Running with Lions

by Julian Winters

“A good heart doesn’t need a reason; take care of people the way you’d want them to take care of you,”

Around them, crickets sing an ode to his stupidity.

“Yeah,” Emir replies with sheepish eyes. “Gay. Me. That’s what… I’m gay.”

the Asshole, with bitchy accessories?

A pair of cuddling bros.

Emir kept pace while panting like an asthmatic dog.

Mason ignores her to spoon Jello into his mouth

before starting in on Willie about what he’s wearing: a neon-green Barbie tank top with a rainbow on it that says “California Dream,” simultaneously owning his sexuality and his awesomeness.

Something cold flicks over Hunter’s eyes but he hides it with a lazy laugh. That’s definitely new.

Sebastian skids across the hardwood floor to “Old Time Rock and Roll” blaring off his cell, à la Risky Business, like a big kid.

Okay, so it’s not exactly

Godzilla versus King Kong, but Sebastian’s sure Hughes versus Shah is still pretty legendary.

Mason says, quickly, “Don’t make a big deal of it, okay? Seriously, don’t go Riverdale on me.”

He could collapse opposite Zach and sing the team’s off-key version of “Young Volcanoes,” led by Willie’s very respectable strumming.

The entire time I’ve been reading this song has been stuck in my head so this coincidence is wild.

Are all teens this emo and undecided?

Nocturnal insects hum around the dock. Emir’s ankle skims Sebastian’s. “Back in London, I’d leave room on my bed… for you.” A blush spreads over Emir’s cheeks. Sebastian tries to imagine tiny Emir scrunched against a wall. “You took up so much space.”

Off in the distance to their left, the team is murdering “We Are Young.”

At the bonfire, “Uptown Funk” breaks out.

The songs in this are iconic and on point 👌🏻

Emir’s lips could convince someone to kill dragons.

Sebastian’s heart is trying to make out with his trachea.

“Guys are beautiful. And girls are handsome. Words aren’t gender-specific. Don’t be some jock asshole about this.”

“We’re all imperfect.”

It’s as if Emir is at the core of his whole world, pushing the edges wider.

“Mace would totally suck face with Matt Healy if he could.” “Makes sense.”

Internally, Sebastian’s having a dance party for one. The song in his head is, “He’s mine, pint-sized!”

“Nope,” Sebastian says, like the biggest liar to ever open his mouth.

His kisses taste like the very thing Sebastian didn’t know he was missing.

He is not a teen-romance cliché.

Sebastian folds his hands behind his head, doing his best to stretch out while squashed four-deep on the bench. He hums “Blister in the Sun” while Mason and Willie continue their brotherly bickering. Grey tries to get a word in. She’s not annoyed. Maybe it’s because Mason doesn’t shut her down each time she opens her mouth. Around them, the team fills the streets: having water gun fights, window-shopping,

parading around like a bunch of teens drunk on good weather and freedom.

Acceptance has an amazing effect on people who pretend they don’t need it.

the music of the sulk people.

She has reached hardcore, superhero levels of greatness.

The Day Mason Riley Had His Ass Handed to Him by Grey Patrick.

“I can’t figure out why you always do this.” Coach leans back on his hands. “What seventeen-year-old has so many moments of self-reflection?”

This is more than a speech.

This is about people like you who need to know you’re much more than you realize.”

The sky is on fire, all crimson and orange. Their breathing isn’t synchronized, but it might as well be. Mason’s on his left, Willie on his right. Finally drunk on summer, Sebastian tucks his hands

behind his head.

Why do people let things so precious to them turn into dark, unbearable secrets?

Who writes these stupid definitions of manly, feminine, beautiful, or handsome, anyway?

Fondly, Mason says, “Damn you, Will, and your poetic mouth.”

“If you’re watching Scooby Doo and think of someone because it’s their favorite cartoon. If you’re allergic to flour but still eat someone’s burnt pancakes. Or if you hate the color green but you wear it because it reminds you of a person’s eyes just before you kiss them—well, it might be love.”

It’s a coliseum built for gladiators.

you light up the rest of your life. Burn as bright as you want. The wonderful thing about the sun is, it’s

always there. People don’t have to see you to believe you’ll be there.”

Back then, Emir gazed at you like you were a solar system.

The biggest, most thrilling moments can make you wish they wouldn’t

happen at all.

Sebastian’s never heard LL Cool J used so poetically.