15-05-2021-052358It-Ends-with-Us

He didn’t finish his sentence, so I nodded and tied the bag back up. “Do
you think you can hold them for me until after school? I don’t have any room
in my backpack.”
He grabbed the bag from me and then brought his backpack up to his lap
and put the bag inside of it. He wrapped his arms around his backpack. “How
old are you?” he asked.
“Fifteen.”
The look in his eyes made him seem a little bit sad about my age, but I don’t
know why.
“You’re in tenth grade?”
I nodded, but honestly couldn’t think of anything to say to him. I haven’t
really had much interaction with a lot of guys. Especially seniors. When I’m
nervous, I kind of just clam up.
“I don’t know how long I’ll be staying at that place,” he said, bringing his
voice down again. “But if you ever need help with gardening or anything after
school, it’s not like I have much going on there. Being as though I have no
electricity.”
I laughed, and then wondered if I should have laughed at his self-
deprecating comment.
We spent the rest of the bus ride talking about you, Ellen. When he made
that comment about being bored, I asked him if he ever watched your show. He
said he’d like to because he thinks you’re funny, but a TV would require
electricity. Another comment I wasn’t sure if I should have laughed at.
I told him he could watch your show with me after school. I always record it
on the DVR and watch it while I do my chores. I figured I could just keep the
front door dead bolted, and if my parents got home early, I’d just have Atlas
run out the back door.
I didn’t see him again until the ride home today. He didn’t sit by me this
time because Katie got on the bus before him and sat next to me. I wanted to
ask her to move, but then she’d think I had a crush on Atlas. Katie would have
a field day with that one, so I just let her stay in my seat.
Atlas was at the front of the bus, so he got off before I did. He just kind of
awkwardly stood there at the bus stop and waited for me to get off. When I did,
he opened his backpack and handed me the bag of tools. He didn’t say
anything about my invitation to watch TV from earlier this morning, so I just
acted like it was a given.