Is this Love? | ONC 2023

eight

By the time that the bus dropped us off, Kaeleigh and her mother had been waiting for me for 10 minutes. "I'm so sorry," I told Ms. Green.

"It's fine. I'm in no rush." She smiles at me politely, placing her mug on the cup coaster.

I dropped my backpack at the door, nodding to the stairs. Kaeleigh excuses herself and follows me up and into my room. "What do you have planned for us this weekend?" I asked, grabbing my travel bag from the closet and began tossing clothes into it.

"Nothing crazy," she responds, "I just want to hang out; I haven't spent time wit' you in forever!" I laugh. "Why're you laughin'?" She makes a stank face.

"Because," I start, "you were here like a day or two ago, and because I see you every day at school." I grab my bonnet from the bed and tuck it into the bag.

She pouts. "Well, it feels like forever."

I nod, doing a quick scan of my room. "I think I have everything. Let's go." Kaeleigh exits my room first and I follow behind, pulling my door shut. I was excited to be going to Kaeleigh's house for the weekend. We have been close friends since middle school, but we never actually had many sleepovers. My mom neither likes people coming to our house nor for us to go to theirs. It took forever to convince her to let Kaeleigh come here and for me to be able to go over there. Even still, she hesitates.

My mom and Ms. Green stand from the couch. I rush over to give my mom a hug; she hugs me tight as if she's afraid to let me go. When we release, I make my way to the front door. "I'll see you Sunday evening. Bye!" Kaeleigh then grabs my backpack and we exit.

The evening air has a chill to it sending shivers down my spine. "Chilly," I say aloud to no one in particular.

"Indeed," Ms. Green responds with a head nod. "I'm glad you can spend some time with us this weekend. It's been awhile."

"I am, too," I say. I smile at Kaeleigh, and she smiles back.

***

The smell of cinnamon and pine cones fill my nose as I enter Kaeleigh's house. It was a pleasant smell but surprising considering we were well into the spring season. "Hey, Aaron." I say as I make my way into the living room. He's sitting at the piano, as usual, playing a new piece I haven't heard before.

"Hey," he responds, his voice husky.

I loved Kaeleigh's house because it was nice, both inside and out, but also because of Aaron. He was always so nice to me and he's hot. When Kaeleigh first told me she had an older brother, I imagined he would look like her. Short, stout, and with a head of unruly brown hair. That image of him changed when she told me that he played the piano. I pictured him to be tall and scrawny, but Aaron was anything but. He did favor Kaeleigh a bit with his unruly brown hair, but that was about it. Aaron was tall; his chest was broad, he had big biceps, and thick, muscular thighs...

I look away from him, clearing my throat. "Learning a new piece?" I ask, plopping down on the couch. Kaeleigh sits down next to me.

"Yeah, something like that." He stands from the piano bench and sits next to me on the sofa. His scent fills my nostrils, and I smile. He always smelled good. "How's school?"

"It's going alright, thank you. I–"

"A boy asked for her number." Kaeleigh chimes in excitedly, grinning from ear to ear.

I laugh nervously. "Um... yeah, that did happen..."

"Is that so?" Aaron smiles down at me. My brown eyes meet his hazel ones, and I turn away, my face feeling way too hot.

"Y-yeah."

"Ah, I'm hurt. I thought you only had the hots for me." He teases.

A new wave of heat washes over me, and I stand from the couch, pulling Kaeleigh up with me. "Goodnight!" I call out as I drag Kaeleigh down the hall to her room. I can hear Aaron laugh from the other room.

I drop to the floor covering my face. "That was so embarrassing!" I whine.

"There, there," Kaeleigh coos as she pats my back.

***

After that, the weekend flew by way faster than I wanted it to. I did enjoy myself, though but now it was time to focus on school. Today was Monday, which meant I had gym this afternoon, which meant I would be seeing Dakota again. The thought made me smile. I wore my yellow shirt and converse today because apparently yellow was my color.

He had a point, though yellow did look nice on melanin.

"What're you cheesing about?" Justin asks me.

"Nothing," I say, smiling wider. "Today's just a nice day."

He hums, not forcing the conversation. I fiddle with the hem of my shirt, suddenly feeling nervous. What if Dakota wasn't in school today? The bus rolls to a stop. I stand, grabbing my backpack from the floor. I don't know why he wouldn't be but there's always a possibility that he misses a day. More importantly, why does the thought of that disappoint me?

"Uh, I'll see you later then?" Justin says.

I continue walking, deep in thought. As if on auto pilot, I head to the cafeteria for breakfast grabbing an apple and a bottle of chocolate milk. I shoved the apple in my pocket and shook the bottle of milk in my left hand before removing the top and taking a sip. I can't stop thinking about Dakota. It was starting to annoy me.

"It's not like I like the stupid boy..." I mumbled, taking another sip of the drink. I sigh, stopping by the trash can and chugging the rest of the drink. I drop it in the can and enter the ladies room.

I check underneath all the stalls before exhaling another breath. I hated being in the bathroom when other people were; it made me feel weird. I turn the knob on the sink, just listening to the water rush out, as I stare at my reflection in the mirror. I decided to do my hair differently today—just an impulse, nothing more. I adjusted the two buns at the top of my head, then ran a hand through the rest of my hair not tied up. I looked nice. I turned my head to the side, noticing the acne on my cheeks was starting to clear up. This made me look and feel nice, too.

I wonder if Dakota would think so?

I groan, leaning over the sink to splash water on my face. "Enough already." I reached for a paper towel and dabbed my face dry. The bell rings and I groan again. I'm late for class. Balling the towel in my hand, I shoot it towards the bin, missing by a few feet. "Ugh." I grabbed it from the floor, dropped it in the can, then exited the bathroom to class.

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Word count: 1163

Total: 9906