Roommates

Turn It Again

Tobias 
Mid-January

"Okay, watch me," I say as I get into the throwing stance. Tris's eyes rake down me and back up, and she blushes when she sees me smirk. "You want to keep your torso totally stable, and your weight should be on your forward foot, okay?" She watches carefully as I throw the first dart, then the second and third. Two hit the bullseye; the third is just outside of it.

Spencer, my roommate, had his dartboard in his bedroom, but after we played together a few times, he decided to put it in the living room where we'd have more space to play and so that I could use it when he wasn't here. Tris wanted to try as soon as she saw it, though she's never thrown a dart before.

We've completed nearly a week of the new semester, and I enjoy my psychology class on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons most. I'm not interested in psychology, really, but Tris is in the class with me. She had to work Tuesday afternoon, but we both have a day off today. She was in a much better mood than she was some of the other afternoons this week, thankfully, and didn't hesitate to come back to the apartment with me after class.

"You try now," I say, stepping back. She holds all three darts in her left hand as she copies my stance. I watch her mimic my arm movement a few times without the dart in her hand.

"Forget what a dart is?" Spencer teases, coming out of his room.

"Shut up, Spence," Tris grumbles as she passes the first dart to her right hand. She continues practicing, this time holding the dart, but not letting it fly.

Spencer leans back against the wall with his arms crossed, smirking at her. They have a bit of a love-hate thing going on already, kind of like siblings. It's only been a week and a half since Spencer came back from winter break, but he has turned out to be laid back and personable. It seems like he puts everyone he meets at ease right away.

Tris finally throws the dart, and it sticks in the board on her first try. It's not a bullseye, of course, but it's not way out at the edge, either. She sticks her tongue out at Spencer and he laughs and gives her a thumbs up. Then he lets me know that he's staying at his girlfriend's tonight as he makes his way to the door.

I watch Tris throw the second dart, which lands high rather than low—though still in the board rather than putting holes in the wall, like I was preparing myself for—and I step closer to her. First I open up her last two fingers so that they don't curl against her palm, then I press my chest to her back and guide her arm movement.

"Ready to try again?" I say softly into her ear, and she shivers before she nods. I kiss softly just below her ear before I step away. When she throws the next dart, it's just a couple inches from the bullseye. "Good job, Tris," I say, reflecting back her satisfied smile. "You're a natural."

Both Monday and Wednesday, when I saw her in the afternoon, she was quiet and distant. I hated the feeling I got that she was shutting me out, but whatever was bothering her, she hasn't volunteered to tell me. I'm fairly certain, though, that it has something to do with her history class. When yesterday was a repeat of Monday afternoon, I asked Zeke how she seemed at lunch both days, as he had mentioned that they ate together. She was fine then, and the only thing that happened both days between lunch and talking to her in the afternoon was that history class. I will be surprised if she isn't in the same closed-off, withdrawn mood tomorrow afternoon. Maybe I can get her mind off of whatever it is more quickly tomorrow.

"Hey, Tris, what time are you off work tomorrow?" I ask, remembering that I don't work as late on Fridays now as I did with the fall class schedule.

Tris looks up kind of toward the ceiling as she tries to remember. "Hmmm... six o'clock, I think. Why?"

"I thought maybe... we could go out on a date? A nice dinner?" Why am I nervous? She's my girlfriend, I shouldn't be nervous asking her on a date. Maybe it's because she's been a little off this week.