Nine – Calvin

Seeing Oliver in the library has become more important than homework, or anything for that matter. Because neither of us have anything else to keep us busy, we spend almost every afternoon tucked away in the corner. For weeks on end, I ignore everything else, just to see Oliver.

"You know you can bring your homework here, right?" Oliver says, leaning over his Maths questions to look at the book I have in my hands.

I sigh and drop my head onto his shoulder. "I know, but I don't do it here because I like spending time with you."

He scoffs, so I guess my use of flattery to convince him into forgetting about the fact that I'm struggling in my classes didn't work. Probably because we've been doing our own thing for the past 15 minutes, simply enjoying the company.

"Calvin, you're literally reading a book."

"I also know that, but this is different! This is spending quality time with you by letting you read over my shoulder."

"You're so stubborn," Oliver smiles. We call each other stubborn so much that it's practically a compliment or pet name.

"Besides, if I leave my homework for later, then I have an excuse to barely see my parents."

Oliver and I both know that my parents are on to me. And I have a feeling his parents will soon follow suit and start noticing his absent behaviour too. It's dangerous that we meet so often, I can tell the only reason my parents are letting me get away with it is because I don't act like I'm doing anything too suspicious. But I don't care, as long as I can avoid them when I'm at home, our chances of continuing these little meetings every afternoon are looking pretty high.

I look up at him and see he's considering my excuse.

"You make a good point, but I still wouldn't mind if you brought it with you," he says.

I kiss him on the neck as my reply and he pushes me away playfully.

We've definitely been more lenient with affectionate things. Usually when we're in public, including the library, Oliver is really shy to affection, without the influence of caffeine that is. But recently, he hasn't minded it as much. I mean, he has a good reason to shy away from PDA, because the public is as much of a threat as our parents. This society holds onto the ideals that the government forced us into like it's the only thing they have. That being said, if two people of opposite classes were found enjoying their time together by the wrong person, you could bet everything you love that there will be an invitation to court on your front step by the next morning.

I think Oliver finally realised that the library is almost like a safe space for us. Even with the potential of being seen, most of the library frequents couldn't care less. And with the few people that do care, there's a likely chance that they are too busy being homophobic to even question our classes.

We settle back into our beanbags and start talking. That's what we usually do. Just talk. Sometimes we read, sometimes we borrow board games or we'll watch Netflix on my phone, and occasionally, if we're really bored, we'll venture out into the Middle and explore new places. Oliver reaches over me and takes my phone, I let him. He does it a lot since he doesn't have much data on his. He scrolls through my social media and I watch over his shoulder while he keeps talking, catching me up on anything I would've missed since, well, yesterday.

It's not long before he stops scrolling and talking. He looks out across our hideaway to the shelves there. One of the younger library assistants catches his eye. I question whether I should take my arm from around him. She glances at us for barely a second, flashing a careful smile, then turning back to shelving books. Her brown hair cascades over her shoulder. Oliver watches her until she moves on to another shelf, but he doesn't move from beside me.

That assistant's name is Baylee, she's the daughter of the couple that owns this place. She greets us every time either of us walk through the door. She knows us by name and I think she knows about Oliver and I, but she's never said anything.

I look over at Oliver, "Are you okay?" He doesn't respond for a moment, as if he was too busy staring off into nothing. "Oliver?" I tried again.

He looks up at me then. "Huh? Oh, yeah. I'm fine." His answer wasn't completely convincing. He continues, "I was just confused."

"Because she doesn't care?"

Oliver nods. "But I guess that's a good thing."

Eventually, we fell back into conversation. Oliver decided he wanted to search deeper into my phone, clearly with the intent to find pictures or 'blackmail' so I took it off him. He complained about it, claiming I had something to hide, then proceeded to pester me about it. I gave it back to him just to confuse him. There are things I have to hide, but nothing that I wouldn't care if he saw.

