Liquid Courage

Night 007

“You know what, you’re not helping,” I said as I retrieved my notebook from his lap. He kept on telling me he knows how to solve this freaking math problem but two minutes has passed and all he did was draw San Goku.

I looked at his drawing and sighed. He even wasted my ink by coloring Goku’s hair!

He moved closer to me and tried to get a hold of my notebook, “Hey, give it back. I’m not yet done with the face.”

“Oh please, Alfonso. You’re just wasting my ink! Do you know how much a g-tec is?” I asked, pissed off. Although I’m supposed to be cutting off my expenses, I really can’t change the brand of my pen. Maybe I’m just being picky but I really can’t write well with other pens.

He just smiled at me. Oh, god.

I don’t get why girls at university get crazy over his smile. ‘Cause right now, it’s seriously killing my mood.

I opened one can of beer and shoved it to his chest. “Just drink, Esquivel.”

I decided to just ignore the annoying guy beside me and continued working on my math problem. This isn’t the first time I’m doing school works here, it’s a bit dark but I seem to be more productive here especially while I’m drinking beer.

A few minutes later and I am still stuck with the same number. “Argh,” I scratched my head out of frustration. Mathematics isn’t really fond of me and I feel the same way. It’s like no matter how much I focus on the subject, I just can’t. That’s basically the reason why I stayed away from courses filled with Math.

I picked up my beer and let the liquid make its way to my stomach. If there’s really a subject named Alcohology, I’m sure I’ll get a 1.00 without sweating.

I saw Alfonso grinning at my frustrated face. Oh, here he goes with his teasing.

“You’re already stressed with that?”

I shot him a glare. “At least I’m not pretending to be good at Math,”

“I’m not pretending. I told you I got 1.00 in Calculus without even blinking,” he winked.

I hate how humble he is. Note the sarcasm. “Then prove it.”

“Sure,” then he snatched the notebook from me. Suddenly, his face looked serious and he was gripping the pen tight. I peeked at what his doing and was surprised to see he isn’t continuing his San Goku.

For two minutes he kept on writing numbers and I was just staring at him. He’s so focused, calm and silent that I even stopped myself from breathing loudly. Am I seeing things or is he really answering my math?

Then things got really weird. Suddenly, it’s like he’s a magnet and my eyes were automatically glued on him. I was just watching him. The way his forehead creases, his hand moves as he scribbles and shit…I even noticed the way his lips purses.

What the heck, Margaret. Stop whatever you’re thinking!

I diverted my gaze away from him. This will get bad if I won’t stop it. I mean…he’s really attractive. I am well aware of that. But that should end there, just him being good-looking. Period.

I picked up a can of beer from the plastic and opened it. Good thing easy-open cans were invented; it was really hard opening cans before. Even with the can opener, it was a hassle.

I poured half of its content on my mouth. Sometimes I wonder why I prefer beers over cocktails. It’s pretty obvious that cocktails taste better than beers. But I guess people really like the world’s best and worst; the sweet life is already in front of us yet we choose to ignore it and find the bitter side.