The Watermelon Project

Chapter Thirteen

"Irish breakfast tea, m'lady," Nick says as he hands me a mug. We're back in the student center, and I'm viciously typing on my laptop.

"Thank you, kind sir," I say, taking a moment to look up from my "The Art of the Horror Film" paper.

"You are really cranking that essay out," he says, peering over my shoulder.

"Yeah, well, I really want to finish it before the end of the day so I can focus on gathering details about my grandfather from my father this weekend."

"And have some fun in the city, too, I hope," he teases.

"Yeah, yeah, that too," I say, trying (and failing) not to smile. "Almost..." I type the final sentence of my conclusion, "there. All done. I'll just read it over one more time this afternoon. Now I'm all yours."

Nick smiles goofily at me as I close my laptop.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"No, what? You're doing that goofy laugh thing that people do when—"

"When they're really happy?"

"Well—"

"See, now you're doing it." He laughs. I really like his laugh.

"Oh, come on. Tell me why you smiled!"

"Fine, fine. It just made me happy when you said 'I'm all yours.'"

"Okay, creepy possessive boyfriend much?" I raise my eyebrows and his face tinges pink. "Dude, I'm totally kidding," I say when he doesn't respond.

"Did you just call me 'dude'?"

"Totally, dude."

He chuckles again. "You know," he starts, "I know we only officially met a couple of weeks ago, and I know this is all happening kind of fast, so like if you feel uncomfortable—"

"No, no. I'm sorry I didn't mean to make this weird, I—"

"No, you didn't make it weird. I just...can I tell you something?" I nod. "Okay...so...this doesn't really feel like it happened super fast for me. Please don't think I'm actually a creepy person, but I've had a crush on you since last fall."

"What? How? We didn't even know each other."

"No, not really," he says, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck, "we were in Bio 1 together."

"Okay, but that class has like 200 people in it."

"Yup. And you walked in and sat in the front corner of the lecture hall and laid out your notebook and multicolor pens and put your glasses on, and I just could not stop staring at you. You put your hair up into a messy bun when the professor started talking and I just watched you take notes about the syllabus the whole class."

"Wow."

"I know. I sound like a stalker."

"No, actually, you sound like a 1980s rom-com character. Go on," I say, stirring my tea.

"Okay, well, then, later that week, I saw you sitting in the library, reading. You were perched in that window seat in the corner on the first floor. I think you were reading Harry Potter. I freaking love Harry Potter."

"Oh, yeah! I was taking a Children's Lit class. And I miss that window seat. I saw some kid throw up all over it last year and I haven't been able to go back." I squirm a little just thinking about it. "I hide upstairs now."

"Oh? Good to know. And I'm really glad I've never sat there." He laughs. "But yeah...see...it's kind of embarrassing but I've had a crush on you...from afar...since last year."