But he didn't get very far before he saw the time. It was only 4:25 PM.

"Oh great, I forgot to say I have to get back home early." Oliver mentions.

I sit up in my beanbag. "What time?"

"Now, probably. Dad told me to be at the house by 4:45 PM and I need to catch the train back, so yeah, now."

"Sounds like a special occasion."

Oliver gets up. "Dad seems to think so," he says looking down at me. I still have no clue what it could be. "I mean it is my eighteenth so I kind of understand why he thinks that."

I stare at him blankly, then scramble up to look him face to face. "Oliver! You never told me today was your birthday!"

"With good reason," he says with a smile, "If you knew, you'd want to buy me something and I don't need you spending your money on me."

"But that's what happens on birthdays!" I gesture.

I look down at my phone and get reminded of the time, so I start backing out of the hide-out and Oliver follows, still looking unimpressed with my persistence of wanting to buy him gifts all the time. "Okay, no gifts, I promise."

He laughs, "Thank you."

"So what have you got planned with your dad?" I ask, nudging his side.

"I think it's meant to be a surprise but I know that he planned it so it doesn't involve my mum, which is good. I think he wants to see a movie or go out for dinner."

I smile and nod as my reply. I really wish I knew it was his birthday, but not so I could've been prepared with a gift. I wish I knew so that way we could've at least done something special or memorable.

I unlock the Mercedes and we climb in. Halfway to the station, I get an idea. "You know, we're going to have to organise something to make up for me missing your birthday."

"Yeah I know, I wouldn't expect any less from you," he says, extenuating it with a wink.

"I have an idea, I'm not sure how well it will work though." Oliver looks over at me from the passenger seat expectantly, so I continue, "When will you get home tonight?"

I can see that he already knows exactly what I'm referring to, but he doesn't object.

"Maybe around 8:00 PM?" He answers.

"So... what if I met you at the station at 8:30 PM?"

He thinks to himself for a second before looking back at me, "How would we cover it up?"

I haven't thought that far ahead. I know that Plan A usually works, where you simply lie to your parent's faces, so they let you go out. And that if Plan A doesn't work, you could try Plan B, where you sneak out. I've had to resort to Plan B a few times before. Hopefully not this time though, so long as my parent's suspicions don't get the best of them.

We stop at a red light. I turned to Oliver, "You could just lie and say you made plans with a few friends?"

He laughs, "Calvin, I don't have friends. Everyone knows that I don't have any friends, especially my mum. It would take a miracle for that to work!"

"Oh, come on. You can't even lie about it?"

"Like I said, it would have to be a miracle." He repeats.

Plan B. It is.

The light turns green and I focus back on the road. We'll need to come to a conclusion soon, this is the last stretch of road before the turn into the station.

"I mean you could sneak out." I suggest.

Oliver doesn't say or do anything for a few seconds.

Uh oh. Have I gone too far?

He straightens himself up and turns to me. He stays silent at first. I'm too busy focusing on driving to look over at his expression. I can't tell if I went too far. I shouldn't have put him on the spot like that.

"I... I don't think..." he shakes his head, "I don't think that would be a great idea. I don't know what sort of consequences I would face if I was caught."

I glance over at Oliver before looking back at the road. I just barely have time to read the conflicted expression on his face. I have a feeling this might have to do with his mum.

We turn into the station and I pull up in the waiting bay. There isn't any more time for us to figure this out. "I'm sorry Oliver. I really wanted to spend some more time with you for your birthday." I look straight ahead.

Oliver looks at me. The silence tells me I've already messed this up. My whole body feels heavy, but not a relaxed sort of heavy. It's more like the regret and disappointment inside of me holds me down to the chair. I quickly catch myself, straighten my back and change my expression to something a bit less sad. I don't want to dampen his mood.

There's a few more seconds of silence before Oliver speaks. "It wouldn't be impossible to get out of the house," he shrugs, revealing a sly smile.

