Page 23 of Escape Velocity
When it comes down to it, he just wants to do physics. He wonders if his happiness is even his own.
He wonders if it’s all because he has something to show off to his parents back home.
To prove he’s still a smart kid that does what he’s told and that is destined for greatness.
His mind goes back to Callum.
It keeps going back to him and how they used to be as kids. How they made their own rules, and that no matter how bad things may have seemed, they had each other to support at the end of the day.
No matter how many tests he aced and how commonplace his high grades were, Callum was there to give him a proud smile or a pat on the back during those whimsical days as kids.
His parents became used to Mason’s academic success, and they quickly expected nothing less than acing all of his tests. It made him feel hollow, especially when he and Callum stopped being friends. He had to find a way to fill that emptiness Callum left in his wake.
Getting into the paper makes him happy, but he knows the familiar hollowness that will seep underneath his skin, eventually. He’s trying to delay it by sharing the news with Jenna.
He’s still tinkering with his phone when he notices Callum, of all people, walk past him in black five-inch inseam shorts that should be illegal and a compression shirt, causing Mason’s thumbs to hover in midair over his phone as he watches Callum.
Why would Callum be in the biology building and notthe gym? He glues his eyes back to his phone, hoping that it suddenly makes him invisible to Callum.
He doesn’t look up from his phone once to notice the way Callum’s arm veins snake down his biceps or how strong his legs look in his gym shorts.
His peripheral vision suddenly gets darker and the fluorescent light shining down on him dims. He knows what it means, and it makes him wish he could cover his head with his sweater and crawl into a hole.
He closes his phone’s screen and looks up to see none other than Callum Brown eyeing him with a raised eyebrow. His black hair is sweaty and clings to his forehead.
“Hot outside?” Mason asks, as he looks at Callum’s brow.
Callum squints his eyes and juts his chin to his right. “The gym is attached to the biology building…”
Mason lifts his eyebrows and nods, wanting to kick himself for not noticing “Gym” written in big, capitalized, bolded letters just next to the entrance of the building.
“I uh… got something sent to me by email today fromThe Goldberg. They said someone did an article on the home opener and that it’s going to be published,” Callum says, his eyebrow still raised with a smirk.
Mason crosses his arms but doesn’t say anything.
He’s panicking internally, but there’s no way in hell he’s going to let Callum know he is.
“…And when I read it, I got this really hopeful and proud feeling, like I was being seen,” Callum says, his eyes turning dazed, like his mind was going elsewhere.
Mason nods his head slowly, pretending as if he’s wondering why Callum is telling him this. “Mhmm…”
Callum takes another step closer to him, his eyes boringinto Mason’s, his muscular frame only becoming more apparent and difficult to ignore.
“And as I’m reading it, I’m thinking, wow. This person really seems togetme. Like they really loved how I played. And I’m thinking it also sounds familiar. Like I know this person’s writing style.”
Mason gulps, feeling unbalanced at the proximity. “Weird. Make sure to let me know who they are so I can read more of their… work.”
Mason winces and looks down at his feet. For someone who can use his pen as a knife he sure doesn’t know how to speak properly sometimes.
Callum smirks and crosses his arms, his biceps bulging even more. “You know, I actually asked who wrote it, and they told me the funniest thing…”
“That your gym shorts are on backwards?” Mason says as he looks down at Callum’s legs.
Callum’s smirk disappears and is replaced by horror as he quickly looks down. “What?”
Mason holds in a laugh as Callum checks and his surprise morphs into annoyance as he looks back up at Mason.
“You’re hilarious.”
