I almost jumped out of my skin when I saw him. He was standing below in the back yard with his previous white shirt on and light jeans. He was smiling up at me.
I motioned for him to come up. My room wasn't very high off the ground so he just climbed up the side of the house. I saw how incredibly strong he was. His muscles were bulging out of his arms.
"Hey," he said when he reached my window sill.
"Hey," I said back.
"So, why are you here? You said you'd come to the tree house."
"Yeah," I sighed, exasperated, "Look, this morning I woke up and my door was locked. So I called my mom. She opened it and told me I was grounded for seeing you."
Chris looked shocked, "How did she know?"
"That's what I was wondering. I guess she must have seen us on the curb last night."
Chris nodded and swallowed.
"I'm sorry," he said.
"No, you shouldn't be sorry." I said immediately, almost shouting, "It's not your fault and it's not a big deal. She should know. Then I won't have the guilt."
"So can you still come?" Chris asked. He seemed desperate.
"I don't know," I sighed, "My mom might be home soon."
Chris put on a pouting face which made me laugh, "Please."
"Ugh, fine," I smiled, "But if my mom finds out, this time I WILL blame you."
"Ladies first," Chris pointed towards the window sill so I could climb out.
I lifted my right leg and put it out the window, finding a spot to stabilize myself. The left leg followed.
Chris was prepared to help, I could tell, but I didn't need it. I had always loved climbing.
I started descending the wall and I was almost at the bottom. I could see Chris above me, through the window, still standing in my room.
I reached the soft green grass and waited for him.
As Chris climbed out of the window he faced my room one last time and in the far left he saw my drawings, all of them. He saw the drawings I had made of him.
Even now, 20 years later, I find this absolutely humiliating.
But he didn't tell me about it immediately. At the time I just saw him smiling from ear to ear. He must have been enjoying the fact.
So we walked together. It was a beautiful day yet again, not too hot. There was a slight breeze blowing and the town was quiet.
Only we were walking through it, making no noise. I felt like I was completely alone with Chris, almost like it was a dream, and I was scared it was going to slip away.
We approached the tree house in a matter of minutes and I heard Teddy and Gordie already.
"Got anything planned?" I asked Chris sweetly.
"The usual," he laughed. And I took that as meaning sitting around and smoking and playing gin rummy.
But just then Vern came running from behind us, completely out of breath.
His keds were slapping against the ground and he was sweating like I'd never seen before.
"Guys, you won't believe this!"