– Zach –
The library is a lot more deserted on Fridays. There are not more than ten students present, which means more thinking space and less not-so-quiet whispers. I can live with that.
Scanning through the much dreaded assignment brief, I flip to the next blank page on my sketchbook and begin drawing faintly the outline of various shapes. Animal typography; sounds simple, but I know now that it is far from it. If I can fill up the silhouettes with a range of different fonts, or perhaps even just one, maybe that would be good enough for a head start.
I spend the next thirty minutes devoted to practising different handwriting and bold letters while looking up references on Google. Perhaps it would be an even better idea to draw an animal entirely from fonts. I can try that.
My thoughts are interrupted the second James greets me, loudly. It appears that the general rules don't apply to some people, not when you're a favorite of society.
"Hey man, how are things?" he smiles and takes the seat opposite me.
"Nothing special." I say, putting my pen down.
"Alright, so we're here to discuss about our assignment, right?" he asks, stating the obvious. "I'm ready."
"Good." I nod. "Any ideas?"
"A few." He gestures and pulls a few pieces of what appears to be draft paper from his folder. He sets them neatly in front of me and starts explaining. "This one right here, is the rough idea of how things could turn out if we use squiggly fonts, you know, so they are more flexible and you can manipulate them into whatever shape you want. For our case, it'll be any animal."
I listen as he continues.
"Alright, then this other one right here, I was thinking, maybe instead of trying to fit or turn fonts into animals, we could turn animals into fonts instead." James suggest with confidence.
"Okay." I say. "We could probably improvise from there. What if we turned animals into their respective letters, and put them together to form another animal?"
"That's brilliant too!" his face lights up. "Oh that's kind of cool actually, it'll be like...animal-ception."
"Whatever you'd like to call it, I guess." I shrug and lay out a few of my ideas for him.
Contradictory to what I half-expected, the discussion is rather productive. Terra is right, this kid is excellent at what he does, but I have a feeling she wouldn't want to hear me say that, neither does Luke. But would she really?
I maintain a straight face while my mind wanders off on its own. I subtly study the style of his hair, imagining the possibilities of how it would turn out if it was slicked back. Would it have ring a bell if he is wearing a smart attire too?
I blink and look away. It is likely that I'm just overthinking it and am getting way ahead of myself. There are plenty of guys in this city with jet-black hair, and most of them surely can pull-off a slick hairstyle. Heck, it really isn't that rare to see a man dressed in a nice collared shirt pass midnight by a bar, too.
Despite all that, my curiosity is getting the best of me, which is rare. Because of how erratic it is, I'm allowing myself to give in.
"So, what were you doing yesterday?" I ask casually, trying to make it seem like I'm initiating a friendly conversation, except I don't do friendly conversations. I don't even do conversations.
"Oh, yesterday? Well, nothing much really. I attended this charity drive in the evening though, thought I'd give something back to the community." He says nonchalantly, like he does this often.
A good-looking, confident, gentlemanly humanitarian. No wonder Luke hates him. I probably would too, if I cared.
"Was it for the whole night or something?" I press on.
"Nah, just a couple of hours." He smiles and glances at the papers in his hands. "I spent the night at home. There is only so much of me I can give, right?"
"Of course." I mutter.
Judging by how open he is about his vanity, I'll assume he is an honest person. He wouldn't have thought of lying too if he really did see Terra last night, since he doesn't know about what I know.
I rest my chin on my hand and tap the tip of my pen against my book rhythmically. James resumes experimenting with his illustrations, keeping his eyes fixated on his work and began thinking aloud non-stop throughout the process. It's word after word for him, almost as if he is trying to prevent a defenseless silence. I remain quiet.
He's lying.
* * *
I received a message from Terra at six in the evening, except I was partially convinced that I was reading a short essay when I squint at the endless big blocks of text. Does she have more than ten fingers?
Holding my phone in one hand, I drape a towel onto my damp hair as I scan through her seemingly clumsy writing, or typing.
Hey Zach, it's Terra, although, u probably already know that. Ok, so anyway, was just wondering, whatcha doin tonight? I mean, apart from goin to Cody's. Daniel said to meet at 8, and was just wondering, again, if you would be up to do something before that, like maybe dinner. Or if u already ate, then nvm.
Guess she isn't the type who filters her texts.
Oh, btw, I was wondering if u know where Cody lives? I know Daniel sent an address, but I'm still not sure. To be safe, we should go together, unless u don't want to, then that's fine, haha.
She definitely doesn't.
Tapping my fingers, I begin to type a reply until a new chain of notification pops up on the screen.
Btw, this is not a date.
Not like you already agreed or anything.
Pls do me a favor and forget that I typed any of that.
I stare at the speech bubbles on my screen numbly. How did she manage to type all of that without having me reply a single letter? Then again, it is Terra, and this is how she speaks. I even read everything in her voice, unintentionally.
I continue my half-written reply, but there is nothing much left to type considering it only consists of one word.
Okay.
After clicking send, I scrub my hair with my towel. This is taking too much effort. I wish I could go bald, but I've been told I could pass off looking like a misunderstood villain straight from a children's TV series without hair. That's a good enough reason to revoke that option.
