with: @rhia-falla location: athletic center when: sometime in the week following homecoming
It took spotting Rhia at Homecoming for Heath to realize just how long it'd been since he'd last seen her -- last spoken to her. Post-crowning, and parting from Cara as a flurry of bodies swarmed the dance floor, he failed to locate Carmen, instead falling into step with the first person who latched onto him for a dance, gaze lingering on Rhia. She'd always been difficult to miss, after all, his repeated glances lasting longer and longer, a very physical twinge urging him towards her in the moment. Heath resisted. Even once he was done dancing. Even as the gala died down and the night transitioned into a mess of afterparties. He internalized his confusion, burning out until it was a low-grade sense of guilt that he had enough practice to ignore. He forgot about Rhia, similarly to how he had last spring, and she didn't blip back onto his radar until several days later.
Unsurprisingly, it was the sight of a high-ponytailed cheerleader that made him think of her again. He watched as a few other cheerleaders funneled out of the sports complex, scooping up his gym duffle from the bench he'd paused at, heading inside with the hope that he hadn't missed her. Heath hung around in the hall outside of the locker rooms, no time at all passing before Rhia herself was exiting. He met her gaze before commenting, "I felt like a creep standing out here waiting on you." As if he'd given her any heads-up at all, but still -- "Didn't your horoscope tell you to be on the lookout for me?" he razzed cheekily, adjusting the strap of his bag along his shoulder, prepared to follow wherever Rhia marched off to.
