Aestivation

the petiole

"Why do you always bring extra underwear when you change?"
Jackson asks

I look at him incredulously
He's smart but
Not most of the time

"I sweat a lot, and after literally running around in the sun, you tend to get sweaty"
I smile at him sarcastically
"My underwear feels like a wet diaper and I fucking. Hate. It."

"Ew TMI"
He whines

"You asked!"
I yell
Kicking him on his shin repeatedly, until he shields himself my grabbing a hold of my leg

"I was joking! Relax"
He says hissing while massaging the area that was hit
"For a short guy you sure do hit pretty hard"

I threaten to kick him again
He steps back in faux fear

"Just because you're a giant doesn't mean I'M short"
I keep away all my gym laundry, stuffing them haphazardly into a plastic bag

"Yeah, but anyone shorter than me is STILL shorter than me"
He retorts, putting on his shirt, his lean body flexing

He always did that
He put his arms over his head

While I put on my clothes slouched over

Guess that's the difference between
Us

He was more confident and more sure of things than me
Even when he was wrong about things most of the time

And I'm always unsure
Always doubting

I feel cooler now, refreshed

The heat of exertion was lost to the gentle breeze of the air conditioner

"You're oddly quiet, anything wrong?"
Jackson asks
Already dressed beside me
Leaning on the lockers

"Just thinking about stuff"

"What stuff?"
He asks, digging for more
Leaning a little closer

My hands hitches to a stop as I pull the waistband of my pants up

It feels strange

"If you want to tell me that is"
He looks off to the side
And leans back giving me space

"I was thinking about what movie to watch for tonight"
I hurriedly pull my pants up

His eyes light up
"Oh yeah! Don't worry your pretty face, I've got the 3 best movies for our sleepover"
He says boastful
Flexing his arm and patting his bicep

Acting as if picking movies were a  strenuous thing

"Well don't stress yourself superman you might get sore"
I joke

And he just stares at me

It feels stuffy somehow

"We should go. . "
"If we don't want to miss our next class"

"Yeah. ."

And we both take a leave
Closing the gym locker room doors behind us

Both of us strangely quiet
But it's not awkward

Somehow It feels comfortable

Except for something else
Somehow along the way I felt something

Like something was missing
Or something was about to be left behind

That something was
"MY BAG!!"
"Shit"

I exclaimed
"You go on ahead I'll catch up kay"

"Alright"
Jackson says to me in reply
Waving his arm a little
"Hurry up tho, you know how our prof gets"
I nod to him as he calls out