AMATEURS [Tenya Iida x OC]

Chapter 7 - The One with Truth or Dare

Peri was at the café when they opened the next morning, wanting to get a head start on the project and show Tenya what a hard worker she was. The staff greeted her, and she started a tab, ordering herself another pain au chocolat and four lattes, two for her and two for Tenya whenever he showed up.

She pushed her glasses higher up on her nose, and pulled her mostly-dry hair up into a messy bun, ready to get to work. She cuffed up the sleeves of her over-sized mauve sweater, crossed her legs (yoga pants again), and kicked off her checkered sneakers. The inspiration kicked in the second her lips touched her raspberry latte, and began zooming through their paper. If she really buckled down, then she was pretty sure they could finish their work that day, and be finished two days early.

Tenya showed up two hours later, wearing black sweatpants and a teal sweatshirt. He tried to buy himself a coffee, and the cashier waved him away, explaining that his first two were on Peri. "You didn't have to do that," he said, sliding into the booth next to her.

"I wanted to," she grinned, "Also I've written three of the five pages of our paper since I got here this morning. So be ready to owe me big time, Tenya."

Impressed, Tenya pulled out his laptop and pulled up their shared document. "I'll start reading it over, I suppose. Are you still wanting to write more of it?"

"Yeah, I got this," Peri said, winking at him. "Your girl is not just cute, but also smart, Tenya. I'll have this paper done by noon." She dove back in, desperately trying to ignore the heat in her cheeks from calling herself Tenya's girl, and took a bite of her breakfast. Her fingers flew across the keyboard, typing until the sound drowned out all other thoughts.

Tenya's brain temporarily stopped functioning, his heart thundering in his ears. His girl? A waitress stopped by with his coffee, and he thanked her half-heartedly, too distracted to pay full attention. Could he even wait until Friday to ask her on a date? Or would he cave before then? No, he could be strong until Friday. He had a plan.

Peri was right, she did finish their paper by noon. They spent two hours editing it and proofreading before turning in for the day and walking back to the dorm, deciding to finish the rest of the project the next day. "Plans for the rest of the day?" Tenya asked, sipping on his second latte, which he'd taken to-go.

"My brother texted to see if I want to play video games," Peri said, "So I'll probably hop on and play for a bit. But after that, I don't have anything scheduled." She took a long drink of her latte, which she'd also taken to-go, and glanced at Tenya. "Did you have any suggestions?"

He had been thinking some not very clean thoughts when she asked her question. Tenya sputtered, nearly spewing his drink all over himself. "Not particularly," he said, choking on his coffee.

"Are you okay?" Peri asked, eyes wide. Her hand drifted to his arm, squeezing gently. "I didn't mean to surprise you, I'm so sorry, Tenya," she apologized.

He nodded profusely, and managed, "I'm fine." His ears were hot, and he could feel her hand burning on his bicep through his sweatshirt. He swallowed some more coffee, soothing his raspy throat. "It was my fault, not yours," Tenya insisted, holding the front door open to the dorm for Peri.

She ducked inside, and waited for him so they could walk upstairs together. "Are you sure? I feel really bad," she said, chewing on the inside of her lip.

"Feel really bad about what?"

They turned, finding Tsu leaning over the back of the couch in the common room. She grinned at them, with her cheeks in her hands. "I was just eavesdropping," she said, "And I was wondering if you two would be interested in some Truth or Dare in a little while? I think a lot of us are going to play."