Page 22 of Clichés & Curses

Once we were done with our practice, we would head over to the grocery store across the street, where I would get new flowers for the week. Nina had given an excited stamp of approval to me bringing home flowers that first time. ‘I can’tbelieve we never had these in the apartment before,’ she had said, while admiring the pink roses. It was then I decided to continue bringing them home, choosing a different kind every time based on whatever I felt like getting that day, though they were always pink.

And of course, the routine always ended with Colton driving me home.

As the weeks passed by, I started to learn more and more about Colton Reed: how he started loving baseball ever since his family brought him to a batting cage for one of his birthdays, how his comfort food was his mom’s homemade spaghetti that she cooked every Sunday morning—a tradition he had carried on by himself once he left for college—and how he has a younger sister who he was extremely protective about.

Naturally, my questions about his family meant he would bring up a few about mine as well. I contemplated telling him about my family situation, as talking about my parents’ divorce wasn’t necessarily a fun fact about myself. But ultimately, I decided I could confide in Colton about it.

‘My parents got divorced when I was eight. They’re still good friends though and my dad still comes over to my mom’s place so we could all have dinner together. And they always make sure that we’re always together to celebrate the holidays, so I’m grateful for that,’ I told him. ‘And I have an older sister named Elizabeth, but she usually just goes by Eliza. She’s six years older than me, but pretty much my best friend in the whole world. She’s a journalist who currently lives in New York City.’

I avoided looking up to see Colton’s reaction to what I had just told him and kept twirling the straw in my bubble tea. My eyes focused on the boba going in circles.

Finally, I stopped spinning when I felt something warm placed on top of my other hand on the table.

It was Colton’s hand.

I chanced a glance at it and finally turned my attention to his face. He gave me a small smile and gently squeezed my hand.

And that was it.

He acknowledged my story and said we didn’t have to talk about it any more, communicating with only an expression, and my hand in his.

Communicating without words.

I gave him a smile of my own in return.

My streak of a similar Wednesday routine eventually came to an end.

After our ASL class for the week ended, I suggested to Colton that we just stay on campus.

‘Stay on campus? Are you sick of bubble tea already?’ he teased.

‘Definitely not,’ I shook my head. Can one even get sick of bubble tea? Probably, but not me. Yes, I admit I had started to develop an obsession with the drink, but I was consuming it in moderation, only once a week during our ASL practice session.

‘My friends invited me out for dinner,’ I started explaining. ‘They’re on the track team and heading out right away after their training. So, I’m just gonna stay on campus until they finish.’

Nina had informed me the night before that the team was planning to grab dinner once they were done with their training and invited me along to join them. Because I hadn’t got a chance to hang out with them again since the party, I told Nina I would wait for them on campus. In the meantime, I wanted to be able to get some work done at the library.

‘Okay,’ he nodded. ‘But the real question is, do you still want to get bubble tea?’

I furrowed my eyebrows at him, failing to see what bubble tea had to do with this. ‘How is that relevant?’

‘Well. We could still go practice at the bubble tea shop and come back. I mean, I’m coming back to campus for my practice either way. Or, we can go get some bubble tea to go, and come back to practice on campus,’ he suggested. ‘So, what is it gonna be?’

If there’s one thing I had learned after spending all that time with Colton, it was that you have to pick your battles with him. I could point out how unfair both options were for him, but from my previous attempts at doing so, it wouldn’t get very far.

At the same time, I couldn’t help the butterflies in my stomach every time Colton offered me choices that gave me some kind of benefit, even if he was just doing it for nothing more than being a good friend.

I took a moment to consider the two options he had given me. As much as I liked spending time in the bubble tea shop, a change of scenery sounded like a good idea.

‘Do you have a place in mind where we can practice ASL?’ I asked him instead.

I could see the exact moment his eyes lit up. ‘I know just the perfect spot.’

‘Then bubble tea to go it is.’

I tried getting the answer out of Colton as to where the ‘perfect spot’ was, while we were getting our bubble tea, only to have him answer me with, ‘You’re just gonna have to be patient.’ This was accompanied by a glint of mischief in his eyes.

When we arrived back on campus with our drinks, my suspicions only grew when he took up a parking spot in front of the baseball stadium.

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