If Only You Can Stay (BL/BXB)

XII

I followed him and tried to recollect myself. I just walked slowly behind his tracks and caught him taking glances at the back. The walk towards the cafeteria between us was silent even though the hallways were doing the opposite. The students were getting out of their class as lunch time was near.

"You're sure that you want to eat here?" He stopped and waited for me to catch up before starting to walk again but this time his pace was much slower. His steps were trying to catch up into mine syncing together as if they were choreographed.

"Yeah, why?" I asked.

"Look, the food there is gross and hella expensive for that kind of taste." He commented.

I giggled at his grossed-out remarks. His face even mimicked the face he for sure made the moment he tasted the food there. And I was half-convinced that the food there wasn't that appetizing if I only based on his looks right now.

"So what would you recommend?" I asked.

"How much more time do you have?"

"The orientation would start at 1:00 PM. So we have at least two and a half hours of waiting-slash-lunchtime, I guess." I told him. His face brightened up as a bulb popped on top of his head. The idea was quickly put into words and was ready to get spit out from his mouth. But when he tried to open his lips to put the words out, he held those lines inside of him and became into mere thoughts.

"What is it?" I asked. "Are you going to suggest a place or something?" I asked him. For sure, he did.

"Hm, I was thinking if we could go to a restaurant nearby. I promise it was good. You'll love it."

"Where is it? Would it take us more than the hours I just told you?" I asked, trying to be considerate of the time.

"I know. The lady there knew me already. My parents were regulars and I joined once in a while when we had family dinners or take-outs." He told me.

"Oh, I see." I contemplated whether I would be joining his offer to eat outside the campus ground because he was a mere stranger a day ago. Now, he's acting like we've known each other for a long time. Do people in the US usually like this? Or am I just hastily generalizing people when I only have a conversation with this guy and the old man in the thrift bookstore.

"I have a car though. I can give you a ride." He gulped. His gaze turned to the side then back at me then back to somewhere else. What was he up to? "If you want?" He brushed his hand in the back of his neck.

"Uhm"

"Don't get the wrong idea. I was just offering you the ride to the restaurant."

"What are you talking about? Are you thinking of something else?" I raised a brow.

"No, uh, nothing. Let's go. We're wasting time here." He told me to avoid my gaze. I just shrugged and followed him as he led the way towards where the parking lot was. I wouldn't get killed on my first day of class, right?

The walk was kind of silent and I was really rethinking my whole life choices and how I ended up with the situation. Do I even agree to be with him in the first place? How do I even get comfortable enough to be with someone whom I just met a day ago? And how on earth did we end up in the same school?

"So how do you end up here? I'm pretty sure you're new since I haven't seen you around before." He asked.

"I think I would like to keep that private?" Could he stop his questioning? Because I was also questioning myself here, too.

"Let me guess, a transfer?" He shot his head aback to take a glimpse of me then proceeded to lead the way. Well, he acted like he knew the whole place so maybe I could trust him for this one. Additionally, I wouldn't put all of my mind into thinking that he was a bad person. After all, he saved me from the rabid dogs.

"Yeah, here's my baby." He told me once we were in front of his car. He jogged his way to the other side where he opened the car door.

"For you, my feisty bunny." He surely was proud of the endearment. As if he knew that the certainty of me liking that was high. It was quite the opposite. However, I never ever knew that someone would literally call me names aside from the usual names I heard from my parents or peers who always notice how I talked, walked or even small details of my movements.

"Don't call me that." I told him. I was scared that that word would soon turn into something else. Just like, how when I usually called people sweet and kind. I didn't know that whenever I tell someone 'oh, you're so sweet', the same people I told these words to were the ones mocking the way I spoke to them.

You're so sweet. The sound from their voices as they replayed this sentence as they made fun of me echoed in the back of my head as if the memory was just a whisper in the ear. Their voices were all over my head that I had decided to go to a bathroom stall nearest the building and cried from how ridiculous that whole thing was. I just wanted to be nice but ended up being called names.

"Why? It's not your thing?" He asked. I hopped in his car and he shut it close the moment he was sure that my whole frame was settled inside. He quickly jogged to the other side and I watched as his frame moved from my side to the other side. He opened the door and went in. He smirked and started the engine.

"Well, get used to it. I might start calling you that."

***

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