Whispers In The Dark

Jessiah

Jessiah

I wanted to hang out with her over the weekend, more than anything.

All week had been the same routine. Every morning, I would wait for Anna to get off of the bus, and then we would enter the school through the gym. We were given choices as to what we wanted to do; swimming, basketball, or volleyball. Anna and I grabbed a basketball and went over to one of the lower basketball nets to mess around until the bell rang. Honestly, Gym had always been a class I liked, and I was a bit tempted to play basketball on a team with whoever else there was on the other side of the gym, but I would rather spend the time with her, even if that meant just tossing the ball back and forth and throwing free throws, teasing her when she missed and high-fiving her when she made it.

So, that morning, when she got off of the bus, I blurted, "Do you wanna hang out tomorrow?"

The smile on her face remained as I said it, and I took that as a good sign.

"Sure," she agreed. "Where?"

I relaxed immensely as she answered so calmly and surely, and I realized that I had worried over nothing. I thought for a moment. Was my house weird? Was her house weird?

"I know this awesome pet store up in North Haven," I grinned. "We can go there, if you want?"

"A pet store?"

I smiled crookedly. "Yeah, I know it sounds weird, but it's really nice, I promise! You can hold the birds and play with the dogs and cats, and its really fun. If you don't want to go, we can go to the mall or something, or-"

"It sounds great, Jess." Her eyes were bright as she laughed.

My ears reddened and I grinned at her, my insides getting warm at the use of the nickname. "I can pick you up at eleven...?"

Her cheeks reddened to match my ears, but her smile never faltered. "Okay."

I grabbed her hand, but convinced myself that it was only to pull her inside. "Okay."