From August to Mae | an August Alsina Fanfic

II. Notable Exchange

It had now been two and a half weeks since the start of the semester and Whitley felt extremely confident in the future of her academics. However, there was one thing bothering her: August. Throughout the two and a half weeks, August hadn't so much as breathed in her direction. Every other day, he'd be the first to leave, and at the start of class she'd watch him walk into the room in the same heavily tinted shades, take his seat beside her, and only divert his attention between the board and his notes. Nothing more, nothing less. After a week or so, she didn't feel so bothered by his ignorance because he seemed to be ignorant towards everyone's existence. Better for it to be everyone than just her. It was as if it were only him and the professor in the room, but one day to Whitley's surprise, she walked in to see August already seated and socializing with the girl who sat in front of him.

  Although Whitley had no romantic interest in August, she felt a sinking feeling in her stomach. For weeks she had been trying solve the mystery behind him, but to no avail, only for him to be so easily conversing with someone else. The cancer moon and aquarius rising in her gave her conflicting emotions of jealousy and dispassion. The petty spirit in her wanted to take the path to her seat that would force her to walk through them, interrupting their conversation and diverting August's attention to her. However, it would have only made her more annoyed if her plan failed. So, Whitley casually made a detour to her seat while she silently watched the two interact.

    The girl seemed to flirtatiously pick up the chain August sported and admire it, and he appeared to enjoy the attention judging by the huge grin on his face. Whitley watched as the girl made a comment that caused August to throw his head back in laughter. That was a first. Whitley had never heard him laugh before. She suddenly wondered what the girl said to him to make him react in such a way. She wanted to know what it took to make a seemingly serious person appear to be jokeful. Whitley knew all she probably had to do to get the answers she was seeking was simply talk to him. Although he had an intimidating demeanor, he didn't seem to be a rude person. However, this didn't matter to Whitley.

    She was too prideful and too stubborn to make the first move even if it was for a platonic interaction. As much she hated playing this one-sided cat and mouse game, she'd rather do that than to seem like a simp. Whitley removed her bag from her back and placed it on the ground in front of her as she took her seat. She listened to the two cackle while she prepared for class to begin. The repetitive laughter and playful gestures between the two began to annoy Whitley and made her eager for the professor to arrive and put an end to their chatter. She watched the two out of the corner of her eye as August played with the long, chestnut brown curls in the girl's hair. Whitley masked her disgust with a poker face. Although, it wasn't like they would've noticed even if she did show it.

    Just as the girl picked up August's hand and pretended to read his fortune, Professor Cantrell walked in with her typical church ready attire and one of her many extravagant coats. It seemed a bit ridiculous for her to be wearing huge coats and layered clothing when fall weather hadn't set in yet. Dr. Cantrell began to speak and the girl let go of August's hand. She whispered one more thing to him with a goofy grin, which earned her a slight smirk from August. She turned back around in her seat and playfully flipped her hair back at him. It only reached far enough to graze the exposed knee in his ripped jeans, though. He ran his tongue across his bottom lip and smirked before shaking his head and preparing for today's lesson.

~ ☽ ~

The following Wednesday, Whitley was about twenty minutes into class when the scent of marijuana and Bleu de Chanel cologne crept up on her. She looked up to see August excusing himself down the row and taking his seat next to Whitley. She thought back to how she observed him conversing with two very suspicious looking men earlier before speeding out of the school parking lot. She was surprised to se he came back, but was still curious as to why he left. She had a pretty good idea though as she took note of how strong the marijuana scent was today. She scoffed to herself  as she thought, "He's definitely a drug dealer" before diverting her attention back to her notes.

" 'Scuse me, did I miss anything important?"  Whitley heard a faint whisper come from beside her. The smooth accent was still strong enough to be detected, so Whitley knew exactly who was speaking. What she didn't realize was he was speaking to her.

"Whitley," he whispered again causing chills to go up Whitley's spine hearing his unique voice say her name. She didn't even know he knew her name. I mean, sure she said it on the first day of class but she thought he wasn't paying attention to her introduction, or at least he would've forgotten it by now. She instantly thought about what she witnessed him doing earlier, evoking feelings of disdain toward him. She decided now was not the time to let it show.

"Can I see ya notes?" He asked. She couldn't see his eyes through the shades, but she knew he was looking directly at her. Whitley was beginning to think the shades were glued to his face and she wished he'd take them off. They suited him well but she thought wearing shades in a classroom was a bit ridiculous. Almost arrogant.

"Uhm," Whitley started. She began to get uncomfortable looking directly at him so she focused her attention back on her notes, "She just started the lecture, so you haven't missed anything. She's going over the analysis of the Touré readings from Monday night. She said there's a group assignment but she'll go over it at the end of class."

"Bet. 'Preciate it," he said readjusting himself and slouching back down into his seat. He stretched his long legs out as much as he could in the cramped isle and began writing in his notebook. Whitley continued to observe him, wanting to know why he was late; specifically, why he left campus that morning, but she figured that wasn't her place to inquire about such a thing. Instead, Whitley began to observe his simple but decent sense of fashion. He wore the Air Jordan top 3 retros, dark blue jeans, a black Metallica graphic tee with blue lettering, and a red and blue flannel. Two gold rope chains were around his neck: one with a prayer hands pendant and the other without. Instead of his usual flashy AP, he wore a simple gold Rolex on his left wrist and a solitary stone in each ear.

    Whitley's eyes trailed back to August's hands as she watched him take notes. For some reason, Whitley was extremely fascinated by his penmanship. He had very unique handwriting, but it was extremely neat for how quickly he took notes. It was like he wrote in italics. She then started examining the tattoos on his hand. She traced them with her eyes while she wondered what inspired them. She wondered whether or not they were sentimental or simply creative expression.

"You need to see my notes or som'n?"

Whitley didn't realize how lost she was in her thoughts until she heard his low voice speaking to her. The entire time, she was unaware that August was watching her. His attention seemed to be directed toward the board, so she was slightly embarrassed to have been staring at him for as long as she did.

"No, I...," Whitley said as she contemplated coming up with an excuse or simply telling the truth. The truth seemed like her best bet, "I was just looking at your tattoo."

He continued to write in his notes without a reaction. Whitley assumed he had gotten the answer he was looking for and saw no need to create a conversation out of it. After all, they shouldn't be talking to each other mid lecture anyways. She tried her best not to focus on August for the remainder of class. She'd assume that's what he was doing too, but it appeared he never had his attention on her to begin with.