Love Flavored Latte

Chapter 11 - In a Different Space

"Where are you going, Matt?"

Ethan's voice sounded in the living room as Matt walked up to the door, making the girls look up from Chloe's phone. Matt turned his head back as he fixed his scarf.

"Um... work."

"Come on man, really?" Ethan said in disbelief. "If you're going to lie, at least make it believable! Let's face it, we all know you don't have work today, not on a Sunday."

Matt internally yelled at himself for his stupidity.

"Also, the spring semester won't start until two weeks later," Chloe added. "And we sure don't need more groceries."

Matt gulped as he sweated, glancing back and forth as if a reasonable explanation could be found somewhere in the room. He crouched down and tried to think, hoping that he would think of something good by the time he had finished tying his shoes.

"Oh, I know! Is it a date with a special someone?"

Not now, Eve! Matt's mind was in panic upon hearing her assumption. Eve usually didn't have anything to say on matters like this, but when she did, her remark would be either shocking or funny, or both. Why did it have to be right now? And why did it have to be today, right at this hour, that he had to go?

Knowing that his suitemates would question him as soon as they saw him heading to the door, he had tried to sneak out as quietly as possible. Unfortunately, he wasn't stealthy enough and couldn't escape from Ethan's vision-how could he even see him when his eyes were clearly glued to the TV? But then again, when was he ever stealthy?

"Oh my god!" Ethan gasped and put his hands on his cheeks, squealing like a fangirl because he knew it would annoy Matt even more. "Is it true, Matty?"

"Hey, it might even be that cute guy he met at his workplace!"

Chloe's words shot through Matt's poor little heart. A critical hit too, on top of that.

"Hey, hey, am I right?" Chloe teased in a singsong voice, a grin clearly seen on her face. "I must be, because you're awfully quiet right now, Matt."

Taking a deep breath, Matt stood up carefully in order not to stumble due to his shaking body. He turned back and tried to speak calmly, not surprised by their expecting look and ear-to-ear grin.

"I'm going to help Professor Angevine with some stuff as his TA."

With just that, he opened the door and quickly walk outside, too much in a hurry to actually close it carefully. He ended up slamming the door a little too harshly in front of his friends, who then stared at each other in confusion.

"Just meeting up with our professor?" Ethan raised his eyebrow. "Then why didn't he just tell us right away?"

"Yeah." Chloe leaned back to the couch in dissapointment. "He was acting so suspiciously that I thought he's actually going out with a guy."

They just shrugged and went back to what they were doing, Ethan watching his favorite show and Chloe checking out cute outfits on Instagram with Eve. Everything was going fine, the only sounds in the room being the TV and the girls' little chatter, until exactly one minute and twenty-six seconds passed.

"Wait..."

Ethan began, and coincidentally, that was also when the other two perked their head up in realization.

"Did he just say 'as his TA'?"

The way they all spoke the same words was such a perfect and flawless sync.