In The Rain

chpt. 9

Chris gets his umbrella out of his locker and we make our way outside the school. He opens it up revealing a cute koala print just in the middle of the umbrella.

"Don't mind the design, I took this from my little sister." He claimed

I let out a giggle and he tags along laughing too. Thankfully, we both fit under the umbrella keeping both us and our bags dry. We started walking to the nearest bus stop which was about a ten-minute walk from school. The sun had already set and it was almost time for the street lights to turn on. The rain slowly got softer but we could barely tell. This was definitely going into my book of memories with him.

I remember thinking I could never have a full conversation with Chris but with this atmosphere, all the right words came out. We spoke about our plans after high school, and he told me about how he's planning to earn a scholarship to a nice school using his soccer game plays. I forgot he played...

"So, what about you? What are you gonna do?" He asks

"To be honest, I'm not a hundred percent sure yet. I was thinking to go into the medical field or maybe becoming a teacher for kindergartners, but I honestly have no clue." I respond

"That's cool, I love how you're still keeping your options open. Whatever you do, just know I'll be cheering for you on the sidelines!" He says keeping eye contact with me while his dimples pop up again.

Fully taking in what he said, it seemed unusual for him to say something like that to me. Someone who's not his friend in the slightest. Maybe it's changed now but I can't be too sure. But what I know for sure is that I feel safe with him.

We both turn silent as we reached the bus stop. There weren't any chairs for us to sit so we just stayed in place waiting for the bus to come, we were going on separate buses so we'd eventually have to split up soon.

•••

"I don't want this to sound silly but," Chris breathes in and out letting out a short giggle "I've been pretty interested in you for a while now." He says looking down

Did he just say... He's interested in me. No way. Conan and Jian must be hiding somewhere, this has got to be some sort of joke to make myself look like a fool.

"Did Conan set you up to this?" I ask not believing a thing

"W- What..?" Christopher says taken back "Listen, Conan didn't set me up to say thi-"

"So it was Jian then?" I cut him off.

Maybe what he was saying was true but I couldn't tell.

"Listen. Celestia. Nobody forced me to be here with you right now just to lie about how I feel. I can assure you that."

This is not happening right now. What am I supposed to say? How am I supposed to respond? I need to be pinched.

"I really am interested in you" He adds

"I... I... I don't know what to say." I respond trying to gather my words and thoughts together.

I'm interested in him too. I have been... Year 1 me would be screaming with joy right now but year 4 me can't spit out a single good word.

The silence between us could make the quietest library seem loud.

It felt like I've been standing in-front of him for a decade with the way it felt like time was slowly moving.
The few seconds of silence ended as I heard honking from afar. Was that... My parents... There's no fucking way.

My parents stopped by the bus stop (thankfully???) which made things even more awkward.

"Shit. I am so sorry, I gotta go now. We can give you a ride too if you want?" I asked feeling sorry for the extremely bad timing

"Oh, it's okay... I'm good with taking the bus. Get home safe..." He replied gloomily

His smile was long gone. I messed up big time.

"We'll continue this conversation tomorrow, I swear."

That was the last thing I said before I got into my parent's car.