Finding It

Chapter 7: I'm Not Going to Judge You

"So... what's your major?" Basil asked me on our way back to my dorm. Such a general question.

"English." I answered him back, a general answer for the general question.

"Ah, I see. And what are you going to be, a teacher?" He looked interested, but the way he said it made me feel like he was being sarcastic or just looking for something to say.

"I'm going to be a writer." I said annoyingly. I felt the judgement coming already. You, a writer? You don't even know enough to tell good stories. If he was going to be judgmental, I would walk my own way. But somehow, Basil surprised me.

"That's so cool. I bet you'd be good at that... What are you going to write about?" I'm not sure what he meant by 'I bet you'd be good at that' but I ignored it.

"I'm not sure. Life, I guess. But I don't really know enough to write about that, you know." I shrugged. People judging me on this always made me nervous. 

"You know, that's the good thing about writing. You can write whatever the heck you want to. You could make up stuff. Like, if you were unsure about it, you could even make your writing anonymous." I never expected Basil to be the one to be talkative about writing. He seemed like the type to just blast metal and contemplate suicide. Basil seemed dark to me. And now he seemed... Inspiring.

Perhaps I shouldn't be so quick to judge Basil, as I don't want to be judged too. 

"That's surprisingly really great advice, Basil," I said to him. 

"Yeah, I know. I can actually be nice occasionally." He replied, with a friendly smile. That smile quickly disappeared as he knew what he said was quite wrong.

Well, what he said was okay, but it drew me back to how mean Basil was to me. "Why did you want to switch out of Psychology?" I asked.

He looked really taken aback for a second, but then came up with a sarcastic reply. "You know, you were such a distraction I had to switch out." The simple comment made me slightly blush, but I was able to control it due to my stubbornness.

"No. Really. Why did you want to switch?" I persisted.

He thought about it for a while, despite my insistence. "...I'm not particularly fond of the teacher." 

"You took that long to come up with that answer? Either she did something to you, which I highly doubt because she's super nice and you never seem to give a crap when she does anything, or you just lied to me." I knew I came off rambly, but I was getting seriously annoyed. Why wouldn't he just tell me? 

He came to an abrupt halt. I slowed down and turned to face him. Basil had a stern expression, one I wasn't quite familiar with. His scowl made me uneasy. "Maybe I lied to you. Maybe I didn't. But I don't particularly think it's any of your business. At least not yet. It's my choice if I want to tell you or not." He said matter-of-factly.

I paused in thought, mostly giving him a short period of time to calm down, and because I couldn't think of a response. The little patience I had decided to venture out of my system. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize that it was a... that it was so personal to you. I just thought, selfishly, that it had to do with me. You know, based on your attitude. Maybe it was. I'm not gonna judge you on that, or any further. You can tell me if you want to, or not, your choice. We'll just change the topic and get me safely back to my dorm, then?" I said. I hated having to deal with sensitive people. Even though I was a sensitive person, I could never know what to say to someone else who is sensitive.

Apparently for Basil what I said was decent though. He nodded, perked his head back up, and started strolling along with me again.

We didn't talk for the short distance we had left, though I quite enjoyed it. It was nice to peacefully walk beside someone and not have to say a word. I just cooled in his company, despite how angry he was before.

I thought he would walk me to the front of my dorm. But no, he walked me through the hallway, up the stairs, down that hallway, and into my room. Sam was standing at the microwave popping popcorn in her pajamas. You'd think she'd be embarrassed, seeing that her pajamas exposed her muffin top, but she brightened when she saw us. 

"Julia! You brought him back? Oh... sho-" Sam started.

"Sam, this is Basil." I said.

"Basil?"

"Basil."

"Oh! Basil. Right..." She nodded suspiciously, as if trying to clue into something. 

Basil spoke up then, for me, because for some reason I manage speaking much. "Yes. Hi. I'm Basil. Not Julia's date, which is what you were most likely expecting. We ran into each other at Starbucks. Apparently, the power randomly decided to go out and I was the one who had to get everyone safely out. That's when I ran into Julia. I think..." Basil treaded carefully here, mostly because he was unsure of my relationship I believe. "I think Julia's date had to leave urgently, fortunately I was there to take her home." 

Sam stood there with googly eyes as if she had just run into Channing Tatum. That kind of weirded me out, I wouldn't think Basil was her type. I thought she might be more interested in Felix. If I brought up Felix to her now, I'm pretty sure she'd brush it off. That's how goo goo she was over Basil.

"Oh! That's so nice of you to take her safely back to her dorm. She could've called me for help, haha, but I see why she didn't." Here, I almost wanted to bang my head against a wall. "Anyway, I was going to make some popcorn and watch a movie. You and Julia could join, if you want." She continued. Ack! I didn't want to spend any more awkward moments with Basil than necessary. 

"What movie?" He asked. Oh no, boy, don't you dare give in.

"Oh, I'm more of a chick flick kind of girl. B-" She started.

"Please, anything but The Notebook." He interrupted.

"You know what?" Sam put her hands on her hips poutly. "Just because you said that, it's going to be The Notebook." 

"Well, no matter what chick flick it is, you wouldn't catch me near it unless I was on my deathbed. You ladies can have fun with your chick flicks, I need to go."

Sam pouted for a bit, begging him to stay. She insisted he could watch whatever he wanted. But he said, "No, I really need to go, sweet dreams guys." And with that, he bounced before Sam could inch in another word.

"You know, I was trying to get him to stick around longer for you. He sure was a hottie." Sam had plopped down on the sofa with her feet up, looking at me and snickering. 

I proceeded to take her popcorn out of the microwave, which somehow she forgot about. "Hey! That's mine!" She jumped up from the couch and swiped it from my hands.  

"Right. So are my decisions with who gets to stay over. We're roomies, you're not the mother of the house." I wanted to say this as a joke, but it more or less came out rude. 

"Okay... geez. Who pooped in your cereal this morning? Is this about Felix, what'd he do?" Sam settled back into the couch, beginning to munch on her popcorn as if I was about to tell her the gossip of a lifetime.

"He just disappeared. I went to the bathroom and the power went out. I panicked for a bit, but shortly Basil was th-"

"Basil went into the ladies restroom?" She nearly choked on her popcorn.

I shrugged. "You're at a college, that's probably the least interesting thing you'll hear." I rolled my eyes and continued relaying my night with her before she could make more comments.

When I was done, I slumped into my bed. "Satisfied now?" 

"Girl, all I can say is at this point is that I wish you had him over."

I chuckled. "Oh but then, you wouldn't get to hear all the details!" 

"True. Gee, why couldn't my life be as interesting as yours?" She laughed.

"Famous last words." I said before falling asleep.