After Darkness

*13. The misunderstanding*

The following Monday, Gawin reappeared at the uni. Now that he had made up with New, Krist was feeling a lot more excited about going to college. He arrived early that day, leaving to have his breakfast at the cafeteria.

As soon as he got there, he saw him. Gawin was sat by himself, looking casually at his cell phone. He looked better-faced, in a better mood, Krist could tell. The boy thought about whether or not he should approach his friend, but he didn't have to decide for himself. As soon as he looked up from his cell phone, Gawin spotted Krist and motioned for his friend to approach him.

"Hey, sorry I disappeared," was the first thing he said as soon as Krist sat down.

"What happened? I got worried."

"I know. It was something with my mom, I ended up just letting Aye know. Sorry!"

"What happened?" Krist wanted to know. What could be so serious that Gawin couldn't even send him a message that he was going away on personal business?

Something strange crossed Gawin's eyes, and Krist began to wonder if the boy was lying to him. He almost held his breath to hear the other's answear.

"Nothing much, the situation is already solved. Let's talk about better things. How are the rehearsals going?"

Krist was disappointed. He thought the two of them were already close enough to share that kind of subject, but Gawin was closed off to anyone other than Aye. Is he secretly in love with his friend?

"Things are much better now. Me and New made-up last week and managed to resolve our characters' issues at rehearsal over the weekend", his reply could have ended there, but the jealousy he felt towards Aye spoke louder: "and apparently I now have a secret admirer."

"Oh, that is nice!"

There was something in Gawin's tone, but Krist couldn't decipher whether it was curiosity or jealousy. This made him even angrier. Why did it seem like Gawin was so much better at hiding his feelings than he was?

Krist waited, perhaps Gawin would drop something he could work with, but instead, Gawin's curiosity seemed genuine. "Do you have any idea who that is?", he wanted to know, his voice neutral.

"I thought I knew, but the signs point to someone else."

The two continued talking, making assumptions about who could be Krist's secret admirer, which made the boy even more frustrated. The subject moved on to what Gawin had missed at university during the week he was away. About the classes they took together, Krist promised to pass on all the notes he had taken, but most of the subjects Gawin took he still had no friends. Krist gave him some words of encouragement.

That's when she sat down next to Gawin, with the disconcerting casualness of someone who knew exactly everything about that person. An intimacy Krist doubted he would ever have with his friend.

"I thought you weren't coming back until tomorrow," she said smiling.

"I got a ride yesterday and thought I'd better not miss another day of college now that everything's taken care of," the two looked at each other and Krist felt a monster growl inside him. "Aye, this is Krist. Krist, this is Aye."

The two shook hands, Aye much warmer than Krist. "We finally met, I was starting to think you were a Flu's invention," she said, squeezing Krist's hand.

"Flu?" Krist asked, not understanding.

"His name is Fluke Gawin. But he hates being called Fluke, so I always call him like this", she laughed and Gawin joined in the laughter. He looked so relaxed next to her, which only made Krist even more jealous. He was now regretting every time he wanted to meet the girl.