“Do you -”
“How was class -”
Their words clashed against each other, and Seth cleared his throat, abashed.
“You go first,” she offered, before he could.
“Oh, I just wanted to ask if you still like Criminal Minds,” he said, because that was the one thing they shared when they sat next to each other in science.
Obviously, he knew she liked other things too. Like that one time, she mentioned during an English presentation in Year 8, that her favourite fairytale was Sleeping Beauty.
Or that other time in math class, when her and Celine were caught by their teacher for trying to secretly watch YouTube videos about this new game called Five Nights at Freddy’s.
But he couldn’t mention that, because it’d suggest that he’d been watching her.
“I do, I’ve caught up. Always up to date,” she professed. “Do you?”
Admittedly, he’d dwindled on watching it about a month after they were separated in class.
“Not..lately.”
“Oh, what do you watch?”
Seth realised he didn’t really watch things. Not serial things, like tv shows. He mostly watched gameplays on YouTube, or read Daredevil comics. He wondered if he should tell her all that.
It wasn’t a matter of her caring, but would it matter? Would they talk about it again?
Too much time passed, and he eventually settled with, “Oh, just whatever is on TV. And YouTube sometimes.”
God, he was pathetic.
As they crossed the road, Nina said, “By the way, are those new shoes?”
He glanced down at them, surprised she’d noticed. Well, he supposed they were shinier than most.
“I did,” he responded, smiling.
“The clicking sound - it sounds so fancy. I noticed it today on the way to history. It was echoing through the locker bay.”
Seth laughed at that.
“That’s exactly why I got them,” he admitted, and she laughed along.
“And you’ve got a new haircut too, haven't you?” Nina asked.
Seth reached up, and touched his new cut. Not even his parents noticed, not really. He was so proud of the hair cut too, because it was his first haircut from his own earnings.
“I did, yeah,” he replied, and a small smile began to creep onto his lips.
It wasn’t the smile he gave other girls, when he was trying to foolishly flirt. With Nina, he couldn’t. It didn’t feel…right. With the other girls, it was fake. But with her, it couldn’t ever be.
On cue, red began to blossom across her features, but she held his gaze. Even returned a smile of her own.
“Looks like you’re becoming a new person here,” she chuckled, “New hair, new shoes. Experiencing a midlife crisis already, Seth Moore?”
The tease caught Seth a little off-guard, that he had to blink a few times.
“I-yeah I guess so,” he responded, realising that he was stuttering over his words because of Nina Mendez. Gulping, he glanced forward, and in an entirely cowardly move, he said, “Anyways, sorry, I usually wait at the road just up ahead. I should check if my Dad is there already.”
