New Boundaries

Chapter 2: Crosswords

It was around 1:45 pm before I finally decided to get up and take a shower. I had been sitting and mulling over in my apartment about what I was going to wear, or even say, when I met up with Asami at the library. Should I even bring my books? If I don't that'll seem pretentious. Naga, my white german shepard was curled  up under my desk when I walked back in, a spot she normally chose due to the mounds of books I always stacked around my desk. I had a perfectly good bookshelf, but somehow, all my books always ended up stacked along the floor. She didn't raise her head to me entering, which probably was because she was over filled from sneaking into the food while I was gone earlier to the gym. I had caught her chewing away when I walked in, and she ran over and sat at my feet grinning at me. Little cute dork, I mused to myself. 

I walked over to my closet and took a look at what I had to wear. Jeans... Jeans... Sweats... Joggers... Jeans...  I made a mental note to lighten up my wardrobe and decided to go for comfy, but less lazy than sweats; Joggers. I grabbed a long sleeve top, and rolled up my sleeves. Counter productive? Yes. But shows off my biceps, as well as my one sleeve tattooed arm as well as the others on my opposite arm. It usually worked on girls in bars. 

As I was walking past one of the coffee shops towards the library on campus listening to music in my headphones, I started to get nervous. Do I wave? Do I wait to get within speaking distance to wave? What if I don't wave? I felt a quick tap on my shoulder.

I took off one of my earbuds and turned around to meet the same eyes I was enthralled with the day before. "Hey! We showed up at the same time, I was behind you for a while but you have such a stride!" Asami grinned at me, and I felt a familiar flush across my face and the back of my neck. This is going to be a damn long tutoring session.

"So, with the standard political theory, if we apply this to Huntington's theory..." Asami pointed at some notes in her book with her pink pencil, "then technically, the final war theory would be false?" 

"Uh... no the opposite, would be true..." I smiled as sheepishly as I could. Man she was bad at government and politics. She sighed and bit her lip. I immediately glued my eyes to her notes. I could smell her perfume, light and airy with every movement, and not only that, I could feel the confidence she aired which was eons above my ego. If she kept doing cute things, I was going to crumple and become nothing less than a bumbling mess of mush. She sat back in her chair suddenly and rubbed her temples. Also cute, I noted. 

"I don't think I'm getting this..." she checked her phone in her purse, "and its already 8 o'clock... wanna call it for today? We can always meet up tomorrow, same time?" I ran my hand through my bangs and hair, nervously. 

"Yeah, that's totally fine. I gotta head back to let Naga out anyway-"

"Naga?" her eyes met mine, looking up from her phone. 

"Yeah, thats my dog."

"You have a dog in... the dorms?"

I let out a small laugh, "No, I have an apartment off campus actually." Her eyes lit up, "No way- its so expensive here! I could barely find one when I got here, so I just settled for the dorms." I sat back, and crossed my heels, putting my hands behind my head, "I got into it over the summer before class started, so I count myself lucky."

"Can I come over?"

I had to force myself to not let my mouth drop open. Did I even make my bed this morning? Shit. "I mean, if thats okay, plus I wanna meet your dog!" she started putting her notes away, throwing her jacket on and standing up. "Oh, yeah sure! Naga loves company." I gathered my items into my small pack, and stood up as well. "I almost forgot to ask-" she reached out suddenly and grabbed my wrist, "how's this feeling? Does it still hurt?" Her hands were smooth, and soft, much less like my callous fingers. I noticed she painted her nails... and that they were long. She's not even gay. FUCK. What the hell had I just gotten myself into, did I just set myself to fall for a STRAIGHT GIRL?? I watched her press around my wrist, and I winced. "It just hurts a little, but honestly, it wasn't even your fault. I hurt my wrist years ago originally." 

"Ohhh, well I probably didn't help..." she dropped my wrist and readjusted her purse on her shoulder. 

"It's totally fine, honest. Just a little ice and ill be fine." I gave my normal flashy grin and she smiled back.

"Well then, lead the way-!"