Michael^^
Theo's POV
I'm so nervous.
I walk beside him with my hands in my pockets. Colourful leaves blow past us, but the sky is rather cloudy. (We are in London, after all)
He's a little more than half a head taller than me, despite only being 3 years older. Damn my short genes.
We walk into the little pizza diner and sit down at a booth. A waiter hands us our menus and we look at all the different pizza options. We decide to get a pepperoni and a spinach pizza to share between us. My mind screams DATE DATE DATE, but I know it's just an outing between friends. I can't help but feel disappointed, but at least he likes me as a person.
"Are you very busy usually?" Michael asks before he eats another mouthful of pizza.
"Kind of? Classes of course, but I usually have at least an hour or two in between them." I reply. He nods at me.
"When would you be free?" Michael questions casually.
"Uh, depends on how long." I clear my throat awkwardly.
"Maybe an outing with me? You could come over and meet my best friend. Join the gang." He chuckles.
"Ah, haha, sure. Weekends would be best, since I only have my work, Thursdays I'm free until after lunch, and yeah. Lunch gatherings are always okay though, as long as they're not too far from the university." I reply thoughtfully.
"Great. How about Friday? I can pick you up after your shift and we can go get dinner. Would you mind if my friend comes? His name is Rowan." Michael informs.
"Ah, sure." I think about asking if E and Li can come too, but I don't want so many people in one place, not to mention it would be too many people who don't know each other. No, I'll take it one step at a time.
"Great. Plans set." Michael smiles, paying for the pizza.
"Wait! Hey, I was going to pay." I let out a huff.
"Maybe next time." He laughs, ruffling my hair. I scowl at him. We walk out of the diner.
"Would you like me to walk you back to your dorm? What direction is it in?" Michael asks.
"Uh, that way." I reply, pointing. His face lights up.
"Great! That's the general direction of my dorm too." He says as we begin walking to my dorm.
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On our way there, we chat about random topics. Classes, aspirations, funny dorm-mate stories, etc.
"Well, that was fun." I smile up at him when we reach my dorm. He nods.
"Yeah, uh... I'll see you around, Theo." He smiles back as I open my door.
"You want anything to drink? Eat? Before you leave?" I ask, remembering to be a good person.
"Uh, just some water would be good." He responds.
"Okay. Come on in." Oh my god. Did I really just say that? I hope E and Li aren't home. He steps into my house and waits at the entrance as I grab a bottle of water from our stash of bottled water in one of the cupboards. And just when I think this is going to go smoothly without incident...
"Hey! Who're you?"
... Ethan.
"Hi. I'm Michael." Michael greets, sticking out his hand for Ethan to shake. He takes it.
"I'm Ethan. You're the one Theo's been mentioning, right?" Ethan asks, practically smirking at me.
"You talk about me?" Michael asks, eyebrow raised, amused expression on his face.
"Uh. No! No, don't think so. Ethan, you must be crazy haha. Here's your water." I frantically say with a blush as I hand him the bottle of water.
"Well, it was nice meeting you Ethan. You have another dorm-mate, right?" Michael asks me.
"Yep! His name is Liam. Sweet boy." Ethan hums, smiling.
"Oh, your boyfriend?" Michael asks curiously. I burst out laughing. "Oh, sorry. Guess I'm wrong then." He apologizes.
"Nah, it's fine. Li's the mom of our group." Ethan chuckles.
"I see. Well, I should get going. Have classes tomorrow. Nice meeting you Ethan. Bye Theo!" Michael says, exiting our dorm with the bottle of water in hand. I close the door and let out a dramatic sigh.
"So... Details." Ethan demands, poking me.
"He asked me for my number. We're friends now. We went out for dinner at the pizza diner place, he paid. He wants to meet up again Friday for dinner, and I might meet his dorm-mate who's also his best friend." I reply tiredly.
"Ooh, let me know if he's hot." Ethan winks. I roll my eyes, trying to hide a chuckle.
"Are you ever not horny?" I scoff teasingly.
"Maybe sometimes." Ethan shrugs, causing both of us to laugh.
About an hour or two later, Liam comes back from a class. Ethan quickly fills him in on Michael's brief visit, and Liam expresses his great disappointment at not meeting Michael with a pout.
-
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I'm so anxious for Friday that Thursday flies by pretty fast. Social Psychology and Biological Psychology were interesting, and I genuinely enjoyed learning from those classes. I didn't have to work at the cafe Thursday either, meaning I didn't get to see Michael, making me even more anxious.
I'm not the best at meeting new people. I'm more often than not extremely awkward, which gives them an odd first impression. My job at the cafe is helping me fix that issue somewhat though.
-
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Friday morning is terrible. I was all excited and nervous the night before in anticipation to the meet up today that I didn't get much sleep. I was tossing and turning basically all night!
For once though, Liam looks tired this morning. I pick up on his lack of enthusiasm pretty quickly, but he just waves it off with a "study session that went on too long". Honestly, with Liam's lifestyle, I can believe it. He's extremely studious, preferring to stay inside studying for his classes than going out to meet people. That's the reason why it was so difficult for him to connect to people before he met our group, and I'm really glad I met him.
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My shift at the cafe seems to go by in a blur, all of the memories kind of mushing together. Michael mentioned that he wouldn't be able to come during our usual time around 5 since he had to clean up the dorm with his friend and get ready. However, he insisted on picking me up at 6, when my shift ended. I only accepted because I have no idea where we're going for dinner.
My breath hitches slightly when I see Michael standing at the entrance to the cafe. Phone in hand, he's dressed in dark blue jeans, relatively form-fitting white dress shirt, and his leather jacket. I suddenly feel under-dressed with my blue skinny jeans, and black shirt with a fall jacket.
"Hey." He greets me softly with a smile. I smile back at him, sending him a greeting of my own.
"Let's go. Rowan's gonna meet us at the restaurant" Michael informs, starting to walk in the direction of his car. He pauses and looks back when he notices I'm still standing at the same spot I was before. "You coming?"
This is it. The moment I've been anticipating for the past two days. Let's hope this goes well.
YOU ARE READING
Learning Curves ✔ (bxb)
RomansaTheo Darsett is in his third year of university. Everything is going generally well. His grades are good, he has a great group of friends, and even has a part time job at the local bakery. Well, there may be one issue. He's got a fake girlfriend, a...
