°~Fall~°

Laughing Swings

This is a romantic reader and (female insert) story. I really like dialogue, so these guys are mostly going to be talking... lol. Enjoy :)

~

As a kid, I was obsessed with swings. The swings were the first thing I'd go to whenever I visited the park. I would happily spend hours of my life on them, and even as I grew older, that obsession never faded. One day, it was a cold and windy autumn afternoon and the park was alone. The swings I had loved so much had been taken down a few days before, but, there was always a lone swing someone hung up a long time ago under a tree. As I made my way over to it, I noticed a girl around my age swinging by herself. I decide not to bother her and begin to walk away, but she stops swinging and speaks up.

"Hey, are you waiting for this swing?" She asks me. Unsure of what to say, I hesitantly nod. She smiles at me and tells me to get closer. Once I do, she leans over a bit.

"I'll strike you a deal." She gestures to her ankle and only then do I realize she has a cast on. "If you push me on the swing for a minute or two, I'll leave and you can have the swing all to yourself. It's kinda hard to swing with a busted foot." She shrugs and holds her hand out.

"Deal?" She asks. I stare at her hand briefly before grabbing it and shaking it.

"Deal." I respond. Her smile widens and I walk behind her. I see her excitedly kick her feet back and forth and smile to myself.

"So," She says while I start to push her. "I can tell you're not new, how come I've never seen you around before?" Colorful leaves fall around us as she turns to look at me. I shrug in response.

"Not sure, I guess we come here on different days." I say. She looks forward again and stays quiet for a moment.

"Did I forget to tell you my name?" She asks out of nowhere and I start to laugh.

"Yeah, you did. My name's (___) by the way." I tell her. She laughs with me and tells me her name as well. 

Our conversation goes on as I push her gently, revealing that we have a lot in common. That and the fact that we live in the same neighborhood. Once we realize more than 2 minutes go by, I stop pushing her. She turns around to look at me and smirks.

"Hey, watch this." She says as the swing starts to slow down. She waits until the right moment and jumps off the swing, landing on her uninjured foot perfectly. Just as she was about to congratulate herself, a stray gust of wind came out of nowhere and she lost her balance, causing her to fall backward. I rush over and catch her from behind just in time. I feel her freeze against my chest.

"Phew, thanks." She chuckles awkwardly and I help her stand up straight.

"No problem." I walk over to the swing and sit down. "And even if you probably shouldn't have done that, it's still impressive that you managed to land it." I pause and smirk. "Well, kind of, anyway." I laugh. 

She scoffs and rolls her eyes, but she still has a smile on her face.

"I totally would've landed that if the wind didn't make me lose my balance." She says. 

She stops and gazes at me for a while. She was studying me at first, but now it seems like she's thinking about something else. It makes me feel nervous, but I don't show it as I interrupt her daydreaming.

"You alright? You're staring." I say, smiling a bit as I start to swing slowly. She blinks in realization and chuckles awkwardly. Her already rosy cheeks seem to get a bit pinker.

"Sorry, it's just... You're kinda cute. Like, it's kinda hard not to stare." She replies. Even though her answer was bold, she looked a little sheepish saying it. I can feel my cheeks warm up despite the cold, and I just know they're matching her own in color.

"Oh, uh... thank you. No one's ever really complimented me like that. Like, in a first meeting especially." I say, chuckling awkwardly. She smiles at me, and it makes my heart thump a little harder.

"You.... You're pretty cute too. If... If that's okay for me to say." I add, mentally cursing my stuttering. 

Her smile spreads into a grin and she starts to laugh a little. It makes my face feel hotter, but her laugh just sounds so nice that I can't help it. This... This felt strange. A good strange. She scratches the back of her neck awkwardly.

"Yeah, that's fine. Thank you. Your attempt to be respectful was really cute as well. In a good way, obviously." She says, grinning a little. 

I playfully scoff a little. The air between us is teetering on being awkward and being chill. I keep swinging in silence when I realize she's still standing on one leg.

"Can I ask a few questions about that?" I ask, glancing at the cast. She grimaces a little and waves her hand in an 'ehh' motion.

"Depends. I'm not gonna tell you what caused it. It's embarrassing." She replies sheepishly. I laugh a little and shake my head.

"Okay, I won't. But... do you have crutches? Like, you're just standing there." I say, and it causes her to laugh. Making her laugh makes my heart swell every time.

"Yeah, they're behind the tree. I didn't wanna bother you with getting them, but..." She trails off, smiling sheepishly. I chuckle and nod, standing up from the swing. I walk around the tree and lo and behold, the crutches. I walk back over to her and help her get stabilized.

"You could've just asked me, y'know. I wouldn't have minded." I say softly, smiling at her. The proximity and the tone of my voice seem to make her blush a little more, and it makes me chuckle.

"Okay, then. I will next time." She replies, smiling back at me. 

The wind picks up a little, and that's when we realize how late it's gotten. We both turn to grab our phones and stop when we realize what we're doing. I laugh and she laughs with me. It seems like all we can do together.

"Can I have your number?" 

And we laugh again, as the sentence leaves both of our mouths.

~

The End.

Oh my god I am so sorry I literally never even updated this even after I said I would on tiktok... This is not my best writing I literally swear on my life. 

Ahem, anyways, it's 2 years later. Better late than never even if it's shit I guess...? My next story will NOT be in this same format. Or, well, it'll be a little similar, because I only changed a little from this as most of it was already written back in 2022. Anyway. Goooood bye. Apologies.