Chapter Six
Halloween came and went. The big oak tree got toilet papered by some frat boys, Stephanie, Megan, and Savannah dressed up and went to a party, and I stayed in my dorm, did homework, and stuffed my face with candy.
Lots and lots of candy.
I wrap my jacket tighter around myself before opening the heavy glass door to the small café. The bells chime and the cool November wind falls behind my back as the door closes behind me. I sigh into the heat of the room while stepping into line along with the other customers. Breathing in, the smell of cinnamon and coffee hits my nose making me scrunch it up a little. The place seems to have a white, grey, and lime green theme to it, giving it a natural and homey atmosphere.
After waiting in line for a few minutes, I finally reach the front of the line and come face to face with a smiling barista.
"Can I have a small vanilla chai tea, please?" I ask just before someone presses up against my back, pushing me further into the counter and allowing me to be swallowed by their warmth and the weight of their muscles.
"And I'll take a small hot chocolate, please," that muscular someone says in a deep, but familiar voice behind me before a hand reaches out and tosses a twenty dollar bill on the counter. The barista goes off to get our orders and I turn around coming face to face with Trent.
I raise my brow. "You know I can pay for my own drink."
He cups his ear with his hand. "I'm sorry, what was that? Oh, thank you, Trent, for being so generous and paying for my coffee." He drops his hand. "Or should I say tea." I scoff and slap his chest, moving one of his sweatshirt strings. His eyebrows go up in surprise and my cheeks immediately redden at the realization that I just touched him, voluntarily, without thinking.
Luckily the barista comes back, diverting our attentions away from my embarrassment and leaving us to take our drinks. However, I don't miss the satisfactory grin that stretches across Trent's face and deciding not to promote it, I head towards the door while he gets his change. I hold the door open with one hand, intending for a green eyed boy to pass through, and eventually he does, only after a few other appreciative people. Although I've only been outside for a few seconds, I can already feel the chilly air turning the tip of my nose red as we both turn to start walking the few blocks back to campus. My boot covered feet pass over an orange leaf that's glued to the pavement seeing as the rain from the other day brought most of them down.
"Thank you," I raise my warm foam cup up in Trent's direction, "for paying, you really didn't have to."
"It was my pleasure." Trent mock bows with a swing of his hand before his playful expression turns serious again. "I'm glad you took my recommendation, but," he pauses, sending me a sideways glance. "You got tea instead of hot chocolate." I give him a sheepish smile holding the styrofoam cup closer to my chest and he shakes his head, casting his gaze in front of us. "I should've known though." I give him a puzzled look, but he throws his hand up as if talking to himself. "I mean vanilla cake, vanilla perfume, and now," he glances back over at me as if calling a finally verdict. "Vanilla tea." I shake my head as we stop at the end of the sidewalk and wait for cars to pass.
"Well, then I guess you have me all figured out now, huh?" I glance straight ahead and seeing as there's no more cars, I step off the curb, leaving him to ponder my question.
"Actually," he starts, jogging his way to catch up to me on the next sidewalk. "I don't."
My eyebrows pull together. "You don't?"
"Nope." He shakes his head. "Actually," he steps in front of me, stopping me from walking, and leaving us both standing in the middle of the sidewalk. "I really can't figure you out."
"Oh?" I wave my cup around between us. "So now I'm a puzzle?"
A grin stretches across his lips. "Yeah, you kind of are." He clicks his cup against mine. "A good one, though."
"Okay," I nod in mock agreement. "So like five hundred pieces?" A laugh immediately tumbles out of him and he tilts his head up towards the sky, parting with it, before looking back down at me.
"More like a thousand pieces and just when I think I have them all put together," he takes a step closer, tilting his head further down, his green eyes never straying from mine, "they all fall apart again."
My lips part slightly, but my brain can't seem to formulate a coherent response. Trent takes another step closer and my heart rate picks up at the close proximity, recognizing that he's only centimeters away. A gust of cool wind blows past us making a few strands of hair blow into my face, but just as I reach up to move them, Trent beats me to it, using the hand that's not holding his hot chocolate. His fingers graze my cheek as he tucks the blonde strands behind my ear and they leave a little trail of warmth in their wake, contrasting with the cool air around us. Then I guess thinking he's being helpful he reaches over and does same on the other side. Seemingly satisfied, he drops his hand back down to his side and meets my gaze again.
