Perception

III

¨Oh, I'm so sorry!¨
A pleasant, soft voice in a lilting, English accent. She whirled around, and there were those eyes again. Eyes a girl could drown in. She stopped breathing when he put his hand on her shoulder and electricity coursed through her.
¨I'm sorry, are you hurt?¨
She swallowed.
Shit, Anna, please behave like a sane person!
¨Erm, no... no, I'm not hurt. It's fine.¨ She managed, rubbing her shoulder, where he'd bumped into her, absentmindedly. Her voice sounded slightly hoarse, even to her own ears.
He smiled a kind smile and for some reason she got the feeling he was appraising her.
¨Well, could I offer you a cup of coffee, to apologise?¨
He gestured his hand in a clear invitation.
Anna's eyes shot to Sarah, who was nodding her head up and down like a loon.
¨Go!¨ she mouthed behind his back, vociferously pointing in the direction of the cafeteria.
Before she'd consciously considered what she wanted to reply her mouth was already moving.
¨Erm, well, there's really no need to apologise, but I'm happy to get some tea with you.¨
¨Fantastic!¨ he smiled, and he gestured for her to come along.
She shot Sarah a slightly panicked glance as she started towards the cafetaria.

So. She was drinking tea. With a boy.

Right.

She followed him almost meekly as he made his way over to the good coffee place close by the medical science department. Whoa. He'd been here for about two seconds, and he already knew about this place?
Not that the quality of the coffee mattered much to her; she only ever drank tea. But she'd understood from Sarah - to whom coffee was like oxygen - that the coffee from the machine by the hall was absolutely dire. Sarah always insisted they come here, where she could have foamed milk and syrup in her coffee from one of the bottles that were lined up above the industrial looking coffee machine.
The dark boy invited her in with an arm gesture and she sat at one of the small tables by the big window, overlooking the hortus. She really liked the hortus, because it was a calm place, but at the moment she felt anything but calm. Her heart was racing as if she'd run the London marathon. Twice.
¨What's your poison?¨ he asked her in his pleasant, lilting tone.
¨Green tea, please.¨ she said softly.
He grinned. ¨I'd kind of pegged you for a tea girl.¨ he said, and then he made his way over to the counter, leaving her wondering how he'd seen that. 

She stared at his back as he walked, and she observed him as he talked pleasantly to the barista. 
She couldn't help but psychoanalyse him, trying to get behind those eyes, and she told herself that this was just because of her psychology major, but she knew full well that it was deeper than that.
A boy, Anna? Really? A boy?
And yet... she didn't want to get up. She wanted to know more about him.
He came back to the table, carrying a macchiato for himself and tea for her, the steam rising elegantly into the dusty air.
¨So, here's my peace offering.¨ he said as he set the cups on the table.
She smiled at him. ¨You know it's fine, right? No harm done.¨
¨I know.¨ he said, and something in his tone told her that he'd known full well that it was all along. Had he just wanted tea with her?

¨So, did I hear correctly that your name is Anna?¨
His face was pleasant, and his eyes were open and sincere. And those eyes, oh, those eyes... they were the darkest of browns, and they reflected the light flooding in from the window beside her. 
She cleared her throat quietly.
¨Yes, it is. Anna McDonald.¨
He held out his hand courteously.
¨Nice to meet you, Anna. I'm Eli Berkeley.¨
She couldn't help herself. Everything about this boy intrigued her; so she took his hand hesitantly, but she made sure her handshake was firm. His hand was soft and dry and warm, just as pleasant as his voice was, and he exerted just the right amount of pressure on her much smaller hand, a hint of the electricity she'd felt earlier still in the air. 
¨So, you're also from England, I think?¨ She asked, back in control of her voice now.
He smiled. ¨Yes. From Devon, and you?¨
¨I'm from Essex. Well, that's where I grew up.¨
She could see the question marks in his eyes, but he didn't say anything.
¨And did you just move here, Eli?¨ she asked him.
¨Yes, I did. I did my first two years of uni in England, but I felt like I wanted a change of scenery. Amsterdam seems like a lovely place.¨
¨It is!¨ she enthused, ignoring the question marks she had now.  ¨It really is. I've been here for two years now and I love it.¨

Eli was so easy to talk to, Anna was amazed. She wasn't really one to talk much to people she didn't know, but he made her feel so welcome that she almost forgot herself.
But she glanced at her watch just in time.
¨Shit! I'm going to be late for my next lecture!¨
She got up quickly, her chair scraping over the floor. Eli was looking at her, an small smile on his lips. Then he shrugged, as if he were making up his mind.
¨Well, coffee with you was worth being late for, if you ask me.¨
Instantly her heart flipped. Even though her logical mind saw the corniness of the comment, the rest of her didn't.
He liked having coffee with her.
So she decided to be honest.
¨Yeah, it was.¨