Eccentricities

 

Jason was just laughing at Calvin’s expense over a story Susie was telling him when the conversation lulled. Calvin’s face was flushed the slight pink he got when he was embarrassed, but he had a silly grin on his face and kept shooting Jason looks goofy, happy looks that made Jason’s stomach flutter in a really really good way.

Then he looked up at Susie. Her head was tilted to the side and she was examining Calvin studiously, as if she wasn’t quite sure what to make of him. Calvin didn’t seem to notice though.

A few minutes later Calvin excused himself to use the restroom and Susie leaned forward, elbows on the coffee table that sat between her and Jason. He blinked, watching her warily.

“So how’d you manage it?” she asked suddenly, and he looked at her startled.

“What?” he asked.

“Oh, come on, the kid’s practically glowing. I haven’t seen him so happy since elementary school.” He still looked confused so she clarified. “Calvin always been kind of…eccentric to put it lightly. He terrorized almost everyone. Well, in elementary school none of our peers really cared that much.

“Once we got into middle school, though, people started to realize just how odd he was. He got beat up a lot, and made fun of. He lost that happy glow he had as a child. He became shy and withdrawn. He still terrorized people, but more secretively.

“I look at him now and it’s like we’re young again and sitting at the lunch table, him pretending that his lunch is an eyeball sandwich.” She laughed. Jason pondered this for a moment.

“I guess I just…accept him, for everything he is.”

“I think you do more than that. I accept his quirkiness. His parents accept his quirkiness. You take his quirkiness and make it a part of yourself. You enjoy what makes Calvin, Calvin.” Jason was silent, surprised to have his personal feelings laid out so plainly in front of him.

Calvin came back from the bathroom and they continued chatting about their childhoods. After they’d said good-bye and began walking back to Calvin’s house, Jason turned to Calvin and kissed him sweetly. When the other boy looked at him with the giddy sort of smile he wore when he was well and truly happy, Jason felt that smile deep down in his chest like a kind of ache. He’d give anything to keep that smile there.

Susie was right, he was what Calvin needed most. But not only that, Calvin was what he needed too, someone who was just as weird, if not more so, than he was. As he stood there under the umbrella with one arm around Calvin’s waist and their noses so close they brushed against one another, with his heart aching in a confusing mix of happiness and need, something in his brain finally clicked.

 

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