Soft Hearts | In A Heartbeat Fanfiction

5: These titles are just kinda random thoughts I guess

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Heart pounding, Sherwin lifted up a light jacket from off the couch. Jonathan must have left it here. He looked around, then took it back to his room. Jon would get his coat back on Monday.

For the next hour, Sherwin lay with his face in the jacket, obsessing over its smell. It reminded him of books and apples, which reminded him of the last day of seventh grade. Shuddering, Sherwin recalled how he had collided with his crush and then later accidentally came out to the whole school. It was a real surprise that Jon didn't mind talking to him after that disaster.

Eventually, he was called down for dinner, which turned out to be green bean casserole. Sitting down at the circular dining table, Sherwin waited patiently for his father to finish saying grace, then he dug in. Not until he was halfway through his serving did he realize his brother was present. Looking up, he saw the stubbly-faced teenager prodding at his food with a fork, obviously bored.

"Hey Bobby," Sherwin said quietly. He was glad to see him, but he wasn't sure if the feeling was mutual. Bobby glanced up, nodded, and returned to picking at a green bean. Their mom tried to break the awkward silence.

"So, how's dinner?" she asked, trying to sound upbeat. Sherwin and Bobby both responded with "fine", while Melanie spewed partly devoured food everywhere when trying to answer.

"Ah lack geen beens," his little sister sputtered. Sherwin's dad gave a halfhearted laugh, then resumed reading his book. After a couple more moments of quiet, Sherwin stood up.

"You're done already?" his mom questioned. He shrugged.

"I'm not very hungry." Then, taking his plate, he put it in the kitchen sink and trudged upstairs.

After using the bathroom, Sherwin promptly went straight to his room. He was tired of overthinking everything, and by the time he reached his bedside, he collapsed on Jonathan's jacket and passed out.

The next day, Saturday, Sherwin woke up with his clothes and shoes still on and the sun on his face. Rubbing his eyes, it took him a minute to remember the events of the previous day. Suddenly, he leapt out of bed, looking around frantically for his cherished article of clothing that Jon had forgotten. After searching everywhere, he rushed downstairs to see if anyone else had it.

On his way to the main hallway, he bumped into his mom carrying freshly dried laundry from outside. "Finally woke up, huh?" she joked, kissing the top of his head.

"Mom, did you find a dark blue coat in my room this morning?" Sherwin asked her, trying to hide the panic in his voice.

"Yeah, you were drooling on it, tootsie. I figured you must have been exhausted after you left the table last night," she explained. "Anyway, it should be in this basket, I just finished a loa-" Sherwin interrupted her by diving his arms into the pile of clean clothes and retrieving Jonathan's jacket. He then sprinting back up to his room, leaving his mom confused at the base of the stairs.

Once alone again, he lifted the clump of blue fabric and sniffed it. "Thank god," he said to himself. It still smelled like him. Bless his mother and her 'natural' way of doing laundry.

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