My Only Constant

Chapter 10

"Cash or card?" the cashier asked Ethan as he paid for his food.

Ethan quickly looked back at me standing behind him and waiting to pay for my stuff. "Actually, can you add those two to my total too?" he said, taking out his card to pay.

"Okay, your total is now one-hundred and seventy," the cashier replied.

"Hey, what are you doing?" I asked gently, tapping him on the shoulder to get his attention. Of course, he ignored my question and paid.

As we walked out of the store, we looked for a bench or table to sit at and eat. I trailed behind Ethan slowly, trying to think of a reason for him to do that.

"Let me pay you back, I can pay for my own things," I said, scratching through my bag looking for my purse.

"No," he said surly.

"I thought you didn't like me, why would you do that?"

"I don't like you, and I don't need a reason for doing that. I just did," Ethan replied, walking faster than before. "Hurry up, I see a table over there and I want to get there before anyone else takes it."

"Yeah, yeah. I'm right behind you," I responded, practically running after him. Him and those damn long legs, why couldn't he walk faster when I had to go to class? He definitely walked slowly just to annoy me. Gosh! He is insufferable!

He sat down and dusted the seat next to him, indirectly inviting me to sit next to him. That was not going to happen. I took my food from him and sat across from him, ignoring the subtle look of disappointment on his face. We sat at the table in silence while we ate. Five minutes quickly turned to fifteen minutes, and fifteen minutes turned to twenty. Finally, I couldn't take it anymore.

"You called me a freshman earlier, so what year are you in exactly? I never asked."

"I'm in my second year," he responded, not bothering to look up.

"Huh," I scoffed, "You aren't much older than me, yet you're still so stuck up,"

"Stuck up? Not at all, I'm still older than you,"

"Okay then, when is your birthday?" I asked.

"December eighth,"

"That makes us the same age then," I responded, a slight excitement present in my voice. "Your birthday isn't far from mine... you're nineteen, I'm nineteen,"

"Oh really..." he said looking up for the first time since we sat down.

"Yeah, my birthday was in January! It's February." I spoke.

"Hmm," he said, staring at me intently.

"Anyway, how's that stupid motorbike of yours?"

"His name's Felix," he said.

I tilted my head and looked at him for a few seconds before speaking. "You named your motorcycle?" I asked, perplexed.

"Yup," he replied. Did he not realise that he sounded even crazier than before? Then again, it was already established that he was cuckoo.

"Oh... well okay," I said. "Thanks for helping me find my class earlier by the way."

"Yeah, sure..." he responded. His ears began turning a bright red. He attempted to cover them with his hair. He could cover his ears, but he couldn't hide the smile growing on his face.

Once we started talking, we just couldn't seem to stop, or more I spoke, and he listened intently. Before we knew it an hour had passed, and it was time for us to part ways. We said our goodbyes, and both went in different directions. He was still a jerk with no manners, but I learnt that he could be nice, when he wanted to.