Nerds Are Lovable

29: Nerds Are Superior

After opening each other's Christmas presents Jayden ordered takeout from what he claims to be the best Chinese food he's ever had, and he's been to China. We were sitting, okay more like cuddling, on his bed, watching a movie while we ate. It felt comfortable, normal, to be like this with Jayden.

"These dumplings are so good," I mention, pointing at my takeout box with my chopsticks.

Jayden looks over to me, "I told you."

He quickly reaches his chopsticks into the takeout box that held the last dumpling and stuffs it in his mouth. He's munching on it, a gleam in his eye as my mouth falls open in shock.

"How dare you steal my last dumpling," I exclaim at him.

"It's your rule Haley, all food is fair game," He smirks at me, clearly proud of himself.

I huff, upset that my last dumpling has been stolen right from under my nose, "Touché, nerd boy, touché."

We fall into a comfortable silence again, continuing our movie as we finish up eating the massive amount of takeout Jayden had ordered. Once the movie ends, Jayden puts on a twitch stream to fill the silence. He leaves to throw away the takeout, leaving me alone in his room.

Jayden's room has the most personality of any room I've seen in this house, albeit I haven't seen Bella's. There's sci-fi movie posters hung on several walls. The tv and gaming computer are on the opposite side of the bed. There's a large shelf of books and textbooks to the right, with his closet and bathroom doors to the left. I sit on the bed, admiring the large room. My room was probably half the size of his. On the opposite side of the window that's next to the bookshelf there's a collection of small frames. One catches my eye, filling me with a sense of familiarity. Walking closer, I notice that it's the drawing I gave Jayden for Thanksgiving.

He'd hung it up. My art.

"Is it okay?" I hear him ask, "That I hung it up?"

I turn around to find Jayden closer than I realized. His eyes are on the drawing but shift to me when he senses me turn around. He looks down at me with a nervous yet soft smile, waiting for me to answer.

"I didn't think you'd hang it," I don't really answer his question, "But it looks good there."

He smiles, a small sigh of relief leaving his lips, "Ok good, I thought maybe you wouldn't want your art hung up."

"That's what art is for," I turn back to my drawing, "To be displayed."

I walk back to Jayden's bed, plopping back on it. Jayden follows me, laying on the other side of the bed. His eyes gaze at the tv, not really focusing on it.

"Did you ever apply to MIT?" I suddenly ask.

Jayden's eyes leave the tv to look at me, "I did. You remembered?"

"That you want to be an engineer rather than take over the mall chain, of course I remembered."

Jayden rubs the back of his neck, embarrassed at his question, "I just, we didn't really talk much about it."

I give him a small smile, "I still remember. So did you get in?"

He shrugs, "I don't know yet, I'll hear back in two months or so."

"What are you gonna do?" I ask, feeling like I've suddenly become Jayden in this conversation with all the questions I'm asking, "Will you go?"

"My dad wants me to follow in his footsteps: go to Yale, get a business degree, take over the company, blah blah blah," His eyes get dark as he continues speaking.