He was the boy that no one noticed. He was quiet, bland to the naked eye, a total wallflower who sat on the sidelines and lacked in eye contact with those around him though he had the type of eyes that made you feel like you could drown. He tried hi...
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I get to Bio extra early the next day just so I can snag the seat next to the one that Nathaniel sat in yesterday. My friends try getting my attention a few times to come and sit in the back with them, but I shake them off and try my hardest to feel sincere.
When the sound of tapping comes into reach, I mentally prepare myself by straightening the pencil in alignment with my notebook and casually fold my hands across on desk.
"Good Morning, Nate," I say once he has sat down in the same spot he had yesterday. He jumps slightly in his seat but recovers quickly by murmuring good morning back.
"It's okay if I call you Nate, right? Nathaniel is such a mouthful." I did like the old sound of it.
He nods his head timidly, his cheeks lightly turning pink. He takes out his phone from his pocket of the dark gray hoodie he seems to like and presses the screen. He then takes out ear buds and lets them dangle around his neck.
I am just about to ask him what he is listening to when Mr. Faunt instructs us to start our labs.
Throughout the lab, I do all the identification of the microscope slides while Nate types up all the results. This works because my hand writing sucks and I find it extremely easy to tell the difference between prophase and anaphase. I feel like I am stuck in Twilight and Nate is the vampire who is afraid of touching me on accident or even breathe the same air as me.
"So that thing reads it back to you?" I ask out of nowhere after eyeing him for quite some time. I wasn't one who liked silence and that is what Nate was giving me. Silence. There was no talking unless I told him what phase was present on the slide.
"Yes." That is all he says.
"That's kind of cool."
Once again there is silence while he listens to his earbuds confirm his type job. I suddenly feel a deep pang of guilt hit me because it made it sound like I am saying that it is cool that he couldn't see the words. I bite back an apology because I don't want to make it seem worst incase he didn't hear it that way.
I twist the knobs this way and that to make the very last slide clear.
"So Nate," I say once I buck up the courage. "What do you plan on doing after graduation?"
The time seems to tick in my mind while I wait for him to answer me. He slowly put down his ipad and takes out his earbuds. He shifts nervously in his seat.
"I want to work for NASA."
This catches me off guard. I knew he was into that stuff because he was part of the chemistry and astronomy club before the accident but I would have thought that would have changed his mind after losing his eyesight because of a rocket.
"Wow," I manage to choke out.
A small smile turns up on one side of his mouth. "Yeah. I like stars."
