In Our Heads (bxb) Completed

Chapter 3

*****

Cassian only realised he was falling once his hands and knees scraped the rough surface of the pavement but he was only on the ground for a couple of seconds before he felt someone grab his shoulder to drag him to his feet. He immediately tried to pull back from them thinking it was one of the men but they held onto his shirt.

“What are you doing, come on!” The familiar voice’s command set him into motion as he stumbled along a few steps before he was shoved into a car with the guy immediately following, slamming the door shut and then setting the car into motion quickly as the guys on the pavement regained their footing but it was too late for them to follow the already moving car.

Cassian looked back behind them to watch the three guys stare at the car before they disappeared from view as the car swerved around the corner. He sighed leaning back as he lifted his hand to his chest realising how fast his heart was beating as he tried to gain control of his rugged breathing. He looked beside him and was grateful that though he had been surprised, he was not wrong about who he had heard so he had not just gotten into a complete stranger’s car… well, they were still strangers but he doubted someone who had to return to their school on Monday would do anything to him.

“Thank you...” He said running his eyes over the guy beside him and holding back a smile when he realised he was right, the shirt under the hoodie was oversized, “Theodore.”

“What are you doing out here?” Cassian realised Theodore’s eyes were a very dark chocolate brown when he glanced towards the passenger seat before looking back at the road, “Your GPS stop working or something?” He added.

“You don’t think I could be from here?” Cassian frowned finding himself somewhat offended by Theodore’s scoffing as a response.

“No one goes for a run in a neighbourhood like this at this time. You even look like you should not be anywhere near here.” Cassian looked down at his clothing to note what he was wearing. He thought it looked pretty simple, being all-black but knew despite that it had cost a lot.

“Right… I wasn’t really paying attention…” Cassian mumbled feeling quite stupid that he had not paid attention to where he was or what time it was.

“Where to?” Theodore asked.

“Uh – north.”

“I figured, but where.”

“I’ll direct you when I recognise where we are.”

“When you recognise?” Theodore’s brows rose and Cassian frowned, “You seriously did not know where you were?”

“I did. Kind of. Whatever, I could find my way home. I was fine.”

“Clearly.” Cassian licked the inside of his cheek as Theodore gave an amused breath of air.

“You live there?” Theodore’s nod made Cassian certain about the scholarship thing, “Why did you walk home on Friday when you have a car?” He asked.

Theodore glanced at Cassian, “William – my… stepfather was using it. It’s technically not my car.” He replied.

“Technically?”

“Why are you watching me?” Theodore replied.

“I’m not watching you, I just saw you walk out of the school. It’s unusual, even for scholarships.”

“Scholarships?”

“Kids who get into the school because of scholarships. Turn here –” he pointed and continued speaking as Theodore followed the instruction, “You did, right?”

“I did.” Cassian continued pointing out places to turn as they drove while he pulled his phone out to text the security guard at the gate about opening up for them once they were close enough, the guard would know automatically given the tracker in Cassian’s cell phone.

“In your final year? That’s never happened before.”

“First time for everything,” Theodore replied.

“White wall with the metal top, the entrance is down there.” Cassian pointed as they reached his house. He watched Theodore’s eyes run along the wall as he drove before he let out a soft, surprised breath as they reached the already opened gate. Cassian rolled the window down to identify himself to the guards before they drove inside.

“Holy s**t,” Theodore whispered. Cassian chuckled seeing the guy’s brown-eyes wide as he stared up at the house in front of them while he drove around the fountain to head to the entrance of the house, “What do your parents do?” He added. The reaction was not surprising, just more blatant as usually the people that came by just widened their eyes in surprise before commenting on how well the yard was designed to complement the front of the house.

“My father is a partner in Hanson and Anderson. Mom’s a very well-known interior decorator, they own shares all over the place.” Cassian shrugged as the car came to a stop, “Thank you.” He smiled.

“Don’t mention it, maybe just don’t go exploring just before dark next time,” Theodore replied. Cassian chuckled agreeing as he reached for the door handle and climbed out.

He turned to tell Theodore he owed him but stopped to look back up when the front door opening caused light to cascade from inside the house. He raised his brows seeing his father angrily walk towards the stairs as he barely ever saw his father angry.

“Cassian, where have you been?! You don’t call or text to let us know where you are or answer our calls. Do you know how worried we were –?! Who is this?” Cassian raised his hands in front of him trying to calm his father.

