“But you lived with Will,” I said, turning my apple over in my hands, contemplating whether I wanted to eat it now or save it for later.
“Yeah, but he was my brother. It’s a whole different thing when you’re having sex with the person you’re living with. For example, I don’t care if I fart or burp or do something like that in front of Will. In fact, I’m kind of proud of it. But if I do that in front of Zan? I die of embarrassment.”
I understood the difference, definitely. Not that I’d ever lived with a guy I was seeing, but still.
“Anyway, how about that Tyler guy in English? He’s pretty interesting,” she said. I wondered at the topic change, but when I looked at Lottie, she kept her face impassive.
“Yeah. I wonder if he’ll be back the next class. He might drop it now that he’s seen that he’s the only guy. Or maybe he’s into it, being the only guy. Like a pimp.” That was kind of a disgusting thought.
“Nah, I think he looked like a nice guy. But I really have to go. I have geology. Kill me now.” She mimed shooting herself in the head. “Do you want to have dinner tonight? I can pick you up at your dorm if you want.” Considering that if she didn’t, I’d end up eating alone, I was definitely going to take her up on her offer.
Maybe that was part of my problem. I needed more friends. I was so involved with the circle of friends I had that I hadn’t bothered to make any more. Not that I’d ever been good at being friends. I’d had a few acquaintances in high school, but none that I’d grown close with. I’d actually just accepted the fact that I would never really have a close friend, but then I’d met Lottie and I’d changed my mind.
Now I was looking at changing it again.
But I wasn’t going to do anything rash. I was going to see how things worked out with Will and go from there.
I arrived to English at the same time as Tyler the next time we had class and we both tried to walk through the door at the same time.
“Sorry, ladies first,” he said, stepping back so I could go first.
“Thanks,” I said, going and taking my seat next to Lottie, while he sat across the room.
“Did I just see you chatting with Tyler?” Lottie said, blatantly staring at him.
“We just came through the door at the same time, that’s all.”
“Whoa, I wasn’t accusing you of something. Just asking,” Lottie said, turning her attention back to me. I hadn’t meant to snap at her.
“I’m sorry, that was uncalled for. I don’t know why I said that.” I glanced once over at Tyler and then busied myself with my books as Mr. Halloway drifted into the room, his hair all swept by the wind. A few whispers broke out and I definitely heard a dreamy sigh. Couldn’t blame them for that.
“Okay,” Lottie said, and I could tell she was watching me, but I didn’t want to draw any more attention to myself, so I ignored it and kept my focus on Mr. Halloway as he started talking. His voice was mesmerizing, so it wasn’t hard to do.
“Crap, I forgot I have to run down to the financial aid office and pick something up for Will. See you for lunch?” Lottie said as Mr. Halloway let us go.
“Sounds good.” I packed up at a more leisurely pace, and found myself leaving the room at the same time as Tyler again.
“We have to stop running into each other like this,” he said with a laugh.
“Yeah,” I said, because it seemed rude not to respond. He looked up at me and then started to walk away. Hadn’t I just told myself that I needed more friends outside of my inner circle?
“Meet you here on Friday? Same time?” He turned around and nodded.
“Where are you headed now?” he said as the rest of the class emptied out of the room.
“Over to Murray.”
“I’m going to Waldorf, you wanna walk together?” It seemed forward, but I didn’t want to seem rude so I nodded and fell into step with him. Being friends with Simon, Will and Zan had given me a height complex, since they were as tall, or taller than I was, so it was odd having to look down on Tyler.
We were silent, and I could sense he was waiting for me to say something.
“So what’s a guy like you doing in a women’s literature class?” He held the door for me as we left.
“A guy can’t be interested in women’s literature? What would you say if I said a woman wouldn’t be interested in men’s literature? Sounds pretty stupid, if you ask me. Books are books, no matter who writes them.” I didn’t know what to say to that.
“I guess it makes sense when you put it that way, but I don’t know many guys who would see it that way.”
“That’s a damn shame. But those guys are probably ass**les anyway.” Now it was my turn to laugh as we walked along the semi-frozen sidewalk. The main areas of campus had been de-iced, but the maintenance crew didn’t seem to think the little paths between buildings required much attention.
“I’m guessing you’re an English major?” I said as he moved behind me on the narrow path.
“Am I that transparent?”
“You can try to guess my major if you want.” The path finally widened enough for two people and he was beside me again.
“Hm, this could be interesting. Well, you don’t impress me as an English major. Maybe something in science?” I shook my head.
“Business? Nope. Okay, maybe something in advertising?” I shook my head again.
“Or you could be one of those unexpected people. Someone who majors in something that doesn’t fit their persona.”
“And what is my persona?”
We got to the entrance to Waldorf and we stopped walking.
“Whoa, I’m not touching that. People always say they want to know what you think, but then you tell them and they get upset. I’m just saying that you can’t judge people just by looking at them.”
“Very smooth.”
“Thank you. I’m a smooth guy. Anyway, this is me. How about we leave this conversation for Friday?”
“Sure.” He gave me a little wave and then dashed up the steps.
Tyler ended up guessing my major on Friday, and we made an unspoken agreement to walk to our next class together. He also took the desk behind me in English, and I introduced him to Lottie. They bonded immediately, which didn’t surprise me. Lottie was one of those people it was hard not to like.
“So what’s up with you and Tyler?” she said at lunch the following Wednesday.