My phone starts ringing again and I remove the towel this time, now slightly soaked. It's a phone call.
"Hello–"
"What does 'okay' mean?" a voice squeaks. It's Terra. "I-I mean, like, was that an okay to dinner, or to Cody's place, or to like, my last text?"
"It's whichever you want it to be." I answer simply, and that's when I notice not one, not two, but three other girly voices in the background. Terra starts hissing, but it isn't directed to me.
I'm on loudspeaker. Why.
"Um, I'll see you at Cody's?" She says uncertainly.
"No!" voices of objection start ringing from the other side, followed by not-so-inaudible whispers.
"What are you doing?" background voice number one murmurs.
"Ask him." Background voice number two adds.
"O-Okay, maybe if it's okay with you, let's go to Cody's together, mm-hmm." She says, breathing a sigh of relief somehow. "Let's meet outside campus, since it is pretty much on the way."
"Okay." I say.
"Well, great!" she laughs to herself. "Bye!" then the line goes dead.
The apartment is now silent apart from the faint sound of a ticking clock. I blink at the blank screen of my phone, unsure of what to do next. That certainly wasn't an ordinary conversation. Is she always like this, or is this the result of the seemingly overwhelming pressure she received from her anonymous friends, who all happen to really suck at whispering?
Well, I guess I'm supposed to meet her outside campus now, although for reasons I am still unable to comprehend. Normally I'd decline, considering how much I prefer slacking off in my own room until reality forces me to get some sun again, but I couldn't bring myself to say no. I obviously did not have a good enough excuse to, and after witnessing the amount of hurdles she had to cross just to ask, I'd feel kind of bad.
Why did she have to though, if it was so difficult for her?
Lazily, I get changed and leave the building without checking the mirror. I look the same all the time, anyway.
For the first time, I am abandoning the safety and comfort of my apartment to voluntarily engage in healthy social activities. If my past self could see me right now, he'd probably be laughing, and I'm not sure if that's a good thing.
Fifteen minutes into walking, I spot the familiar campus just a little less than a hundred meters away.
Searching for Terra isn't difficult at all. In contrary to how taller people had the advantage to be seen among a crowd, the opposite applies too. Her back is faced towards me as I watch her swing her little arms around like a butterfly, except it doesn't look like she is trying to fly at all. She's flapping the long sleeves of her sweater, and it almost seems like she's having fun.
I'm not laughing, but I do find that amusing.
I am within arm's length from her when she notices me, possibly from my casting shadow, then she bounces. I've never seen a human bounce, and I wouldn't think it's possible, but this evening, at this very moment, mankind has proven me wrong.
"Hi!" she greets, her voice turning into a shriek. She stops her arm-flapping and stares at me, her cheeks beginning to flush. "You didn't see any of that, did you?"
"No." I lie.
"Okay, good, good." She sighs, wiping a bead of sweat off her forehead, then she grins. Neither of us says a word and she begins to turn red. Here we go. "Uh, about that text..."
Guess she has to bring it up, after all.
"I'm sorry I'm weird." She apologizes, using the same line from the first time. "I-I mean, I don't want you to get the wrong idea, it's just that, I'm not very good at all these things. I mean, I'm okay, but not that great. Abby's been trying to make me socialize more with, y'know, men, considering I'm not the most popular with you guys, so..." She blurts nervously. "Ah, what am I even talking about?" she buries her face with her hands.
"It's okay. I'm used to it." I answer.
"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" she frowns.
"I...don't know." I slur.
"Okay, let's just forget about it?" she says, phrasing it more like a question.
I haven't asked her about the other three girls and all that audible whispering, but I decide against mentioning it. It'll probably cause her to panic again, and I'm really not up for consoling anyone right now.
"So, which way to Cody's?" she asks, an attempt to switch the topic.
Good question.
"...I don't know." I hear myself say, and she gawks.
"What do you mean, you don't know?" she asks, her enthusiasm depleting rapidly.
I look at her, then she looks at me.
"How are we going to–" she pauses midsentence, and I can almost see an imaginary lightbulb flashing above her head. "Google Maps." She suggests, believing it could be the answer. She slips her phone out of her bag and types in the copied address. We study the directions on the screen, and that's when I notice her miniature fingers. I haven't seen a pinky that tiny since fifth grade, but I withhold from mentioning that.
"You sure it'll work?" I ask instead.
"Relax, it's Google." She beams confidently while taking the lead. "I'm sure we'll be there in no time."
We ended up being lost for an hour.
xxx
Chapter visual credit: James B. Hunt Jr Library, North Carolina State University
A/N: ...well, here's some James, he's finally getting a written form of 'screentime', I suppose :P
This chapter is dedicated to ilovebooksandstories, you've been a fantastic friend to me since I knew you three years ago, turning four now I think xD thank you and keep being awesome! May your wishes upon the stars come true (see what I did there? ;D)
Anywho, thanks for reading guys, and as usual, I appreciate the support <3 see you all soon!
imperfectdreamer.