“Dad – Dad, I just ran – I was running and I lost track of time. Theodore – this is Theodore – offered to drive me home.” Cassian said quickly as he motioned to the car.

“What happened to your hands? And your pants?” Cassian noticed that his mother’s eyes were stuck on his hands and he looked at them to realise he had gotten quite a few bloody scrapes when he had been shoved back there. He had not even noticed.

“I fell.” He said, ignoring the way Theodore’s brows rose at his answer, “But – I’m okay. Theo, thanks for the ride, I’ll see you at –”

“Good evening, Theodore.” Cassian opened his mouth when his mother leaned past him to look into the car, he turned around as he heard the door open and watched Theodore climb out to look at is parents as he greeted them and introduced himself as so one that Cassian went to school with. It was followed by Cassian’s mother smiling, “Have you had dinner yet?”

“Mom, he has to –” Cassian tried to excuse Theodore.

“You should come inside, we were just about to begin having dinner.”

“Oh, I cannot.” Theodore spoke up, “I should be heading home –”

“I insist, we can call your parents inside.” Cassian knew there was no way his parents were taking now for an answer. They interrogated every friend he had ever brought over to find out what they were like and more importantly, who their families were. Theodore looked at Cassian like he was asking of permission to stay or for help with an excuse to leave, and since the second one was not going to happen with his parents, Cassian gave Theodore a smile before looking back at his parents.

“It’s almost seven, you haven’t had dinner?”

“We were waiting for you.” His father frowned.

“I’m sorry. Um – I’ll show Theo where to leave his car.”

“Alright. See you boys inside.” Cassian watched as is parents made their way back inside the house before he turned back to the car hearing Theodore speak.

“Theo?” Cassian smiled awkwardly at Theodore’s raised brows.

“Can I call you that?” He was surprised when Theodore chuckled.

“Since you already have, what’s the harm?” He climbed back into his car. Cassian smiled as he stared at the car, mostly shocked that he had gotten both permission for nickname a nickname and a chuckle out of Theodore in seconds. He really was great at getting through to people.

He climbed into the car before pointing out where Theodore could park, across the yard in front of one of the garage doors.

“Sorry about my parents, they get a kick out of interrogating any new friends I made.”

“They seem nice,” Theodore replied. Cassian agreed. He thought so too, they were pretty friendly people, “Wait, interrogate?” He added.

“They may think I’m interested in you – I’m not, obviously. I mean, it’s not that you’re not… Uh – they – they ask all my friends questions. It’s nothing, it’s normal.” Cassian shrugged telling himself to shut up as he avoided Theodore’s eyes, luckily Theodore did not pry on the moment of embarrassment and actually seemed to actively be avoiding Cassian’s eyes too so he continued, “You can leave early if you want, because we have school tomorrow, that’s a good excuse.”

Theodore just nodded in agreement as he parked the car and Cassian held his breath as he climbed out. He was not usually so… weird around new people. Of course they were not usually invited to his house so soon. When the car was locked, he led Theodore back towards the front of the house and into his house letting the large door shut behind them while he spoke again.

“You can use my phone to call your mom or dad –”

“It’s alright, I already sent them… a message.” Cassian looked at Theodore when his voice drifted and noticed that he was looking around the living room wide-eyed as he followed Cassian towards the hall carefully, as if he was afraid of breaking something even though there was nothing that could be broken close by.

He seemed to keep the same surprised and wondering eyes as they made their way into the long hallway, walking until they reached the dining room that already had Cassian’s parents seated beside each other at the table. He did not need to mention it for Theodore to take the seat beside him as he sat down across his parents as the food was being served and thanked Rose, one of their helpers when she finished before an awkward silence set into the door when no one moved to start eating immediately.

Cassian swallowed nervously as he reached for his fork.

“Would you like some juice? I think it’s grape.” Cassian looked and smiled almost being able to guess the look on Theodore’s face questioning his wording and the purple substance that filled the jar that stood in the centre of the table, “It is grape.” Cassian said with a chuckle.

“I… would like some, thank you.” Cassian smiled as he poured some glass in a juice while everyone else finally began moving to fill their plates.

“So, Theodore. How do you know our son?”

“School, Dad. Speaking of, Theo has to leave soon. Early morning, you know.” Cassian replied.

