Ambivalently Yours

Dressing Up

"So what are you going to say to her in class today?" Kelce asks as he and Rafe make the drive to campus on Monday.

Rafe gives his roommate a funny look. "Who?"

"Y/n! What do you mean 'who'?"

Rafe shifts in his seat. "Why would I say anything to her?"

Kelce sighs. "You are so weird about her, man. You stalked her around the party for like half an hour before you even went up to her, then—"

"I didn't stalk her," Rafe interjects.

"Then," Kelce continues, ignoring him, "you bickered with her all night."

"Not all night. I offered to help her out of the Uber at the apartment," he points out. "Which she refused."

"As she should've. She probably thought you were going to pretend to help her, then let her fall on her face."

"Well, I wouldn't have done that," he insists.

"I'm just saying, you talked about her a lot all this time and then you acted weird around her when you saw her," Kelce says. Rafe doesn't respond.

The rest of the short drive is spent in silence. Rafe is fuming. Kelce had, for whatever reason, gotten it into his head that his best friend had a thing for you, which was definitely not the case. You grated his every nerve with your quick comebacks and the ability to push his buttons at a moment's notice. While it was fun to go back and forth with you (a fact he would not admit to anyone, and barely himself), the idea of him liking you in any way was laughable. You were fun to mess with, end of story.

"They're here already," Rafe says, breaking the silence as he eyes your and Liz's occupied spot as he drives by. Your car was parked there; you had driven today. He wondered idly if you and Liz had a set schedule on who was driving each day, or if one of you just randomly volunteered to be the one who drove.

"Earth to Rafe!" Kelce says, waving his hand in front of his face. "You passed the parking spot."

"Shit," he mutters, having to turn in the next aisle and head back. He quickly parks and shuts off the car. "Okay, see you this afternoon?"

"Yeah. And uh, don't be weird around her, man."

"Fuck off," he says, waving a hand at his friend dismissively.

Kelce laughs. "Later, man."

~

Rafe is on autopilot through his first two classes, but by the time speech and debate rolls around that afternoon, he almost feels nervous. Were you going to bring up the party, or were you going to pretend like you never saw him there? He had to admit, seeing you outside of an academic setting was a little jarring at first. Something was different about you, but he couldn't put his finger on it. Like you were more casual, more free, but somehow even more quick witted than you usually were. 

He's one of the first to class, so he grabs a seat by the window. It was a gorgeous day outside. The window seat was probably a mistake. Today was going to be a lecture day, and he already knew his mind was going to wander to potential day drinking plans after class. He could practically taste the ice cold beer already.

With nothing to do but wait for class to start, he sits back and watches people file in. At two minutes to start time, you still haven't made it, and the smallest amount of concern bubbles in his chest. Were you skipping because you couldn't stand the sight of him?

With one minute to spare, you enter the classroom, holding the door open for the professor. You're holding a giant iced coffee and looking like you just ran across campus, which you probably did, considering the closest coffee shop was several blocks away.