June
Everywhere I went, people stared.
Some smiled, some were uneasy, but most were scared looks.
I never had people look at me like that. Usually, people ignored my presence, but here, people seemed enthralled, even by the sound of my footsteps.
I leaned over to Hue.
"Why are they looking at me?"
"News spreads fast. I mean, Mina and her minions found you in the cottage. She probably exaggerated the story. Don't think about it too much. I'll clear up the misunderstandings."
"Who is Mina? That girl?"
"Her dad is the mayor of the city. Figures of all the people here, she would be the one to find you. Probably ran her mouth to her dad, so everyone thinks something weird."
It didn't matter much to me what she said as long as people didn't bother me in school.
Hue and his mom didn't seem to be bothered either. I was dragged along for hours buying everything I needed. I didn't know what half of it was, but I also didn't have a say in what got purchased. Clothes shopping was a whole new thing. We spent at least 2 hours there alone.
By the end of the day, the car was full.
Hue and his mom insisted I didn't carry anything "because I was their guest," but I knew it was because I was "sick." Although they only were saying it out of worry, it made me feel belittled; I was still capable. I'm still normal, a normal kid that can do anything a normal kid can do. I wasn't sick. I refuse to believe it. I'm fine. I started carrying bags of clothes and other items up and down the stairs.
They tried to stop me.
Keyword is "tried."
When it came to furniture, I forfeited. God knows I have no muscle; I was willing to admit that. I just put away clothes and organized my bathroom space. After all was said and done, huge boxes filled the room, and bags littered the floor.
Hue and I sat on the floor, trying to find where to start. It was 8 pm; we both weren't too tired, so we decided to build some furniture, at least something to fill the empty room.
We started with a desk.
"Ok," Hue stared at the instructions.
"So you need to put this and this together." He pointed at two separate stacks of wood.
"Which pieces??" I wasn't a builder by any means, but I would try.
"Uhm, L16 and L17 to start creating the base."
With Hue reading the instructions, I put together the four legs.
"Oh my god, I'm beat."
"We don't even have the actual top on the desk. It's just a rectangle with four legs and a hole in the middle."
"Good enough." I said.
"Sit up." He grabbed my arm and dragged me across the floor as I lay limp. Less work for me.
By putting the remaining pieces together, we somehow made a sturdy desk. We moved on to a bookshelf, finishing in 45 minutes flat, and then on to a chair. It was 10:30 when I started to feel sleepy, but Hue was enjoying himself. I smiled and watched from my bed until I fell asleep completely.
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Hue
It was 10:30 when I realized June was slowly getting more tired by the second. I pretended not to notice and let him lie down on his bed. He intently watched with a slight smile on his face. When I realized he was asleep, I watched for a moment. His dark hair fell perfectly on his face; his hands rested by his head.
"You forgot a blanket."
I laid a thick blanket gently over him and continued to work until 1 AM the next day. The room was full of things now; a stool, nightstands, chairs, a rug, plants, and more. One thing I bought myself was a room divider. He had mentioned the first night that he didn't like open rooms because they made him anxious, so I sanctioned a small area around his bed. Not too small but not too spacious. The divider was only temporary as my dad and mom had already agreed to make the room smaller. It worked out well for them. Before June appeared, my parents had wanted to make that room a studio for their art. They didn't need all the space, so a portion went to June and the other toward their studio. My parents also planned to remove one whole wall so that it would naturally add to the hallway.
I slept until noon the next day but was awoken by June flinging himself onto my bed.
"Wake up. You've been asleep all day. " He pulled my arm, bringing me to a sitting position.
"Dude, what do you want."
"Don't act like you want to get rid of me now. I know you stayed up in my room all night." He went silent.
"You bought the divider, right?" June asked.
"I did. You mentioned large spaces made you anxious, thought it might help. I asked my -"
"They told me already." He didn't seem enthused.
"You know you don't need to go through all of this for me. Why put in the effort just for me."
I rested my hand on his head.
"This was all going to happen regardless of whether you were here. And there isn't anything wrong with helping others be more comfortable." He was like a child sitting at the end of my bed with his head hung. I messed up his hair and, surprisingly, didn't get hit.
I looked at the calendar.
"Monday." School started on Wednesday.
I fell back into my bed.
"School starts on Wednesday, you know," I said.
"Oh no." June also fell back.
"Oh, I forgot. We have uniforms."
"Then what was the point of clothes shopping?"
"Well, you needed clothes and stuff, and I needed clothes for basketball."
"What does it look like?"
"Nothing special. Gray sweater, white dress shirt, and khaki pants."
"That's the worst." You'd think someone just told him the world was ending.
"It's not the worst. Saves the stress of figuring out what to wear every morning at least."
He whipped his head to look at me. We were both still lying on the bed, staring at each other.
"How about we go out today? I want to look around," June said.
"Sure, let me get dressed."