Reach Me

3

"Where is she?" Matt complained shivering under his thin zip-up jacket.

The weather was acceptionally chilly with a temperature of about 40 degrees fahrenheit. Matt, being totally unprepared and not thinking to check the weather, only brought a hoodie which definitely wasn't enough.

"She'll be here. We're 5 minutes early, Matt." Erin replied.

"It's so cold. Can we go home?"

"No, we cannot go home! It was your idea to come. And Parker's already on her way. And you should've brought a coat."

Matt didn't know how to compete. He breathed out a sigh, seeing his breath in the air from the low temperatures. Erin looked at him, feeling bad for him. She took off her scarf and handed it to him.

"Here, Matt." She said. Matt saw it and quickly grabbed it putting it around his neck. The scarf was a striped beige and hot pink but Matt was way too cold. "Ah! Thank you." Erin looked at the girly scarf and chuckled at him.

"What? Don't like my scarf? It's my favorite colors." Erin laughed more.

"Aren't you from New York? Your not used to the cold?" Erin asked.

"No. I never have. I'm more of a 'tropical weather' kind of guy." He nodded.

"Oh."

They waited by some tall spruce trees with their bikes at the park where Parker was supposed to meet with them after school on Friday.

The trees were beautiful. Tall, dark green, and crisp. The sky was a grey but it wasn't gloomy or melancholy. It was a feeling to think. A time to sit and look at the grey clouds and think.

Erin sat down on the grass by a tall tree and sat her book bag down on her lap and Matt followed. While Erin took her Calculus textbook out of her bag and brought put a pencil, Matt didn't bother. He laid on his back and looked up at the trees.

"Gonna do some work?" Erin asked.

"Ugh. I guess. I'm just not in the mood."

She laughed. "You're never in the mood to do homework."

He laughed and stayed staring up at the enormous height of the trees, mesmerized.

Minutes later, Parker was walking over to their spot.

"Hey Erin." She smiled. Erin greeted her and Parker sat down by her.

"Freak." Parker greeted Matt. Erin didn't look to Matt to see if she was joking or not. She didn't want to know.

Matt clenched his jaw and looked the other way. He sighed and pulled out his Calculus homework and did some work.

Erin continued to do work as well. It felt awkward sitting in between the two because that was where all the tension floated, in the midst.

Erin chewed on her cheek and to ease the tension, put on headphones and listened to classical music. Just because it fit the mood.

After a long silence of doing Calculus problems in the tension, Parker broke the silence. "I'm so bored." She said.

"Oh. Sorry. Matt and I were just planning to do some work." Erin explained.

"Yeah but what's the point of going with someone if you're not gonna talk to them." Erin didn't know what to say otherwise.

"We were just planning to do homework."

Parker rolled her eyes and continued to lie on her back and stare at the trees.

During the time, Matt asked Erin for help on the problems, she explained, he answered the questions. Then, Erin asked Matt for questions to her literature homework, he explained, then she answered the questions.