Chapter Text
The next morning, she was already waiting for me at the cafe with two cups of coffee on her tray.
She was smiling and humming; her hair was made, and she wore a black and grey striped hoodie loosely hanging off one shoulder, similar to the one she wore on the first day.
"Have you looked onto the online calendar of the school already?" she asked, her smile widening.
"No," I said while taking one cup from her extended hand.
"Tomorrow is free; not one single lesson on the plan," she exclaimed with big eyes.
I smiled. "That is very nice actually." And sat down in our usual place.
After she sat down next to me, I took a deep breath and asked her, "Do you maybe wanna do something tomorrow?"
"Sure, in the shopping area?" she said, and I felt relieved.
"Why not," I agreed, and she seemed rather happy with the situation.
She looked up at me again, the smile still on her face. "Just please not as early as school would have been!"
"I am not crazy," I replied with a laugh.
After the cafe, we made our usual way to the bus and then, for the short time before our first period, to our bench at the parking lot.
She sat down next to me and laid her things out on the bench before turning to me. "Tomorrow, when we meet," she stopped.
"Yes?" I answered.
After looking down at her lap for a moment and playing with her hem, she finally spoke in a silent voice, "Can I wear my collar?"
I smiled. "Sure." And she seemed relieved.
I pondered for a moment if I should ask her, then decided I should and said: "Why with me?"
She blushed a bit, then replied, "I think I trust you."
Now I felt the heat rush to my head as I said, "I think I trust you too."
I took a deep breath and then extended my hand, just a bit, but she seemed to understand the question.
After a moment of content silence, she laid her hand into mine while still not looking up at me.
Then the bell rang, and I almost jumped.
She chuckled and pulled her hand from mine. "Come," she exclaimed while beginning to pack her things.
I needed a moment, then I also got up. "Damn, I forgot to smoke," I said, and we walked in.
First period: we were instructed to work on our projects again, this time adding movement control and camera to the game.
She sat next to me and seemed not too happy with the python syntax required, mumbling in a tense voice.
After a few moments of watching her write, delete, and rewrite line after line, I offered, "You want an explanation? The teacher's way of putting it was weird in my opinion."
She replied, "I don't know; I never seem to get that syntax bullshit."
"The thing that's mostly different to what you are used to is that whitespaces are important. For the rest, you can use the cheat sheet for now," I said and showed her how to fix one line.
She looked at it for a moment, then said, "Yeah yeah, I will fix the rest I guess."
I smiled and replied, "You can!"
After the lesson, we made our way to the parking lot and were stopped by Mia, a girl from our class on the way.
"Hey, have you seen the update in the school app?" she said while walking up to us.
I shook my head.
"Math is also canceled; we can go now!" she said while practically jumping.
"Oh that is nice," I replied and looked over to her to see her reaction.
She was looking down at her boots, expression unreadable.
I smiled at Mia and said, "We better get going then," while she was already turning around to leave without me or Mia.
I said "bye" and quickly followed her, away from Mia and the other students into the direction of our bench.
When I finally caught up to her, I breathlessly asked, "You good?"
She nodded, then said, "Mia is nice; I am just not good with people I don't really know."
I recognized myself in that and said, "That is okay. I can do it mostly, but it exhausts me."
That made her look at me again; she smiled a bit and brushed her hair back.
She got her phone out and laid one leg over the other. "We have ten minutes or so till the first bus back comes."
I got my phone out too and scrolled through my missed group messages on Signal. "Wanna go two minutes before it comes?"
She lowered her phone a bit. "Thanks, I know you would like to talk to the others."
I pushed the off button on my phone and dropped it into my pocket, then turned to her. "I know you have a hard time with groups; I bring myself to talk more..."
I stood up and nervously kicked a pebble to the side. "...but believe me, I am exhausted afterwards, every time."
She did not say anything. After a moment, she gave a small nod, and we sat in silence together again.
When I pulled my phone out again, it was already time to leave for the bus. I got up, and she followed.
After grabbing her bag and walking a few steps with me, she suddenly stopped.
I felt a bit worried and asked, "You good?"
She nodded, then said, "Thanks for telling me."
I tried not to blush as I spoke. "No worries. I made my decision by the way."
"What decision?" she asked.
I took a deep breath, then said it. "I trust you."
Now she was blushing and fidgeting again. "Thanks; I trust you too."
We started walking again. I did not want to risk missing the bus and having her be in the cold for another twenty minutes.
I felt my chest get warm and, in the rush of the moment, asked her, "Do you maybe wanna go to the city center already?"
She stopped again. "Today?"
I nodded.
She chuckled a bit. "I do like you, but I am not prepared. I need a bit of time to mentally prepare if that makes sense."
I understood and nodded.
"Makes sense," I said, and we started walking again.
When we arrived at the bus station, students were already entering the bus; we quickened our pace and had to stand in the door again.
"That's the trade off when coming so late," I said with a smile.
She fidgeted ever since we entered the bus. "Sorry."
I felt a sudden spike in my body; that was not what I meant...
"No, I like being outside with you. I did not mean it like that... I am sorry," I said while panicking.
"It is okay," she answered, and I could tell that she had to bring herself to look up in this crowd of people.
She smiled a bit. "I say sorry often I guess..." She took a second, then once again said, "Sorry."
Before I could tell her it was fine though, I saw her smile; she said, "There it is again," and gave a small chuckle.
I smiled back.
The main station was loud as usual, but this time she did not immediately run off.
She brought herself to smile again and said, "I am looking forward to tomorrow; I really do."
I extended my arms and asked, "Hug?"
She considered for a moment and then came up to me, leaning into a soft hug, not longer than a few seconds but that was enough to burn itself in.
I could feel her softly pressing up to me and laid my hands around her back; she did the same with me.
After a few heartbeats where her body trembled in my arms, she closed her arms and went still.
I could feel her take a few deep breaths and relax her hands on my back before she opened her eyes again and lifted her hands, signaling she was ready to withdraw.
I loosened my touch, and she slowly pulled away, stepping one step back but still looking at me.
She smiled. "Bye."
I blushed a bit. "Bye."