“Oh - uh,” Nina reached up, and began to tug at her earlobe, scraping at it softly with her nail. Seth noticed it was growing a shade of red. “He’s a peer of mine. We had to work together on some projects last year. Why do you ask?”
Swallowing, Seth decided to rip off the bandaid.
“You seemed into him.”
His suspicions were confirmed when Nina’s face bloomed red. The sight sent a violent wave of jealousy, and a strange cloud of nostalgia over him.
“Oh? He uh - Well - I - uh -”
Nina was stuttering, her words getting tangled the moment they left her mouth. Seth wanted to feel amused. He wanted to tease her openly, genuinely, as a friend would do another, but all he felt was emptiness. Still, he pocketed the sorrow, and grinned cheekily.
“Youlikehim, don’t you?”
“Okay, maybe, yes,” Nina admitted, huffing out. “But, it’s like a normal crush. Nothing serious or whatever.”
“So, are you going to tell him?” Seth asked. He wasn’t sure why he was pushing for answers, but he needed to know.
How much do you like him?
Do you like him more than you liked me?
Was it serious when it was me?
“No! No, I don’t plan on it,god,” she said, flustered. Then, with a quirk of her lips, she said, “I’m not like how I was in high school, professing my love atop hall steps for everyone to hear.”
The memory jump started his heart.
“What a shame,” he said, “Carlos is missing out, then.”
As the words left his lips, she lifted her chin, her eyes meeting his. He held her gaze, a second longer. Trying to tell her with his eyes all that raged inside of him. Everything that his lips failed to form.
Nina got a call, then, from one of her peers. They were wondering if she’d like to join them for some drinks. Carlos would be there, apparently.
Nina glanced at Seth questioningly, like she didn’t want to leave him to catch the train home alone.
He laughed. Playing the part of the unbothered one.
“Go ahead, I’ve got lectures I need to catch up on on the way home anyway.”
“Are you sure?”
“Nina, I’m perfectly capable of going home by myself. How do you think I survived the past three years?”
“Just promise you won’t get mugged on the way home.”
“That one, I can’t guarantee. But I’ll try my best, just for you.”
It was ridiculously endearing, the way she worried over him. It warmed him up inside, like he’d taken a gulp of honey.
She gave him a hug, and he wished she hadn’t. He never wanted her to let go. As she headed in the opposite direction, Seth called out, “Good luck with your crush!”
Nina only gave him a small smile, but her eyes danced happily.
When he reached the platform, he’d missed the train. He hadn’t been able to catch the one he wanted. The one that brought him home on time.
He’d been a step too late. And now, it was gone.
18
