Novice in Love | on hold

Thirteen

ELLIE

I gulp down the water in my bottle in a rush. The coolness of the water soothes the burning sensation in my mouth and throat. "Remind me why we are doing this again," I pant out in agony, still feeling the remaining heat of the ramen. 

"For the experience," Michael wheezes after taking a long mouthful of water himself. His forehead was glistening with sweat and his cheeks were pink from the strength of the spices. I would be laughing at how he looked if I didn't have the feeling that my appearance was not far off from his. 

We both go silent for a few minutes, breathing heavily from the self-inflicted torture, and keep drinking water. The two cups of spicy ramen sat only half eaten between us. Neither one of us made any indication of  attempting to finish  the rest. 

"My tongue feels numb." I stick out my tongue with a whimper. "I think my taste buds just died."

Michael's eyes crinkle in amusement even though he is suffering just as much as me, if not more. "If you can still joke around with me, you must be handling this better than you think."

"How can you not take the life or death of my taste buds seriously?" I drink some more water and wipe the bead of sweat of I feel rolling down the side of my face with the back of my hand. 

He hands me a napkin to use instead. "Ellie, I wouldn't have gotten us to eat it if I knew there was even a little chance that you would get hurt from it." 

There he goes again, making me feel all weird inside. My heart is racing and I don't think it is all because of the spiciness anymore. 

"Does it look like I'm not hurting right now? Do you not feel like you're hurting either?" I point at myself and then at him. This should probably distract him enough. 

"I'm not hurting," he quickly denies, sitting up straighter with sudden pride, but drinks another sip of water anyways. "This is a form of exercise and I am merely sweating."

I scoff at his lame excuse but celebrate in my head for successfully diverting his attention. "Yes, yes, quite an exercise." I push a napkin at him. "Wipe away those glorious beads of post-workout sweat then."

Michael takes it and blots it on his forehead. "I'll go buy you a bottle of milk though. That should help. You have class soon and I don't want the spices to linger and distract you or anything." 

I am admittedly touched by his offer but decline anyway. "It's okay," I say. "I think the water is already helping. My tongue and mouth is already feeling more than 80% revived." I finish the last drop of my water with a sigh and start to stand up to go refill it at a water fountain when he takes the bottle out of my hand.

"Here, let me do it." 

I open my mouth to refuse again but he doesn't even give me a chance to respond and is already up and out of his chair walking away. I stare at his back and Jenna's words ring in my ears again. Isn't it a risk worth taking? Isn't it a risk worth taking? Isn't it a risk worth taking? 

+++

By the time I get to my 1 PM class, I am back to normal. All remnants of the spicy ramen is gone from my mouth and throat as if it never even happened. Michael and I split up outside the Student Union, going opposite directions to our respective classes that are in different buildings on campus. I was a little worried he'd offer to walk me to class like some campus boyfriend in dramas and books, but to my relief, he didn't. 

I get to my class with fifteen minutes to spare, like usual, and scroll through my Twitter news feed to pass time. I watch a funny clip of Seventeen's D.K. getting scared and screaming and can't help but break into a smile even though I've seen it before. 

As I am thoroughly enjoying myself reading people's tweets, a notification comes in from my mom. A text from her reminding me to keep searching and applying for jobs and internships. It totally works as a party pooper as I am reminded of the many things I have yet to accomplish to spruce up my resume. 

I reply with a simple okay and don't return back to Twitter. Instead, I look for internship and job postings on our school's website. I scroll past the ones I am not qualified for and try to nagging pessimistic thought that I may not be able to find any. 

The fifteen minutes go by as I work on that, and my professor is starting the lecture before I know it. I slip my phone in my backpack, out of sight, out of mind, and focus on taking notes. 

+++

After class, I decide to make an appointment to speak with the career specialist for the College of Business. A professional should be able to help me, I think to myself hopefully. I couldn't bear continuing a fruitless search for internships and jobs by myself. 

I stop at a bench outside my classroom and open the internet browser on my phone to find the appointment making site. I find it relatively quickly and think about which day would be more convenient for me to stop by at the Career Center. A Tuesday or Thursday in the upcoming week would be best. I have a gap around lunch time and could squish in time for this. 

Having made that decision, I choose the next available slot at noon. Fortunately, there was one this week on Thursday that worked with me. I get a confirmation email once the appointment is set, and I add it on my reminder app. 

With that matter kind of settled for now, I feel a little less pressured and I start walking out of the building. My footsteps grow lighter and my mood starts to get brighter too as I get closer to the parking lot, farther away from campus. I thought getting into a college was the most stressful thing I experienced but now I know. Earning my degree and figuring out what to do after college is twice as stressful. 

I am nearly off campus and close to the parking structure where I parked when my phone vibrates in my back pocket. I slow down and pull it out, checking who it could be. I don't have many friends, where Jenna is the only one who ever really called me, and my parents stick to messaging me via WeChat. 

[UNKNOWN CALLER]

I swipe to ignore the call, tuck my phone back into my back pocket of my jeans, and continue walking forward. It was probably another one of those spam calls claiming I had a package to pick up or something similar. 

My phone vibrates again when I barely take a few more steps, and I groan in annoyance. Do these spam callers not know when to give up? I don't even bother taking it out to check this time and just slip my fingers into my pocket to press my lock button to automatically silent the call. 

I guess I must've been too focused on doing that while still walking that I do not see what is ahead of me. I walk into something hard, not hard enough to be a pole or wall, but it was sturdy... and warm? 

"Sorry!" I exclaim, feeling a sense of deja vu since it was the second time this happened in a two-week time span. 

A/N: Happy July! Like usual, please vote/comment/share if you enjoyed this chapter! I am considering putting this story on hold since I don't know if this story is worth continuing.. And hmmm... who do you guys Ellie bumped into?