“Because you couldn’t find the fucking door. Anyone with eyes can find the fucking door. Doesn’t mean all us athletes are jerks.”
“Well, athletes can’t have a normal conversation,” I say while I lean back and look around the cafe. We’re in a cafe, I remind myself. I notice Seth copies my movement, his body mirroring mine.
“I can have a normal conversation,” says Seth. His gaze lingers on my lips.
I scoff. “It’s always sports this and sports that,” I say while flicking my right and left hand as if balancing the words in the palms of my hand.
“I can talk about other things.”
“Like what?”
I watch him search his small little brain for anything. “Sex,” he says.
I roll my eyes. “Please.”
“And food.”
“Really?” I cross my arms. “You can talk about your culinary prowess? Or which wine brings out the best flavors of meat?”
Seth makes a face and shakes his head. “Who discusses that bullshit?”
I roll my eyes. “People who talk food, dummy.”
“Fine,” says Seth, leaning in close. I stop myself from copying his movement, knowing no good will come from playing around with Seth. None at all. “And what exactly do you and your art buddies discuss?”
“Art history, of course,” I say. “And we debate modern art aesthetics. In my English class we are discussing symbolism and the correlation between Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now.”
Seth nods appreciatively. “I like reading. Sometimes I read the little articles in Playboy.”
I smack my head and stifle a groan. “This is exactly what I’m talking about.” And exactly the reason why I need to forget that kiss.
Seth chuckles. “Well, we’re talking now,” he says. “Isn’t that something?”
I smile at him and push a lock of hair behind my ear. “I guess.”
“We can say I like debating proper discussion etiquette.” He shrugs. “That sounds fancy enough.”
I giggle over my mocha. “Very fancy.”
“Hey, Rachel.” I jump and glance to my left, seeing Josh hovering above us with his hands stuffed into his jean jacket. He shifts awkwardly from foot to foot and glances between me and Seth. My eyes widen as I realize what he’s already suspecting.
It’s not a date, I want to shout, but before I can say anything Seth says, “What the fuck do you want?”
My mouth is still open when I look at Seth, my eyes already narrowing into a scowl.
“Oh, um, nothing,” says Josh, looking at the floor. “I just wanted to say hello is all.”
“Well, you’ve said it,” says Seth, rolling his shoulders back while scowling up at Josh. It’s like he’s trying to make himself taller like a grizzly bear about to attack. “Now go away.”
I shake my head. “I’m so sorry, Josh.”
“How’s your project coming along?” asks Josh, smiling shyly back at me and thankfully ignoring everything coming out of Seth’s stupid mouth.
“It’s going great,” says Seth. “Now beat it.”
“Seth, shut it,” I say. “Its fine, Josh. I’ll talk about it with you at study session next week.”
Josh beams and nods. “Sounds great. I’ll see you there.” He waves at me before grabbing his to-go cup from the counter and striding out of the cafe. I watch him go, wishing I can run along with him right about now rather than stay with this jerk who seems to think he’s better than everyone around him.
A jerk, who’s a very good kisser, a dark voice reminds me.
I ignore that idiotic though and scowl at Seth. “Why are you such an asshole?”
“I don’t like the guy,’ says Seth while watching something through the window. Probably some hot girl not wearing a bra, I think while rolling my eyes. “There’s something off about him.”
I shake my head. “You know what. Forget about me and the jock crowd. You also have an attitude towards us artistic folk.”
Seth makes a face. “I do not.”
I nod. “You sure do. You probably think all of us are prissy.”
“Well, you are,” he says while gesturing towards me. “Your very attitude wreaks of snobbery.”
I point at him. “See this is the problem. You should be nicer to us artists. Not all of us are uppity.”
Seth rolls his eyes. “And why would I do that?”
I shrug before taking another sip from my mocha. “I’ll give running a try if you give art a try.”
“Where would I even begin with that? There’s absolutely nothing about art I would enjoy.”
“Photography,” I say while shaking the camera at him. “You love Aurora so much you could try photographing it. You do know all the best places. And wouldn’t it be great to capture your college life while you still can?”
Seth shakes his head. “I don’t even have a camera.”
“I can loan you one,” I say, my whole body brimming with excitement. “I have so many different cameras. Just promise me,” I say, lifting one finger, “no dick pics.”
Seth smirks. “If you give running a chance, I’ll give photography a chance,” he says while holding his hand out to me.
“Deal,” I say, smiling and grabbing his hand, giving it a firm shake.
***
Why am I doing this? I wonder when I wake up the next morning at an ungodly hour. It’s Sunday. S-U-N-D-A-Y. No one should be up at this time. Especially after waking up at five the morning before. I groan, blinking my eyes to try to keep them open. The sun hasn’t even risen and here I am shrugging into my leggings and stuffing my feet into tennis shoes. I don’t even have a sports bra. I guess a normal bra will just have to do for now. I throw on a grey sweater over it all and hope it’s enough to keep me warm from the outdoors.
I open my door, seeing Seth standing in front of it, his hand in a fist like he was going to knock on it. He slowly lowers it and looks me up and down. A shiver goes down my spine. It feels like he’s undressing me with his eyes. I am instantly reminded of the
