Surpassing Kowalski O'Kelly

Logan and Virgil were hanging out in the library after school. Virgil only stuck around to browse on his phone and stick by his crush and best friend, but Logan loved to figuratively consume the contents of the books. Unfortunately for Virgil, when Logan is not reading ahead for material in their classes or reading any other books that he wanted to look into just because, he browsed through the old yearbooks looking into the pictures and accomplishments of this alumnus of their high school, named Kowalski O'Kelly.

As he has heard over and over from Logan, Kowalski O'Kelly was a senior when Logan was a sophomore. He was a valedictorian who could've graduated high school early, but stayed for the sake of the atmosphere. He was a straight A student, who enjoyed making experiments and inventions to help better the world, and was even incredibly handsome. Although Logan wasn't sure if O'Kelly was entirely straight, even though he clearly got rejected by a cheerleader and went to prom with a female student in his science class, Virgil had the idea that Logan secretly had his hopes up that he'd make his move on his idol after graduation.

Virgil kept his mouth shut about his annoyance for two reasons: Logan likely wouldn't notice his annoyance anyway, and he didn't want Logan to know why he's envious. They both don't express their emotions all that well, so, as far as Virgil knew, the closest Logan has ever gotten to having a crush is idolizing Kowalski O'Kelly. Eventually, they walked out of the building because Logan's father was close to the school and Virgil wanted to continue to stay by his side as much as he could. By the time Logan got in the car and left with his father, Virgil rushed back in the building to check out as many books as he could. Virgil wasn't hooked on his academics unless mental health, art, and dark literature was involved, but he would be damned if he would be forgotten about by his crush just because of the damn egghead, Kowalski O'Kelly.

For a few months, Virgil took a lot of detailed notes in his classes and made his insomnia a lot more productive. Not only that, but he actually spent more of his Starbucks sessions on getting his homework, assigned and not yet assigned, completed and less on gossiping with Remy. Not only did his teachers notice the academic improvements, but Logan noticed it. Eventually, he took notice of a pattern: whenever he brought up even a tiny bit of information about Kowalski O'Kelly, Virgil only exhausted himself more trying to work harder. He initially thought it was a coincidence and made Logan proud of him, but it eventually became more noticeable and made the egghead concerned.

One day, Logan went to Starbucks with the intention of sitting with Virgil and spending some time with him, as a slight distraction from figuring out which colleges they want to go to. Logan checked the clock on his phone and knew Virgil came to that particular Starbucks at 3:30. After serving a customer, Remy looked in Logan's direction.

"So, girl, you gonna ask Kowalski O'Kelly to the prom?" he mocked.

"Go ride Emile or something!" Logan retorted, with relief that not a lot of people were in the building.

"Sorry, ma'am, but he's getting things set for an anime binge right now."

"Anyway, why would you ask something like that about Kowalski O'Kelly?"

"Simple, he came by the other day, I chatted with him and, I haven't told Virgil yet since he hasn't been here in a while, but the smexy bastard is straight."

Logan tilted his head and sipped on his drink slowly. He looked at Remy with a suspicious gaze.

"Why would Virgil or I need to know that he's straight?"

"To crush your fantasies about him and to make sure Virgil didn't work himself into a heart attack, obviously."

"But... I don't have fantasies about him to that extent. Meeting him and discussing astronomy over a nice sushi dinner, sure, but nothing beyond that."

Remy whistled nonchalantly, while preparing some of drinks in advance for rush hour.

"Remy... did Virgil say anything to you?"

"Well, last I heard from him, he texted 'Screw graduating, screw what Patton says, I'll die to be just as good as Kowalski O'Kelly,' so interpret that as you will."

Logan sent a quick text to his father, proceeded to speedwalk to Virgil's house, and felt grateful that it was a Friday, instead of a school night. Several minutes passed and Virgil's mother allowed him inside. He carefully went up to Virgil's room and quietly opened the door to see Virgil resting his head in one of his school books. As he walked closer to the emo, he heard Virgil muttering facts about science, one of his weaker subjects.

"Virgil? Virgil, are you alright?" Logan softly asked.

Virgil looked in Logan's direction, but it didn't feel like he was actually seeing him.

"Virgil, have you rested at all?" Logan asked.

Virgil looked down and muttered, "How am I supposed to study for finals?"

"Virgil, the finals are still a long time ahead of us, in a way. Besides, plenty of the greats need to rest to keep their progress going," he explained.

"You're talking about fricking Kowalski O'Kelly, right?" Virgil asked with a scowl.

"I'm talking about you, Virge," Logan said.

Logan carefully lifted Virgil from the desk and brought him to the bed. He had the emo lie down before turning on Virgil's Spotify playlist at a decent volume.

"Is he the reason why you're working so hard?"

Virgil nods while Logan gently lied on the bed next to Virgil.

"Look, I don't know if it'll make you feel better, but Kowalski is straight and I lost my crush on him a long time ago."

"How long ago?"

"I think around the same time you came to the school. I'm sorry for obsessing over him too much."

"Don't be. I get it. You're hooked on the guy. It's my heightened worries that are the problem."

Logan stroked Virgil's hair, since he knew it was a calming method. He knew they'd have to continue their conversation at some point, but all Logan wanted was for Virgil to relax and all Virgil wanted was to rest knowing he means something to Logan.