Hearts and Rockets | Hutchpoppe

Chapter 6

Caleb's POV

"Hey, cowboy," I hear Maddie's voice.

"Hey," I smile at her.

"So, if we're going to start on this project tonight, I'm gonna need to know where your house is."

"Oh," I say, "or you could just walk home with me."

"Didn't you drive your truck here?" She looks at me, confused, and then smirks, "or are you too nervous to let me ride home with you?"

"No, I just didn't want it to be awkward, and I walked today," I answer, honestly.

"Okay," she says, "I'm fine either way."

"Okay," I nod.

"Well, I'll see you after school, I guess," she says.

"Yeah, see you."

When I get out of my last class, I see Maddie just standing at her locker, holding the strap of her backpack. I go over, putting what I need from my locker into my backpack, and I feel her watching me. I put my backpack over one of my shoulders and she does the same. I smile at her when I close my locker.

"Okay, let's go," I tell her.

We step outside, and I feel the cool air on my face. She puts a piece of gum in her mouth as we start walking down the sidewalk.

"You chew gum a lot," I chuckle.

"Yup, is that a problem?" She asks, playfully.

"What are we talking about?" Catie runs up to us, and starts walking on the other side of Maddie.

"Gum," Maddie laughs, "Caleb has a problem with me chewing gum."

"I don't," I laugh, and they laugh with me.

"It's nasty," Catie laughs, "it's like, the germs you have in your mouth from everyday, just stick to the gum, and you chew it and you're just chewing germs, pretty much."

I look over at Catie, and see Maddie stop chewing, a blank expression on her face. She goes over to a nearby trashcan, spitting out her gum and then throwing the pack of gum from her pocket into the trashcan.

She comes back over to us, "I am never chewing gum again."

We laugh at her and continue walking, until Catie sees a boy across the street and runs across the road to him, not even saying bye to us.

"Okay?" I chuckle, looking at Maddie.

"That's Michael. Catie has the hots for him," she laughs.

I don't respond. I just stare into her eyes, noticing how much more beautiful they are when she's outside. She looks over at me and smiles.

I smile back, "So, why don't you tell me a little more about yourself?"

She looks ahead, "Well, what do you want to know?"

"Whatever you want to tell me."

"Well," she kicks rocks that are on the sidewalk, hands in her pockets, "I don't really have much to say. I'm not a very interesting person."

"Let me be the judge of that," I look ahead.

"I literally do nothing," she laughs, "all I can say is that I grew up here, and that I have, like, two friends."

"Am I one of those friends?"

She looks at me for a moment, and we continue walking, taking our time, "Okay, three friends. You, Catie, and Gabby. You know Gabby, right?"