15. June
Chapter fifteen
June
Dex
With less than a month left in the semester, Dex was feeling the pressure.
Thanks to several months of paychecks from the cafe, his mom was able to stop her regular overtime to be home with Jasmyn a bit more, which freed him up to focus on upcoming exams. He swore he’d never spent so much time in a library before.
While Cya ran through practice exams and study guides, he took the opportunity to focus on his other subjects. His advanced anatomy class was kicking his ass, and he wasn’t doing too hot in biology either. He just didn’t have the best memory when it came to, well, most things.
After mentioning his worries in passing, more of a self-deprecating dismissal than an acknowledgment, he arrived in the library for the next tutoring session to find Cya already there waiting for him with flashcards and memorization strategies.
“True memorization doesn’t happen by cramming information or rereading the same thing over and over again in one or two sittings,” they said primly. “You need consistent, spaced out repetition and active recall. These flashcards worked for me when I took Anatomy 101 a few years back.”
Struck speechless, Dex listened as they went through some of the flashcards. The edges were still crisp, the markers used to write still bright. These couldn’t have been several years old, not in this pristine condition.
“These are from a few years ago?” he asked, and they frowned at his distraction.
“Would you pay attention?”
“They look new.”
Color darkened the crests of their angular cheeks. “I touched them up so you could see them better.”
Dex had a feeling they’d made them brand new. For him. To help him. They’d done something nice for someone else for no personal gain. It was weird, but he liked it.
“Thanks, Cy. That’s really cool of you.”
Flustered, they shifted in their chair and spun their gold bracelet around their wrist. “It’s not—I just had them lying around.”
That was a lie; Dex was getting better at noticing their tells. He grinned at them, and they ducked their head and pointed back at the anatomy book.
“It also helps to use mnemonics for better recall.” They tapped on the skeletal diagram. “Like the acrostic for the carpal bones: ‘Some Lovers Try Positions That They Can’t Handle.’ A bit crude, but effective.”
At the suggestive sentence, Dex snickered. “I didn’t know we were getting all Karma Sutra up in here.”
“Let’s not get carried away,” they said dryly, then added, “It’s The Kama Sutra, by the way. Not karma.”
“Yeah? Is that the kind of ‘anatomy’ you were studying?” He made finger quotes and waggled his eyebrows suggestively.
“Don’t know why I bother,” they muttered under their breath.
“You and Kent spend hours studying ‘flashcards’?” he teased in hopes of earning a huffed glower.
Instead, Cya stiffened, eyes widening in alarm. “Why? What did he say?” And there was genuine fear there, the kind that made Dex’s hackles rise on instinct.
“Um, nothing? Other than that time you bitchslapped the shit out of Niki—which was, honestly, hella impressive—I haven’t spoken to any of those losers. I was just joking around.”
Cya’s relief was palpable. “Oh. Okay. That’s… good.”
“Why—”
He cut himself off. It wasn’t his business what went down between Cya and their wiener ex, and he’d been doing really well lately in respecting their boundaries and holding his own.
He didn’t want to backslide into old habits and ruin the fragile camaraderie they’d managed to attain these past two months.
To his surprise, they offered an answer to his unfinished question anyway. It was quiet and maybe a little grudging, but they still offered it, like an olive branch.
“I probably wasn’t a very good partner to him,” they whispered, avoiding eye contact. “But he was a rather atrocious boyfriend, especially at the end.”
From what little Dex knew about the guy, that was putting it lightly. “You should bitchslap the shit out of him. I’ll hold him steady for you.”
They snorted a laugh, their dimple peeking out to wave hello. After a moment of hesitation, they leaned in and lowered their voice conspiratorially. “Between you and me, I’d win that fight without your help. He’s always been a bit of a pansy.”
Delighted beyond belief, Dex nodded and lifted his hand. “Noodle Boy.”
“Noodle Boy,” Cya agreed, and without him even having to prompt them, they met his high-five, their palm soft and cool. “Don’t even think about saying—”
“Boom!” he blurted before they could finish what was surely going to be an order that had nothing to do with Dex’s favorite catchphrase.
They disconnected their hands with a critical click of their forked tongue, then they flipped him both their middle fingers. “Boom.”
“Don’t love the attitude, but I acknowledge the effort,” he said with a wink and matching finger-guns.
“Mmm, eat glass,” they said with a saccharine smile.
So tutoring lessons turned into mutual study sessions instead. Dex coached them in math, and Cya helped him with anatomy and science. It was nice, like they were finally peers standing on the same level, instead of constantly struggling for the higher ground.
