she was and jogged a pair of meters to reach Sal’s side. With her pursuit of dancing at the Boston Conservatory and no longer a Turing student, the members of the group pretty much knew that if she was around the academy it was Grid-related. And it surely was this time. “Have you been keeping up with The Epigram?” she asked. “Because they publushed Turing Laboratory will be demolished,” she pursed her lips. The news had been shared recently and that had been the reason of the meeting she’d just had with Shadia, Jack and Jonas.

Sal frowned and nodded. “Uh, yeah, I got the notice about the plans,” he admitted. “I don’t...” It’d been some time since he’d actually had a few hours to spare to go to the old computer room, even if he needed it now more than ever. “I don’t know what we should do.” He’d never been religious, but it seemed blasphemous to ruin this.

Ines smiled in response, giving a little nod. “Thanks. I had a great team this semester,” she mentioned, as it was in no way only her doing. There was both new talent and older members of the newspaper that had been accepting of the new direction in which Ines wanted to take The Epigram. It might take a while to completely erase the legacy Juliet left behind and the gossipy nature of the things that were published then, but at least things were going in a better direction now, at least according to Ines.

Her invitation had obviously taken him off-guard, though she hoped it wasn’t in an entirely negative way. She examined a nice medium-sized tree, absentmindedly running her fingers over the pine needles, waiting for a reply. She’d messed up, hadn’t she? Asking him to come with her to a family thing was probably a bit much, and he was just trying to think of some polite way to say no. She turned to him when he spoke and she quickly assessed the tree he picked. “A very nice tree,” she nodded, chucking a little because both of them were more on the clueless side of ‘Christmas tree picking’, and were kind of just playing it by ear here. “It’ll be okay, don’t worry about that,” Ines assured him, momentarily reaching out to touch his forearm. “The more the merrier, right? And you can stay as long as you want, Sal. My aunts serve a second round of desserts and the ponche around midnight and trust me, you wouldn’t want to leave before that,” she told him in hopes that he wouldn’t feel like he would be unwanted there. Being Ines’ guest, she was certain her family would be welcoming towards him.

Sal was already starting to worry. He took a deep breath when she reached out to touch his arm, almost missing in the moment her touch. “I don’t know what that is, but sounds good,” he admitted. He reached out to grab the trunk of the tree she’d been eyeing. “If you need help hauling it, I’ve got room,” he told her. If she was offering her family’s home on Christmas, he figured he should offer something in return.

Before he’d even looked away from the tree, a new worry gripped his mind. It’d be impossible to set aside, he knew it. “Do they, uh, read what you write? In The Epigram? Your family?” His worries tumbled over themselves so much he found himself trying to catch up with them. Maybe he should come up for an excuse to not show up later. He didn’t want her family thinking he was some loser she was bringing to the holiday out of pity.

Ines couldn’t help but chuckle a little. Seeing the decorations around campus she could only imagine. “Maybe I should cover that story,” she joked, glancing towards him before her focus returned to the trees around them, casually looking around, not really paying enough attention to each one to begin the selection process. “I don’t know if there’s like- I don’t know, ‘a method’” she air quoted, “I think we just choose the one we like, shape-wise”. If there was more to the criteria behind picking a Christmas tree, she had no idea. Based on what Sal had told her about himself it didn’t surprise her much to hear he didn’t have family in Boston. Ines rolled her lips and for a moment there she could nearly hear her own heartbeat in her ears, but she dared to ask what crossed her mind at that moment. “Would you maybe want to spend Christmas with me?”. She turned to Sal, gauging whether or not it had been a screw up to ask him that. “We’re having a small get-together. I won’t cook so I can assure you the dinner will be good,” she smiled, hoping to make light of the situation even though she was feeling some internal nervousness coursing through her whole body because, well… she was kind of putting herself out there for a guy she liked and his rejection would be a disappointing outcome. “I hope it’s not weird of me to ask, since holidays can be this big thing or are about family and whatnot. I just- I don’t think you should spend them alone”.

Sal smiled slightly as he looked from a tree back toward Ines. “Uh, I read some of the stuff from the Epigram this semester. It was really good.” He didn’t have a very good or critical eye when it came to writing, but he did like that the newspaper seemed a little less...gossipy. He nodded as she recalled her family picking out a Christmas tree, letting out a quiet sigh of relief that he wouldn’t disappoint Elena if he brought home a tree he didn’t accidentally realize was a horrible choice. 

He’d just picked up a tree that looked promising when her invitation caught him off-guard. He didn’t look at her at first, not wanting to see some telltale sign that she was just asking as a courtesy and didn’t mean it. He hoped she meant it; but if she did, it came with a whole other slew of questions and concerns that holding a Christmas tree wouldn’t help him answer. “That’s really nice,” he said, pulling the tree a little closer. “So’s this tree, I think?” He looked the tree over before looking at Ines. She was smiling. That was good, right? “That would, um, that would be nice. If it’s okay with your family. I won’t stay long.”

