The Desire Variable - Vol. I

【55】School Trip

He looked incredible, and everyone who wasn't legally blind could see that. I was pretty sure he knew it too, and his eyes sparkled with amusement while Steven let out a chuckle. I saw Lex observe me back, and he was about to say something when someone interrupted.

"Hey, my dudes! How are you?" Brian asked, visibly very happy to be here. He was wearing what I could only agree was formal, but somehow could also be on the cover of a Kpop album. Lex gave him a slightly irritated glance, annoyed to have been interrupted, but my colleagues didn't notice, too busy greeting each other.

Before long, Mason arrived too, looking so incredibly stylish he could have been on the cover of Vogue. Then it was Oliver, who looked charming in his beige pants and a mossy green long-sleeved shirt. While Lex was busy talking to Brian and Steven about their presentation, I greeted my ginger friend with a smile. After a quick "Hi," Oli came closer, his eyes focused on my hair, seemingly searching for something. I first wondered what it was about, and then froze, thinking there might be a bug or something on my head. Please, don't let it be a spider.

Completely taut, I sent him a worried look. "What is it?" I asked with a tense voice while he was looking around my curls.

"Hmm, I'm disappointed. I thought you'd be wearing flowers in your hair," he answered dramatically after he moved back.

I looked at him, confused for a second, and then I understood what he was talking about. "You idiot," I scolded him with a smile, punching his shoulder gently. "You scared me! And we are going to San José, not San Francisco."

"Bah, potato tomato," he argued with a smile. I giggled and turned to our little group.

We were only missing Joseph, and then we'd be on our way. He arrived about five minutes later, and he wasn't looking different from his usual self, since he always dressed professionally.

"Everyone," Lex called, once we were all here. We gathered around him, our luggage grouped next to us. He took out a large envelope from his laptop bag and pulled our plane tickets out of it. He handed each of those to their owner and quickly explained the program, signing for Joseph.

Once we'd arrive at the San José Airport, a cab would drive us all to the hotel, where we'd get half an hour to freshen up before going together at the convention center, which was a five-minute walk from the hotel. I could feel how everyone was as excited as I was about this. The computer nerds in us were thrilled. It would be amazing, especially if I managed to score some sexy time when in San José.

We all followed Lex as he guided us through the airport, pairs of us talking and joking, reinforcing the school trip impression. After we'd passed the checkpoint, an unavoidable ballet of IDs followed. We were all curious to see what each other looked like in the pictures. It was agreed that Steven's photo looked like a mugshot, I looked weird with straight hair, Joseph still looked adorable, Brian looked stoned, Mason had a resting bitch face, and Oliver looked even more Irish.

Lex looked at us, unamused, while we were passing the passports and driver's licenses, but I noticed he took glimpses whenever he got the chance. Since he was still holding his passport, I held my hand up, asking for it. He cocked his brow at me, but I didn't let it intimidate me, gesturing to him to give me the goods. He eventually gave in and handed me his ID. As I looked at the picture, I tried my best to not roll my eyes. Of course, the man looked like his handsome self while we all had to look like shit on our official papers. I had seen men looking worse in Armani ads, for God's sake... The others were curious, too, and they came to look at it from over my shoulder.

"Man, that's not fair," Brian muttered when he saw it. I couldn't help but chuckle and gave the card back to Lex.

He quickly put it away, as did we, and we went to our departure gate. We were scattered around on the plane, and I found my seat. With some resentment, I looked at the open compartment I was supposed to lift my suitcase into. "Okay, please, let this not be too humiliating," I prayed in a whisper. I firmly grabbed my luggage and pulled it over my head, trying my best to not lose my balance. I was struggling to make it fit through the opening when a familiar hand came to my rescue and easily pushed it in there.