Piece by Piece

13. The Start of Something Good

The day had started out weirdly enough, but Mille was just going to roll with it. After all, it wasn't every day that a conceited jerk burst into her room at five in the morning to basically apologize to her. She'd take it. If she could be less lonely, she'd take it.

So she pulled on a pair of jeans and a knitted sweater, pulled her hair back into a messy bun, and headed out before Karen could get even more aggressive.

"I swear to God," she hissed as Millie headed for the door. "You're the most boring and troublesome roommate I've ever had."

"Aren't those two notions a bit of a contradiction, though?" she asked, not faltering.

"Leave it be, Karen," Diana, one of her other roommates said. "You're just jealous that she has hot guys breaking into her room."

"Why though, when she's so boring?" Karen was saying as Millie shut the door behind her.

This wasn't news. Everyone thought she was boring, Davyn included. She'd never done anything to prove them wrong because she didn't see the point. She had a goal that would be hindered by hanging out and going to parties. School wasn't easy and she'd rather sleep at night than catch up on homework.

As she reached the first floor, she was a little shocked to see Keith, their receptionist for the evening, staring mournfully at the door which seemed to have been broken down.

"What happened?" she asked the moment she reached him.

He scratched his head with the screwdriver in his hand and gave her a dirty look. "It's fine, but could you tell your boyfriend to chill the fuck out?"

"He's not my boyfriend." And it was the only thing she had to say to that because any other word was still caught in the cogs inside her head. She couldn't believe Davyn had actually kicked the door open.

Keith mumbled another few curse words under his breath, but dropped it and focused on the door, so Millie made her way outside.

Davyn stood at the bottom of the steps, hands behind his back, staring out into the park. His shoulders were squared and tense and she noticed he was only wearing a t-shirt and sweats.

"Aren't you cold?"

He glanced over his shoulder. There was still that haze in his eyes which she recognized as exhaustion. "Not if we start moving."

She nodded. Even if it was the beginning of April, it was still cold in the mornings and the sweater wasn't doing a good job of keeping her warm. So she reached him and glanced to her right. A very faint pink line spoke of the sunrise to come.

"Want to go to the football field?"

He didn't answer but headed that way, so she followed. The silence stretched between them and it pierced her how awkward she felt. While they'd been in her room it only felt natural to go outside, to ask him to come with her. But what were they even doing? It was much too early for awkward silence. Anything was better than walking with no purpose.

"I never understood why they call it football," she said as soon as they reached the edge of the field. "Just because they kick the ball once? We should just join the rest of the world and call soccer football."

A small smile lifted the corners of Davyn's lips. "I see," he said, his tone amused.

"Don't you agree?" she prodded as they stepped on the running track and began their tour of the field.

"You want my stance on football versus soccer?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.

She shrugged. At least it was conversation and she was trying. He seemed to have relaxed after his outburst and was as cold as ever. They continued walking in silence.