Alex's P.O.V:
"Hey Herc, I'm back." I announced as I entered the dorm that was shared with my friend Hercules. He was laying on his bed, scrolling Facebook on his phone, "Oh hey, Alex. I was wondering when you'd be back." I laughed, "Yeah, sorry, someone caught my attention at the bookstore." He sat up and put his phone down, raising his eyebrow at me, "Met a girl? She cute?" Of course I was talking about John, but I didn't want to tell Herc about him at this point. "Uh, yeah, her name is...Lauren. She's pretty attractive and I offered to teach her French for a while." He nodded, "Cool, tell me how it goes with your object of newly found affection." I scoffed, "Affection. Yeah, whatever." He returned to his phone, "Come on Alex, we both know that you don't teach such a romantic language to just anyone."
Ignoring his comment, I sat on my bed and pulled out my laptop as a distraction, although I did know that I felt something towards John that had drawn me towards him to begin with. "Writing?" Herc asked. "Yup." I blandly replied, although I was really searching for John Laurens on Facebook. I found him instantly and began looking through his profile. Damn is this Laurens guy something special. His photos revealed the volunteer work he'd done. Raising baby turtles until they were strong enough to be released in Mexico, to be specific. As I scrolled through his pictures I found one in particular that I fancied. Just a simple profile picture, but it brought out everything I'd noticed when I saw him in the bookstore.
The picture featured John leaning on a lamppost, arms and legs crossed, laughing at the camera. His dazzling smile joined by humorous, hazel eyes. Each freckle adding to a constellation that would put the stars to shame at night. His curly, brunette hair was loose and nearing his shoulders, unlike the ponytail I'd seen it in earlier. The autumn trees in the background accented the blue blazer and matching pants that he wore, while simultaneously showing off his admirable figure. Oh damn, is he good looking. "Alex? You good?" Herc asked, noticing my accidental smile, a side affect of looking at John's picture. I quickly sent a friend request and closed off Facebook, "Yeah, yeah, I'm wonderful." I replied, brushing off Herc's look of confusion.
Without hesitating on the whim of my feelings, I grabbed my phone and texted John.
To: John Laurens
Hey, it's Alexander, when do you wanna meet up? I don't have any morning classes tomorrow if you'd like to start your French lessons.
He almost immediately responded to my text.
From: John Laurens
Yeah that'd be great, how about in the park next to the University Library? 9:30?
As excited as a child in a candy store, I quickly agreed to our first French lesson. "Alex, are you sure you're alright?" Herc asked again, concerning my instantaneous joy as I texted John. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine Hercules, don't worry. Just figuring out my French lesson tomorrow." I answered, mostly focused on texting John rather than dealing with Hercules' critiques. "Oh, texting your cute girl?" He questioned. I nodded, avoiding another verbal lie about John, whom I was trying to avoid lies about to myself as it was. Why am I getting butterflies over a guy I just met? Come on Alexander, pull it together. This is a professional relationship.
"Well Herc, I got stuff to do in the morning so I'm heading to bed a bit early." I informed my dorm-mate, taking a break from my normal occurrence of staying up into the late hours of the night. "Alright, I guess we can both go to bed then, I gotta go to the gym tomorrow morning anyways." He replied, turning off the light and crawling into his bed. I slid under my covers as well, waiting until Herc had rolled towards the wall, then I took out my phone and looked up John on Facebook again. A picture of him with some guy named Lafayette. A status about college. A video of him at the beach. A picture with- Who is that girl? I zoomed in on the picture to see that he had his arm wrapped around a girl's waist as she was hugging him, snuggly resting her head on his shoulder.
What the hell. This angered me as I'd begun to familiarize myself with John...And the feelings that came with him. I quickly moved passed the picture to avoid heating up even more. After another series of his photos and statuses I decided to actually go to bed, since I'd have to get up earlier than normal to prepare for meeting with John. I put my phone on the bedside table and pulled the blanket over my shoulders, trying to get my new acquaintance out of my head in order to fall asleep. In the end, he found his way into my dreams as I drifted out of the real world and into my nightly imagination.
