The Tribuo - 32. Part IV, chapter 4

- IV -

RUSSELL

I skipped a class because I couldn’t stand being inside any longer. So I headed straight to Starbucks. I didn’t even look where the hell I was going. I suppose, it was a bloody miracle that I wasn’t hit by a car. As I was walking, I was trying to figure out what the hell it was that I was feeling. Mess, mess, and more mess, that’s what it was.

At first, I wanted to try and talk this whole thing out with Brian. Then I decided against it. We’ll just end up making out again, I thought bitterly. And since we both lacked willpower and self-control, one thing would lead to another and… I shuddered at the thought. I am not sleeping with him, no way!

Then I remembered last night, when he was pushing me against that wall behind the coffee shop. I remembered the taste of his mouth, the smell of his skin, his fingers on my face… Oh Jesus Christ, what is wrong with me?! I almost groaned, and then I ran into some woman full speed.

“Oh, shit!” I cried and caught her before she fell.

I blinked when I saw how skinny she was. Good God, she looked like a starvation victim! Then she stared at me, and I realized that when I pushed her, she spilled her coffee. So I offered to get her another one, and she agreed.

She said her name was Emma, and she didn’t mind at all when I asked if it was okay if I had coffee with her. I decided to try and get my mind as far away from Brian as possible. At least for at little while.

…”So what do you do?” I asked fifteen minutes later, when she sat across the table from me.

“I am a teacher,” she said softly.

“Oh yeah? What do you teach?”

She looked up. I couldn’t figure out why she was so damn tense. She wouldn’t look at me much, and when she did, she’d look away almost immediately when she caught my eyes.

“Biology,” she muttered. “In the university…”

“Seriously?” I asked incredulously.

She is a professor here? No way! How old is she? She looked younger than me. Probably because she was so damn skinny.

“Yeah,” she glanced at me. “Seriously. What do you do?”

“I am a student here,” I grinned, and she looked almost stricken. Huh, what did I say?

“Oh,” she said in a small voice.

I frowned. Okay, this woman was weird.

“How old are you?” she asked me in the same small voice.

“Twenty one,” I said and finished my espresso. “Would you like some more coffee?”

“No, thank you,” she muttered. “I… I have to go now…”

“Okay…” Yup, weird.

“Umm… Thanks for coffee… Was nice… Nice to meet you.”

“It was nice meeting you too, Emma,” I said, and she all but ran away from me.

Great, I sighed. Now I repel women. That’s just fantastic.

EMMA

Oh my God… He is twenty one?! And to make it even worse -- he is a student here? I pulled my dark shades as far up as they could go. I started crying, I couldn’t help it. I realized that I was being stupid, immature, irresponsible even, and most of all stupid, stupid, stupid… I kept repeating to myself silently that I was being ridiculous, that he was just a good-looking guy, that I should just snap out of it. Everything was useless. I kept crying, because I realized that I fell desperately in love with him the minute I looked into his eyes.

“Emma,” my mother sighed in my head. “What is wrong with you? You have never seen him before, and all of a sudden, you are in love? Don’t be ridiculous! The only reason you are crying right now is because he was clearly appalled by you. That and the fact that you developed some disturbing fascination with young boys…”

“Shut up,” I whispered. “Shut up, shut up, shut up!!”

I kept crying all the way to my apartment. Then, after I unlocked the door and walked in, I remembered that I left my car in the university parking lot, and that I still had a class to teach at three in the afternoon. I thought of my weight scale and shook my head. No, I am not checking my weight again. I am just going to wash my face, put on some foundation, so my skin doesn’t look so red and puffy, and then I am going to make some nice hot tea, drink a mug full, and walk back to the university. Because if I check my weight again…

I stepped on the scale without even realizing what I was doing. It read 120.

*****

I made it to the university at two o’clock sharp. Tara saw me through the window and waved. I waved back and decided to go and say hello.

“Hey,” she said with a smile. “Want some tea? I am about to make some.”

“Sure,” I nodded. “I love tea.”

She was done with tea less than ten minutes later, and it was great.

“Do you believe in love at first sight?” I asked without thinking, and immediately blushed.

Tara looked like it was the most common question in the world.

“It happens,” she shrugged.

“Has it happened to you?”

She glanced at me above her steaming tea mug.

“No,” she said somewhat shortly, and I felt uncomfortable.

Then she relaxed.

“For me it was more like…” she grinned and sipped her tea. “Third sight.”

“Oh, yeah?” I couldn’t help but be curious.

“Yeah,” Tara said, and then she was silent.

“Okay, Emma, shut up now,” I thought. “Don’t pry.”

I was surprised that this time it was my own voice in my head, and not my mother’s.

“Well,” I said finally. “From the biological point of view…”

Tara laughed at that.

“No, seriously,” I smiled weakly. “Love is just a chemical equation. The premise behind biological perspective in psychology is that all actions, feelings, and thoughts are associated with bodily events,” I quoted. “It means…”

“I know what it means,” she interrupted me quietly. “But sometimes a body is just a…” she struggled for the right word, and then I suddenly remembered something.

“A wrapper,” I said, and Tara looked up with surprise.

“Yeah,” she nodded. “That’s exactly what I was about to say! You are reading my mind, lady!”

I laughed and drank more tea.

“No,” I said finally. “I just remembered those words. I had a student in my class last semester… He was the one who said that, right after I quoted the same phrase.”

“Oh, yeah?” Tara raised her eyebrows. “Interesting observation for a student.”

“He was interesting,” I nodded. “Would always say stuff like that. But then he dropped out from class. I guess he decided to switch majors,” I shrugged. “Or schools, I don’t know. But I missed his strange comparatives… Matt, that was his name…”

I looked up, startled when Tara started coughing.

“You okay?” I frowned.

“Yeah…” she breathed. “Yeah… Just drank too fast. I am okay.”

I glanced at the clock.

“Oh, I'd better go!” I got up. “Thanks for tea, Tara. See you tonight?”

“What was his last name?” she asked without looking at me, her fingers typing something on the keyboard in front of her.

“Whose last name?” I frowned.

“The student you were talking about. The one that dropped out…”

“Oh…” I frowned, trying to remember. “Something like Doherty… Or Donnelly… No, wait… Donahue? Ugh, I can’t remember, sorry. Why?”

“No reason,” she finally looked up at me and smiled. “Hey, my roommate is taking his girl out tonight, so I am going to spend the night at my place… This way I don’t crowd you for too long.”

“You are not going to crowd me,” I rolled my eyes, and she laughed.

“Thank you so much, Emma! I will drive straight to your place tomorrow though… What time should I come?”

“Any time,” I shrugged. “I’ll leave the key under the mat.”

“Good God,” she frowned. “You are waiting to be robbed or something?”

I laughed.

“I don’t usually do that,” I said. “Just tomorrow, so you can get in. Yes, I am sure!” I interrupted her when she was about to say something. “I really need to go. I have to prepare for my class. See you later, Tara.”

“Bye, Emma!” she waved and returned to her typing.