Cya still talked down to him sometimes, their jokes carrying a sharper edge than his teasing ever did, but he’d see the instant realization and regret on their face, and they’d usually apologize. Not right away, and not always. But they tried, which had to count for something.
Even at work, Cya was, well, maybe not nicer, but there was a cautious openness to them now. Not just with Dex, either, but with everyone.
When Willow and Glyma took their break and waited at the end of the counter for their coffees, Cya asked them about their weekends.
When Rusty showed Dex the cabin in the Wrath mountains he and Gem had booked for their vacation, Cya slunk over and watched over Dex’s shoulder, recommending several nice restaurants in the area.
When Abi started at the cafe, Cya was cordial and shook his hand without blinking twice at his thick, unrefined Wrath accent.
“It’s my understanding there isn’t a large civilian populace in Wrath,” they said, and Abi nodded but didn’t offer anything more.
“Must be a big change, living in a more populated district now,” they tried again.
“I guess,” Abi said in a soft, subdued voice.
The Ophys was small and wiry with short gray fur streaked with whites and blacks. His eyes were jet black, almost entirely pupil, with a cloudy film that Dex later realized were tinted contacts to protect his eyes from the harsh light of the desert sun and the cafe fluorescents.
The fur between his black, heavily pierced ears was a darker gray than his body with thick white streaks, and he wore it long, the soft hair falling to one side over his forehead. Given his grunge aesthetic, Dex wondered if he spiked it into a mohawk when he went to heavy metal concerts.
With how shy and timid he was, Dex couldn’t quite envision the Ophys jumping around in a mosh pit, but he was also making assumptions. Dex didn’t know if Abi even liked death metal, because Abi hardly ever talked about himself. Or anything else. Or at all.
The most he ever said in one sitting was on his first day when Glyma took him around to introduce everyone.
His naked, fleshy tail curled around his ankle as he fidgeted with the hem of his oversized shirt with pale pink fingers.
His button nose twitched, short whiskers trembling as he cleared his throat.
“I kinda got a condition,” he said, accent thick and drawling. “Sometimes, I pass out, and my body shuts down. My breathing gets real slow, and it’s hard to find a pulse. I promise I ain’t dead. So don’t call emergency services or nothing; I usually wake up after a few minutes.”
“Like narcolepsy?” Rusty asked, and Abi shrugged.
“Kinda. I get all stiff and stuff too. Doctors think it’s some weird sort of epilepsy. My meds keep it in check for the most part, but if I get real scared or there’s sudden loud noises, I still…” He pantomimed something falling over, palms meeting with a soft slap.
“Loud noises set you off?” Toni asked, and everyone shot terrified glances at Tad, who was already grinning evilly.
“Are you aware of what is happening during an episode?” Zef asked, wings buzzing in curiosity.
Abi wobbled his head noncommittally. “Usually, even if it’s kinda foggy after.”
“Do you feel the episodes coming, or are they sudden?” Willow asked.
The more he had to talk, the more the poor Ophys fidgeted. “Um, depends. Can be both, but my watch beeps when I have an unexpected spike in heart rate. It’s usually the trigger that short-circuits everything, so if I don’t have enough time to sit down, you’ll hear the alarm.”
“Do we have your permission to help? Catch you if you start to fall or move you to a safe location?” Glyma asked, and Abi nodded again.
Backing up, Tad reached for one of the shelving units and knocked a metal pot over, sending it crashing to the ground. The sudden, loud clang made everyone jump. Abi squeaked, a shrill beeping sounded from his watch, then his body went ramrod straight, and he keeled over unconscious.
Glyma caught him before he hit the ground as everyone glowered at the Anura.
“Unholy shit, he wasn’t lying,” she said in genuine surprise, like she hadn’t actually expected Abi to pass out.
“Why would you do that?” Willow demanded sharply.
“Yeah, that was kinda fucked up, Tad,” Toni said.
Tad scowled deeply. “Right, like you weren’t tempted to test it.”
“That’s not the point! We put up with a lot of your shit, Tad,” Quin snarled, red eyes burning as she helped Glyma shoulder Abi’s dead weight, “but if you ever pull that again, you’re fired. You hear me?”
Everyone froze, and the kitchen fell deathly silent.
Tad crossed her arms over her squat torso in defiance. “Oh, whatever! It was a joke.”
“It was cruel, Tadora,” Zef said, voice heavy with disappointment, and it was the only reaction she took to heart.
Her bulbous eyes widened, jaw dropping in… not hurt. Betrayal, maybe? “Oh, fuck you, Zef.”