I was mildly disappointed that he didn’t look for me. He’s probably just as nervous and wants to eat his lunch without butterflies too. He needs some space, and some time to plan his moves. Yeah.

I finished eating and threw my trash away. There were still 15 minutes left of lunch. I waited in the hall outside of the cafeteria. Alone. I didn’t know what to do with myself, stand? Sit? Recline against the wall? I turned away from the cafeteria.

“Autumn.” I spun around at his voice. My name echoed around in my brain, the way he said it was melodious! I smiled, widely. “Hey!”

“I’ll meet you at your locker after school, okay?”
My heart twittered. He’s never said a full sentence to me before! I was almost in shock.

“Yeah, sure!” Quick think of something to say!
“Sooo, this project! We, uh, have to do something visual, like build something, or a poster, or video, right?”
“Yeah.” He looked at his toes.
“Any preferences?” Come on, talk to me!
“I like building, things.” His voice trailed off.