The girls decided to stay at the club for a few more hours before they called it quits. I spotted Christian a few times but I never approached him, although we caught each other's eyes quite a bit throughout the night.
Thankfully Raya and Chelez weren't too drunk to walk out of the club in peace. I was just happy that they enjoyed themselves, especially Raya.
"Explain to me why I'm still hearing about what happened Friday? And to top it all off, I keep seeing Shad's face everywhere I go." Raya mumbled, folding her arms across her chest.
"Well yall do live in the same dorm building and have like three classes together, so it would make sense you two would see each other," I mentioned earning a hard slap to my arm. "Abusive ass." She only rolled her eyes at me as I went back to finishing up some homework.
"Did you contact Damien as we told you to?" Chelez asked pulling on the ends of her curly hair.
Raya only shrugged her shoulders in response. "Oh my word Ray, just give the guy a chance. You already said you would. Even if it's strict as friends, he's still someone worth having close."
"Then why won't you talk to him then?" Raya shot back, getting somewhat annoyed by the fact of Damien being brought up once again.
Chelez cut her eyes at her best friend since Freshman year. "Um, well gee I don't know maybe because the man has eyes only for you. Besides I refuse to be someone's second choice. I'm just tryna help you out."
I smirked at the two as they went back and forth as always. I swear they were like sisters sometimes. When I first met them, I actually thought they were related. If not sisters, then half cousins or something. They were so much alike and that's exactly why they always bumped heads. It was rare for a day to go by when the two weren't fussing about something.
After answering my last question, I packed away my things and eyed the girls. "Damien gets out of Trig in 30 minutes or so. I'm sure he'll be glad to see you waiting on him." I interrupted them, smiling at Raya softly.
I wasn't stupid. I knew the only reason Raya refused to see him was because she was nervous. Maybe she didn't want to actually admit it but I knew she was still hurt over her breakup with stupid face. A new relationship or simple fuckbuddy wasn't what she wanted. What Raya needed was someone to listen to her and make her smile.
Something Damien has been wanting to do for a while now. Even he knew Shad wasn't right for her.
Raya let out a deep breath closing her eyes, seating back in her chair. "I don't want him to think I'm using him as a rebound though Mariah. I just want to vent to someone other than you two all the time."
"And he'll understand that. Girl trust us, we know he's what you need right now...and possibly forever." Chelez beamed with a slight nod of her head. "Don't let all this he said, she said mess with Shad get to you either. We all know some other mess will pop off soon and everybody will be focused on that. Young people love spilling the tea."
Honestly, college-level drama was crazy. It was like high school, just ten times more petty and messy.
"Alright, I'll go and see him today." Raya tried to make it seem like she didn't want to but I could tell she was somewhat excited. She'll thank us for it later.
"Speaking of boys, Raya and I have been wanting to ask you about Friday night," Chelez said with a hint of mischief in her voice. The smile I had on my face instantly wiped off.
"What are you talking about?"
Both girls looked at each other, then at me while leaning on the table to get closer to me. "Don't play dumb. We saw you talking to some fine ass man on top of the roof."
"Mmhmm. When you didn't come back from the bathroom we went searching for you, thinking something had happened. Which next time let us know you're ok." Raya warned, giving me a stern look. "Anyways, we looked everywhere, couldn't find you until we saw the club had a spot on the roof and that's where we found you."
I played with my fingers not liking the fact that I was being put on the spot. This was supposed to be about Raya, not me. "He was just someone I had a small conversation with."
Chelez raised an eyebrow at me, not really believing a word I just said. "Nah sis, that was more than just "simple conversation". That man was looking at you like you were a damn snack."
Now it was my turn for my eyebrow to be raised. "Right? Especially when she went to talk, he would just stare at her all amazed and shit." Raya added, placing her hand under her chin.
I squinted my eyes, feeling like they were just overanalyzing things. "No he wasn't, I can assure you of that. He didn't even really flirt with me." Or at least from what I can remember he didn't. Yeah, I may have checked him out...a lot but no flirting was involved. We literally just talked and he left.
