Page 261 of Fragments

My lips quirk. “I’ll take the Crüe any day over your fist-pumping club music.” I imitate the techno beat, and he laughs.

“That’s not all I listen to.” He scowls over his amusement. “I also like whiny emo stuff…”

“Because you’re sobrooding?” Parker chimes into the conversation, and I cackle.

“I listen to straight-up gangsta rap,” Toby says, fully serious.

We all stare at him for a second, Ren and I sharing a look. Then the three of us burst out laughing until Velle yells at us to shut up.

A few minutes later, we’re throwing away our trash, getting ready to leave the cafeteria, when Ren nudges my arm. “I don’t accept that we have nothing in common.”

My smiles grows wide. It feels wider than it’s supposed to, so I crush it as best I can. “Why is that a bad thing?”

He gives me this side-look, flashing a vivid blue emotion I can’t read before he hums, “I thought friends were supposed to, ya know… share interests.”

“They can,” I murmur, thinking about my Fallout crew.

We’re a bunch of total dweebs, I guess that ties us together. But Cyrus likes that indie electronic music, like M83 and Empire of the Sun…Car commercial music.Tony listens to country—gag me twice.And Reno won’t admit it, but I’d hear him singing along to Miley Cyrus on the radio sometimes when we’d play.

“When you click with someone… I dunno, I think your differences can bring you closer,” I tell Ren, walking beside him as Velle herds us out into the hall. “Gives you something to bicker about.” I smirk, and he grins. “Keeps the spark alive, right?”

“Well, if you’re looking for someone to argue with, then Lexington, my darling, I think we just officially became best friends.” He winks at me, and I laugh.

The walk through the halls is tedious, one I’ve done hundreds of times over at this point. But when I’m walking next to him, something about it feels different. It feelsnew, every time. Waiting to see what ridiculous thing he’ll say next, if he’ll brush his arm against mine, or place his hand on my lower back when we walk through a doorway. Or spout one of those awful pick-up lines he seems to know way too well.

It’s nothing more, I’m sure of it. Just a curiosity Ren brings with his endless dazzling tornado of a personality… But the thing is, I don’t think I want to keep walking these crumbling corridors without it.

I like having him around. Ever since he got here, the monotony doesn’t seem so… monotonous.

“Tell me more about you as a kid,” he demands, rather than asking. Another characteristic wildly different from my own; that cocky boy swagger. “I like little Lex Luthor stories.”

Chuckling, I slide my gaze to his for a second while I consider what to tell him. “We used to go camping.”

“Yea?” His brow raises like he’s interested, which sets an unusual fuzziness in my chest.

I nod. “There’s this state park by the ocean that my parents love. They have fireworks all year round.”

His steps slow. “Fireworks?”

“Yea,” I reply, confused by the sudden roundness of his eyes. “It’s a family tradition. Sycamore Cove was our favorite spot. Watching the colors pop over the ocean is—”

“I love fireworks,” he says softly, a smile hijacking his lips.

“You do?” I can’t help but mirror it, because of how absolutelythrilledhe looks.

His chin bobs eagerly. “New Years in the city was awesome. And then they’d have them all summer in the Hamptons. Over the ocean…” He blinks and bites his lip. “Those are the best.”

My mouth slopes. “So we do have something in common…?”

“It would appear so.”

Ren grazes my fingers with his, and I give him a scolding look, to which he smirks wickedly.

Damn nuisance.

But I spend the rest of the walk back wondering what it would be like to sit beside him in the sand… and watch the sky melt.

Today…