We Were So Happy

 He picked me up in his car. 

It was a black car, and he had a lego man keychain on his keys. 

It wasn’t my first time in his front seat. He had driven me home before, just being nice after a cross-country meet. 

He didn’t hand over the aux, but he already knew what I liked to listen to, so it wasn’t a problem. We listened to Wildflower by 5 Seconds of Summer.

We walked into his house and I was surprised to see a party going on. It was Halloween, and both his parents were dressed like skeletons. 

We put our shoes up, said hello to his dogs, and then entered the party room. His mom asked if we wanted any snacks, and I said no. I had eaten dinner before coming over. 

We pushed our way through the tipsy adults to a door that led to his basement. 

We had agreed beforehand that we were going to watch scary movies together for Halloween because neither of us had other plans and I wanted to meet his dogs. 

We sat down on the couch, right next to each other but barely touching. We decided to watch a movie called “Unfriended” on Netflix after a lot of scrolling. I’m not the biggest horror movie fan, so deciding on something to watch was a bit difficult. 

I wanted him to figure out that I liked him. I don’t remember exactly who initiated it, but after about 20 minutes of awkwardly sitting next to each other and barely touching, he finally put his arm around me. 

He didn’t put his arm around my shoulders the way that I was expecting. He put his arm around my waist and pulled me in closer to him. 

I laid my head down on his shoulder. He was wearing a navy Under Armor hoodie, a hoodie that would end up in my closet a few weeks later. 

I remember exactly what he smelled like. I could smell his body spray mixed with laundry detergent. It was a sweeter scent. 

The spray was called Adidas Moves Him. He stopped wearing it after a few months, but let me keep the rest of the bottle. 

I curled into him, absolutely terrified of the horror movie. I really do not like horror movies.

A voice in my head was screaming that it was wrong, that I shouldn’t move on so quickly, that I didn’t deserve to be happy and content yet. 

I told that voice to shut it. 

I fell asleep while laying on his chest, listening to his heartbeat and breathing in the scent of Adidas Moves Him. 

He wrapped both arms around me, and that’s how we stayed. 

I wish I could go back to that moment before any words were said. 

There was adrenaline and uncertainty and thrill and emotions and we were happy. 

We were so happy. 

-Emma Lancaster