The next day, he left with Maryline.
Ever since he moved in with Maryline's family, Eli had stopped letting Roman pick him up. It felt way too showy.
Last night it had rained hard, but now the sky was bright blue and the air smelled fresh and clean.
Maryline walked with a little skip in her step. She glanced at Eli, who kept his head down, lost in thought, and couldn't help asking, "What's wrong? You look like you're in a bad mood."
Eli forced himself to perk up and took two deep breaths. "Nothing much."
Maryline shrugged. When she saw the bus coming, she grabbed Eli's arm and pulled him along to board together.
They sat in a double seat.
Maryline turned to look at the boy beside her. Something was definitely off today. Normally he refused to sit with her because he was scared people would misunderstand.
Come on, he was gay. What was there to misunderstand?!
But seeing how distracted he was, she wondered if he even realized he was sitting next to her.
