Alone Awaken

Chapter 16: Remi

It's been about fifteen minutes of me aimlessly stretching, when I decided to wipe down my mat and put it away. I walk pretty quickly to get my things. Not sure why, am I excited?

I throw on my raincoat and grab all my shit. I make a mental check to make sure I have everything. Phone, keys, water bottle, check-check-check. Me being me, I glance one more time inside the cubby that was once vacant. Nothings there. I'm ready.

I push open the heavy metal doors and glance to my left and right. I don't see Colton. He's probably still in the locker room.

I move across the hallway and lean against the wall opposite of the locker rooms. I open up my phone and start playing "Homescapes" to pass the time. I get a notification in the middle of my game from Colton. I swipe open immediately with a smile.

You're so cute with your texts 🤪

I feel my cheeks get warm and know they're blushing. I usually can't hide that about myself. People would know if I was lying or got caught, just by how my face would react. I quickly learned the warning signs of when it was happening, so I could turn away or change the subject. But this, this is a different kind of blushing. I start to text back.

Ooooh yeah SUPER cute 😏
BTW I'm outside the locker room whenever you're ready

I open up the game I was playing while I wait for his response. I hear the squeak of the gym locker room door and I look up.

Colton is wearing his Fredonia Blue Devils soccer sweatshirt with black nike sweatpants. His sweatshirt is oversized but sinches perfectly at his hips, where his sweatpants start. His pants are fitted to his legs and cuff at his ankle. It's revealing but not, at the same time. He knows how to dress his athletic body and I'm not mad at it, not one bit.

"Ready?" He smiles at me and slings his backpack over his right shoulder with ease.

"Yup." I smile back and click my phone to sleep.

We both turn and start walking side-by-side towards the building exit.

"Hey, I'm sorry again about yesterday, I should have never pressured you to go there." Colton holds open the door for me as we walk outside.

I didn't think about that party until this very moment. I wish he didn't bring it up. I'd rather just get to know him more.

"It's fine, I don't really want to talk about it." I make my way down the steps to the sidewalk.
"So where do you want to eat? Or get coffee? Shouldn't you be drinking, like a protein shake or something?"

Cotton starts laughing. "You know me without even knowing me Remi." He winks at me. I'm not sure why, but it makes me blush again and I look away.

"I actually forgot it back at the house. I wasn't really thinking this morning. I was.. distracted."

"With what?"

"You know, you're more curious then most girls." He gestures towards Starbucks across campus. So I veer in that direction.

"Curious? I guess. More like.. concerned?" True.

"Huh." Colton thinks about what I said with his mouth open in bewilderment. He looks at me. "Thanks for being concerned." And smiles. A small dimple appears on his left cheek. I've never noticed it before until now.

"You don't have to tell me what distracted you, if you don't want to."

"I was distracted thinking about you." Colton says without hesitation.

"Oh.. k." I can't help but feel flattered. I grab Colton's hand without thinking and entwine my fingers with his. His long fingers wrap around my hand in response and I know he's smiling down at me. We walk silently to the Main Center. It wasn't awkward. It felt, normal to just be walking with him. I didn't have this pressure to keep a conversation going. It's as if we've known each other for a lifetime and we're just going about our day, like we always have. Just enjoying each others presence as we take in such a cool, yet beautiful morning.