Sitting in church together this morning, Ella is snuggled against me, my arm draped over her shoulder, and we’resharing my Bible. My siblings are all to my left, followed by my mom and dad.
Ella leans in, whispering, “Is that Mr. Downer?”
I follow her eyes to the balding man a few pews in front of us. That is him, one of our old high school teachers.
Nodding, I lean in to tell her it is him and I’ve never seen him here before.
After the closing song, Ella grabs my hand and pulls me up the aisle to say hello to him.
“Tell me you remember us,” Ella says with a smile plastered across her face.
He studies us, like it isn’t registering quite yet. He looks to me, as if maybe he just can’t pinpoint my name.
Ella interjects with another hint. “You caught us sneaking out of class early before the bell rang just to kiss a few times.”
Not expecting her to say that, he laughs and I also have to laugh away the awkwardness I feel. I shoot her a look that says, “I can’t believe you just said that,” but she shrugs it off like it’s not a big deal.
“Jesse Jennings?” Mr. Downer says to me, like he’s so proud of himself for remembering, and then he looks to Ella. “Ella Hayes. Now I got it.”
“Yes!”
“How could I even forget.” He shakes his head, stifling another laugh. “You two were inseparable. Good grief.”
Ella and I both laugh. We really were. I think back to those days, especially senior year. We’d been together since Sophomore year, but man, I was whipped for her since day one. My buddies gave me hell for it, but I never cared. Still don’t.
Ten years ago
I wait by the cafeteria doors. I snuck out of first period early; Ella’s doing the same. Her blonde hair comes around the corner, and she smiles back at me. My heart beats faster when I see she’s wearing a dress. She usually only wears them on Fridays, but today’s Wednesday.
“Hot damn.” I whistle and watch her blush.
She hurries over and gives me a hug around my neck before I whisk us away down the hall.
There’s a classroom at the end of this hallway but there’s no one in it until the afternoon. It’s mainly for study halls. I’ve also served a few detentions in there already.
We quickly slip through the doorway and move across the room to where we can’t be seen if someone peeked through the glass on the door. Leaving the lights off, we can still see with the sunlight coming through the windows.
“Come here, you.” I grab Ella and bring her closer to me. “You broke your tradition. A dress on a Wednesday?”
“I know. It was a surprise.”
“I like it. You gonna wear it to my game tonight?”
She nods and wraps her arms around my torso, tightening my jersey. Pressing a kiss to her lips, I sink into her. Her hands glide up my back and find my hair. I love when she does that.
“Are you still going out with your friends after the football game Friday night?” she asks.
“Not if you don’t want me to.”
“Can I come?”
“They said guys only, sorry.”
“But they like me.”
“I know. I think it’s just so no other girlfriends get invited.”
“Right,” she mumbles,disappointed.
