But why?
Why over Nina?
He didn’t like her. He didn’t know her.
Seth cleared his throat.
“Let’s start, before it gets too late,” he said.
The game went for an hour, and surprisingly they all made a good team, earning them a victory. Afterward, the group chatted more, about what they’d been doing during the winter holidays.Yet, all their words blurred together, except for one voice. Nina’s.
She’d played well during the game. Given him support multiple times when he’d fumbled on certain attacks. Had always been there, lurking in the shadows, jumping to his rescue when he least expected. She was, in his eyes, the best player.
After that night, for the following few gaming nights, it was mainly just Dennis and Seth playing together. They’d occasionally be joined by Bianca, or Anthony. Sometimes a few others from their cohort they discovered playedLegendary Heroes.
Nina didn’t play with them again, didn’t join any Skype calls, even as the gaming group grew larger. Seth carried on, happy to have more people to play with. Yet, a strange hunger gnawed at him. He wanted to hear her voice again, to feel her presence.
There was always something about Nina that comforted him, even if they never exchanged more than two words. She was like a blanket. His safe place. But Seth didn’t know it.
So he quashed the feeling, and after the holidays ended, they all got too busy to play anyway.
12
Now
Time had apparently begun to slow. It felt like years until Saturday came, and until then, every waking hour was spent thinking,scrutinisingover the plans Seth had.
Plans that involved him and Ninafinallyhanging out beyond their train rides home.
Frustratingly enough, Jae was nowhere near half as nervous as Seth was.
“Do you know what you’re going to wear this Saturday?” Seth asked Jae during their lunch break on Wednesday.
Jae had shot him a strange look then.
“I don’t know, am I meant to think that far ahead bro?” Jae said, with a scoff.
God, were they two helpless boys. Boys in 22-year-old bodies, who by now, should have had loads of experience dealing with girls, and dates, and everything in between. Yet, during Seth’s occasional hook ups (it wasn’t occasional, perhaps seasonal), he never worried this much.
Seth gave him a sceptical glance. Huffing, Jae ended up showing him the photos he’d taken of numerous outfit ideas.
Seth would’ve laughed, if he didn’t come to the realisation that Jae’s wardrobe was so much cooler than his own. How did this guy manage to look like a walking art palette?
That very same night, which was only two nights away from the “friend” hangout slash date, Seth scoured his closet in disappointment. He realized he had no affinity for buying clothes with at least a smidge of style.
And it wasn’t even because all he owned were monochromatic plain colours of blues, blacks, greys. Jae could make them look good. It was the fact that the jeans he owned wouldn’t look good paired with any of the shirts either.
As an insult against his pride, Seth found himself sliding down the wall in dismay over his poor fashion sense.
That very same night, his Dad caught Seth scouring his closet.
“What are you doing?” his Dad asked at the doorway of his walk-in closet, startling Seth. Tossing aside his ego, Seth begrudgingly revealed a watered down explanation, being that he had no fashion sense and wanted a change.
At this, his Dad enthusiastically chose some outfits that may or may not have looked a littletooblue collar for a 22-year-old going on a friend's hangout.
Respectfully, Seth declined.
On the night before the fateful hangout, Jae reluctantly offered to lend some of his own clothes to Seth. Jae lived a little farther away from Seth, in a suburb called Newtown which was much closer to the city than the west. Newtown was also considered a fashion hub. Everywhere Seth looked, there were lavishly dressed people.
