Reading Between the Lines

Chapter 21: Spectacle

Later in the day...

While I finish putting on my shoes, I hear a knock on my door. It does throw me off a little since I was shouting the lyrics of "Just My Type" and I almost get a heart attack, but then I remember that Naishal is picking me up. 

"Nice singing!" he shouts amusedly outside the door, his laugh ringing even from the hallway.

"You scared me!" I scold him while I trudge to the door, trying hard not to let my sandals fall off my feet by accident.

I open the door to see him standing in the doorway, as immaculate as always. His messy black hair is a little longer, with the back of his hair reaching his neck and strands of it framing his face. His silver earrings shine under the apartment lights along with his bright, brown eyes. His mouth is curled into a genuine smile as his eyes twinkle in appreciation of my outfit. 

I like how people in his world can just mutually complement each other without people suspecting that we like each other. Here, in the human world, even if a guy just says their gal-friend is "pretty", people will immediately think they're hooking up.

His loose short-sleeved button-down is slightly unbuttoned at the top, showing off a bit of his chest and a constellation tattoo that stands out again some scarred skin. The olive green color goes so well with his skin tone, and there is a good view of his toned and inked arms. His fingers are slightly inside his pockets, where they shine with a couple of rings on them. A chain dangles from one of the belt loops on his black jeans and hooks onto another loop at the back. The bottoms of his jeans are cuffed, showing off his surprisingly shiny ankles and black Vans.

"Did you finish all your work?" 

"Nope." 

He raises his eyebrow in response. "Dude, how much do you have left?"

"Um... like 2 assignments?"

"Ohh, are they really long?"

"No, one's just a quiz. But I do have a lot of Psychology homework though," I clarify with a sheepish grin on his face, making him facepalm.

"See, this is why you don't do 1500 credit hours in one semester. It's too much work! Is it all due next week?" 

Okay, 1500 is stretching it a bit. But I see what he means.

"Do you want me to lie?" I ask him shyly, making him grumble to himself. "Don't worry, we've all been there. But seriously, make sure you do your work. The last thing I want you to do is to fail this semester."

"At this point, that's my worst nightmare," I clench my teeth before he flashes a reassuring smile. "You got this. One more week, and then you're done. One bad test or week won't change anything.

"I'm not sure, Naish. Look, I get scared of tests, but at least I feel a little better after taking them. That test was awful! These past two weeks, I've just been so unprepared for everything. It's... it's not me. I already feel bad because you guys are doing so much to help me figure out this shit, but I don't want you guys to get annoyed by me even more," I rant to him as he steps inside and looks at me with a raised eyebrow.

"See? You probably think I'm being stupid right now."

"Dude, if we were annoyed by you, we wouldn't be taking you out right now. Look, even we had our slumps during our first two years. You're dealing with way more stuff than we are though. This is all super unprecedented. But it's not the end of the world. You don't have to worry about proving yourself as a mini-Einstein constantly because people already know that, Sarvani. You know that too. A B won't kill you. It's just a stupid letter. In fact, it's better to fuck up now than later because you can at least learn what to do next time. It's pretty good character development."