Offside

All of this shit was just too unfamiliar to me. I didn’t know what to do.

Thankfully, Nicole was apparently watching, because she opened the door before I managed to make a decision or chicken out and just go back to the car.

“You’re soaked.”

I glanced down, and she was right. I hadn’t really noticed the rain soaking through my shirt. I dripped into the foyer, and Nicole made me stand there while she got a towel from the bathroom.

“You want a shower or anything?” she asked.

“You want to join me?” I replied with raised eyebrows. The comment just kind of jumped out of my mouth without discussing itself with me first.

“Do you have to act like an adolescent boy?” she asked.

“I am an adolescent boy,” I reminded her. She dried my hair with the towel and then pushed me up the stairs to her room. Nicole took a handful of clothes into the bathroom to change, and I

just kind of stood in the middle of the room and looked around, noting the few changes from the last time I had been here.

When she came back, I took my backpack into the bathroom, changed into some lounge pants, and brushed my teeth. I debated putting on the Donovan T-Shirt I brought with me, wondering if it would be better to leave it off.

It was kind of hot tonight.

All right, that was bullshit; it was actually pretty damn chilly.

I put the shirt on.

I returned to the room to find that Nicole had already climbed into bed, so I climbed in after her. I was on my left side, which really didn’t hurt anymore, but it still felt all wrong immediately.

“Nicole?”

“Yeah?”

“Can we…um…switch sides?”

“Switch sides?” Her eyes narrowed in confusion.

“Yeah,” I said. I ran my hand through my hair. “I was…I was on the other side of you before.”

Her mouth turned up into a half-smile, but her eyes remained curious.

“O…kay…”

We fumbled around a bit before we ended up with her going over the top of me while I shuffled to the other side of the bed. She landed beside me with a soft thump, and I rolled to my side and placed my hand on her hip. I sighed, feeling much better.

“Did that really bother you?” she asked softly.

I glanced up at her and then looked away immediately. I pushed my head against the pillow a bit more and shrugged. I didn’t know what to say. I knew it was weird to be so fixated on that kind of shit, but I couldn’t seem to turn it off.

Finally, I spoke up.

“Sometimes my head just kind of…decides things should be a certain way,” I told her. “Once it’s decided, it just feels weird if things aren’t where they are supposed to be.”

“Like in my locker?” she said. She raised an eyebrow at me. I licked at my lips nervously.

“Yeah, sort of,” I said and then decided that really wasn’t right. “Well, I mean…it was a mess…”

Nicole cleared her throat and glared at me. I cringed.

“But usually other people’s stuff doesn’t bother me that much because I don’t usually come into contact with it. I just…like things to be organized.”