Page 26 of Clichés & Curses

I had already been dreading the moment that was to come, once I saw the guys go into Colton’s car and leave the parking lot. Once we couldn’t see his car in our line of vision any more, Nina finally let out a loud screech.

‘How? What? When?’ Nina struggled to grapple with her thoughts and what to ask first.

‘Later,’ I told her instead, seeing more members of the track team slowly come out.

‘Why were you talking to Colton? How does Colton know who you are? How long has this been happening?’

‘Later,’ I repeated. ‘Once we’re home.’

‘You promise?’ she said, holding out her pinkie.

I smiled and sealed my pinkie with hers. ‘I promise.’

Dinner with the track team was always a fun time and tonight was no different, except I wasn’t the only non-athlete at the table. They had also invited Aiden to join, and it was nice to get to know him a bit better.

We finally arrived back at the apartment at a quarter to ten, but I knew the night was far from over.

Just as Nina was about to say something, I interrupted her. ‘Let me shower first, please. I’ve been out for almost the whole day.’

‘Fine,’ she huffed. ‘But I’m kicking down your door if you’re not out here in thirty minutes.’

I started laughing at her, but the look on her face assured me she wasn’t kidding. ‘Thirty minutes,’ I nodded.

After I finished my shower, I went out to the living room to see Nina already sitting on the couch with a mug in her hand.

‘Chocolate milk?’ She picked up the other mug that was on the coffee table.

‘Thank you,’ I said, taking it from her.

We sat down in silence as we each took sips of the milk before she finally put down her drink and crossed her legs, facing me.

‘Spill.’

I let out a sigh and put down my drink.

Where do I even start?

‘As you already know, I’m taking the ASL class this semester, and turns out Colton was too. We ended up sitting next to each other on the first day and partnered up. Mr Albert, our ASL class instructor, recommended everyone to practice ASL with their partners, so we decided to meet up every Wednesday to practice,’ I said, letting her take in this piece of information.

‘Since when have you started practicing?’ she asked.

‘Second week of classes?’ I said sheepishly, preparing myself for her reaction.

Nina’s eyes widened, ‘You’re telling me you have been talking to your crush, Colton Reed for weeks now?’ I could tell she was struggling to keep her voice at a normal volume.

‘Yeah,’ I confirmed.

And here came her big reaction.

Putting her hands on both my shoulders, she started shaking me. She let out a squeal before pulling me into a hug and started rocking us.

‘I take it you’re not mad?’ I asked, slightly confused by her reaction.

‘Mad?’ she said, taking me out of the hug and back to putting her hands on my shoulders. ‘Why would I be mad?’

‘I don’t know.’ I shrugged. ‘Maybe for not telling you earlier. I feel like if this were happening to you, you would have told me right away.’

‘Because that’s who I am. God knows I can’t keep anything like that to myself. Of course, I’m not mad. You don’t owe me anything,’ she said and then let out a wince. ‘But I am sorry for forcing this out of you. I should’ve just let it slide until you were ready to tell me.’

---