[onhold] Through All Seasons

14│Winter: 'I don't wanna be somebody, just wanna be me.'

Thursday and Friday came and went by. Friday's drama practice went just as well as the one on Wednesday. Now I could finally start my weekend. Even though I didn't plan anything exciting, I still looked forward to it. 

I just left the auditorium and was on my way to my bike, when I heard steps coming closer. I turned around curiously to see Collin rushing towards and then past me. Puzzled I followed him through the big entrance of our school and watched him walking towards the bike rack. 

He unlocked his bike lock as I reached my bike and I unlocked mine as well. Since when did he ride his bike to school? Since freshman year there were roughly three bikes at this rack, and one didn't get picked up since I went here. It was probably already an inventory of the school.  

"Have I inspired you?" I asked half-joking, half-serious. 

He glanced over and said mockingly, "I felt bad that you're the only one riding a bike to school." 

"Sure," I said laughing. "Did your car break down or something?" 

"No, I just felt like taking my bike, that's it." He pushed it out of the rack and paused for a moment. He seemed to struggle with what he wanted to say next. "We have partly the same way, want to come along?" 

For a second I wondered how he knew we share the same way because I didn't, but then I remembered him picking me up from my walk of shame after his party and my accidental sleepover in his bed. "Yeah, sure." 

I would ride along with Collin If-bike-companies-could-see-him-now Harris. Holy shit. Not in a million years I would have dreamed this would happen to me. I mean, I had pictured similar scenarios in my head when he was sitting in front of me in history, but there were just in my head. I also imagined us in the locker room, alone. All sweaty and all over each other. Or on a teacher's table in one of the classrooms. 

Secretly I pinched myself because I couldn't be too sure that this was reality or my mind playing me an evil trick. Collin and I had some encounters now, mostly thanks to the play, but this seems different. It almost felt like Collin wanted to hang out with me. 

But this thought was just too crazy, he was most likely just polite since we happen to be at the same time at the bike rake. 

We started riding out of the parking lot; there weren't many cars left since we passed 6 PM already. 

"What are your plans for the weekend?" he asked me as we turned on the main street leading away from school. 

"Oh, umm," I stuttered, "no plans so far. I guess I will continue reading my book and do some homework." Way to go, River. You sound so interesting. Not. 

"We'll go to the cinema tonight, you can join us if you want to," he said after a few seconds. "I mean, you don't have to. We'll watch Parasite. It's a thriller from South Korea." 

Was Collin Probably-causing-climate-change Harris inviting me to watch a movie with him? Of course with his friends, but still. 

Before I could answer, he added, "Tyler will be there as well," he smirked. Tyler and I ate lunch for the past two days together since I still had no clue where Thomas went during the lunch periods. I just saw him during drama class and sometimes far away in the hallways. I wondered what he was up to.

"That sounds definitely better than laying alone in my bed all night," I said dumbly. Whenever I was with him my brain seemed to stop working properly. I sounded like a loner. 

No, I didn't sound like one, I was one. 

On the other side, it was hard to top laying bed. It was comfy, warm, and soft. It didn't judge or hate you. It was simply there for you. That was my little homage to my bed, thank you very much.