Walk With Me

1

"Where are you going?" Ollie asked, skipping after me through the front door.

"For a walk," I said.

"A walk?"

"Would you like me to spell it out for you?"

"No," he chirped. "I can spell. And write. Ms. Chester said I'm very smart for my age."

"Academically, maybe. Logically, no." Then I shoved him back inside, let the door close, and sprinted off down the sidewalk to get as far away from him as I could.

Where was I heading? To the park. Again. For the fourth time that week and the tenth time that month. At this point I was getting too hopeful. I stopped in front of the bench, wondering if I should've brought my bike. He wasn't going to be there anyway.

He never was.

But why did I care? I didn't even like him anymore. I sat down, pulling out a sketch pad. I was never good at drawing realistically. So I put my own twist on everything. Made it all a big cartoon, senseless and silly, different, unreal. Pointed leaves and trees, flowers that looked as if they had been painted to appear realistic. It was weird. Unusual. Colorful.

I liked it.

I glanced up. Why was I always doing this? I walked all the way to the park. I waited every day for at least thirty minutes. I walked back, my confidence withering. Every. Single. Time. I was tired of waiting, I had my hopes up for way too long. One more walk, one more wait. He will be there.

And he was.

My breath hitched as he looked up, his hood falling down to his shoulders. His whole body was like a statue as the swing came to a halt. He then stood and walked over to me, examining me in the process. When he was sure he knew who I was, he smiled softly. "Hey, Harlow."

I stared up at him with wide eyes. He grinned again, sitting down next to me. "You're not going to say anything? You were rather chipper last time I saw you."

"That was two years ago," I said finally.

He hummed. "You live in the area?"

"Yeah. I knew you did, been looking for you since the end of camp."

His mouth twitched upward at that. "Well," he started to kick his legs, a smile on his face. "I'm here now. So you don't have to look for me anymore."

I beamed back. "Yeah."

"So..."

Silence. I should've known it would be awkward.

"How's life?" He asked, effectively stopping me from making things worse.

"Um, could be better I guess," I mumbled. I didn't really want to talk about life.

"Could be better?"

"Yeah."

He just stared at me, a blank expression on his face. It made me somewhat uncomfortable, and for some reason I felt obliged to explain.

"School, kids, friends, teachers, parents, Ollie, people in general..." I let my voice quiet.

He nodded slowly before saying, "I kind of missed you." Then, he smirked. "You're fun to tease."

I glared. "I knew it! You did all that on purpose!" I shoved him, causing him to fall sideways, almost off the bench. He laughed, and my heart almost exploded. I reached forward, Wanting to cup his face, hold his hand, do some thing that gave me further proof he was actually there, in front of me. When he had calmed down from his hysteria, I pulled back, and stood. I held out my hand. "Come on."

He stared at it making me roll my eyes,

"Take it," I said. "Walk with me."

He immediately took it, and I'm pretty sure that's when my heart exploded.

So I lied.

What about it?

Maybe I was still absolutely smitten for this boy.

One word: Dodie