“You could use my phone.”
I grabbed my cell from my car and walked over. As I got closer to him, he seemed familiar, but I couldn’t quite place it. I reached him and held out my phone.
“Thanks,” he said nervously. As he took my phone, it finally clicked into place who he was. Sean Falls!
“Sean!”
He seemed startled when I said his name.
“Yeah…”
Did he not recognize me? It had been ten years. Maybe I was being a little presumptuous.
“It’s Chloe Whitaker. From high school.”
“Yeah, I know….”
Oh… He seemed a little confused and overwhelmed. He was always super shy in high school. Just because it had been ten years didn’t mean that that would have changed. I stayed quiet while Sean called the towing company. He offered me my phone.
“How have you been?” I asked while taking it back.
I looked up at him, admiring his face. Sean looked different but the same. Some of those old feelings I had were coming back to the surface, and it felt bizarre. I hadn’t seen him in so long. I never thought I’d still feel the same as my teenage self, especially after many years.
Maybe it was just because it was the first time I was seeing Sean in almost a decade.
“I’ve been okay… considering.” He motioned towards his car and cracked a small smile. It eased some of the tension I was feeling.
“Yeah, makes sense.”
It didn’t take too long for the tow truck to pull up. Sean talked to Joe – our local car man – and the two of them got everything settled. Once his car was taken, I decided to offer him a ride home. “If you’d like. I mean, you can use my phone to call a taxi if you’d prefer that.”
I was having a hard time figuring out if Sean was happy to see me. We barely hung out in high school, even though I had had a massive crush on him. I wouldn’t be surprised if he thought I was a major snob the way I tried to avoid him so I could ignore my feelings back then.
“Uh, yeah, you can drive me home. I’m staying with my grandmother.”
“Lucy, yeah. I know where her house is.”
Sean walked behind me as I led him to my car. I felt my whole body tingling. It felt like he was staring at me, but I couldn’t bring myself to turn around.
We reached my car, and we both got in. The car ride started off silent which was awkward as hell. Ten years later, and I still had no idea how to talk to Sean. I was never brave enough to act on my crush because, as stupid as it sounds, Sean was unpopular, and I just didn’t think I could deal with people talking. I almost had to laugh because I wasn’t sure I had gotten over that.
After all the shit that happened when my father died, everyone in town talked about my family’s fall from grace because we didn’t have money anymore. I wasn’t embarrassed about the money, but all the wagging tongues – I hated it. I knew if I dated Sean, there would be talk. There was always talk.
“Are you okay?” Sean’s question took me out of my head and back into reality.
“What?”
“You just look deep in thought or… something.” He seemed to not even want to talk about the question he posed to me. That was just like him, making some kind of observation and then hating the inevitable conversation that would come after it.
“I’m fine. It’s just been a long day.” Which wasn’t a total lie, but it wasn’t what had my mind racing. “What about you? Are you okay?” I felt dumb the second I asked him that, but I didn’t want the car to fall back into silence.
“Yeah, probably going to fall into bed right when I get back.”
“Yeah, same.” I gripped the steering wheel. I didn’t know what else to say, but thankfully, we were at Lucy’s soon after. I pulled up to the curb. “Here we are.”
“Thanks for the ride.” Sean went to open the door, but I stopped him. “Wait!” He turned to look at me, curious. “Could I get your number?” Sean didn’t answer immediately, and my mind went to rejection. I started rambling a little, my nerves getting to me. “You know, in case you need a ride or something which I would be happy to provide and stuff or… whatever….”
“O-kay.”
I wished I had just kept my mouth shut, but it was too late. I handed over my phone, and Sean put his number in. “I really appreciate the ride,” he said as he gave me back my phone. “Maybe I’ll see you around?”
I felt like there was something in his question. Maybe I was freaking out for no reason. It had been ten years, and I doubted Sean had any grudge against me. I just needed to talk to him normally.