Alexis rushed out of the bathroom, quickly making his way to his personal dressing room. He grabbed the mandatory button up white shirt, a tie, a socks, and his smart pants. His private school had a mandatory uniform that was followed by everyone. The boys wore what Alexis was about to wear, while the girls wore pretty much the same but instead of pants, they wore skirts.
He had placed underwear on his body, feeling the increased bulge outline through the fabric. Next he placed socks on, then his pants. He pulled them up, but as he was pulling the zipper, he realised he needed to adjust his bulge otherwise it would have looked too big. The last thing he wanted was for his friends, let alone his classmates to notice. He pulled up the zipper, buttoned it up and finished with it. He could definitely see a defined difference, but on the black material it shouldn’t have been extremely noticeable. Lastly he buttoned up his shirt, tied his tie and made his way downstairs.
When he got there, he was surprised by his parents.
“Happy birthday!” His mother said, opening her arms and giving him a huge hug. He really appreciated it, more than she realised. With the sudden stress of the mishap in the shower, a distraction was exactly what he needed.
“Happy birthday, son,” his father said, smiling at him, “like last year, you told us not to get you anything. All we have is our love,”
“Wow,” Alexis said, only noticing the cake on the centre of the counter, “that is incredible... I’d love to have some, but I’m going to be late for school,” Alexis said. His body language clearly ready to burst out of the front door.
“Of course,” his father said,
“Oh okay, go, don’t miss the bus!” His mother said, pointing at the door.
Alexis grabbed his satchel which was leant against the side of a chair, and he quickly made his way to the door. He unlocked it and looked back, seeing his parents. His father was waving his hand slowly and smiling, while his mother waved her hand rather quickly, smiling hard as he went to close the door. But just a second before it shut,
“Oh, Alex!” His father yelled. Alexis quickly opened the door wider, to see his father. He saw him look at his wife for a second, then back at the door, “a-actually nevermind, don’t be late. We love you,” he said.
Alexis shut the door and jogged down the street to the nearest bus stop. As he was approaching it, he saw the bus nearly leaving. He closed his eyes, hoping the bus wouldn’t go just yet.
Luckily, it didn’t. It stayed another 15 seconds, just enough time for Alexis to jump onto it. He let out a breath of relief. The bus started to move suddenly, he was jolted a little, having to grab a railing in order to not fall. He adjusted his bag and started walking along the bus.
There wasn’t any of his friends on the bus, at least none that he considered his closest friends. But he did spot someone he was familiar with.
“June, hi,” he said, raising his hand to greet her,
“Oh, Alexis!” She said, delighted.
June was one of his friends Ex, who he got along with. Alexis didn’t hang out with her regularly, but they were on decent terms.
“Do you mind if I-”
“Of course,” June said, grabbing her bag off the seat next to her, signalling for him to sit down. The journey was around 30 minutes, so they were going to have to make some sort of conversation.
Being that June was the Ex girlfriend of a friend, he didn’t feel like talking about that. He wasn’t sure what else to talk about, the only thing on his mind was the whole shower catastrophe. Was there really nothing else he could talk about?
“Wait...” she said, out of the blue. Alexis looked over, seeing that she was on her phone, looking at his account, “it’s your birthday!?” She asked,
Alexis breathed deeply at his stupidity.
“Yeah, 18 today,” he said, scratching his head,
“Wow!” She said, “I have to wait a whole 5 months before I’m 18,”
“Really? Well it’s not too exciting, nothing really changes that-” Alexis choked on his words, once again reminding himself of what happened in the shower. He still wasn’t sure how to feel about it, and started to zone out,
“A-Alexis, is everything okay?” June asked, placing her hand on his arm. He snapped out of his trance,
“Oh my-” he cringed at himself again, “I’m sorry, I-I didn’t mean to do that. When did you say your birthday was again...”
“I didn’t,” June said, raising an eyebrow,
“Y-yeah you said the uh- the 5th of...” he struggled to not act awkwardly, he just couldn’t shake away the thought of what happened. Not to mention that feeling was starting to come back,
“Well... my birthday is March 1st,” she said, trying to distract him. But she could tell he was somewhere else, “Alexis?” She said. He turned to look at her, “do you want some water?” She offered, pulling a bottle out of her bag, “it’s unopened. You can have it,”
“A-are you-” he said, his hands starting to shake,
“Yeah of course. Let me just...” she grabbed the cap and twisted it open. He felt another feeling, a new one, but he fought against it. She handed it to him, making it clear she wanted him to have it. He grabbed the bottle, doing his best not to clench it too tight. He brought it to his lips, and slowly lifted it higher. Allowing the water to pour down his throat. It was refreshing, even if it was just plain old water. It made him feel so much better. Much calmer.
He let out a long breath before taking the bottle cap off of June’s lap and screwing it back on the bottle. He handed it back to her,
“Thank you. Seriously,” he said, wiping his forearm over his forehead, “I don’t... know what happened,” he said, half lying, “but that really helped,”
“Don’t worry about it, Alex-is...” she hesitated,
Alexis chuckled, “you can call me Alex, I don’t mind,” he said, smiling at her. The same kind smile his mother gave him.
For the next 20 minutes or so, Alexis and June talked. Talking about school, about life, about becoming adults,
“If I could just be 21 today, I would. I just want all of the waiting to be out of the way. Hell, I’d take any age over 17. You can’t do anything,” June ranted,
“I mean... you can drive,” Alexis added,
“Yeah but you can do that when you’re 16.” She said, crossing her arms frustratedly, “I mean I can’t even vote,” she finished,
“Who would you even vote for?” Alexis asked. She looked at him, then up, then back at him,
“I have no idea... but that’s not it. I want to be able to do what I want, I don’t want people to be in charge of me, I wanna be a woman! I wanna be an adult!”
As she said that, they both realised that the bus had stopped. They looked out the window to see that they had arrived at their school,
“Wow, I didn’t even notice the time went past,” she said,
“Me neither,” Alexis also added.
They both grabbed their belongings and made their way to the bus’ door and stepped out.
“June!” A voice yelled from afar,
“Oh shi-” June let out, surprised, “hey I gotta go,” she said to Alexis,
“Don’t worry about it. It was nice to talk to you,” he said, smiling his mother’s smile again,
“Likewise.” She said. Neither of the two knew how to appropriately say goodbye, but June figured something, “if you feel bad again, come find me. I usually hang out with my friends so you’ll probably find me in the park,”
“On the bench near the tree?” He asked, confident he knew where she was talking about,
“That’s the one.” She said, smirking at him,
“June!!” Her friend called obnoxiously again, June turned bright red.
Alexis broke the awkwardness and said, “go on, I’ll see you another time. Thanks again,”
June smiled, and quickly ran to her friend. Alexis couldn’t help but watch as she got to her friend who quickly embraced June tightly. As she let go of her, June punched her in the arm.
Alexis chuckled. He looked around to try and find someone he knew to follow inside the giant building.