Everything But Love

Chapter 3 - Sting

Chapter 3 - Sting

I checked the clock again. The minute hand had barely even moved since I last checked it twenty seconds ago. To my dismay, it was still 10:34 in the morning.

My professor made gestures with his hands when he spoke, and cleared his throat after every other sentence. Sometimes, he even coughed consecutively. There was a light coffee stain by the collar of his eggshell-white dress shirt. He probably takes his coffee with creamer. I looked back up at the clock. There it was: 10:35 AM.

Celeste had taken a different seat today. She was sitting at the desk closest to the board on the far left of the classroom. Today, she was wearing a white blouse with blue jeans. How isn't she cold without a jacket? I pulled my coat by the collar so that it covered more of my neck, and I rested on my elbows. Her hair was messy as usual, but today she had pinned some of it back. I supposed she looked pretty today.

Without warning, Celeste turned her head and looked at me across the room. I quickly turned away in embarrassment and played it off by frantically writing in my empty notebook. I felt my face go hot as I wrote words like "Politics" and "Legislation" to make my note-taking seem more legitimate. I wasn't entirely sure if I was trying to fool Celeste as much as I was trying to fool myself.

She kept looking in my direction. It took every ounce of my will to refrain from looking back. I allowed my eyes to hover just around her desk, being careful to avoid meeting her eyes. It was like my eyes were magnets. I tried distracting myself from looking in that area by writing more political words. I looked up. Shit.

She flashed a smile at me. I'm so stupid. I gave her a weak nod. She began mouthing some words I couldn't decipher. I looked at her questioningly but she kept going. I'm a horrible lip-reader.

After shrugging and shaking my head, she gave up. I finally saw her mouth "NEVER MIND" and face the board once again. I sighed a breath of relief.

After class was over she followed me outside.

"Hey, you!" she said, stopping me in my tracks.

I turned around reluctantly. "Hey."

"Sorry for distracting you in class today. I saw you trying to take some notes."

It worked!

"Yeah, I've been trying to improve my work habits," I lied through my teeth.

"You should try to improve your lip-reading skills while you're at it," she said sarcastically. Her cello was strapped to her back again. That must be heavy.

"I'm not too good at it, I guess." I shifted my feet.

"So, Dante. I wanted to ask you something." She had a loose eyelash on her left cheek. I wanted to brush it away but I pretended it wasn't there.

"What is it?"

"Do you want to study together tonight? The poly sci paper is due tomorrow and I could really use some help." She asked almost pleadingly.

"I can't," I started uneasily. "I'm busy tonight."

That time, I didn't lie. Tonight was the night I was going to meet Janna for coffee. My heart leapt at the thought.

"Oh, that's all right," Celeste looked down. "I'll just ask Julia from class instead."

She played off her disappointment by smiling and batting her eyelashes as she said it. The strap of her cello dug deep into her skin. A single blue vein appeared between the strap by her shoulder. Her skin appeared paper thin.