18
Five days passed without hearing from Demir and Tahti finally decided it was time to forge on with her life. Although she found it difficult to not to think about him, she deleted his number and busied herself by working on her piece and hanging out with Dennis, which lessened the periods she thought about him.
A cup of fruit snack suddenly materialized on her desk, one afternoon while she was looking through her drawings and a smile crossed her lips, on raising her head to see it was Dennis.
"You should get some vitamins. You have been working hard." He said and she reached out to grab the cup.
"Thanks."
"How is that going?" He asked and she turned to look at her piece again before she returned her eyes back to him.
"It's bad. It looks like I'm screwed this semester." She told him and he shook his head.
"That's not possible. You're good."
"Good? What do you know?"
"Well, I know quite a lot. I actually saw your piece when I was here for the entrance exam last year." He said.
"Last year?Then it would have been..." Her voice faded as she recalled the only successful piece she had made the previous year was one depicting love as two blindfolded swans facing each other-with each of their blindfold's draping-which meant despite how beautiful love was, people would always have secrets they couldn't tell the other partner.
"The one about love?" She finished.
"Yes." He replied and she smiled, one projecting her scepticism.
"I can't count the number of times I got scolded for making the same thing over and over."
"I loved it. I even took a photo."
"Really?" She asked, pleased she had a fan already. "Let me see."
"Honestly, there aren't many pieces that depict love just as it is. Everyone thinks they have to make it look cool...Where is it?" He was saying as he scrolled through his gallery.
He stopped after a while and turned to her. "Oh, right. I got a new phone. Senior Tahti, could I see it again?...I promise to back up my photos."
"Well..." She swallowed, words drying in her mouth.
"Yes?"
"I threw it away."
She had decided not t kept it after she'd broke up with her ex, as he had been the inspiration for that particular art piece.
"Really?...Is it really not here?" He asked again as he went through his gallery again and she smiled.
"Thanks."
His head jerked up, a surprised look on his face. "For what?"
"To be honest, I gave up on the piece I was working on, and I didn't know what to do but you just cheered me up." She said and he smiled, making her realize he was more cute than she thought.
"But it's a bit awkward when you're talking so formally to me. Just call Tahti."
"Then...do you mind if I call you...Tahti from now on?"
Tahti? No one had ever called her that but it sounded nice.
"I don't." She smiled and he looked down at his phone before he turned it over to her.
"Tahti, everyone said this movie was good. Did you watch it?"
Love Alarm, she read silently from the screen of the phone.
"No, I didn't. I haven't been to a movie theater in a while."
"Do you want to watch it with me?" He asked and she looked at him.
"Is it a romantic movie?"
"Yeah."
There was a clinking sound behind her and she sighed silently on turning to see Demir, walking towards them. So he could finally show up after ghosting her for days. What a jerk, she swore.
"Hi." He said and she frowned as he waltzed his way to her table.
"Hello." Dennis greeted.
"Oh, hi."
"What were you two talking about?" He asked, folding his arms.
"We were going to watch a movie together." Dennis answered and turned back to her. "Tahti,should we watch something else, then?"
"Well..." She was saying when Demir interjected.
"You're calling her Tahti?" He asked, with an arched brow, before lowering a hand on her shoulder. Was he seriously trying to act she was the center of his world now, after pretending she didn't exist for days? Who the hell did he think he was?
"Are you two close?"
She raised her shoulder to push his hand now before she turned to him. "Yeah. We're close. Closer than you and me, anyway." She replied, feeling ridiculously on top of the world for treating like the jerk that he really was.
She faced Dennis. "Let's watch this, Dennis. I like romantic movies."
"Okay then." He replied and Demir peered down to look at his phone.
"Hey, you're going to watch this? Isn't this erotic?"
"That's better then. Let's watch it." Tahti said and a scowl appeared on Demir's face as he looked down at her.
"Yeah. You'll need a reference, anyway."
"A reference? What do you mean?" Dennis asked.
"The male lead....He's a good kisser."
Tahti's temperature soared and her expression changed on hearing the word 'kisser' and she turned to glare at Demir, wondering what he was trying to pull in front of Dennis.