"See you only say that because he probably wasn't vocal with his flirting but I'm telling you, Mariah, that man liked what he was seeing. I'm sure you did too." The heat from my cheeks made me loose eye contact with both of them. Of course, I liked what I saw, I mean who wouldn't?
"What were ya'll talking about anyway?"
"Well if you must know, nothing serious, just people and each other a little bit. He mentioned he was speaking here today. You know that flyer that was passed out a few days ago?" I questioned them, hoping they've seen it. "He's the director that was on there," I revealed after they nodded their heads to my question.
I watched them both look behind me with suspicious smiles on their faces. "What?"
"Nothing. I have to go meet Damien now since his building is damn near across campus." Raya said suddenly grabbing her things, getting ready to leave.
"I think I'll join you. I have work in a little while anyway." Chelez added, following Raya's movements.
My mouth opened to ask why they suddenly wanted to leave as I watched them walk away confused. "Funny seeing you here."
I whipped my head around to see Christian standing behind me looking casual in a sleeveless graphic tee, shorts and sneakers.
"What are you doing here?" I asked stupidly knowing he had done a speech. One that I had missed, unfortunately.
A small smiled graced his lips. "I'm hoping you're saying that because you forgot I was speaking today since I didn't see your face in the audience."
I bit my lip feeling kinda bad that I missed it. The speech started at exactly 12:00 pm but my class let out at 12:35 and all I could think of was food. Hence why I was at the Dunkin donuts on campus.
"I'm sorry. It was in my intention to go but your event already started by the time I got out of my last class." I explained, hoping he wouldn't think I skipped out on it purposely.
He waved it off, walking past me to take a seat in one of the chairs my friends vacant. "Don't worry about it. You're a college student. I know how crazy it can be sometimes." I let out a silent sigh of relief, not knowing why I was even worried in the first place.
"So how did it go? Did a lot of people show up?" I asked. I didn't see as many people when I had exited class so I assume most went to hear him speak.
"It went pretty good. A lot showed up. Turns out more people knew of me than I originally thought. Got asked plenty of questions about my line of work." I could tell just by looking at him how ecstatic he was and I would be too.
"You must be someone very talented for the school to contact you. I'm sure they knew people would be excited to see you." I told him, taking a sip of the forgotten frappe I had ordered.
"I'm alright, still have a few things I want to improve." I appreciated his humbleness. Something told me to google him later. I'm not really on social media like that so I wasn't all that familiar with him but I knew he was very popular around the web.
And not just because he was a great visualist.
"So how long do you plan on being here? Or was this just a one-time thing?" Not that I wanted him around longer or anything.
He smirked, placing his head in his hand to look at me. "Why? You don't want me leaving just yet?" He teased me playfully.
I shrugged nonchalantly. "Maybe." I wasn't sure what it was but I really wanted to get to know this Christian character. Ever since that night at the club, he hasn't been far from my mind. All this was fairly new to me because it's been forever that I've been interested in someone like this.
"I'll be here for a few more weeks. I have a couple of things set up with the school and other projects while I'm here." He informed me, eyes never leaving my own.
Until I looked away of course.
I didn't even realize quite a few eyes were now on us or have been since Christian arrived. While CAU was somewhat diverse, it was still of course predominantly black. So I could imagine it not being everyday people saw a black woman and Asian man just chatting it up on campus.
Still, I didn't like everyone all up in my business.
Christian followed my gaze after noticing how quiet I got. "Take a walk with me." He demanded more than asked but I was grateful.
"Sure." I smiled up at him as he stood up.
Going to grab my backpack, Christian swiftly took it from me and placed it over his shoulder. Not seeing the point of questioning his actions, I instead grabbed my drink and packet filled with the two donuts I ordered earlier. Without a care in the world, he took my hand in his and walked us out while I avoided everyone's gaze.