“Oh, I’m sure he can stay for a few minutes after dinner. Do you like boats?” He should have seen that question coming considering that the boats were basically more important to his father than the seven cars that filled their garage, including the limited edition Audi of which there were less than ten in the world, his father had even had that car further customized and rarely took it out of the yard. The boat models his father collected were an assembly of thousands of tiny, carefully crafted pieces. Each one took his father months or even years to make, they were kept in well-made glass cabinets and had an entire room dedicated to them that was always locked in order to keep them safe when he was not showing them off.

“That sounds really interesting, I would love to see them.” Cassian smiled seeing his father pleased by Theodore’s response.

“You go to Richmore?”

“I do, Sir. It’s a great school.”

“It is. What does your father do?”

“He was a mechanic.”

“‘Was?’” Cassian looked at Theodore for the answer to his mother’s raised brows and her question. Theodore just smiled back at her.

“He passed away a while ago.”

“Oh… I’m sorry to hear that.” She said, her voice low and comforting. Cassian watched as Theodore just smiled back as if it was practised, as if he had responded to the ‘I’m sorry’ or ‘my condolences’ many times before.

“It’s okay, it was a long time ago.”

“Mmm… and your mother?” She asked. Cassian dropped his eyes to his food as he lifted some onto his spoon. He figured they were not going to stop asking questions no matter what the responses were until they had sufficient knowledge on who his new friend was. Friend? He smiled. They would get there.

“She’s a nurse.” The answer solidified what Lance had said about Theodore being a scholarship kid.

“And yet you attend Richmore?

“I was offered a scholarship.”

“You don’t look like you’re in 10th grade.” Richmore did not usually offer scholarships for less than three years, which was why Cassian found it weird for Theodore to start there in his final year.

“One of my old teachers is a friend of Mr Steinfield’s and they both figured Richmore would be a better… fit.”

“Mmm… based on?” Cassian’s father asked.

“Academics.” Cassian glanced up to see his father looking impressed before he cleared his throat to draw everyone’s attention.

“Do you need some water?” He swore he saw Theodore’s mouth lift slightly when his mother asked him that.

“No, no. I was just thinking maybe Theo should be heading home, his parents –”

“He already called home, right?”

“Yes, sir.” Theodore replied, much to Cassian’s disappointment as he realised his parents were just going to continue hounding Theodore with questions.

“Do you take part in any extracurricular activities? In school or out of school?”

“I haven’t before, but I’ve been told it’s mandatory that Richmore students take part in at least one extracurricular.” Cassian’s ears perked up at the sound and he suddenly felt excited as he turned to Theodore.

“You can join the football team.” He said, “I mean, we had tryouts a couple of weeks ago so you probably won’t be put in first-team unless you’re exceptional, but I could convince Coach to let you show him what you can do.” Cassian felt his excitement dissipate when Theodore gave him an awkward half-smile.

“I was thinking the chess club.”

“Chess?” Cassian repeated. Well, it was not a bad club… they usually came second in their league though, always losing to their rival school Saint Nicholas. The football team never came second, they won. Same went for the tennis team. Cassian did not like anything other than 1st and as the captain of both teams, he made sure the rest of the team strove for the same result.

“I don’t think your new friend is very athletic, Cassian.” His mother said, it automatically made him run his eyes over Theodore to inspect whether he looked ‘athletic’, but seeing that they were at the table and he had visibly just checked Theodore out while the guy was looking right back at him, he quickly turned back to his food feeling his face heat slightly. Even in the baggy shirt and track pants, he did look quite athletic. Maybe he ran on his own time or visited a gym, he seemed to walk a lot considering that he had walked away from school. It was too bad that he would not join the team, he had run pretty fast when they were running to the car to get away from those guys.

“Chess. You really are very academic-focused, aren’t you?”

Cassian almost rolled his eyes at the question while he poked his fork into a potato. His parents could make meeting new people the most annoying thing with all their questions. For the rest of dinner, they asked Theodore questions like they were interviewing him to see if he was good enough to be Cassian’s friend – tor that was what it sounded like to Cassian while he tried to focus on eating. When everyone finished, they cleared out of the dining room and Cassian’s father began to lead the two boys to his boat room while his mother said goodnight to them stating that she was going to take an early night.

