What We Knew - 2. Chapter Two

He was standing right on the bus stop as I stepped out. He was using his phone, his head down, thumb pressing at the screen. I contemplated walking out of his view as fast as I can, but I figured that would be too obvious. I had to play it cool.

I felt my face burn as the blood rushed to my head. As I descended the steps from the bus, I saw him still furiously fumbling at his phone.

The bus started to leave and the sound of the engine accelerating surprised him. I was standing there looking at him like an idiot. I’ve never felt so stupid in my entire life.

Just as I was going to turn around and head for my class, he spoke.

“Hi,” he said, tilting his head up and giving me the same smile he gave earlier on the bus.

“Hello,” I managed to muster up. I was hoping that the nervousness wasn’t showing on my face.

“Are you a business student?” he asked. I was quite shocked. How did this guy know what my major was? We didn’t even know each other.

“Yeah, how’d you know?” I answered back, forcing to hold back the smile that was starting to creep on my face and the butterflies in my stomach.

“I saw the book you were holding. I just assumed you were, good thing I was right.”

Of course. I was holding a textbook that easily gave away my degree. Here I was thinking that this guy might have secretly fancied me for a long time, but I was just being delusional, although he did smile at me randomly, and now he’s talking to me. Even though it seems unlikely, I had a feeling that this whole situation was contrived in some way (or so says my delusional self). I had to try my best not to be my awkward self if I was to make a good impression.

“Oh yeah, of course, this book, yeah. Haha.”

Goddammit. What the fuck is wrong with me?

I stated to talk back to cover up the embarrassing situation and asked him if he needed anything.

“Yeah, listen, I kind of need help trying to find the auditorium, and…um, I’m not familiar with this area of the uni.”

Figures, I thought. Other students at the university never really reach our part of the campus. The Business school is at the northernmost part of the uni, which means only business majors really spend a substantial amount of time here. And the auditorium was located in the underground rooms. It was the perfect place for an auditorium, being soundproofed and all, but it also meant that uninitiated people trying to get there would get lost in the maze of classrooms and downward stairways. I sometimes wonder why they designed the building to be so hard to traverse around.

“Yeah, I know where that is,” I replied to him. “My class is in a room close to the auditorium, I can take you there.”

“Great, thanks! My friends aren’t replying to my texts or calls. I’ve been trying to contact them.”

“Sure, no prob.”

We started walking towards the front lawn of the Business campus. A grassy pathway directed towards a 4-storey building surrounded by woods and foliage with 4 flights of stairs going underground. The Business campus was one of the more open areas of the uni (except of course the underground rooms, which are fairly claustrophobic), where rooms were evenly distant, and light and ventilation came from the outside. It was a cozy building, which is a welcome element, considering all of the crippling stuff we learn during our majors.

We headed for the wide doors leading to the foyer. I was trying not to walk too fast to keep up with his pace. He was relaxed as he walked, taking his time. I was trying my best to act like I wasn’t pressed for time; my test was going to start in 15 minutes.

I lead the way to a set of stairs on the right side of the lobby. Above the staircase was a large glass window that let light from the outside in. Ironic, since it was such an opposite comparison: bright upper floors and dungeon-y basements.

As we headed down, he started to speak again. He introduced himself as Nick Hagen. He was a Literature major. He was going to be joining this talk his professor organized about Greek Literature. They couldn’t use their auditorium at their campus, so they opted for the one here in the Business department. I was unenlightened about the subject but he gave me a good gist about what his professor was going to talk about. It sounded pretty interesting, even though I wasn’t really into foreign literature. I mean I read, but not as dedicated as this guy.

“So, how about you, what’s your name?” he asked me. I forgot that I hadn’t told him about my name yet.

“Wes,” I replied, “Wes Craig”. He offered to shake my hand and I did, saying that it was nice to meet me.

“It really is a maze down here!” he said. He remarked at how low the ceiling was, but that even though it was kind of tight, it was cozy. I told him that the rooms were much more spacious inside.

We tried to keep the small talk going. I was doing pretty well now that I have calmed down quite considerably, but I was still feeling a little queasy. It didn’t help that I was a naturally fast walker, so he constantly fell behind me, and I trying my best to be in the same pace.

It was awkward, because I would always feel like he was watching me intently while I spoke. He asked about my major and I told him little snippets about life at school. I knew he was nodding at all the small things I was saying, as I noticed that was a small habit of his (even in our short encounter, I had picked up small sensibilities).

The small talk halted, but I felt that the staring hadn’t. I had wanted to ask him if any of his friends were already there as I turned to ask the question, only to find that he had indeed been staring at me. He looked to the front as fast as lightning and put his hands on his pockets, trying to feign indifference.

“Is it still much farther?” he asked. We were down at three floors, and the auditorium was on the west side of the third landing. My room was over in the area too, in the corner lined with corridors upon corridors of rooms. The auditorium was beyond that area. I offered to take him there before I went to class.

As we approached, I saw a group of students huddled in a corner near the door to the auditorium. I figured that this was his class. They waved to him as he approached and that confirmed what I thought.

“Hey, thanks for taking me here,” he said as he smiled at me broadly as he scratched his head.

“Sure, no big deal.”

I told him I needed to get to my class now, as my test was going to start in a few minutes. He gave me a smile as I said goodbye.

I reluctantly started walking, slowly, as if I was expecting him to add anything to our farewell. Is he going to give me his number? No fucking way. I laughed at that thought.

As I was going back to the maze of rooms where my test was about to start, I overheard one Nick’s friends complain to him.

“What the fuck dude, I kept texting you! I almost got lost. I thought we were going to get here together?!”

“Sorry, I wasn’t checking my phone.”

He looked back at me to see if I had heard, and I did. He gave me an awkward smile and I just nodded at him.

After the test, when I checked my Facebook from my phone, I had one new friend request.

It was from him.