Sketch - A Love Story

12 - [Dom] Awkward Smalltalk

Awkward Smalltalk

"That's where I live, by the way."

I point to my house, with the empty driveway a gaping hole in the terrace where the car should be. I can see my bedroom window from the front of the house, directly above the front door.

Tess slows down her gait a little. "The beige one?"

"Yeah." I watch her, trying to catch a reaction. There's nothing.

It's silent for a bit longer after that. We've long passed the place where we met, and she seemed to go all stiff. I'd love to comfort her, but having a strange boy you've only ever met twice hug you in the middle of the street is more than awkward. I decide against it.

Good job, fate. Doing well so far.

Cedar's park is pretty average. It's got a large grass area with a few dotted trees and benches and bins, a playground, and an abandoned cricket clubhouse where all the dodgy kids do drugs. Numbingly standard for suburban England. It's not a bad place to hang out, and Marco, Xander, and me come here all the time.

We walk through the rusted gates and stroll along the pathway. There's three dog walkers, with four dogs running around like they're high. A young girl is using the swings, watched over by her overtired mother, and two guys - one of which I recognise somehow - are smoking in the middle of the field with a crappy speaker blaring out tinny music.

I look at Tess again, and catch her glancing at me. Watching me? Assessing my worthiness? Scanning me for the infamous 'boyfriend material'?

I'm glad she's comfortable enough to look right back at me. I smile at her, and she looks at the ground. Is she blushing?

We find a bench and I take out all the food we bought. She sits down and picks up her drink, and I sit beside her, but not too close.

"Tell me about yourself." I ask.

She looks at me for a moment longer than she usually does. "Um..."

"Like, if you were bring interviewed on a talk show. Nothing personal, if you don't want to."

"Okay." She swallows. She pulls down her sleeves again. "My name is Tess Renner, and I'm fifteen. I like books and... uh..." She shrugs. "That's about it."

"What's your favourite book?"

Something in her face lights up a little. "You realise you're the most cliché person I've ever met, right?"

"What?" I laugh. "No! I'm genuinely interested, I swear."

"Okay, okay," she says, a smile dancing on her lips. "My favourite book is... probably..." she sighs, and looks up at the greying sky. "I don't know. All of them."

"You must have read one crappy book at some point." I protest, but she shakes her head.

"There's good and bad bits of every book, I guess." Tess crosses her legs. She reaches for the chocolate, and I nod in approval as she hesitates. "Tell me about you, Blue-Eyes."

"It's Dom." I say, but she only smirks.

"I know."

I feel my cheeks burn a little. "Well, uh, my name is Dominic James Callaghan. I'm sixteen, and I love drawing. I'm a bit of a nerd, and I want to be an illustrator when I'm older."

Tess smiles. "You go to Wickham, right?"

"Yep." I nod. "What about you?"

"I'm homeschooled." She says.

"Oh." Is my only response.

Well done, Dom. Now it's humiliatingly awkward for both of you. Excellent job.

I watch Tess open the chocolate and place a square in her mouth. Her lips look so soft, and I want to touch them. Her face is so toned and clear, her skin so smooth across her features. What would she do if I just ran my fingers over her cheek? What would it feel like if I-

"Dom?"

My eyes snap up to meet hers.

"You... you were staring at me."

"I'm so sorry! Uh..." I mumble some obscure excuse before glaring at the sky. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," she says. She's so, so not. "Why did you want to meet me?"

"I just wanted to make sure you're okay." I say, and I decide to be blunt. "I don't know if you're suicidal but I just wanted you to know that I-"

"Dom?"

I frown and turn to the voice. The guy I recognised and his friend are approaching us, and slowly, I place him. It's Michael - more commonly known as Mikey, and also Xander's older brother.

"Mikey..." I say, with an obvious tone of sarcastic enthusiasm. "How's it going?"

"It's chill, dude." He says, and I internally groan. He has the stereotypical voice of a half-drunk hippie who belongs in a Volkswagen Campervan that stinks of tea leaves and has two surfboards on the roof.

As I stand, Tess' face drains of colour. This clearly isn't what she had in mind.

"Who's your girlfriend?" Mikey's friend says. They're both wearing Science pun t-shirts, having abandoned the speaker and their bulkier leather jackets in the place they were sitting.

"She's... uh..." I shuffle my feet. "...she's not my girlfriend."

"Sure, dude." Mikey slurs. "Sure."

I glance back at her. She looks at me awkwardly, her obvious fear having settled a little knowing that they're not complete strangers. I nod and breathe out.

"Nice seeing you guys!" I blurt, waving forcefully for them to leave. "Tell Xander I said hey."

Mikey and his friend nod and say something that I don't pay attention to, before returning to their spot on the field. They both laugh aloud at a comment clearly about us as they sit back down, and I scowl.

The scores so far - Fate: 1, Dom: 0.