Training Wheels: Boyfriend Edition

5. switching tables

"Hey."

Michelle turned to her left to see her new boyfriend leaning against the wall, his head tilted in her direction. Once he'd gotten her attention, Caledon smiled and withdrew his hands from his jeans pocket, stepping towards her.

"What's up?" she said.

Was this why he'd texted her earlier to ask what class she had before lunch period?

Someone bumped into her shoulder and gave a curt apology. She started walking slowly to avoid dirty looks for blocking others, and Caledon joined her.

"Let's walk together," he said. "We agreed to alternate tables every day, right?"

Michelle recalled her friends' boyfriends sometimes meeting them at their classroom during lunch. Maybe that was also another couple thing, just like handholding.

"Oh, okay."

They'd decided over text yesterday to take turns sitting at each other's tables. Hanging out with an unfamiliar group at lunch wasn't the most appealing idea to Michelle, but it was only fair. She imagined that it had to be the same for Caledon.

To prevent any misunderstandings, she'd told her friends first thing in the morning. It only made sense that they were quick to understand, since her friends went to sit at their own boyfriends' tables on occasion.

As they walked side by side down the hallway, navigating their way through the rapidly growing crowd, Caledon lifted his left hand with his palm facing upwards to her.

"Should we hold hands?" he asked.

With a shrug, she slipped her right hand into it. "Yeah, why not?"

It'd been years since she'd last held Nathan's hand, which certainly hadn't been as big as Caledon's was now. She could feel the calluses on his palm now, and despite how long and thin his fingers looked, they managed a very firm grip.

This wasn't like holding Nathan's hand at all.

Walking with the same distance between them prior to holding hands created a strain on Michelle's arm, so she stepped closer to him.

Caledon glanced down at her, so she explained, "We were too far apart. My arm was starting to ache. Wasn't yours?"

"Oh. I thought that was normal."

Their arms bumped. His arm was behind hers, and even without direct contact she could feel the warmth emanating from it.

She laughed. "What? No way that's normal. I mean, even children have to walk really close to their parents when they're holding hands, right? That's the whole point, so that they don't get lost."

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, but you're not my child. Anyway, you're not going to get lost here."

"Yeah, you're right," she said, shaking her head. "Couples don't hold hands so that they don't get lost. They do it to show off how not single they are! So cruel to poor single people ... Poor Barnaby."

"Who's Barnaby?"

"Oh, some guy from my drama club who hates being single. But I think his reasons for hating it are different from mine."

Barnaby never seemed to mention anything about not wanting to be a third wheel. He just kept going on and on about how he wanted a girlfriend and to experience love too.

Michelle couldn't relate.

When they arrived at the cafeteria, they joined the lunch line together and chatted about their favorite and most disliked item on the menu. After they got their lunches, Caledon led her towards his usual table.