She’d stepped closer, he noticed.
“Actually, Nina, there’s something I-”
“Nina!”
A deep voice tore through the space between them. Nina skittered backward, and her attention landed on a warm looking, bronze-skinned boy. He was smiling at Nina.
“Carlos,” Nina greeted, grinning at the boy - Carlos.
Carlos congratulated Nina today on class, telling her that she was welcome to ask for his help on the homework, if she needed. Seth stood by, the interaction unfolding before him, a strange, sharp sensation striking him in small zaps with every word. His own smile had faded. Could this Carlos go away now?
It felt like forever until Carlos finally said his goodbye.
Finally.
Seth turned to Nina, and saw that her eyes were bright. Round. Stars danced before them, as she muttered a goodbye to her peer. Then, he watched as her gaze followed him toward the light rail bay.
His stomach plummeted, as if he’d dropped from a building. He knew that look all too well. It was a look he was all too familiar with. One that had recently haunted his dreams the past few nights.
How Nina had looked at Carlos, her pupils dilated, her lips parted ever-so slightly...
That was how she used to look athim.
17
Now
“Sorry, you were saying something?”
Nina held the mint chocolate cup between her hands, and her eyes were now on his.
But everything had changed.
The world bent around him, shifted, darkened.
She was interested in someone else, and here Seth was, sitting in front of her, feeling like a fool. He bent his neck downward, trying not to betray the hurricane that was tormenting his mind, onto his face. Nina couldn’t know, at all.
“Oh, nothing,” Seth said, with an unbothered chuckle.
“Are you sure? Your face looks like it’s lost all colour.”
Nina’s eyebrows pinched in concern, and she reached her hand forward, toward Seth’s cheek. Instinctively, he dodged her touch, like one would escape a flame. Her touch would’ve been enough to crack the dam that was barely holding his emotions together.
Hurt registered on her face, but it disappeared as quickly as he saw it. Still, guilt blossomed in his stomach.
“I might just be winded from the walk over here,” he tried for a lighthearted joke, “I’m not as fit as I was back in the day, you know?”
Nina smiled at his poor attempt to brighten the mood again. She took a sip from her mint chocolate.
“You mean the walk from the light rail to here?” she was trying to cut through the air, and for that he was both grateful and even more guilty. “Thank you for this, by the way. You really didn’t have to.”
I wanted to.
“So, uh, who was that guy you said bye to?”
“Who, Carlos?
“Yeah?”
