Undercurrent

Chapter 19

I stood there awkwardly, not quite sure how to insert myself back into the conversation and also wondering what Ollie had said about me, whilst keeping me nameless.

"I didn't know you knew each other, so I guess I didn't think to mention names," Ollie shrugged at her.

Ro rolled her eyes at me. "He never thinks to mention most things."

"Not true," Ollie said.

There was silence for a moment as they looked at each other: Ro with her eyebrow raised and Ollie with a steely glare.

"I didn't realise you were in college today," I blurted out quickly, trying to diffuse whatever was going on here.

For the first time in this strange interaction, I looked at his face. His eyes were much more sunken than usual, his skin a little greyer and he looked tired, really tired.

"I'm not usually," he said, looking away from Ro and running his hand through his hair. "I had to drop something into the office."

"Oh," I said, not sure how else to respond. We didn't know each other well enough for me to pry into what he'd had to drop off. Clearly not as well as he and Ro knew each other, that's for sure.

"Right," Ro said, picking up her rucksack from the ground and swinging it over her shoulder. "We have to head up to psychology, so I'll talk to you later, ok?"

"Sure." Ollie nodded, then turned to me. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow, Nina."

"Yeah," I said, raising my hand in a lacklustre wave. "See you tomorrow."

*

Ro and I walked in near silence up the stairs to the psychology classroom. When we got there, Jen was setting up her laptop.

"I expected you to be waiting outside when I got here, girls," she smiled, as Ro opened the door. "Thought I'd have to send a search party."

We both laughed awkwardly at her joke before taking our usual seat. Jen was right – we'd usually be leaning against the corridor wall when she turned up – but today we'd got waylaid.

"My bus was late," I said apologetically. It was half a reason.

"You're still ten minutes early and the first ones here," Jen said, looking up from the cable she was fiddling with. "I'd hate to see how flustered you'd be if you were actually late."

Jen was good-natured but her gentle mocking of one of the things that gave me the most anxiety made me feel uncomfortable. I think Ro felt my unease because she gave my arm a reassuring squeeze. I thought back to earlier and how she had made a similar comment about my chronic earliness but it hadn't bothered me in the slightest. Maybe I wasn't changing as much as I'd thought I was.

Or maybe the strange encounter with Ollie had rattled me a bit.

I started to get my things out when Jen broke the silence. "Damn technology!" she stood up from behind her desk, clutching a wire. "I'll be back in a minute, girls – just going to see if I can swap this at the technicians."

As the door shut behind her, I turned to Ro.

"So, how long have you known Ollie?" I asked. It had been bothering me since we left him earlier.

"Oh, we were in the same class since Year Seven," she said. "So, about five years, I guess. We've only really been friends for the last couple though."

"You're close then?"

"Yeah, he's one of my best friends. He was meant to come on Saturday, actually. Couldn't make it, though."

"Oh right, I didn't realise."