Seth observed as Nina’s cheeks grew red, her eyes darting around at everyone. What surprised him more was how she smiled, and laughed along with them. Like she was a part of the joke, notthejoke.
Nina’s eyes caught Seth’s at that moment, and he quickly turned away, not wanting to give her any ideas.
Seth wondered how she could easily smile, and look so carefree, look so happy like that, even when everyone around her was laughing at her.
How could she make everything seem so much….brighter?
7
Now
“What’s that you're humming?”
Seth was in the middle of washing the dishes, when he glanced up at his Mum. She wore a curious expression, one that was almost amused. Her dark blonde hair had been pinned into a bun, and wisps of it fell against her forehead that was beginning to wrinkle with age.
“Was I humming something?” he asked, setting down the sponge. He hadn’t even realised.
“You were, it sounded like this.”
His Mum mimicked the melody of a song that Nina played for him yesterday on their train home.
They’d listened to most of the album from that artist Laufey before arriving at their stop. A lot of her style was jazzy and mellow, so by the time he’d walked through the door, he crashed into bed immediately.
“Oh, yeah, a friend played that song for me yesterday,” he said, and a smile pulled at his lips.
“Well, it’s nice. What’s the name?”
Seth didn’t remember the name of thesong,only the artist, so he told his Mum about Laufey. Later on, she started to play someof her songs on TV as she vacuumed the living room, and Seth continued with his chores in the kitchen.
His Mum only worked from Wednesday to Friday, so he was often at home with her on Tuesdays.
Tuesday were his work days at the indie gaming company, and because he could work anywhere from his laptop, he alternated between working from a cafe, or at home. Usually, he stayed home, because he was too lazy to go out at 9am, when his hours started.
It was a strange feeling, to not know how tohang outwith your own Mum. But doing morning chores together, and listening to jazzy tunes seemed like a good start.
Listening to it made him think of Nina.Moreof Nina. This morning, he’d woken up with a strange urge to text her and ask what she was doing today. They didn’t usually go to university today, so they’d both be at home.
Was she at home?
Once he finished wiping the dining table from their breakfast scraps, he settled in his roomand searched her up on Instagram. Were they even connected with each other there yet?
Except, where the follow button was, it read‘follow back’.
Wait, he never followed her back? To be fair, he hardly used Instagram. He was more accustomed to YouTube. He only went onto Instagram for the occasional scrolling whenever he was bored in a lecture, or on the train.
Unless…she had requested him in high school.
And he didn’twantto follow back.God- what a dickhead he was.
He checked whether they were friends on Facebook, and thank goodness they were. At least he acted like a decent person on that platform.
Seth rolled his eyes at his younger self and followed Nina back.
His eyes studied her profile picture, which was a selfie of her with her hair down and wearing a light red dress.
She was smiling in it, with her eyes closed.
Seth clicked on the most recent photo, which was posted only 2 weeks ago. It was a photo of her in front of a large, geyser fountain at the heart of Hyde Park in Sydney.
