Chances

Axel

There was something about Gemma's smile that made me smile too.

I tried to make it less obvious over the following few days but I figured it was a bit too late for that.

And besides, she became quieter by the day.
For almost a week, all we had said to each other were the basic early morning and late night greetings.

Before our little hiatus, Gemma asked if she could borrow some books from the reading cabinet downstairs.

I told her they weren't that interesting.

She said she didn't mind.

She liked to read. That was all I had. Also, she made great pancakes. Good to know.

But that was it.

I was living with her but barely knew a thing about her.

I thought of taking her on another shopping spree.
Maybe then, I would purposely make us take a longer route home. Maybe I'd keep asking her which shirt would suit me more so we could stall.

But I thought of a better idea.

"Gemma?"

I placed my ear on the door and listened for a response to my call and knock.

"Come in."

I swallowed as I pushed her room door open.

The first thing that caught my eyes was the sight of different book piles around her neatly arranged room that had adapted to her sweet scent.

She was leaning against the headboard when I walked in.

"Oh," she said, getting up without looking at me. "I was going to return the books I just"-

Finally, her eyes landed on me and her brows shot up for a bit.

"Uh... what's happening?"

She was referring to my beige outfit from the hat and baselayer shirt to the cargo pants and boots.

"I was thinking and I thought of taking you over to the lake to go fishing. It's a short walk from here."

Gemma looked down at her sweatpants.

"But I don't have fishing clothes. I don't wanna slow you down or..."

"You won't slow me down. You don't even have to fish. We could just-just take a walk there and I'll do all the wet work."

Gemma's facial expression gave me no high expectations.

I was already planning on how to casually-and without any emotion-tell her to not mind what I said and pretend I didn't say anything but-

"Some fresh air would be nice."

I watched as she stepped an inch closer to me with a smile.

"Lead the way."

"Gladly."

Gemma offered to help me carry the fishing rod as soon as we stepped out of the house.

She held it over her shoulders and her arms went over it. The lightness in her step made her seem way happier than I had ever seen her. Like a free little kid.

I'm sure I was staring because she turned to look at me and-

"You good?"

I batted my lashes. "Yeah. Just zoned out."

She smiled.
"Do this often?"

"Zone out?"

"Wha-no," she laughed. "Fishing."