I'm Scott Malkinson

23- Plans Change

When Scott walked into the school Monday morning, Sophie was standing near the main entrance chatting with Jenny and Nichole. As she saw him, Sophie quickly said goodbye to her friends and rushed over to meet him. "Hey Scott," she greeted. There was something different in the way she spoke to him today. Usually Sophie was pretty relaxed, but there was an excited nervousness in her mannerisms that confused Scott. Was she planning some kind of surprise? At the moment, he couldn't think of any other reason for her odd change in behavior.

"Hey Soph," he returned the greeting. "How was the rest of your weekend?"

"It was good, I finally had time to go to the stables yesterday. I haven't ridden Cider in a few weeks. I missed her." Cider was Sophie's horse. She was actually super into riding, and had tried to get Scott to try it out once or twice, but it had never worked out since Scott had a bit of a fear of horses. From far away they were cool, but when he got up close and personal with them and realized how huge they were, that was a different story. He was perfectly happy to watch her ride from afar, but had no interest in doing it himself.

"That sounds fun, I bet she missed you too," Scott replied as they walked towards his locker together. Sophie went on, chatting about how she and Butters had ridden together, and how his horse Melancholy had made some real progress in his training and wasn't attempting to mount other horses nearly as often. Scott listened politely. The topic of conversation didn't particularly interest him, but it was important to Sophie and he liked listening to her speak.

"So..." she started, shifting to a new topic. "I was wondering if we could have lunch together today?" she asked. "I know you've been eating with Clyde recently and you like to keep a certain routine, so if you don't want to switch it up too much I totally get it."

Scott took a moment to consider her proposal. He had been trying to distract himself from his crush on Clyde, and after waking up in bed with him Sunday morning he could definitely use the distraction. He kept finding his mind wandering back to that moment with Clyde's face buried into his chest. He looked so adorable, Scott just wanted to hold him there forever, but he wasn't meant to feel that way for another boy. "Sure Sophie, I'd love to. I'll just text Clyde and tell him I'm not available today. I'm sure he's been missing eating with the guys anyway."

Sophie pulled him into a hug. "You're the best," she told him. "Well I'd better head off to gym so I have plenty of time to get changed and stretched out. See you later!" Sophie turned around and hurried off to the locker room.

Scott pulled out his phone to let Clyde know the change in plan.

Scott: I can't hang out at lunch today.

Clyde: What? Why? :(

Scott: Eating with Sophie.

Clyde: Oh..
Clyde: Have fun ;)
Clyde: Not too much fun though.
Clyde: I'd better not see 'Scott and Sophie did it here' next time we go to the catwalk.

Scott: Get your mind out of the gutter Clyde.
Scott: I don't think I'd even want to do that...
Scott: Not until marriage at least.

Clyde: I forgot you were a good little Catholic lad :P

Scott: Yeah you haven't totally corrupted me yet.

Clyde: I'll get there eventually. ;)

Scott opted to meet Sophie in an empty math classroom. He purposely avoided the catwalk. It felt wrong to take her there, like that spot was only for him and Clyde (and apparently Stan and Kenny's older siblings). The first half of lunch was eaten without any sort of deep conversation. Sophie talked about something funny that happened in her first period class, and Scott brought an interesting scene from the book he was reading. Everything remained casual until she asked, "so do you really think I was the cutest girl at the lock-in?" Sophie was blushing and looking away a bit.

Scott started to feel a bit excited. Sophie seemed like she really liked him. He was sure that once she was officially his girlfriend then he would finally stop thinking of Clyde so much. "Of course, I've always thought you were beautiful Sophie. Right from the moment I met you." Scott remembered how excited he was when he found out another kid with diabetes was going to school with him. He'd convinced himself it was love at first sight.

"I think you're really cute too," she replied, her blush deepening. Scott placed his hand above hers. Her hand was warm and soft, and holding it felt nice. "I know you weren't really interested before, but would you like to be my girlfriend now?"

"Yeah, I'd like that."

Later that night he got a text from Clyde.

Clyde: So how'd your lunch date with Sophie go? ^~^

Scott: We made it official.😊

Clyde: You're not gonna totally ditch me now that you have a girlfriend are you?

Scott: You jealous?

Clyde: Maybe a little...😵‍💫

Scott: You're such a dork.
Scott: Don't worry, we're still friends.

Clyde: Alright good, just making sure. <3
Clyde: See you at lunch tomorrow?

Scott: Of course!