The Prodigy Series

"This place looks great," Felix said as he walked about the tech shop, inspecting the gadgets on display. I watched him trace out their outline from the glass before he wandered to the main desk. My father and the three other technicians that worked here were testing a desktop computer that they'd fixed recently, and that was going to get picked up by the owner tomorrow. They were all in the back room, leaving Felix and me in the main shop, waiting for them.

"Do you guys deal with software?" Felix asked this time as he wandered to the other end of the shop, surprising me a little.

"Software repair, not engineering," I informed, watching as his eyes looked over at the poster pasted on the cream painted wall.

I unpacked my school bag on the main desk, going through my laptop as we talked as waited for my dad and his workers to be done with the back room. In about half an hour they came out through the back door. I paused the video I'd been watching, smiling when my father gave me the go-ahead by pointing at the door with a nod of his head.

My father smiled when Felix greeted him from across the room.

"Hello, how are you doing?" my father asked as he moved towards the cupboards at the corner.

My father was someone on the tall side. He was also a lot darker than me skin tone wise, and apart from that and his bald head, I looked exactly like him. Though, I doubt I'll ever be that tall.

"I'm doing fine," Felix answered, making my dad nod. The three other technicians soon came out from the back door. Two of them being men, and one of them being a young lady that had started working here about a month ago.

"Oh, you're back from school," the woman, Theresa, said as she walked over to give me a side hug before running a hand through her twist braids. "Who's your friend?" She asked, looking over at Felix who was still at the other end of the room.

"He's a senior from his school," my father answered on my behalf before tossing a screwdriver over to Bob, who was standing a distance away. The red-haired man stumbled on his feet a little before catching the tool, making Tim, the dark-haired man with a few grey hairs laugh.

I picked up my laptop from the desk before closing it and putting it into my bag. "We can go inside now," I said, turning to Felix.

He nodded, walking over to me before following me through the door that led to the workroom my father was allowing us to use. The lights were already on, and so was the air-conditioner. All we had to do was set up, and get to work.

"You can use that place," I told Felix, pointing at a dusty desk at the corner after I'd turned to find him looking around with a confused look on his face.

"Oh, okay," he muttered, heading to the desk I'd shown him. It was covered in piles of screws and spare parts, but there was enough space for him to put his laptop. After a few minutes of clearing the table a bit and getting him set, we started working on his project side by side with the school website.

"I give up," Felix laughed at himself when he registered the wrong string of codes for the fifth time in the thirty minutes we'd spent in the room.

"I'll fix it, don't worry," I said, turning towards his desk. I watched him let out a frustrated sigh as he nodded.

"Yeah, thank you," he said before smiling weakly. "It's just a little frustrating to suck at this."

I stared at him, not knowing what to say before turning back to my computer when he put his headphone on and continued working.

You're pretty useless at comforting.

I scolded myself, running a hand through my wooly curls as I bit my lip in thought. A smile broke across my lips when I suddenly got an idea. The sound of the legs of my chair scrapping the tiled floor made Felix turn to me with a confused look. I waved it off, getting up and walking to the other corner of the room.

"What are you doing?" Felix asked, making my turn to look at him. He's taken his headphones off, and he'd turned his chair so he could look at me.

"I'm looking for something," I answered, squatting by the table with a carton box beneath it. I pulled it out, searching it, and hoping that what I was looking for was somewhere in sight.

I smiled from ear to ear when I spotted the bright orange cover of the book beneath all the complex manuals and disks.

"Here!" I yelled in victory, pulling the orange dusty paperback book out of the box before turning to show Felix. He still looked confused, and I laughed when I realized that he probably couldn't read the title from the distance. I got up and headed his way with the book to show him. "You can see it now, can't you?"

"Coding for dummies?" he said, frowning a bit. "I'm not sure if I should say thank you or feel insulted."

I laughed, shaking my head before opening up the book. I'd used it sometime in freshman year, and it had helped introduce me to the world of coding and web design.

"I'm guessing you're used to trying to read complex coding manuals, am I right?" I asked, hoping my question didn't come off as rude. Thankfully, Felix just answered me by nodding, staring up at me with his eyes as if expecting me to continue.

