Lucas nodded at Alice’s concern and joined her in grabbing a blanket to sit on and watch the crackling fire. Lucas merely shrugged when she pondered moving out into the country. He could see why she would want to do that, but he, on the other hand, probably couldn’t stand all that alone time. Sure, all this time he was having now, not being on the football team, was nice and all, but he was sure he’d get sick of it very soon. He was just too extroverted, despite the risk his psychic abilities were. But who knew? Maybe someday in the future, all psychics would be accepted, and hiding his powers wouldn’t even be an issue anymore.

He quietly listened to her talk about her plans for after their high school graduation, watching the fire flicker back and forth. He agreed with her that she’d make an excellent psychologist with her powers. He looked back over to Alice when he heard her get up and sit next to him and showed him a picture on her phone. It was of a woman who looked strikingly similar to Alice. Lucas understood why seeing Alice on a daily basis could be painful to endure.

“You two look a lot alike,” he murmured. In the back of his mind, he wondered if her mother was a psychic too, but he decided this wouldn’t be an appropriate time to ask.

Lucas couldn’t help but laugh when Alice wondered if he was following a girl to college.

“Not in a million years,” he answered after getting all his laughter out. “Even if I did have a girlfriend right now, following her to a college would be the dumbest thing I could possibly do. Relationships hardly survive from high school to college. They can’t. Anyway, I’ve gotta look out for own interests. Go to the college [i]I[/i] want to go to.” He stopped for a moment to think a bit further. 

“But then again,” he added, “I hardly have any idea what I want to do. My powers could help me with being some kind of electrical engineer or something, but that isn’t something that interests me. Being a professional sports player is completely out of the question. I don’t even think I want to play football in college. I’d just be too busy.” He sighed, as he always got nervous when he thought about his future.

“I guess I still have time to decide though,” he said.

His eyes had drifted back to the fire by that time, and he was quiet. After a few seconds, though, he made himself stop thinking about his future, and to focus on the present. After all, his present is what would shape his future.

He noticed Alice was still sitting next to him, but he didn’t mind. He really enjoyed her company.

“My friends think we have a thing,” he blurted out randomly. When he realized what he said, he laughed nervously and avoided eye contact with her.