I look at him in pure disbelief. I was so sure he would turn me down to stay on the safe side. I was prepared to hear him say he couldn't. But he didn't. My expression twists from disbelief to pure excitement in an instant. I don't know what to do so I pull Oliver into a kiss and hug him tighter than I usually would. He laughs and hugs me back.

I pull away just enough to look at him face to face. "You don't know what this means to me, and I'll make sure you won't regret it!" I kissed him several times across the face.

"Okay, Okay!" He laughs, "But seriously, we need a plan. If we're both going to risk sneaking out, we can't run into this blind."

I let him go and sit, turned towards him, in my seat. "Well, we lie to our parents, get out of our houses, meet up at the station at eight-thirty in the usual spot, then I take you on a joyride around the city."

"And if one of us can't make it out?"

"We'll wait until nine, the trains run all night so neither of us will get stuck. If someone doesn't make it by then, we'll make your way home and meet up tomorrow instead."

Oliver nods. "How long will we be out for?"

"Midnight?" I suggest, but he doesn't seem keen on the idea.

"Are you sure?"

"Oliver. It's Friday night, we don't have school tomorrow so there's nothing stopping us. It's also your birthday. And we only have to stay out as long as you want to. Okay?" I reassure him.

He smiles. "Yeah. Midnight is okay for me."

Time goes too fast. I glance sideways at the clock to remind him he has somewhere to be.

He almost launches himself, "Oh, crap. Right, I have to go. I'll see you at eight-thirty!" He's so rushed he almost forgets our routine goodbyes, but he remembers just as he goes to shut the door of my Mercedes. "Goodbye Calvin Wood!"

I shake my head and smile, "Goodbye Oliver Night."

As soon as Oliver is gone, I drive home. I'm hoping that if I get home early enough and look like I am actually being a good kid, my chances of getting my parents to believe my lies will increase. So, I do just that, I get home, making sure they see me home early then I dive headfirst into all the homework I've been putting off.

By 7:30 PM, I decided I should try my luck. I walk out of my room and find them lounging around in the living area. Neither of them look in my direction, which I'll take as a good sign. I take a deep breath and sit down with them.

"How was your afternoon Calvin?" My father says, still looking at his laptop.

I try to make myself sound as effortlessly convincing as possible. "It wasn't too bad. I got a lot of homework out of the way."

"I did see you started fairly early on your work today."

"Yeah, it was good."

He nods, "That's a fantastic effort."

Conversation is dry as usual. I guess I'll spice it up. "My friends are planning on having a party tonight."

I get a cautious once over from not only one but both of them. Okay Calvin, tread lightly.

"It's nothing big, just a late night is all." I say in an effort to salvage my chances.

My mother starts, "Calvin, it's not that we have a problem with you going out with your friends... we just don't want you to go back-" She stops abruptly and rapidly surveys the room, probably hoping to find a different excuse, "We don't want you to fall behind on your schoolwork. We know it's important to you."

I resist the strong urge to roll my eyes. "I know... but I should be okay for tonight. I mean I just did three hours of homework on a Friday night. I never do that." I'm practically begging at this point but still manage to smooth out my story, "It's just a small party with some students from biology, we're celebrating finishing our big assessment."

She nods as if she took my argument into account, although I know it simply went in one ear and out the other. It's something my parents are good at doing because of their jobs. "Calvin, I..." She trails off, looking towards my father. They have a silent discussion between themselves. I see nothing but stares vacant of empathy, but they know exactly what the other is thinking.

My father picks up from where my mother stopped. "You can go. But this is only for tonight, we don't need another thing that we can't control getting in the way of your education," he confirms sternly. I know they mean Oliver, but of course, they don't know what I actually do in the Middle. He continues, "If your school work gets out of hand again, don't come crying to us."

"Thank you, sir," I say, trying to remain as calm and unreadable as possible.

"Don't disappoint us."

Too late.