Mindfully Mindless
By Jake DePietro
He took a deep breath as he looked out the window, heavily gazing into the eye of the storm as if to symbolize the chaotic flow of thoughts rushing through his mind. The storm suddenly ceased and left Maverick truly alone. He couldn’t help but wonder what tomorrow would bring. The day he had been waiting for was slowly making its way over the horizon, as he fought the inevitable weight of his eyelids. As he drifted farther away from reality, he found himself in a state of mind where his worries were gradually dissipating with each second. Maverick, breathing heavily, was now fast asleep, dreaming of things to come, but not things like flying cars. Things such as the future.
Maverick woke to the surprising, yet irritating sound of his alarm clock. He got ready for school but brushed his teeth a little harder and tied his shoes a little tighter than normal. He made his way out the door and proceeded to endure the mindless six-minute drive to school on the same route he had always taken. As he arrived, he squeezed into a space just big enough for his car, opened the door, and slid past as to not scratch the paint on the car directly beside him.
Maverick set out for the main entrance, per usual, and proceeded to his locker. His locker was located at the very end of the main hallway, just far enough out of the way he could not make a stop between classes. The inside of Maverick’s locker was decorated with various pictures, stickers, and a whiteboard mainly utilized to track school assignments. The pictures mainly consisted of numerous events with friends and family, while the stickers were representative of his favorite clothing brands. Quite honestly, he wasn’t sure why he kept this collection of various personal reminders since he was never able to see them in the first place. Nonetheless, there was no harm in letting them reside on the interior framework of his little, personal storage space.
On his way to homeroom, Maverick made a brief stop to say good morning to his best friend, Willow. Maverick and Willow were childhood friends, and no matter how old they got, their paths always seemed to intersect here and there. Maverick knew that deep down, Willow was a friend for life. Each time Maverick approached Willow’s locker, it gave him a sense of nostalgia that seemed to lift his mood. As the two of them spoke about the innumerable assignments that were headed their way, Maverick’s eyes wondered off into a glazed stare.
“Is anyone home up there?” Willow questioned in an animated, yet caring manner.
“Uh, ye- yes. I was just daydreaming. I was totally listening though.” Maverick replied sarcastically.
“Uh-huh. Anyway, I better get to homeroom. I can’t be late again. Catch you later Mav.” Willow said as she made her way down the hallway.
Maverick proceeded on down the hallway. As he set foot in homeroom, he found himself absentminded as he sat on the same cold plastic chair he did every morning. To fill the deficiency of thoughts in his mind, he threw in earbuds, only to remove them a few minutes later when he faintly heard his name called for attendance.
As Maverick sat half-awake, waiting for the teacher to finish taking attendance, he couldn’t help but notice the boy standing across the room. His name was Leo, and he communicated a sense of true affection, even in the way he walked. He played multiple sports, one to fill the time of each changing season. He wasn’t wildly popular but seemed to have a diverse perspective in the way of friendships.
“Alright guys, now that attendance has been taken, we should probably get started on today’s material. We have a lot to cover, so listen up.” the teacher said as she came out from behind the desk.
Maverick didn’t even budge, in fact, he barely heard what the teacher had said. He was mentally absent in the present moment. This sense of absence brought Maverick a snug feeling that somehow managed to squash any minor worry racing through his mind. Instead of returning to reality, Maverick let his mind drown in countless thoughts and senseless scenarios. Maybe he’s like me, Maverick thought. Maybe these pointless thoughts and scenarios have a point, maybe they don’t. Wholeheartedly, Maverick truly did not know. The only self-diagnosed enlightenment that seemed to put his mind at ease, was the same advice he didn’t want to believe in. This instruction simply entailed giving it time and having patience. He knew, deep down, his question would be answered somewhere along his timeline of life.
As for every human being, these imaginary thoughts were followed with the harsh, but necessary, slap of reality. Only for Maverick reality hit a little bit harder than it would for just about anyone else. The reality that Maverick knew would have never let those thoughts cross his mind in the first place, simply because he knew better. However, Maverick’s mind couldn’t help but run wild when he saw Leo.
Maverick’s reality check occurred halfway through first period, and he missed just about all the information that was presented in class, but he didn’t mind one bit. On a normal day, Maverick would have been able to zone into class and block out all distractions, including Leo. Today, however, was a different story. Although he snapped back into reality, he still wasn’t paying full attention to the remainder of the material covered in class.
