I Am You

Chapter Eleven

What just happened? Was he for real? What did I ever do to make him think that I'd go out with him? Also, why would he want to take me out on a date? Even I wouldn't date myself. I stared blankly at him for a good, few seconds. 

'What? No.' I almost stuttered and started walking away. But he caught up and stood in front of me.

'I still have about forty-five seconds left.' he said, his steel-grey eyes staring at me.

'That was when you were talking about the test. Now you're not. So, I'm gonna go.'

'Okay, okay.' he said. His face lit up as if he just had an idea. 'You wanna talk about the test? Let's talk about the test.'

'Go on.'

'I'm confident that I'll score better at this test and I know you think that you will. Let's make a bet. If you score higher than I do, then I'll never ask you out again and I'll stop bugging you, in general. But if it goes the other way around, you'll have to give me a chance to take you out.'

I know, I know. This is a trap. He thinks he's so smart, using the test as a bait. He's too confident that he'll do better at it than I will. But what he doesn't know is that I've been putting a lot of time in the preparation, definitely a lot more than usual. If I win, I'll never have to have a conversation with him again, ever. But if I lose, which is not likely to happen, I'll just have to spend an hour or two with him. After weighing the pros and cons, I finally answered.

'Okay, I'm in.' I smirked.

'Deal?' he extended his hand.

'Deal.' I shook it.

He winked at me and then walked away. I turned around. My eyes scanned the crowd until I could spot Nat.

'Hey! Where were you? she asked as she saw me.

'I was looking for you.' I answered.

'Oh, yeah. I was in the bathroom for a couple of minutes. Sorry if you had to look around a lot.'

'Oh no, I didn't have to. Also, we're getting late for the class. Let's go.'

'Yep.'

The day went by quickly. After college, Nat and I went to The Ancient Sip again. It had become one of my favourite coffee places. We decided to sit there for a couple of hours and study for the upcoming test. Nat had already ordered two cups of coffee, extra caramel and whipped cream on both of them, as usual. She wasn't getting coffee because she actually wanted to drink it, but just because she was bored and needed to sip on something.

'It wouldn't hurt to actually look in the book, once in a while.' I said, my eyes still on my textbook.

'It wouldn't hurt to look out of the book, once in a while.' she replied, sipping on the third cup of coffee.

'That's the last cup you're having today. Also, no, I can't afford to waste time. I've got to win the bet.'

'What bet?' she asked, excited.

Of course, she was excited to hear all about the bet. She had found an excuse to stop studying for a while. Not that she had ever started. I put my book aside and sighed.

'I made this bet with Ethan...' I started. I told her the whole story and explained the conditions of the bet.

'I knew it! I told you from the beginning that he's into you.' she sang.

'Well, too bad I'm not going to let him win.' I picked up my book again.

'No, you have to let him win! How else would you start dating? You'd look so cute together.' she pouted.

'Ugh, no, thank you.'

The next hour went by, me trying to study and Nat trying to convince me that Ethan was cute and that I should let him win the bet. Not gonna lie, Ethan does look cute. But that's all. That's the problem. Nothing else about him is even remotely cute.

'Give him a chance!' Nat said, even as she walked towards her car.

'We'll see.' I mumbled as I waved her goodbye.

I walked back home. Just to be clear, I know how to drive a car. The problem is, I don't have one. Dylan and I talked about this a couple of weeks ago and agreed that we'll buy a car together because neither of us can afford one on our own. And it's not like we're going anywhere for the next four years, at least. That is, until we graduate college. We've already started saving. But until then, walking it is.
As I entered through the door, I saw Dylan in the kitchen. He smiled at me.

'What's for dinner?' I said, walking up to him. 'I'm super hungry.'

'I haven't started making anything yet. But I'll have some pasta ready in no time. I'm sorry I was busy studying for a test.' he said, scratching the back of his neck.

'That makes the two of us. Don't worry, let's just order a pizza.' I replied.

'Sounds good.'

'Hey, can you make the call while I go and change into something other than these uncomfortable jeans?'

He chuckled. 'Yeah, sure.'

I changed into my sweatpants and Dylan placed the order. While we were waiting for the pizza, we watched T.V. and talked about random things.

'So, when's your test?' he asked.

'Tomorrow. What about you?'

'The day after.'

'I'm gonna win.' I whispered under my breath, but I guess he heard me after all.

'You can't win a test, genius.' he smirked.

'Shut up. I was talking about a bet that I made.' I said and then proceeded to tell him all about it.

I just needed to talk about Ethan to someone other than Natalie because she can't stop telling me how perfect he is. After listening to my rant, Dylan opened his mouth to say something that I was tired of hearing.

'Doesn't sound like a bad guy at all.'

'Of course, why don't I just marry him?' I said as I rolled my eyes.

'There's no way I'm going on a date with him. No fucking way.' I thought to myself.