Socially Distanced

Chapter 11

I knew Brett could tell something was wrong. He asked me a few times throughout class, but I just blamed it on the Covid stuff. That was part of it, I guess.

"You did a nice job presenting today." He smiled.

No, Brett. Stop, I silently pleaded. He was making it harder and harder to distance myself from. He was the best. He doesn't deserve you, I reminded myself.

After class ended, Brett spoke up again. "See you tomorrow?" he asked with a grin.

I put on my best fake smile and replied, "yeah."

Instead of going to psychology class that day, I headed home. Skipping wasn't a big deal because we were only reviewing notes. I could look at them online later.

That night I got another email. It read:

Staff and students,

At this time, we feel that it is best to cancel in person class. We are going to disinfect the entire campus and promise to keep you updated. Right now, we ask that class be continued online only.

Stay safe and healthy! We'll get through this together!

I closed my laptop. My mind was spinning. My plans had been disrupted. I needed to talk to Brett. With a sad realization, I thought about the fact that I probably wouldn't be seeing him for a very, very long time. I knew how viruses worked, and I knew that this wasn't something that was going to dissipate. This was here to stay.

Then I remembered something. Brett and I swapped emails.

I whipped open my laptop and logged into my email once again, but Brett had beat me to it. Sitting in my inbox was an email containing the subject line "Hey."

Typical Brett. I rolled my eyes and smiled, opening up the email. The page loaded and it was a lot longer than I was expecting. I immediately started reading.

Mabel,

I know we haven't known each other for very long, but I think I should tell you something. It sounds like I'm not going to get to see you for a very long time, at least around campus, so I wanted to reach out to you on here. I wanted to tell you that I may have told a small lie.

Confused, I read on.

From the second I met you, I knew I was hook, line and sinker. Last Monday changed everything for me. Anyways, onto the lie. On Wednesday, I planned on sitting next to you in speech class. I told you that our professor wanted us to work together, but that wasn't entirely true. While it may have ended up being true, it wasn't the reason I sat there. I sat there because I wanted to get to know the beautiful girl in my first hour speech class. I sat there before I was instructed to. I found it ironic when Professor Williams ended up saying exactly what I could use as an excuse. So that's what I did. Thankful that I didn't have to admit anything, I told you that I was only sitting there to work with you. I was too scared to admit the truth. Now that I don't get to see you again every day, well, I just can't have that. So what do you say to this; tomorrow afternoon, I'll meet you in the local park for a socially distant picnic. :) I want to continue seeing you, Mabel. With all of that mushy stuff out of the way, how does 12:00 tomorrow sound?

-Brett

I didn't realize that I had been crying until I finished reading that email. I marked it as 'important' and got ready to type up a reply.

Brett,

I was so glad to see that you reached out to me. I think a picnic sounds like a great idea, considering the fact that there aren't any restaurants open. :P I have something that I need to discuss with you as well, and I plan on talking about it with you tomorrow. See you at 12:00.

-Mabel

I hit send before I even thought it through, then my thoughts started to race. That was a mistake, Mabel. He's going to think that you're interested too!

I started to panic, but concluded that I needed to speak to him in person anyway. I couldn't explain something like this to him over email. That was just as bad as a break-up text, and I wasn't that type of girl.

Oh, so now you think you're in a relationship, huh? You're not even breaking up with him. You can't break up with someone you weren't even with in the first place.

I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts and decided that I needed to go for a walk. Surprisingly, I didn't think about the pandemic much. This situation with Brett had completely taken over my mind. All I could think about was our picnic tomorrow. I rehearsed what I wanted to say to him until I had a little speech of my own right in my mind.

I walked back home and tried to relax before I eventually got up to make some dinner. I finished it quickly and went to bed early. I somehow fell asleep despite my racing thoughts. I thought this would be one of those nights that I stayed up all night, tossing and turning.

That night, I didn't dream much. In fact, I didn't dream of anything at all. No pandemic, no germaphobe stuff and no Brett.