Eyes Bright, Uptight {EDITING}

//the way I was before, I'm not her anymore//

I didn't know how to respond to this, because I couldn't quite detect his sarcasm.

"I almost forgot you were American," I said to him in a library-appropriate voice.

Nick put his pen in his mouth and flipped through his textbook to see where I was at.

"USA all the way, babe," he murmured. "Page 239 right?"

I nodded.

"Small world," I said.

Apparently, I was doing my homework completely wrong. I was so behind that Nick had to turn two chapters back to get me on track, and I still wasn't able to completely wrap my head around the mathematical jargon he was spitting. He was engineering major and could multiply and divide Albert Einstein level shit in his head, where was I could barely recite my times tables.

Matty usually helped me with my math homework, but our limited time together was reserved strictly for having sex and fawning over each other.

An hour later, when I felt like I was going to stroke out if Nick said the word "syntax" one more time, he suggested we take a break and have coffee in the shop next to the library. The autumn air was silly, but I adored it so. The leaves were all gold and auburn and the sounds they made were heaven.

Nick pulled out my chair for me and sat at the table across from me while each of us enjoyed our pumpkin spice lattes. On the outside, he was a handsome, intelligent young man, bearded and well-spoken. On the inside, he white-girled just as much as I did over the PSL life.

I was cozy in my cable-knit sweater, leggings and grey infinity scarf, and Nick was wiggling out of his Express coat as we sipped coffee and talked about mising the states. My eyes quickly scanned the intricate tattoo on his bicep, and my fingertips reached across the little table raise the fabric of his shirt.

"My grandfather liked telescopes," Nick explained the gorgeous black tattoo on his arm, a Leo symbol that started at the top of his bicep and ended just near his elbow.

"That's really neat," I said.

"What about you?" his hazel eyes glistened.

I tossed my infinity scarf across my shoulder and pulled the fabric of my sweater down, exposing my half-moon tattoo that adorned my collar bone.

"I got it a couple weeks ago. Georgie has one, too" I explained, recalling the night my best friend and I got friendship tattoos.

George's was on his wrist.

Nick sipped his coffee and nodded. "Cool. Is George your boyfriend?"

I shook my head and smiled. "No, no. He's my best friend. Matty's my boyfriend."

I could say it a hundred times and never believe it.

"Ah, little guy from the bar? He reminds me of a white Prince," Nick laughed to himself.

I giggled at his association. Matty loved Prince.

"He and George's band actually are recording an album now. They're going to be a big deal, it's great," I smiled to myself, still so proud of my boys.

Nick returned my smile, his lips framed perfectly by his little beard.

"No shit? They're pretty good."

I reached for my phone and texted Matty to see what time he'd be home tonight. I didn't want to disrupt his work, his art, but I was really craving him right now. The thought of going home to an empty apartment with nothing but a muted TV and endless novel-reading used to thrill me, but now a day wasn't complete without my man to send me off into the night.