Ines smiled and nodded, figuring the decorations she’d seen around Turing were his doing to some extent. “The academy looks lovely, by the way,” she mentioned, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. Who knew if anyone had praised his work or even thanked him for the holiday atmosphere he and the other staff members of Turing had created. “Yes. Some of my mom’s family is coming over and they do celebrate Christmas, so” she finished with a little shrug. Most of the Sari family was Muslim and Christmas wasn’t something they celebrated when they spent this season together, but her mother’s side of the family was another story. They lived for Christmas season, for the food, the drinks, the gifts and the family get-togethers. “Kind of a nice excuse to have some fun decorating”. Ines ambled towards the rows of trees, waiting for him to join her. “And you? What plans do you have for Christmas?”.

Sal smiled slightly and nodded. “Thanks, uh, don’t want to tell you what we spent on wreaths this year.” Considering all the shit - often quite literally - he put up with in maintenance, the holidays and decorating was often a nice respite from it all. When Ines started to walk more along the trees, he followed after her. “So do you have any idea what makes for a good tree?” he asked. His phone service could be spotty sometimes, and he didn’t want to be stuck standing looking between a tree and his phone, obsessing over the smallest thing. When she turned the question about plans back on him, he shoved his hands in his pocket and looked toward the ground. “Uh, just staying in. No family around here.” Sometimes he tried to go out to see his aunt, but his mother was still there. 

Hearing her name called by the familiar voice, Ines felt a little jolt of excitement. It had been quite a while since she had last seen or heard about Sal, with the exception those scattered times they saw each other at Turing and waved at each other from afar or the occasional text. But he’d been busy, she’d been busy, and their mobile conversations had a way of slowly dying out. Frankly, she’d never been too good at keeping in touch via texts or social media, but she’d given it a shot and try to stay connected with him.

 “Hi,” she grinned, stepping away from the tree she had been checking out to go over where Sal was. He looked good, with the confident aura of someone who had been doing well. Ines hoped she wasn’t wrong in her reading of him and that he had been gathering successes from his hard work. “Late to the Christmas decorating too?” she asked with a soft chuckle. It seemed like most people had gotten their holiday decorations almost as soon as the spooky Halloween theme ended, as every house, school and business in Boston started to look more like some winter wonderland both inside and out since November. “It’s so nice to see you,” she admitted. The part that she wasn’t sure she should admit so candidly was that she’d missed him.

Sal held his breath for a moment, unsure if she’d heard him or if she would respond with more than a wave and a nod. Just because he had time didn’t mean she did. Maybe she would be annoyed with him for losing contact with her, no matter the explanation. But she said hello back, and Sal felt some of the tension release from his shoulders when she asked him a question. “Uh, yeah, and this is my first time picking out a tree more than a foot tall,” he admitted as he ran a hand over the branch of a tree next to him. “Are you staying here for Christmas?”

@sal-rizzo​

The workload at the academy’s newspaper had finally slowed. The Epigram only had one last publication on Monday to wrap up the fall semester and they would go back to work on it until January 11th for their first edition of the 2021 spring semester. Everyone had worked within their deadlines and Ines was both proud and content with the sort of material they had been printing and sharing online for the past few months.

Ines was closing the office as she and Luisa Salazar, one of the freshman new additions to the newspaper, were the last two to walk out. “See you on Monday,” she said and the two parted ways, with Ines checking her phone to see if it was early enough to still catch the SoWa Christmas market on Harrison Ave. She recalled reading online that it closed at 6:00 so she hurried her pace to make that twenty-minute walk to the market shorter and still get a chance to look around and buy her Christmas tree without that much of a hurry.

For the last three months, Sal had been going nonstop. When he had a rare free weekend, he found himself usually just going to bed early. He’d joined the community college business honor society, suffered his way through a literature class, and started the process of eventually transferring to get his bachelor’s degree. All on top of getting a promotion. Once again, he’d been a second choice, but he’d take the higher pay as manager with the way tuition was sucking his savings dry. Despite the sudden collapse of his personal life, he didn’t have any regrets. but he could start to feel the strain of lacking personal relationships now that his exams were over and Turing was winding down.

It was the earliest he’d been able to get home in probably two months. There was no library or class to get to, and no extra hours to pick up. He was driving home when he saw the herd of people around some Christmas trees. He’d spent hours helping to decorate Turing, but there wasn’t a single Christmas decoration he’d contributed to the new apartment.

After parking, he texted Elena to tell her he was bringing home a Christmas tree. Without any real idea what to look for in a tree, he started to just pull some trees out and then set them back. There were so many people there, he wasn’t expecting to suddenly notice a familiar face in the crowd. “Ines?” So maybe he did have one regret about his diminished personal life.

@sal-rizzo​

After Sal and Elena moved to another apartment building, she saw less of him. These days the only place she ended up seeing him was when they went to the old computer room, so it was a bit of a surprise to see him by the entrance of The Epigram office. “Hey. What are you doing here?”. Though frankly, the hacker already had a mild suspicion what had led him to come here. Or rather, who.

Sal nodded when he saw June. “Uh...” He looked inside the office and adjusted the straps on his backpack unnecessarily as he considered her question. “Just stopping by.”