Reverie (noun): being lost in your own thoughts

“So, do you think the red fits well with the light blue?” The boy sounded distracted, his hand poised over a set of watercolors.

“...Yeah?” He felt more confused by this simple question than any math problem he’d ever solved.

The painting boy was a star quarterback on the football team, admired by boys, adored by girls, and cherished by the countless colleges with athletic scholarship offers.

That kind of life was a dream for a quiet, skinny nerd like him.

Nodding, the celebrity dabbed another paint stroke. “I wonder if my red and blue look nice together.”

On the painting, a pair of small red-and-blue sneakers sat on the greens of a clear, grassy field.

“I think it fits,” he told him, awkwardly examining the artwork.

But his words fell on deaf ears.

“These were my first pair of football ‘cleats,’ although they’re just plain old sneakers. Back then, my dad didn’t eat dinner for a month to buy me these shoes.”

“Ah…” He didn’t know what to say to the absent-minded boy.

“I really hope the red works with the blue. It’d be a great Father’s Day gift.”