"I see you're very shy." He observed, taking notice at me not looking anyone in the eye when we passed by others. "Are you ashamed to be seen with me?" He pouted playfully, displaying fake hurt.
A soft laugh left my lips at his silliness. "Not at all. I just hate that folks act like they never seen the opposite sex walk together."
"You mean two different ethnicities?" He corrected me, saying what I really was thinking out loud.
I tugged on his hand making him stop mid-walk. "I don't really care what they think. It's just the blunt staring that I hate." I huffed, wanting to shout at what people's problem was. There were a handful of interracial couples walking around here, so this shouldn't be any different.
Christian made an "ahh" sound understanding where I was coming from. "Well if it makes you feel any better, you're the first black woman I've ever actually walked hand and hand with." He confessed, giving my hand a squeeze. "Just ignore them, I do it all the time. In my eyes, they're just jealous I have you and not them."
The way he said that last sentence made my heartbeat quicken. "Oh really? So you never talked to or dated a black woman before?"
He shook his head no, looking down at me. "Never really had the chance or time to actually get to know one on that level before. Plus it's kinda hard to tell if they're actually interested in Asian men to begin with. You guys can be a bit intimidating at times."
I cocked my head to the side and gave him a look. "See, what you did just now. If someone isn't used to it, they'll second-guess their approach." He explained pointing at my stance and sudden facial change.
When he puts it like that, I can understand what he meant and he was right.
"By no means am I telling you to change it, just be more aware because some will take it as a warning to leave you alone."
"I never really thought about it that way," I said softly, moving to walk again, still with our hands entwined.
"It's both sexy and somewhat scary at the same time." He added with a wink.
I playfully rolled my eyes, walking one of the many paths on campus. The weather out today was just right. The sun was out but the winds breeze made seating out so ideal. Like a nice picnic would be nice right about now. I was happy I decided to wear the light blue maxi dress and white sandals instead of jeans like I originally planned.
"It's a first for the both of us then. The only Asian men I see are the ones in the kdramas I watch and music I listen to." Since watching the tv series, The Heirs I have been stuck ever since. Even got Raya and Chelez all into it. Don't let me mention Monsta X or EXO around those two.
Christian gave me a surprised look. "What do you know about kpop?"
Instead of answering him I decided to sing Got7's Just Right with the dance moves included of course. I earned a few funny glances from people but I didn't care. Christian on the other hand had a good laugh, pulling me towards his chest wrapping his arm around my shoulders. "I guess you do know a bit about it."
"Told you but I say I'm more a Korean R&B fan than anything. Most of the artist I listen to aren't even that known like Bevy Maco or SLCHLD." I looked up at Christian giving me this look as we started to walk again, his hand finding mines once again.
"Is it weird that I already li-" He started to say something only to be interrupted by the ringing of his cell phone. My eyes zeroed in on him moving his tongue across his lips slightly, pulling his phone out to answer whoever was calling.
I stood there somewhat listening to the one-sided conversation not really knowing what else to do. Not even two minutes later, he hung up and sighed slightly frustrated. "I have to meet up with a few people." He said lowly, looking disappointed.
It was then an idea popped into my mind. "Are you free tomorrow night? The county fair is here this week and I was wondering if you'd like to go with me?" I asked, hoping that he was free. Although I wouldn't say it out loud, I didn't want him to leave either.
"Tell me when and where to meet you."
"7 and here at the school will be good," I answered trying not to sound too excited. "Here, give me your phone."
Without questioning why, he handed me the sleek red iPhone. "You have to unlock it first," I said going to give the phone back.
"012131."
I glanced at him surprised he gave it to me with no hesitation. I quickly saved my info and gave it back. Taking the phone, he glanced over my name. "Mariah."
"I know I didn't ever get a chance to tell you before. Text me later when you can."
With a nod, he reluctantly let go of my hand, handing me my bookbag back. "Expect one from me sooner than you think." He smiled walking backward.
"See you later Christian." I waved, watching him turn away and disappear into the now crowded pathway.
I couldn't believe that I asked someone on a date!