The walk towards the room consisted of Theodore and Cassian’s father walking up ahead while they finally spoke about something other than Theodore’s schooling and family while Cassian trailed behind them. His father looked rather excited as he spoke to the boy next to him, it was not a look Cassian usually saw aimed at any of his friends, his father usually only got excited about business news or… building ships. Theodore looked like he knew a few things about building the miniature models of things, Cassian wondered how he knew about it. Did his father build them too… or rather his stepfather?

Whenever his family was brought up he brushed past it pretty quickly. It made Cassian wonder if Theodore did not get along that well with his stepfather. That was common right? Especially him being a teenager. He was drawn from his thoughts when he heard a door unlock just as someone grabbed his arm, he looked up and realised his father had entered the room already while Theodore was standing in front of him.

“Uhm… could you point me to the bathroom?” Theodore asked.

“Sure. It’s right down there, third door.” Cassian pointed. Theodore thanked him before walking off and Cassian made his way into the room his father had moved into.

“Nice kid.” His father spoke up when he entered the room.

“Is he?” Cassian asked walking over to where the older man stood inspecting one of the impossible bottles that contained a ship he had constructed. He had not really been paying attention at dinner, he did wish he could just hang out with Theodore alone for a while so they could talk, but his parents seemed quite interested in keeping Theodore within their sights.

“Yes. He seems ambitious but not very motivated though.”

“You didn’t ask him about that.” He may not have been very interactive or interested during their dinner, but he was still listening to what everyone was saying.

“I can tell.” Cassian furrowed his brows at that, “Don’t spend too much time on him, alright?” His father pulled his glasses off as he straightened up, “How is the preparation for your interview going?” Cassian opened his mouth to say it was going well while hiding the fact that he really had not thought about the interview since getting news about it but his father spoke again, “I want to hear it a few days before you go so we can correct anything you may get wrong, alright?”

“Yes, Dad.” Cassian nodded.

The plan was to enter Yale business school to get his undergrad before studying law as his father had. It had all been planned out for years, it was always what he was going to do, it was always what they had talked about him doing. So far he had sent in his application and received a call for an interview.

Cassian looked towards the door when they heard footsteps and Theodore walked into the room smiling at them.

“Come over here.” His father called out.

Cassian frowned as the pair seemed to forget he was there while they began to marvel about the models they were looking at while they discussed little elements and pieces Cassian knew nothing about. He really could not care less about boats. He went sailing with his parents sometimes but being that far out in nothing but ocean always unsettled him, he usually ended up in his cabin trying to sleep and convince himself he was on a hammock until his father insisted on trying to teach him how to steer and sail. Where would they go if the boat sank or capsized? He just preferred to be on land.

When Cassian’s father received a phone call that he had to take, he called it an evening and left which left Cassian to walk Theodore out as they realised it was quite late and they both had school tomorrow. They walked out of the house as Cassian realised he did not really know what to talk to Theodore about and was too tired to really think of anything so he settled for apologising for his parents’ dinner interrogation.

“Sorry about their… inquisitiveness.” He said once they reached the car. Theodore let out a light, tired chuckle that made Cassian looked at him. He liked it. It sounded deep and slightly breathless. He tried to avoid how much his mind was trying to steer towards the fact that he thought Theodore looked and sounded quite attractive, he just wanted to be friends.

“It’s alright. Goodnight.” Theodore unlocked his car and opened the door, about to climb in when Cassian spoke up again.

“Oh and thank you for… earlier.” Theodore nodded attempt ion to climb into his car again but Cassian just felt the need to keep speaking to him, “I can show you around school tomorrow, introduce you to some people. Like I said, I’m president, I know who runs the chess club as well.” He said. Theodore smiled back at him and Cassian felt himself smile as if it were contagious.

“I’ve got it covered, Cassian.” Was that the first time he had heard Theodore actually say his name? Why did it seem so significant to him? “See you around.” He disappeared behind the car as he slid into it before his door was pulled shut.

Cassian watched the lights turn on, lighting up most of the lawn before the car began to move away from him, heading towards the gate. He watched it slide open and Theodore’s car disappear around the wall as he drove out of the yard before the gates shut and the guards waved at him. He lifted his hand to wave back before he turned to head back to the house but stopped as he let out a breath and realised his heart was beating slightly faster than usual. He let out a chuckle. The guy was attractive but a racing heart was an overreaction…

He glanced towards the gate and smiled. Still, he had the feeling they could be good friends. He wanted to know more about the guy that seemingly wanted nothing to do with anyone in his school.

He should have asked for Theodore’s phone number.

*****