After school, I met Mel by the fountain outside the entrance of the school. Both her arms were crossed and she wore a grin.

“You really know how to keep a girl waiting.”

“Sorry. I’m super tired,” I explained.

“Too tired to work out?”

“Never,” I replied.

“You hungry, dude?”

I was hungry. But I’d save that for later.

“No.” I smiled. “I’m good.”

“All right.” Mel shrugged. “Let’s go.”

Mel and I went back to the park where we usually worked out. I was a bit slower than usual, and she noticed fairly quickly. “Hey, you seem out of it,” she said as we stretched. “You don’t seem very focused.”

I wasn’t. I kind of wanted this workout to be over with.

“I’m fine, just need to warm up a bit.”

“All right.” She took my word for what it was and we began.

She had me jogging, planking, and doing push-ups.

“C’mon!” she cheered during my push-ups. I was tired, but I kept trying to ignore it. My chest was on the grass, and as I forced myself up, I could feel her sit on my back, causing me to go right back down.

“Why did you do that?” I was irritated.

She laughed in my face and laid in the grass with me.

“Because you’re adorable.” She laughed again. Her laugh made the irritation fade away.

“You don’t look like you’re having a good time right now.” Mel pointed out while lying in my arms.

I wasn’t. This wasn’t fun, but it was something I had to do. I was too tired to keep going, so I told her that I’d like to stop.

“We don’t have to do this every day, you know. We’re allowed to take a break every once in a while.” She pinched a cheek. “Wanna go back to my place and cuddle?”

“Yeah, kinda.” I couldn’t hide my smile.

“Let’s go.” She pulled me up.

When we got to her place, I sat at the end of her bed. I wanted to fall back on the pillows and lose myself in my dreams and think of somewhere happy.

“Dude, are you sure you’re okay?” she asked.

“I’m fine.” I grinned at her.

“You should lie down. Let me spoon you for a while.”

“Spoon me!?” I hopped up. “What is that!?” Okay, I freaked out a little bit. I had no idea what spooning was, and to me, it sounded a bit dirty and I wasn’t into it.

“You don’t know what spooning is?” Mel started laughing.

I didn’t understand what was so funny. I mean, someone just said the phrase, “Let me spoon you,” and it threw me a bit. I didn’t know what “spooning” was. But I guessed I was going to find out.

“What is it?” I asked in a shy voice.

Mel laughed a bit harder. “Just answer this question for me. Are you a big spoon or a little spoon?”

I thought about that for a moment. I was new to this, and I didn’t want to bite off more than I could chew, so I told Mel that I was a “little spoon.”