Catch My Fall | ✔

07. You Summoned Me

I'd heard the heavily remixed Ariana Grande song ten times in a row, and I wasn't mad about it. When the song suddenly stopped and I heard my terrible excuse for singing, my ears went hot. Indy smirked at me from where she stood with the other dance team members. Thankfully, she was the only one who noticed.

My mom had to work, so Indy was my ride home. Which meant I had to sit through her dance team practice. I meant to use the time to start on homework, instead I filled a page of my notebook with sketches of butterflies.

I drew different types--realistic, cartoon-y, using all round shapes, using squares. None of them looked good enough to have printed on hoodie.

If only I could talk to LaterTofu. Or, I guessed, Andre. Why'd he have to reveal who he was? I liked it better when he was anonymous. When we were anonymous to each other.

He was easier to talk to when I wasn't picturing his light-brown eyes or his hands and the rings the decorated them. Now, if I said something embarrassing, I had a face to put to the person who was on the other side of the phone, probably judging me.

"How does it taste?"

I startled at my sister's voice. Her skin was shiny with sweat as she chugged half an orange Gatorade.

When I didn't answer her question, she pointed to my pen. The top was littered with my teeth marks.

"Oh." I put my pen away, along with my notebook, while Indy grabbed her duffle bag.

Indy said bye to the dance team members with hugs and air kisses and promises to meet up outside of practice. I was already outside when she finally came out.

She bumped her shoulder into mine. "Talk. You only chew up your pretty pens when you're stressing."

"I'm not stressing," I said, but the words held no weight and she knew it. "Okay, it's--" I stopped as a couple girls from the dance team walked by, saying bye to Indy for a second time.

We were in the safe confines of her car before I told her what had been bothering me about LaterTofu-slash-Andre Walker.

"Do you want to talk to him?" She asked as she pulled out of the student parking lot. "As Andre, I mean. The Andre who Shania said was flirting with you last week."

My cheeks warmed. "He wasn't flirting."

"Well, whatever you want to call it, the question still stands." She stopped for a red light and turned to me. "Do you want to be friends or lovers?" Her shoulders danced as she sang out the word "lovers".

I laughed. "Lovers? Really?"

"Yes! Those are the two options."

The light blinked green and she allowed me to think about my answer, switching the subject to her nails. By the time we made it to her house, we'd decided to get our nails done later that week and I still hadn't come up with an answer to her friends or lovers question.

I liked talking art with LaterTofu, I knew that for a fact. But I also liked talking to Andre, the gorgeous football star. He was kind of goofy and knew how to laugh at himself, which, if I had a list of what I considered to be the perfect guy, would be at the top.

But Andre the Football Star came with a fan base. Which meant people looking at me. All my years of trying to blend into the background would've been for nothing.

I was getting ahead of myself. We had one non-anonymous conversation. That didn't mean anything. He talked to lots of people. Probably lots of girls. Talking didn't mean we were running off to get eloped in Vegas. I didn't have to put a label on us after one little talk.