Meeting You

Hi! I can't really decide how long to make this story, but I'm glad that you all seem to be enjoying it thus far. The chapters are a lot short than they were in my last story, but I'm kind of like the change in length because I don't think I have enough in each chapter to make them all that much longer.

"Jasper?" Henry asked while they were working on their homework that night up in the room they shared. He let himself swing back and forth on the hammock once before continuing. "How do you know if you like a girl in the like-like way?"

Jasper's head snapped up so quickly that Henry was afraid he had hurt himself. "What are you talking about, Henry?" He demanded, seeming confused and also interested, something that he was rarely when it came to Henry. "Are you telling me that you think you might like a girl? Which girl? One at school?"

"I don't know if I like her, that's why I asked you the question. Can you please answer it?" He tried to speak as politely and unflustered as he could, but he could feel his face burning bright red, like a flare drawing attention to how out-of-place and embarrassed he was.

"You think about her constantly and always want to be with her. You might have dreams about her, and you'll want to hold her hand or kiss her. You'll want to ask her on a date." He noticed the puzzled facial expression Henry had on. Henry remembered the words from the taunts of the girls who had been giving Maggie a hard time and had a vague idea of what the word meant, it had something to do with a girl and a boy doing something. "A date is when a boy and a girl go on an activity together, like dinner or watching a movie or going on a walk or something to spend time together. Now…which girl do you think you might be interested in?"

"I don't know. It doesn't really fit what you jus said, so I'm probably just confused." I don't think I'm confused… "Never mind, Jasper, sorry for bothering you." I wouldn't want you knowing, especially because you were somewhat rude when you were talking about her to me. I don't you would like her. "I'll let you know if I ever have any more questions that I'll want you to answer." There won't be. Well, there will be lots of questions, but none that I'm going to want you to answer.

Jasper looked at him with a somewhat odd facial expression, but then shrugged. Henry could almost hear the words going through Jasper's head. Something about how strange Henry was and how he would never begin to understand someone so weird. Well, Jasper, you understand more than you think you do. I just don't want you to understand. But you could learn to…if you learned to open your mind and be a little bit of a better listener, Henry thought to himself, going back to trying to focus on his homework.

That night he found himself unable to sleep, no matter how hard he tried. He got up from his hammock and sat down on the floor, trying to meditate in order to cleanse his mind from the confusion and anxiety he had felt through the day. When his mind felt a little calmer, he climbed back in his hammock, looking across the room at the bed next to him where Jasper was sleeping. He wished he had a better relationship with Jasper. I'm sure we'll get there. It's just we don't know each other yet, but we will with time.

Having reassured himself, he fell asleep relatively quickly, promptly (at least to his sleeping knowledge) beginning a dream about going to school. It was completely a normal day except Maggie allowed him to walk her home again (he got the impression in the dream that they had been doing something for several days). The only reason it was different this time was that they were talking quite a bit, and partway along the walk he decided to hold her hand and she let him.

He woke up to the sounds of birds outside of his window, singing happily about their lives as if they were dying to share experiences with him. The sky was grayish, at though dawn was just about to break. He sat up and felt a giant smile spread across his face, the same one that he had struggled to control before he had gotten back home the afternoon before. "Hey, Jasper!" He said somewhat loudly to his sleeping cousin across the room.

"Why are you up?" Jasper grumbled back, sounding just barely awake enough to open his mouth and make sounds come out. "No sane person would be up this early."

"Well, you're up too now, so I guess that makes you just as crazy as me." Jasper laughed quietly. "I'm going to head out early. I want to walk to school and explore some of the area around here on the way. I might walk home also. Is that okay?"

"Sure…I'll meet you by the front again, if you're staying? I'll give you ten minutes and then I'll head out, okay? Just in case you are running late or something. Try not to get lost."
"I don't get lost," said Henry, self-assured. He decided not to turn on the lights so that he wouldn't disturb Jasper, and quickly changed clothing. He grabbed his backpack and swung it on to his back as he crept downstairs, grabbing a banana for breakfast before he headed out the door.