"It's okay, though, I've always liked myself a good puzzle." He takes the opportunity to send me a grin and a wink before finally taking a step back. I exhale a small breath through my nose as he turns around and starts walking again. I find myself waiting, staring at his back for a few seconds, as my brain fully registers what just happened before catching up to him.
"Well, that's good I guess," I say feeling the need to respond and Trent nods.
"It is."
We reach the end of the block and turn the corner as the campus parking lot comes into view. Checking for cars, we cross the street, and then start walking back onto school grounds.
"You really should try this, though," Trent says holding his cup up and a smile tugs at my lips. "It's really good." He wiggles his eyebrows before tipping the cup back into his mouth only to spit it out a second later. "Crap!" He yells and looks down at his cup incredulously. "That's freaking hot! You'd think that after being outside for a few minutes it would have cooled down already!" I blink at him for a second before bursting into laughter.
My head tilts up towards the sky as I clutch my stomach before bringing it back down. My laughter ceases for a second as I look back at Trent, then down at the puddle of hot chocolate by his feet, before I burst into laughter again.
After a few more seconds, I sigh and look back over at Trent only to see he's staring back at me with his eyebrows raised in amusement. I reach over and pat his arm. "Way to go on that one, Montgomery. I really want to drink that now." I shake my head, laughing a little more to myself, before continuing to walk across the parking lot.
"Hey!" Trent quickly defends catching up to me. "My tongue may be numb, but I can still taste the chocolaty goodness that is in this cup."
"Yeah, okay," I continue my teasing and glance around us as Trent chuckles to himself beside me. We continue to walk until we get to the center of campus leaving a few people to be walking around, bundled up in their coats.
"Oh hi, Trent." The redhead from our philosophy class comes bouncing over out of nowhere.
"Oh, hi, uh..." Trent starts and I internally roll my eyes.
"Claire, hi, Claire," I say for him and he nods, while Claire smiles at him only sending me a glance in acknowledgment.
"So I was wondering..." She starts and I take that as my cue to leave. I slowly back away from the two of them before turning around and heading back to my dorm.
Stephanie isn't in the room when I walk in because she has a class and checking the time I see I have a half hour until mine. I bring my tea cup up to my lips and tip it back, only to immediately pull away and force myself to swallow.
Damn, it really is hot.
****
Walking out of the science building, I go out of my way to step on a crumbled up leaf on the pavement. In my peripheral vision I see a group of guys gathered in the front of another building, particularly one with spiked up blonde hair. I quickly duck my head down, allowing my hair fall over my face, hoping to go by unnoticed.
"Vanilla!" Crap. I keep walking pretending I didn't hear. "Vanilla!" He calls again, but I focus in on my shoe laces as if they are the most interesting thing in the world. "Lacie, wait!" His voice sounds a bit closer and before I know it, he grabs my arm, whipping me around to face him. "Whoa," he breathes me, steadying me with both his hands before dropping his arms. "Hey."
"Hi," I nod allowing my gaze to go haywire on the things around us, trying to focus in on anything, but him.
"Why did you leave before? You didn't have to." He moves his head trying to catch my eyes, but I keep moving them away.
"I had, um, class." I point at the building over his shoulder before tugging on my jacket sleeves.
"Oh." He nods settling his head back to its standard position and I allow my eyes to stay on the collar of his sweatshirt.
"Uh, well," I reach up to tuck a piece of hair behind my ear and finally meet his gaze. "I guess I'll see you later."
"Um, yeah, okay." I turn back around and feel his eyes following the movement, silently watching me go.
I know that was a little overdramatic, but I couldn't help it. I'm confused. I know there isn't a proper way to act, but after only having a few conversations there's definitely a proper way to feel and all I know is my heart is beating way too fast to be what is considered proper.
****
"God, I don't know how I feel about this cold weather. I thought I wanted it, but now I'm kind of missing summer," Stephanie says as we walk in to the student lounge.
"Yeah, I don't know how I feel about it either," I say as we get in line to buy food. "But I do like wearing my boots, though."
