Chapter Three: Harvard

A Chapter by Melancholydreams

“I give you Chicago. It is not London and Harvard. It is not Paris and buttermilk. It is American in every chitling and sparerib. It is alive from snout to tail.”

Boston

III- Adventure

"Harvard?" Ryan whistled lowly, clearly impressed as he scanned my essay over my shoulder. I snarled at him, cradling the letter to my chest, unwelcome heat flooding my cheeks. "F**k off." he backed away, brows rose, and hands raised above his head defensively. "This is probably going to add fuel to the fire...but did you get in?" I rolled my eyes.

"I'm sixteen."

"No s**t Sherlock." I shot him a dark look.

"So I'm staying for grade thirteen."

'Didn't you surpass honour roll by ten percent!"

"It's not about grades Ryan."

'What is it then?" the same heat flooded my cheeks as I mumbled out an answer, training my eyes on my battered cons.

"I can't hear you, speak up!"

"I missed the deadline!"

"Seriously?"

"At the time I thought it would be good if I stayed another semester, get a job for some tuition and pocket money see what I wanted to do..."

"Living in the dorms?"

"No, living with my Aunt."

"Cool."

There was an awkward silence before I turned to him. "You?"

"Road trip."

"Seriously?" I heard a smile in his voice as he answered.

"Making a coast to coast montage of video shorts. I'm thinking of shooting for Warner bros." I nodded solemnly.

"Big dreams for a small town boy."

"Hey! Don't diss Brooklin, we have the cows!" he laughed, and I joined in with him hesitantly. The sound was infectious.

"I'm bringing a few friends. Want to come?" he smiled with good humour, luring me in with those dark mischievous eyes. I hesitated; the stone curb of my front porch was warm to the touch as I shifted uncomfortably. I was silent a moment longer than necessary, because Ryan started to sputter nervously, taking on that 'man-child' persona, his cheeks flushing as he ran a hand through his fo-hawk. "You know you don't have to go if you don't want to-"

"I'll go." his eyes brightened, and he openly smiled. "Great. I'll tell you more about it later. Summer school's boring, and I'm going to miss the bus, so-" I spontaneously pulled him in, still smiling as I nodded. "Oh and Ryan?" he seemed spellbound by the new distance, cool breath wafted over my face in a rush, his eyes even darker than usual, closed half-mast. I reached behind his head and flattened his hair. "You should get a haircut."

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