"So, this book is basically the basics. If you have problems with the basics you're prone to make mistakes," I continued, handing the dusty book to him. He took it, examining the information at the back before flipping through a few pages.

"Thank you," he said, placing the book on the desk he was working on. "It means a lot."

I smiled, giving myself virtual cookies for succeeding for the first time.

"Okay, I'm going to continue working on the school site," I said, watching him nod before I headed back to the seat by the desk with my computer.

Every once in a while I'd turn to look over at Felix. A smirk formed on my lips when I spotted him reading through a part of the book I'd given him before typing into his computer.

I got up once to go and use the toilet, and I came back with two packs of ch.i.p.s, tossing one to Felix before heading back to the desk I was using. Time went by quickly, and it was soon six in the evening. A loud yawn from Felix made me look over at him. He was stretching in his seat, his top riding up a little to expose his toned skin and hint at his red boxers. I looked away quickly, trying to control the sudden warmth that had taken over my face.

"It's already six," I heard Felix say. "I should be going now."

I turned to find him staring at his screen with blue and black numbers and letters running against the white background.

"Yeah," I said, turning back to my computer. I cleared the table, closing the tabs on my laptop before shutting it down. By the time I was done Felix had packed up his laptop and had it in his bag.

"Thanks for having me," he said, getting up from his seat. I smiled weakly at him, rubbing the back of my neck as I tried to find what to say.

"Same..." I trailed, frowning right after.

Was that even an answer?

"Thanks for the book too," he said, waving the Coding for Dummies Paperback, earning a small laugh from me.

"I'm serious. I'm so grateful that I could kiss you," he said with a laugh as he walked up to my seat. I chuckled awkwardly, wondering why he'd make a joke like that.

"Err..." I trailed, before trying to play my discomfort off as a laugh. "I'm glad you appreciate it."

"I'm serious," he said in a sudden firm tone that made me stare up at him, confused.

What?

"I'm serious..." he repeated, giving me a blank look. "I'm serious about the kissing thing."

My mind suddenly felt fuzzy as I tried to process what he'd just said.

How am I supposed to react to this? I asked myself as Felix laughed.

"You're so f.u.c.k.i.n.g cute," he said, holding on to the headrest of my seat before bending over so that his face was on the same level with mine. His leg was rubbing against mine when he moved forward. My heart stopped at that moment, and I closed my eyes, not sure what to do. They popped open when I felt his warm lips press against my left cheek instead of where I was expecting them to.

"You look like you're going to die," Felix laughed. I just stared at him, feeling fl.u.s.tered as I tried to register what had just happened.

"I should leave," he said, with a smile, making me nod my head, not trusting my mouth to form actual words in my state.

A loud band made us both turn towards the door.

"Who was at the door?" Felix asked, frowning. I looked away from him and back to the door again.

Had someone been listening in — Watching maybe?

The thought almost made me panic. It could be my mum, dad... Maybe one of my sisters? I wasn't sure. I was starting to get worried that maybe someone saw what Felix did.

"What's wrong?"

Felix asked, bringing me out of my thoughts. I blinked, shaking my head immediately. "Nothing."

He frowned, probably not convinced from the way I was acting.

"I'm okay," I said defensively, running a hand through my curls before getting up from the chair in haste. "I'll walk you to the door."

He nodded, following me out of the room and towards the exit.

"I'll talk to you later Ben," he said with a smile when we got to the door. I opened my mouth, wanting to say something as I opened the door and walked out with him, but I closed in when I concluded that I didn't have anything to say. If I was going to say anything, where would I even start?

The kiss sounds like a good idea.

I shook my head, waving what I was going to say off. We could talk about that later — when I got calmer and wasn't worrying about if anyone saw us.

"Is this about the door? Are you worried someone saw us?" he asked, bringing me out of my thoughts.

I sighed, not denying his claims. "You want to go home, I should let you do that," I said instead.

He sighed, nodding. "Just call me later, okay?"

I nodded before watching him turn and walk down the stairs and towards the pavement. When he was out of sight I got back into the house and closed the door.

A groan escaped my lips as I rubbed my fist against my pounding c.h.e.s.t.

Now, who saw us? I wondered, turning back into the living room.