He knew he was way too early for what he planned to do, so he walked to the nearby park and climbed a tree, leaving his backpack hidden in a cluster of branches just off the ground. Once he was near the top, he looked out at the sky. The sunrise was just beginning, and as he watched it spread over the sky, he found himself full of a sense of peace. Everywhere I go, the sun will rise. Everywhere she goes, the sun will rise too. And if we look up at the sky, we will see the same sunrise, just from different places.

He waited awhile, until he thought it was late enough, and climbed down, retrieving his backpack on the way. Taking off, he walked towards Maggie's house, remembering the route he had taken the afternoon before. He arrived soon enough, and thought about knocking, but decided that he didn't want to disturb her if she wasn't ready yet. Instead, he sat himself on the steps of her front porch and waited.

Eventually, he heard the door behind him open. "Henry?" Maggie asked, coming over to look at him. "What are you doing here?"

She looked beautiful that morning, wearing a soft blue sweater and jeans, her backpack on her back and a few books in her arms. He found himself lost for words, his heart pounding in his chest, but then remembered what he was going to ask. "Well…I wanted to see if you would like to walk to school with me today? I enjoyed your company yesterday and…I think I would enjoy it again this morning if you would be willing."

"Sure…" she said, sounding surprised. "I'd love too. Are you sure you'll be warm enough?" she asked, looking at his arms. He had forgotten to bring a sweatshirt. "It is kind of cold this morning."

"I'll be fine." His heart was beating way too quickly for him to even consider that getting cold was an option. He felt his face getting warm, and he stood up to avoid her seeing. "So…should we head out now, or am I early?"

"You're a little early, but I prefer to be early to school, so it's fine. We'll head out now." She climbed down off the porch, and he followed her. "Thank you again for helping me out yesterday."

"It wasn't any problem. I heard them laughing meanly and saying insults, and I didn't know who they were for but I just can't stand it when people do that. My mom says I have too much of a heroes instinct."

"I rather like it," she admitted somewhat shyly. "It helps you be a better person than if you didn't have it. Just make sure to pick your battles wisely, and you'll be fine."

There was an awkward pause, and he decided to fill it by asking her a question. "Do you walk to school often?"

"Sometimes. Sometimes I drive, but I try to be very careful about car emissions. Global warming is a problem, and I plan on taking it seriously as much as I can."

"Are you a vegetarian?"

"Yes. Are you?"

"I was when we lived in some places…but most of the time we were in places where we didn't have much access to food, I ate what we could get and if it was meat, it was meat. So…I don't know what I am here. I could be either, and I haven't decided since I have a choice."

They were nearly to school now. "Do you want to walk home again this afternoon?" He asked her, suddenly nervous.

"I'd enjoy that." She smiled at him. "But I think we should show up somewhat separately. If we show up together some people will probably think we're together, and they're too thick-skulled for us to fix that."

"But we did come together…" Henry said, confused.

"Not that sort of together, Henry," she said, seeming amused. "The different sort of together."

"I don't know what the other type of together is," he admitted. He felt stupid.

"Oh…you probably think of it in some different terms or something. A boy and a girl are described as being 'together' when they are in dating. And they date when they are in love. So. Some of our idiotic classmates might turn that into a school-wide rumor if they see us arrive together."

"Oh…okay…"

"I'll see you this afternoon then. Meet me here, and try to avoid giving them supplies for rumors. Those can be really ugly and embarrassing. We don't want anyone teasing us about being 'in love.' Kids our age can be so immature."

"Okay," he said, and watched her walk ahead of him. Once he was sure he was alone and no one would be able to hear him, he locked his eyes on her steadily shrinking frame. "But I am in love with you…" he admitted.

Above him, the sun was raising overhead.