You've Found Oliver (You've Reached Sam, #2)(24)

I take a deep breath in and try to focus on something else. Maybe I’ll start on the assignment from Professor Clarke. It doesn’t sound too hard. All we have to do is open The Poetics of Space to a random page and start writing about it. I pull out my copy and read until I find a passage that grabs my attention.

I can recover my calm by living the metaphors of the ocean.

I say it out loud a few times. Is this book telling me to jump into the ocean? I continue reading, trying to figure out what it means. But it doesn’t really make sense to me.

So I turn to another page and find a different passage. Somehow, this one is even more confusing. The author is going on about dreams and furnishing a house or something. It feels like I’m missing a lot of context. I wish I could just start from the beginning. How am I supposed to understand anything when I don’t know what happened before?

I’m skimming other passages when I get a message from Ben.

Amélie was amazing



You have to see it



He’s been telling me about this French course he’s taking. Apparently, they get to watch a different French film every week and then analyze it together. Sounds a lot more fun than most of the classes I’m taking. If he didn’t live so far away, maybe we could watch them together.

Isn’t it in French?



That’s what subtitles are for



How’s that book you’re reading btw



I told him about the assignment earlier. He’s been very curious about it.

Honestly nothing is making sense so far



Give me an example



I open the book to another page and pick a random line.

“Inhabited space transcends geometrical space”



Wow



That hurt my brain a little



Now you know how I feel



What’s this book called again?



The Poetics of Space



Sounds like an astronomy textbook



For all I know, it could be



Maybe it’s talking about black holes



What makes you think that?



They’re geometrical and transcend time and space



Just throwing it out there



That kinda make sense. Apparently there are no wrong answers. But I’m not an astronomy major so I don’t know much about space



I could send you some articles



That’d be great



Something with pictures would be lovely



If you want pictures, I can show you in person



With a telescope



Really?



We have an observatory on campus



I have a key so we could go anytime



I’ve been waiting for the chance to see him again.

I would love that



We share our schedules over the next few days. Thankfully, the weekend forecast is showing clear skies. So we decide to meet each other on Saturday. He’s watching another French film for his class that evening and asks if I want to join. The showing is at six o’clock at his local theater.

Can’t wait to hang out again



Me too



I can’t stop smiling at his message. A movie showing, followed by stargazing. Is this considered a date? How am I supposed to focus on anything else until then? I can’t wait get Julie’s thoughts about this.



* * *





Mom has been working a lot this week, so we decide to do takeout for dinner. I pick up some Chinese food on the way home. There’s this hole-in-the-wall place called King’s Dragon that we always order from. We haven’t had it in ages. Mom loves their lo mein and sesame chicken.

“Knock, knock,” I say, entering the apartment. It’s dark in the living room. I’m about to turn on the light when I spot her sleeping on the sofa with the television on. I would wake her up for dinner, but I know how tired she must be. She worked a double shift the night before. So I put a blanket over her and set the food on the kitchen table.

There are some dishes in the sink. I wash them quietly and put them on the rack to dry. Then I take out the trash, along with the recycling. Mom is still asleep when I come back inside. I wish she didn’t have to work so much.

I glance around our small apartment. I’m not exactly the son you can brag about. Yet the walls are decorated with my graduation cap, drawings from kindergarten, photos of me growing with every grade. It makes me want to do better in school. Maybe I can buy us a real house one day.

“No matter what, we have each other,” she always says.

I put the Chinese food in the fridge and turn off the television. Then I give her a kiss on the forehead and make my way out.





Chapter

Eight



Someone pulls the fire alarm in the library again. It’s the second time that’s happened since I started working there. Rami and I have to wait outside until the fire department arrives. Why couldn’t they have the decency to do this during the school week, instead of on a Saturday afternoon when I’m supposed to meet Ben in an hour. I send him a message, letting him know I’m running late.