I'm Scott Malkinson

7- Misunderstandings

Scott picked at a loose thread at the arm of his sweater sleeve. He was sitting on Clyde's couch as the two of them picked through Mr. Donovan's Civil War books. He indulged himself in this nervous habit to avoid the awkwardness of spending time with a guy he didn't really know all too well, despite being classmates for several years. Clyde looked over at Scott. "Don't do that," he said.

"What?" asked Scott, confused as to what he'd done. He suddenly became self conscious, wondering if he'd accidentally broken some unspoken rule of the Donovan household.

"Don't pick at the thread. Your whole sweater could come unraveled," Clyde clarified. The imagery of that statement was ridiculous, but Clyde seemed pretty serious about the possibility of it occurring.

"Sorry," Scott apologized reflexively, then he felt Clyde's hand grab his own. A rush of warmth shot through his body at the shock of it, and Scott started feeling a little lightheaded. Was his blood sugar low? That surely must be it. There was no other reason Clyde touching his hand would elicit a physical reaction of such from him.

"What are you doing?" Scott asked, barely able to bring his voice above a whisper. He felt a bit frozen in place. Then he heard the sound of scissors clicking and Clyde dropped his hand. Scott looked over and saw Clyde holding the severed thread up like a trophy.

"I got rid of it for you. Now we don't have to worry about your whole outfit unraveling and leaving you naked."

Scott bit the side of his tongue. "I'm pretty sure that only happens in cartoons."

"Better to be safe than sorry, right?" Clyde paused and looked at Scott a bit too intensely for his comfort. Clyde's expression became a bit worried looking. "Hey Scott, are you feeling okay? Your face is really red."

Scott self consciously brought his fingers up to his cheek, feeling how warm they were. Was he blushing? Did Clyde make him blush? "Um...let me check my blood sugar," he said, "I might be low or something."

He pulled out his glucose monitor and pricked his finger. Out of the corner of his eye he caught Clyde wince. "Sorry," he mumbled.

Clyde placed a hand on Scott's shoulder comfortingly. "Do what you need to. Needles freak me out a bit, but I'll be okay."

Scott's monitor beeped with the results and he looked down. "Yeah it is a little low, could I get a juice box or something?"

"Sure," Clyde agreed, disappearing into the kitchen. He came back a few moments later with a bowl full of cherries. "We don't have any juice but we have fruit. Will that work?"

"Uh yeah, fruit has plenty of sugar. Thanks," he replied, taking a bite of a cherry. He grabbed a tissue from the box on the coffee table and spit the pit inside.

A few cherries later, Clyde picks up one of his own and plucks off the stem. "You know, I can tie one of these in a knot using my tongue," he announced.

"Uh... congrats?" Scott told him, unsure how else he was supposed to respond. The statement seemed so random to him. Scott had no idea where Clyde was going with this, maybe nowhere. Clyde could just be a bit random at times.

"I read online that it was a way to test if you're a good kisser. If you can tie a cherry stem with your tongue you can kiss good. It's science," Clyde explains.

"I don't think that's science."

"It definitely is," Clyde argued, a playful tone in his voice. "I can show you."

"W-what?" Scott spluttered. "You mean like kiss me?" Scott could feel his cheeks burning as the thought entered his head.

"What?" Clyde asked, no I mean like I can show you tying the stem. "Sorry Scott but these lips are just for the ladies." Clyde winked and made finger guns at him.

"I wasn't going to take you up on that offer anyway..." Scott mumbled, looking away. He was a bit embarrassed now. Did Clyde think Scott wanted to kiss him? Scott just wanted to make sure Clyde didn't want to kiss him because Scott definitely didn't want to kiss Clyde. He just wanted to make sure they were both on the same page to avoid any misunderstandings. He hated misunderstandings.