Circles

Chapter Fifteen

        After another hour of mindless chatting and some lunch, it is time for us to leave. Luckily, we don’t have any group activities today. I can only hope that the same goes for Matthew. Liz and I get on the bus and sit in the back again.

            “So what’s the plan?” I ask her.

            “Good question,” she laughs.

            “Be serious,” I tell her. “We need a plan.”

            “Okay…well where are you guys going to go?” she asks.

            “I have no idea. Where are you going to go?”

            “Wherever you’re not, I’m assuming.”

            “How about this,” I say. “Meet me at the residential bus stop at 5:15. Just take the bus there whenever you are ready. Then we can walk home from there together. Sound good?”

            “Sounds good,” she affirms.

            “Okay,” I say as we pull up to the clothes store. I see Matthew standing by the entrance and breathe a sigh of relief. “Well, here goes nothing. See you later.”

            “Don’t get pregnant,” Liz says with a teasing smile.

            “I’ll try my very hardest,” I say sarcastically as I step off the bus. Matthew looks in my direction for a moment, but then does a double take as he apparently realizes it’s me. A large goofy smile spreads across his face and his icy blue eyes twinkle with excitement as he jogs up to me.

            “Hey Alex,” he says when he reaches me, unable to contain his glee.

            “Hey, there,” I say back.

            “You clean up pretty nice,” he says as he takes my hand and twirls me around to get the whole picture.

            “You’re not too bad yourself,” I respond. He wears a plaid button-down with the sleeves pushed up and jeans, his dirty-blonde hair spiked up ever so slightly. But what really makes the outfit wonderful is the smile he wears.

            “Well, you can thank Nicole for that,” he says. “She picked out the outfit.”

            “Does she know about me?”

            “Yeah, Nicole’s the only genuine friend I’ve made since we were put in our Circles. I pretty much tell her everything,” he answers. “What about you? Does anyone know about me?”

            “One person,” I say. “My friend Liz. She picked out my outfit, too.” I say. We laugh.

            “So, Miss Alexandra, what would you like to do today?”  he asks.

            “How about a walk?” I suggest.

            “A walk sounds lovely,” he says casually. He offers me his arm, acting so gentlemanly that it’s corny, which is exactly how he intended it. I giggle and take it. We walk down the street away from the bus stop and towards the biggest field in the community. We don’t talk as we walk, and a few minutes later we arrive at the field and sit in the warm grass under the sun across from each other.

            “So,” I say. “What’s new?”

            “Good question,” he says. “Not much. I’ve been thinking about you a lot.”