8,849 Miles

七 - States, Football, and Compliments

Colton dashed through the front door and slid his school bag off his shoulder to the ground, not caring about the contents in it. He needed his iPad, now.

"Colton! Is that you?" his mum called from the kitchen.

He didn't answer, and he ran upstairs to his room, snatching the tablet of his desk. His fingers shook with excitement as he typed every word, grinning from ear to ear.

"I MADE STATES, CINDY I MADE THE STATES!" Colton didn't bother waiting for her reply, since he knew that it's barely dawn where she lived. So instead he went back downstairs and informed his mum about the news, and she was thrilled.

He smiled so hard until his cheeks hurt, Colton practically yelled it in his dad's face the moment he came back from work. His father slapped him on the back, his eyes crinkling with pride.

"Proud of you son," He smiled at him, "keep up the good work."

"Thanks dad."

Colton was filled with so much excitement he didn't know how to wear it off, he had so much energy he felt like he could practically do laps around the neighbourhood multiple of times without stopping. He suddenly remembered about Cindy and quickly went back upstairs, taking two steps at a time.

When Cindy read the text at six o'clock on a Saturday morning, she felt so proud of him, and immediately congratulated his achievement. Her lips were stretched to a grin and she was really, really, really, proud of him. She couldn't stress that enough.

She remembered how hard he had worked for that moment, and she knew it meant everything to him, even though she didn't know a single basic rule- or any knowledge for that matter, of the sport.

Cindy smiled at the fond memory she remembered, Colton had tried to teach her how American football works, and... it didn't go as well as he had expected it to be.

"... and the quarterback runs-"

"What about the poles?" Cindy spoke, then stopped abruptly, wait a minute.

"...What?" Colton asked confusedly. What poles?

"You know the poles? In the middle?"

Colton gave the biggest defeated sigh, and Cindy struggled to keep her laughter in.

"There are no poles in the middle Cindy," he explained to her slowly, as if he was dumbing it down for her, "there are at the ends of the field, those are the goal posts."

"Oh."

"You know what? I give up." Cindy could imagine him throwing his hands in the air, admitting defeat. "I've been trying to explain this so many times, yet you still don't get it."

They gave up.

Colton rang her the moment he saw her reply, and started blabbing excitedly at her.

"We made it! We actually made it!" he cried, unable to contain his joy. Those extra practices really did pay off.

Cindy laughed at his excitement, it was like watching a child at a toy store, running about the store and choosing the ones they want. His voice contained nothing but pure happiness, which is what kept Cindy's smile intact on her face.

"Yea, you did." Cindy said.

"I couldn't have done it without you though," he said softly. "you were basically my motivation."

"No, you did it all by yourself, all I did was tell you to keep going."

"That's what people called encouragement, and I really needed it."

"But still-" Cindy tried to say.

"Dude, you're like my personal good luck charm," Colton said, "I remember the day before, I whispered 'kangaroo bounce bounce' before I sprinted, and I came first."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

A blanket of silence fell on them, no one said anything for a while.

"Cindy?" Colton asked for her.

"Hm?"

"Can you compliment me at the end of every call?"

Cindy furrowed her eyebrows, what kind of request is that?

"Why?" she asked suspiciously.

"I don't know, just do it," Colton replied nonchalantly, "Please?"

"No, I want to know why."

"Oh come on, I always compliment you, and you never say it back."

It was true, he did always compliment her. Whether if it was about her jokes, her display picture, anything.

"Alright, fine."

"Yes!"

"Uh, let's see.." Cindy pretended to think it through, even though she already had one in her mind straight away, "I'm really proud of you today, making the finals and everything. I know how much it means to you."

She felt her cheeks heat up.

"Thanks, I know." Colton replied smugly. He felt warm inside, knowing that he made her proud of what he had achieved.

"Oh my god, this is why I never compliment you!" Cindy said with mock frustration.

He heard his mum calling for him for dinner, he threw a laugh at Cindy and said a quick goodbye and ended the call. Colton went downstairs and helped set up the table, counting the forks he needed. He couldn't wipe the grin off his face if he tried.

His parents even asked him why he was smiling so much.

A/N

FJODNIOWDFNOJWNFOJDWNO.

Actually checked for spelling errors in this chapter.

Update: I uploaded this at 2 something, and it's five minutes until three rn bc i stayed up to make the cover

Germaine