Oscar (bxb)

8.

"Oh god, first day and we're already being forced to talk to each other," Maxie told the girl next to him in the seminar group. "Sorry - I'm sure you're great to talk to."

"First day? Its December," the girl next to him replied. She was a cute girl with a pretty brown upturned eyes, a short black bob and dressed in pastels. Even her highlighters were pastel. That was a lot of highlighters.

"I moved here pretty late," he reasoned.

"Oh," she said. "That would explain why I've never seen your face ever. Well either that or you're super great at being invisible."

"Its my only skill."

She smiled at that. "I'm Gwen."

"Maxie," he returned.

Over the course of the class they chatted a little bit, making a few little exchanges and suddenly Maxie didn't feel like he had that much a reason to be uncomfortable. At least he could talk to one person.

By the end he was even sad to leave her since they'd been getting on so well. He just hoped this wasn't one of those things where they fizzled out and she became a stranger he smiled at sometimes.

"Well, in your defense, you seem to be almost fully caught up. I wouldn't be," Gwen was saying as they made their way out of the building. "But if you ever want to study or go over anything, I'd be happy to help. Not that I'm the best myself but I can give it a go."

"Thanks, I'd really appreciate that."

So far so good. He'd already made one friend. He hadn't even managed to properly talk to one person last time rather than get along with them so this was a triumph.

"What are you doing now? Are we in the same lecture at two?"

Maxie checked his phone for his schedule. "Oh, yeah, we are. And uh... I guess I was just going to wander about and pretend I have somewhere to go."

"Fancy getting a coffee? I have some work to get on with but it would be nice to have some company."

"Okay," he agreed with a smile. "Yeah, that would be nice."

He went from an eighteen year old, newly independent loner to a giggly, smitten ten-year old over a girl he'd just met two seconds ago.

They found their way to the student coffee shop on campus, which was a cramped, bohemian style place called Glinda's. Apparently it was a popular spot because the cheese toasties were immense.

He hadn't seen Oscar since their last conversation, a stark contrast to last week. He wouldn't have noticed as much if Olivia hadn't pointed out his absence more than a few times since then.

He'd developed this theory that maybe it wasn't necessarily Olivia he was avoiding by coming to the house but rather him.

And then he checked himself for being self-centered about a situation that didn't concern him.

Oscar was sat the members of his band Maxie recognized and a few others. His friends had looked over and said hi and he'd said hi back with a slight wave of his hand. Oscar hadn't looked up since the first meeting of their eyes and clearly he wanted to keep it that way. His face was as stern as it had been that day by the alley.

Okay. Whatever.

Maxie continued walking. He'd noticed Gwen's awkward expression from standing there a little too long.

He completely understood if Oscar felt awkward around him because he'd admitted to something he was very vulnerable about but there were ways of going about things.

They sat down and got out their stuff.

"You alright?" Gwen asked.

Maxie looked up and nodded but couldn't bring himself to force a smile. That tiny interaction had annoyed him more than he'd expected it to.

They began to get on with their own stuff but Maxie couldn't help but sneak glances in the direction of Oscar's table. For the first couple of times he'd been safe but for the third he'd been caught. Cold eyes looked back at him.

What was his problem?

Maxie got out his phone.

[Text: Maxie] You okay?

[Text: Oscar] I'm fine

Tense. Unfriendly. Not fine at all.

Maxie caught himself while he was ahead. No. Think rationally. You met this guy a week ago. You don't know him and you're already making new friends. A tiny little mishap like this doesn't have to get to you.

He soothed himself with these thoughts.

He did have a habit of doing that, caring too much about other people. He was practically thinking about his friend anniversary with Gwen despite the fact they'd had like one conversation. He was trying to fill his life up with people to fill up the missing piece in his life.

Things would fall into place and they would come naturally. And he was done making the effort for people who didn't care for him.

He refused to even glance up when he noticed in the corner of his eye he saw someone get up and leave. Only when he left himself were his suspicions confirmed as to who it was.