Months passed. Rod hadn't seen Owen in months, and was unaware that his parents had cornered Owen about what was going on with their son. Had he known, he might have found Owen just in order to apologize.
It was finally the first morning of high school. Rod's mood clung to the floor like dust, and he refused to give his less-than gorgeous smile. He wanted more than anything in the world to be someone else, someone who didn't walk away from his friends because he was too damn envious of them.
"Hi Owen," he said, his voice dull. It hardly made up for the way he treated him, but it was all Rod could manage.
Owen turned. In contrast to Rod, he looked happier than Rod could ever remember seeing him. His blue eyes were pleasantly bright, and he wore a smile on his face. His expression softened when he saw Rod. "Hey… is – is everything okay?" He looked uncomfortable, and Rod felt badly. He'd never meant to put him in that kind of position.
Rod nodded, faking it as best he could. "Yeah," he said, swiftly, "What about you?"
After another few minutes of awkwardness, they settled into their old conversation patterns. Nothing had changed, as far as Owen could tell, and Rod hoped he wouldn't look any harder under the surface.
