Presentation day week for the students' game projects began. Naomi arrived fifteen minutes early to class to ask our professor if we could start first. I didn't get the news until I saw her standing at the front of the class, leaning over a chair. Her laptop was connected to an HDMI port on the classroom computer. The computer projected our game on the projector. It was at the home screen where the player would have to hit the start button to play.
"Oh god," I said. My heart rate went through the roof.
"It'll be over quickly," Naomi said. "Present and we can walk out."
"Really?" Our professor nodded his head. It didn't help decrease my anxiety but a least I didn't have to suffer the anticipation of waiting my turn. "Are you doing all the talking?"
"Of course!" She rolled out the chair for me. "All you got to do is show and I'll tell," she said, pushing me under the desk once I sat in the chair. "Plus, I don't want us to be around you know who any longer than needed," she whispered over my right ear.
"Yosefin?" I said the second Yosefin walked in. I slapped my hand over my mouth, thinking she heard me. She didn't look back or pause. She took her seat next to her partner and put down her head behind her crossed arms.
"God," she said under her breath. "She's lost it. Just look at her." I tried to see what she saw. Was it Yosefin's lack of simple fashion? Was it her body language?
"What do you see?"
"A girl who wants to make you see that what you're doing is wrong."
Naomi's explanation resonated perfectly with Yosefin's attitude. All I wanted was for us to be happy with someone we could fall in love with and not force ourselves into a half-baked relationship.
"It's sad, isn't it?" I said. "I wish she would see I'm not for her."
"Trust me. She'll see," Naomi said, soothing my shoulders by gliding her fingers down them and rubbing the back with her thumbs. "Are we ready to go, professor?"
"Ready when you are," he said.
"Hello everyone! My name is Naomi! And this," she said and paused for a grandiose tension. "Is my lovely partner, Joshua!"
"Lovely?" I said, screaming in my head. Yosefin's head shot up as if someone yelled her name.
"We got a nice little platformer for you guys today."
While Noami talked about our game in detail, I played through the game, showing all the interesting yet basic things we did. The presentation lasted ten minutes, and we got a grade afterward. Our professor gave us a B+ for the game, an A- for the presentation, and extra credit points for being willing participants to go first. He called Yosefin and her partner after I walked outside. I felt like I should stay for a bit to see what they made. Naomi convinced me to not give Yosefin an inch of attention.
"Is that what I must do?" I said. "Ignore her until she's not interested?"
"Correct."
"What if she throws a fit or something of the sort?"
"Come on here," she said on took me away from the door by my hand. "Forget her."
"But," I said, stuttering on the first letter.
"She's a lost cause, Joshua. It's time for you to focus more on me from now on." She placed my hands on her hips and slid them up her waist before putting them above her ass.
"Not here," I said, moving my hands to the middle of her back. "There's people around."
"Boy oh boy," she said, chuckling while turning her head from side to side. "Is this what taking the lead looks like?"
YOU ARE READING
An Unlikely Connection: Part 2
RomanceLust, curiosity, infatuation, and playful anxiety were Joshua's four apocalyptical horsemen of emotions towards his friend with an interesting life. Now, as a sophomore in college, those feelings that plagued his actions every day, are about to init...
