Please Write Back

Chapter 23

I held the sweatshirt in my hands as I waited for Alex. Just wait here. I literally can't screw this up in any way. It started to feel cold the more I held it, but... it kind of smells like him. Just lightly.

Ahh, what am I thinking? Don't be weird like that, Earnest!

To take my mind off of what had just happened, I look around, and there's only a few students left walking out from the pool, and I start to feel like shouldn't be here. But I can't just leave, of course. Some guys who are coming out of the locker room glance over at me, then start whispering to each other. I'm already used to it by now, but it hurts. It still reminds me of her sister. I Bender would've thought that the last time I would talk to her was before I went to work that day. It feels so long ago, even though it was only a few weeks ago.

The door to the locker room opens once more, and Alex walks out, his hair still slightly wet. He looks at me and I just hold out the sweatshirt, ready to get it out of my hands.

"Oh, thanks for holding that for me, Earn," he says as he takes it and puts it on. It's a little chilly today, don't you think?"

"Yeah," I answer, now noticing that I'm slightly shivering. 

"So anyway, are you free this afternoon?" Alex asks. "I was thinking that maybe e we could go do something. I mean, you don't have to."

"Yeah, I'm free..." I say. "What do you want to do?" 

"I dunno. Just walking around or something," he answers while shrugging his shoulders. "Maybe we can walk in the park by here."

"Um, okay," I reply as I follow Alex off of the school property. We stroll along the side walk in silence for a little while. Every once in a while, I look up at him, and every time, he would just look back at me and smile. It was kinda nice, but it was still slightly awkward, and I decided to speak up.

"You were really fast at the pool," I say. "I was really impressed."

"You were?" he asks, a lot more excited that I thought he would be. "You were impressed by my swimming?"

I look at my feet, scratching the back of my neck. "I mean yeah, but it wasn't like... um..."

"No, I get it. Thanks."

I sigh in relief. I don't usually give compliments, mostly becuase I don't know how to say one without it being like an awkward interjection. I guess I think any social interaction is awkward. For me at least. 

Soon, a huge breeze blows, moving the large gray clouds in the distance toward the sun. Only a few minutes later, the sun is covered with clouds, almost instantly dropping the temperature.

We finally make it to the park, and Alex looks up to the sky, saying, "Wow, it got really cloudy, didn't it?

"Mhmm," is all I could muster up to say. Or hum, really.

Another breeze blows, and my t-shirt isn't keeping me warm at all. It was really hot this morning,  which was why I wore this. It was too hot for a sweater, and I wasn't expecting the weather to be like this.

"It's kinda cold," I say quietly, shivering.

"What was that, Earn?" Alex asks, looking in my direction.

"I was just... pointing out how cold it was. It was nothing really important or anything like that."

"Oh, are you cold now?"

I'm slightly hesitant to answer. "Just a little bit, I mean it's not... but it's not really that important or anything—"

"Oh here," Alex says, pulling off his sweater. "You can have this." He holds it out to me, and it scares me.

"Oh, no. W-won't you be cold?" I asked, looking at the black t-shirt he's wearing.

"No, I'll be fine. I'm not really that cold anyway," he says, shoving it into my hands. "Here."

I hold it for a few seconds, mostly just thinking about if I should actually wear it or not. "Um, thanks," I say, taking off my backpack before I put it on. It's really warm since he just wore it about a minute ago, and, just like before, it has this scent...

"It may be a bit large since it was my size," he notifies. "But I don't think it's that bad."

The sweater is slightly baggy on me, but it's not far off from how I would normally like it. It's really warm and conforting, though. "I mean, it's fine," I answer. "Thank you."

"Anytime, Earn."

We walk for a little while longer, through the whole park, and back (it's pretty small) and I can't take my mind off of how I'm wearing Alex's sweater. 

It starts drizzling once we're out of the park. "Oh. We should probably get going now," Alex says to me. "I can walk you home, if you want."

"You don't have to. What if it starts raining? You'll have to walk in the rain."

"Hm, I guess so. See you tomorrow, then."

"Bye," I say, and we turn opposite directions to our houses. That was kinda nice, even though we didn't talk much. I don't really like talking a lot anyway. 

I get home, and open the door, only to see my mom sitting at the dining room table. She's at her laptop, probably looking at internships or scholarships for me. "Oh hi, Earnie," she greets, not looking up from the screen.

"Hi..." I say. I didn't expect her to be home from work this early. "You're home early."

"Yeah," she says, sighing and leaning back in the chair, looking at me. "I just decided to take a half—have you always had that sweatshirt?"

Shit. I forgot to give this back to Alex. I wonder if he's looking for it. "Um, yeah I got it when I was a freshman," I lie.

"Really? How come I've never seen you with it?" 

"I... I just never wore it because it was... too large for me. But it fits me now, so..."

"Hm," my mom says, looking back at her laptop. "I guess I forgot."

"Yeah..." I say quietly, walking upstairs to my room. How could I forget about this? I take it off and put it on the back of my chair, sighing. "I should text him or something." I take out my phone  to text him, but I stop myself. Maybe I'll wait for him to ask me. Or is that weird? It's already weird enough how I kept his sweatshirt. Whatever, I'll just wait until tomorrow, I guess.

I take the sweater off the back of the chair, looking at it for a little while, before putting it into my lap.