• Mae •
Mae was, unsurprisingly, freaking out.
Not only was she just forced to sit next to the boy that she had been admiring from afar for so long, well she could've just stayed standing, but her ride was long enough where she would rather risk it than stand, but he also decided to talk to her.
She was sure that she let out a small sequel, one of surprise, when he suddenly turned and looked at her, and then another one when he spoke. If she did though, he didn't acknowledge it.
Chris. Yeah, that checks out. He really looks like a Chris.
She's not sure where she'd gotten the sudden confidence boost, but she was the one to open the conversation up more.
"So, where are you going, Chris?" She slapped herself internally for the awkward wording, but he didn't seem to notice.
"Home. Somerville. What about you?" He kept his gaze ahead, but his head inclined toward her, which she appreciated as eye contact was the last thing she wanted right now, it was hard enough to keep eye contact with her closest friends, so she did not have the confidence to maintain it for several minutes with a man that she had just met.
"Back to my moms house. In Lowell." She wasn't quite sure where this conversation was headed, or if it would even continue as she hadn't really left any room for a follow up question. Chris just nodded for a second, as if he had gained some new understanding of her from her from her short response.
"Is that why you always have that backpack? Because you're changing houses?" This made Mae speechless for a second, she wasn't aware that the boy, Chris, had ever noticed her, let alone that she always had her backpack with her when she rode the train.
"Yeah, just some stuff that I don't have at both houses." He nodded, once again, not responding. "What were you doing in Boston?"
He took a second, articulating an answer. "Some of my friends go to school there now, so I meet up with them on the weekends. My brothers came this time, but they had to leave earlier than me."
So they were his brothers, she stopped herself from asking if they were triplets, not wanting to seem like she had been studying them during the train ride down on Friday. She mentally high-fived herself for coming to that conclusion on her own, although any person with functioning eyes could tell that the three were brothers.
"Which one smiled at me on Friday?" She instantly regretted asking the question, once again feeling as though she had noticed too much.
"That was Nick. He can come off a little strong sometimes," he chuckled lightly, as if remembering a specific event, maybe it was the smile, or maybe something else, "I chastised him for that because it was a little creepy."
Mae laughed with him this time, wanting to assure him that it wasn't creepy, but they both knew that it was a little too planned, the way that he had met her gaze.
"The other one was Matt, he'd joke about something like that but chicken out of actually doing it." As he finished his sentence, Chris' phone went off in his lap, and it briefly drew his attention away from Mae.
After responding to the text, he turned his attention back to Mae, telling her that it was his mom asking when he was going to be home. The two continued to talk quietly for the next few minutes before the PA system came on and announced that the next stop was Somerville and Chris started getting ready to get off.
When the train finally began to slow, he stood up, looking back down at Mae. "See ya around, Mae." He tipped his hat a little, and then he left.
Mae sank down in her chair, both relieved and a little sad that their encounter had ended so soon. She quickly placed her AirPods in her ears, turning on some music to keep her mind occupied for the rest of the journey to Lowell.
While she hoped that she would get to see Chris again sometime soon, she was a little worried that the friendship that was blooming between them would lead to something more in her head than the passing fancy that she had assigned to him.
After what seemed like years, the PA finally announced that they would be stopping in Lowell next, and she began to collect her things. It was only then, that she realized that even though she had silently chastised the boys for the amount of effort that they put into checking their belongings before getting off the train, Chris had left his jacket.
Maybe they really did need to check that thoroughly. Mae picked up the jacket, draping it over her arm as she stood up, hoping that maybe next Friday, she would be able to return it to him.