"True." She glances down at my brown combat boots. "Those are cute by the way."
"Thank you." I smile before pulling my student ID out to pay for the sandwich I'm eating for dinner. Now that I've been on campus for a little over two months I can say that even though the food is good, it's easier just to stick to the basics.
After we get our food, Stephanie and I go and sit down at one of the four person tables. Other people are scattered around the room. Some are studying, some are eating, and others are just hanging out on the opposite end of the room sitting on plush green couches. I go to pick up my sandwich, but then hearing my phone beep, I pull it out of my pocket.
I see you.
I curiously glance around the room, my eyes flickering between all the different faces, trying to locate a certain one.
"Boo!" I yelp and turn around only to see Trent leaning by my ear.
"A hello would have sufficed," I mumble bringing a hand up to my chest in attempt to steady my accelerated heart beat and Trent chuckles.
"But what's the fun in that?"
I open my mouth to reply, but the chair scraps against the floor on the other side of me.
"Hello, ladies," Zack greets plopping down in it and looks over at Stephanie who's sitting across from me. "Stephanie," he nods and she gives him a curt nod back.
"Zack."
"So, how are you guys today?" Zack asks, drumming his fingers against the table while Trent sits down in the chair on my right. I shrug looking back down at my sandwich and Zack glances back and forth between Stephanie and I, waiting for an answer. I guess he assumes he's not going to receive one from Stephanie, so he turns his body fully towards me. "What about you, Peas? How are you?"
"Peas?" Stephanie asks as her face scrunches up in bewilderment.
"It's a long story," Trent and I say at the same time leaving my whole body to freeze and a slow blush to tint the tops of my cheeks. Stephanie sends me a suggestive look that contains a small raise of an eyebrow and a hint of a smile, but I look back down at my sandwich choosing to ignore it. We all sit in silence for a few seconds as a large group of kids laughs behind us.
"You did not just steal one of my tomatoes," Stephanie demands making me look back up.
"Oh, but I did," Zack challenges his body now facing her. "See I'll do it again." He plucks another cherry tomato out of Steph's salad and pops it in his mouth, in which she starts yelling at him for touching her food.
"You don't like tomatoes?" Trent asks beside me, making me realize that I involuntarily scrunched my face up, and I shake my head, shaking the disgust away.
"Nope."
He copies my movements, giving me a short shake of his head as well. "Same." Then he passes a glance back over to Stephanie before leaning his forearms on the table and returning his gaze back over to me. "But you like peas."
"Yes," I nod as a small smile graces my lips for a second before I look back down at my sandwich. Ripping off a piece, I go to put it in my mouth only to have a cherry tomato hit me in the forehead.
"Sorry, Lacie." Stephanie quickly apologizes. "I was trying to hit this, moron." She throws another tomato at Zack and he catches it.
"Hey," he pops it in his mouth, "I am not a moron." In his ill-mannered reply, he chomped down on the small tomato, causing tomato juice to squirt out of his mouth and right into Stephanie's eye. She flinches for a second with one eye screwed shut before slowly opening it and giving Zack one of the hardest glares I've ever seen. His eyes widen and before I know it Stephanie's picking up all the tomatoes she has left and chucking them at him. "Ah! Peas, help me!" Zack stands up and hovers behind me, using me as a shield. I laugh as his head bobs up and down behind me, dodging the little tomatoes and even some olives. At one point he bobs up and skillfully catches a tomato in his mouth, making me laugh even harder. As we begin drawing eyes, Zack finally stands up and turns around. "Asher! Help! I'm being attacked by flying salad pieces!" He runs off to the other side of the room taking all the attention with him.
"Thank god, I was running out of things to throw," Stephanie mumbles and I turn away from Zack's disappearing form, shaking my head in amusement. Feeling Trent's eyes, I turn to him, but the fact that he doesn't look away only means that he's been staring at me the entire time. A fact that is proven when a slow grin stretches across his lips.
"Another piece to the puzzle," he nods to himself, before winking at me and pushing back his chair. He walks away and this time I'm the one to watch him go.
"Puzzle?" Stephanie asks and I drag my gaze back over to her with a sigh.
"Apparently."