Sandy and I walked hand in hand until we got clear of the guys that gathered around the basketball game. When we finally passed them on our way to the jump roping arcade game, I felt Sandy let out a sigh of relief and apologized saying, “Sorry for putting you on the spot back there. Thanks for playing along with it though.”

I didn’t think it was that big of a deal. I studied her as we walked. She had a look of uncomfortableness on her face from the previous situation. I would’ve figured she would get this a lot though, so she would be used to it. Though I guess you can never get used to this type of thing. It is pretty off-putting, but I’ve never had it happen to me before so what do I know? “It’s totally fine. I get it. You get that a lot?”

I couldn’t help myself. My curiosity got the best of me. As soon as I asked, I instantly regretted it. “I shouldn’t pry.” I scolded to myself in my head.

“I mean not really…” She explained as she rubbed the back of her head uneasily. “I mean, I’m not stupid. I know guys stare a lot of the times. And I’ve seen this type of thing happen on TV, but I’ve never actually been catcalled before. I think a lot of the reason behind that is I never go out, and I usually get quiet in front of other people. But now that I have been catcalled, I can say for sure I don’t like it. It just feels degrading…”

I squeezed her hand in comfort. I could see from her wavering eyes and awkward smile that this really made her uncomfortable. I didn’t really know what to say. I don’t know the words to say that communicates how mad I feel on her behalf and how sorry I am that, with me being a guy, I won’t experience what that’s like to know firsthand what that feels like. Gah! I hate that I’m so awkward in these situations! I hurriedly just decided to change the awkward atmosphere to be lighthearted, “You, quiet?” I asked her incredulously.

“Hahaha! Why do you say that like it’s impossible for me to be quiet?!”

Oh no… I backed myself into a corner here. “I—uh… Hmmm…”

“Pffftttt!” Sandy giggled before I could finish, “Relax! I was teasing you hahaha! Anyway, I always get quiet when people just look at my body! Like with that guy there, he didn’t look at my face once! Can you believe that? That’s just weird, you know?!”

I joined in on her laugh as I commented, “No, no, I completely get it. I can’t relate to it, but I get it haha!” I would have never put Sandy and quiet in the same sentence. I voiced my inner thoughts saying, “How come I never saw your introverted side then?”

She looked down and straightened her loose braid that got that way from shooting the basketballs. Sandy explained succinctly, with a warm smile and blush, “You never looked at my body. You’ve always looked into my eyes.”

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Ba-dump!

I felt my heart skip beat. As much as I tried to fight it, I couldn’t. I mean whose heart wouldn’t skip if Sandy said something like that to you while looking that cute?! That’s just unfair!

Sandy must’ve realized she said something embarrassing because she quickly backtracked to add more context, “A-and I felt like I already knew you! I-I mean Gia complains about you all the time! A-and you never really hit on me, so t-there’s that too!”

I smiled. I’m glad to know she hates me as much as I hate her. “I really live in her mind rent free, huh?” I proudly asked Sandy.

She shook her head with a sigh. “You have no idea,” she said.

“But you’re saying if I hit on you, you would go quiet?”

“W-well, I already know you pretty well now so…”

Without thinking, my curiosity to see another side of Sandy got the better of me, and I leaned over and looked into her warm hazel eyes, “That braid looks really cute on you.”

Startled and flustered by my sudden compliment, she averted her gaze from mine. She managed to stammer out, “W-I…Uh-Thank you! Y-you’re just saying that just to see my reaction, aren’t you?”

I blinked in shock at myself. I spoke without thinking, but now her slightly flushed face turned beet red, and all of my doubts about my comment disappeared. “N-no!” I tried to explain to her. “W-well… yes… But I really do mean it! It does look cute!”

Sandy covered her mouth in embarrassment, and her red face turned an even darker color. So cute! Ah! I’m still holding her hand! Now I could feel my face start to get flushed…

“Don’t say something embarrassing if you’re going to get embarrassed too!” She scolded me with a squeeze on my hand.

“S-shut up!” I exclaimed in protest before changing the subject, “A-anyway! Ever play this one game before?”

We had arrived at the jump roping game, so I desperately tried to shift the focus from our embarrassment to the game, but Sandy decided to suddenly ask me, “How do you do that?”

Confused by her question, I asked, “Do what?”

“Say what’s on your mind so openly.” She clarified, “Right then and back there at the basketball games with the guys you just straight up told them you didn’t want to talk to them. How do you do that? I’m never able to muster up the courage to do that. I always either beat around the bush of what I mean to say or find myself to just keep quiet in those uncomfortable situations to not cause a scene. I’m scared to do what you do. I’m jealous.”

“Well…” I told her thoughtfully. I never thought that my abrasive behavior would be a good thing. I was always told and taught the opposite of what Sandy said. Why would she be jealous of that? I eventually just said, “I guess that I never really cared about what other people think about me, so it kind of gives me a freedom to speak my mind I guess…”

After pondering my answer for a moment, she looked at the game in front of us. “I never actually played this game before.” She said to me, “The risk reward wasn’t good enough, so I always chose better games to get more tickets. This game is next to impossible to get a perfect score.”

“What a pragmatic view…” I commented.

“Shut-up,” she told me flatly. “I wanted to get the best prizes possible.”

“Okay, Okay!” I surrendered sarcastically.

“Anyway, as I was saying… I was really into jump roping as a kid though because I loved the tricks that people did with them. Have you ever played this game?”

A smile crawled on my face as I told her, “I’ve played it a couple times.”

Knowing full well I haven’t played it in my life, I was speaking with false confidence. Unbeknownst to her though, there is a trick to playing this game…