The Competition

Viktor

Finally the end of the majors. I clean up and rush out to find Carson. He wants to know what happened? I'll tell him. At the entrance to the arts and humanities department, I see everyone leaving except Carson and my sister.
"Where's-"
"Inside," someone replies. I wasn't surprised. I hesitate before entering. Natalia and Carson are still chatting before he sees me. Without a greeting, he turns and arranges his supplies. Natalia looks at me and I nod. She's used to our sudden arguments.
"Now it's P.E. Boys... see you later," she glares at me and I plant a kiss on her forehead.
"I got this," I whisper loud enough for her to hear.
"Yelena's still in the lab, I think," I call to her as she waves out of the room. Now it is just us.
"Hey Car...." He doesn't answer.
"Look, I didn't mean to yell at you," I walk over to him and sit down.
"Yeah. I know," he replies coldly.
"Is something wrong?" I ask curiously. Usually after the 'Yeah. I know.' he should be back to his old self. "Everything's fine, Viktor," he says, and I can feel him being a little distant. "Did something happen at the party on your side?" He freezes, almost startled by my question. Something did happen, for sure.
"No. Let's go, we might be late for P.E.," he finally speaks. There is a comfortable silence in the room as I meet his eyes. "Before you ask, yeah, let's skip it." There's the Carson I know. We leave the room and take the opposite direction of the hall when we find Noah heading there. "Renault, Ivanov Hall is the opposite way," he claims. "Kindly fuck off, Cromwell, your presence is giving me a headache." Carson gives him an uncharacteristic glare. "Woah, why so belligerent? Did you tell him?"
Am I supposed to know what they're talking about?
"Tell me what?" I turn to Carson whose eyes are holding Noah's.
"Let's just go," he says, his voice tense as we pass Noah.
"So tell me what's going on between you and..." he doesn't finish his sentence because I cut him off, "yesterday at the party.... No, wait, I'll tell you the whole story," we go to the library, the only place where there's no one during P.E. on Fridays.
"What happened?" he asks with too much curiosity.

"I almost fucked Van der Berg."
"WHAT?" This one means if I am out of my mind. I take in his expression, "Aren't you interested in...?"
"The thing is, we almost... shared a moment a month ago, and she freaked out at the last second. The-"
"-door slam was her?"
"Yeah...and yesterday she saw it. She saw us. Me and Van der Berg. I didn't mean for it to happen the way it did. I was too drunk and depressed that I mistook her for..."

"The girl you love?" Love? That's a strong word. I nod and stare at my tangled fingers. "Does Yelena even know that you're kind of stalking her?" Why would I ever do that? Aside from her academy status, where she lives, social media, and yes.
"I don't do that kind of thing," I offer him my most innocent smile. He laughs and shakes his head.
"Right, you could never. You've had your eye on that chick since forever, even before she joined VLA," he switches to Russian, and I have to admit, he's gotten better.