As class neared the end, Maverick slowly started to gather his things and prepare for the long walk he had to second period. Normally, the long walk would have been a bit of a bother, but he didn’t mind because Willow was by his side. The bell rang and everyone squeezed out the door resembling the herd-like behavior of sheep. Maverick didn’t join the rush of his classmates and usually stayed towards the back of the crowd and that’s exactly what he did. As he made his way out of the classroom, Willow was there to greet him.
“This is for you,” Willow said as she handed him a warm coffee.
“Thanks?” Maverick said in an apprehensive manner, for this was not a usual occurrence.
“You were clearly out of it this morning, and this should get your wheels turning,” Willow said in a friendly, yet certain tone.
“Yeah,” Maverick said, “Coffee is always the answer”.
Maverick took a sip of the coffee and surprisingly felt a little more at ease. He wasn’t sure whether he was at ease because he had a friend who cared for him, or the caffeine was acting abnormally fast. Either way, the gesture occupied his mind in a calming way. Maverick took on autopilot as he made the walk to his next class. He was in an aware state of consciousness, but it’s almost as if he saw reality with eyes that were glazed over. Before he knew it, they had arrived at their next class, but Maverick was too deep into thought to fully engage in reality again. His mind was occupied by the thought of Leo, but he was okay with it.
As Maverick floated throughout the day, he found himself in period number eight, his last class of the day. Maverick’s eighth period was study hall. As one might imagine this only gave him time to think more. Instead of finishing multiple useless tasks for school, he decided that they could wait. Right now, Leo was more important. Leo was like a hero to Maverick, but a villain mentally. When he was in his presence everything else melted away around him and made him feel at peace. When Leo wasn’t present, Maverick’s mind resembled a train on endless tracks. No matter how he tried to distract himself, it was only a matter of time before Leo took center stage in Maverick’s mind.
Only two minutes were remaining in class and Maverick felt unsettlingly calm. As he watched the second hand make its final lap around the clock, he stood up and prepared himself to leave. At this very moment, Maverick had never been so restless.
The bell rang and Maverick made his way to the car. As he was putting his backpack in the back seat, he could sense Leo standing behind him. Everything in Maverick’s body was telling him to stay put and just never turn around to avoid embarrassment. However, in reality, Maverick couldn’t carry through with this plan, so he turned around giving himself no time to think. He figured it would be better that way.
“Hey,” Leo said, “Is it still okay that you take me home today?”.
“Yeah, not a problem at all,” Maverick said.
In the brief three seconds Leo put his backpack in the backseat of Maverick’s car, Maverick cleared his head and did his very best to act normal.
“So,” Leo said, “What’s up with you?”.
“With me? Not much, you know, just a bunch of schoolwork. Nothing too interesting” Maverick said in a tone of voice that didn’t belong to him.
“Tell me about it. Try adding basketball on top of it.” Leo said.
“I can’t even imagine, that must be tough to balance,” Maverick said.
By this time, Maverick was surprisingly calm and collected. In this instance, Maverick wanted the car ride to last forever and longer. He genuinely enjoyed the person he took on when he was around Leo and that’s all that mattered in this small inkling of time. As they conversed more, Maverick found himself at the entrance of Leo’s neighborhood. Each time the nerves started to feel like they were leaving his body, they washed over him anew, a constant feedback loop of emotions.
As Maverick made the left hand turn into the driveway of 101 Pine Island Way, Leo went to open the door but didn’t get far before Maverick’s courage took over the present moment.
“Hey, I have a quick question for you. If you don’t mind” Maverick inquired.
“No, I don’t mind at all, what’s on your mind?” Leo questioned in a curious, yet patient tone.
“Would you maybe want to go grab something to eat after basketball sometime?” Maverick asked in a timid manner, expecting nothing short of a rejection.
It took Leo a minute to respond, which allowed Maverick’s heartbeat to thump louder in his ears. Quite honestly, nothing else mattered to Maverick in this instant.
“Actually, Maverick, I would like that,” Leo said keeping eye contact with Maverick.
Maverick felt a sudden rush of happiness flow through his body. It was as if Maverick started living his life, for the first time in a long time. ~ Jake Depietro