"Tahti is fuzzy about kisses, if you were wondering..." He was saying when he lowered his hand to her shoulder again. "Be careful...because she'll push you away if she doesn't like it."
"Come with me." She said as she sprang to her feet, grabbing his hand to lead him out of the class at once, headed for one of the rooftop stairs where she was sure no student would be.
Once she was sure they had arrived a safe place to talk, she turned to let go of him.
"What was that about?" She asked as he slipped his hands into his pockets, wearing his usual cool look on his handsome face.
"What?" He asked, nonchalantly.
"Why would you mention kissing out of the blue? Are you playing games with me?"
"Playing games? You're the one who pushed my hand away." He blurt out.
"I never let you touch my shoulder. There's nothing between us, you know." She said, her temper slipping.
"Why are you so upset?"
"I'm not upset!" She finally lost her temper and yelled. His look remained unreadable and she combed her fingers into hair as she dragged in a deep breath, hoping to calm herself down.
"I'm not upset." She said again, this time in a calm tone. "You didn't contact me since that day, do you know that?"
"You didn't, either. And what's so wrong about that?" He asked. Was she suppose to contact him or he was supposed to be the one to contact her since he was a guy.
April had been totally wrong. The guy in front of her at that moment had no feelings in him at all.
"I'm sorry, but I'm not that kind of person."
He surprised her when he chuckled and she almost hated him at that moment.
"What do you mean by that? I thought you were enjoying it...Don't worry.I won't try anything with you. Good luck with the freshman."
So he was just going to let her go? He wasn't going to hold her back but allow her date someone else?
What had she been hoping anyway? That he would pull her back and apologize? That didn't sound like Demir.
"Fine." She replied and turned to leave.
She gasped as she almost bumped into Dennis who was close to the stairs where they had just talked.
"Well, the thing is...you left your phone..." He was saying and she sighed. She couldn't break down or act pathetic in front of him, she just had to go with the flow.
"Thanks." She replied and received her phone from him and turned to leave when he called.
"Tahti, should we go watch the movie?"
She would show him that she wasn't like other girls who were hung up on him. She would live her life well without him.
"Alright." She replied and turned to leave.
Dennis took her on a date right after they'd left the school, making her realize how beautiful the world was and leave the shell of feelings which she thought had only revolved around Demir Wilson.
She smiled as she looked through her phone at the pictures they had taken throughout the date while he went to get some refreshments, before they went to watch the movie.
Now, this was what suited her perfectly, she thought as she kept going through the pictures on her phone. A normal date, where she would eat and watch a movie with someone.
Her fingers froze on swiping in on a picture that she had no idea was still on her phone and her expression changed. She still had the picture of her ex on her phone? How was that possible?
She had taken the picture the last time she had shared pizza with him in a pizza shop before their breakup. She had particularly considered that day as a special one as her ex had told her she had been the best thing that had ever happened to him, after she had served him a slice of her own pizza.
Dennis walked towards with different flavors of popcorn and her eyes widened in surprise, when she tore her eyes off the screen of her phone.
"Tahti, I didn't know what you would like so I got everything."
"Oh, okay." She smiled.
"You don't like it? Should I buy more?"
"No, it's fine. Thanks." She replied as she received a tin from him, before tossing a piece into her mouth. "This is really tasty."
"Really?" He smiled and the smile on her face disappeared as she rose. Would her feelings keep piling up like that? She had mixed feelings when she just saw the picture of her ex again and yet, she had attachments with a guy she barely knew too.
Later after the movie, as they were headed for home, Tahti wrapped her arms around her body as she felt her cold seemed to have gotten worse.
"What are you thinking, Tahti?" Dennis asked and she turned to him.
"I wasn't thinking of anything. Why did you ask?"
"You didn't seem to be in a good mood since we were in the theater. So I thought you didn't like the movie."
"Well...I'm just not feeling too good. The movie was a bit too cheesy, don't you think?"
He didn't seem to think the way she did. "Really?I enjoyed it a lot. It made me want to have a relationship like that too."
She sighed. Did a relationship where both partners were honest and committed to each other exist in real life? She doubted it.
"Actually, I heard you and Demir earlier..." He was saying a couple of minutes later and she didn't look surprised.
"I see...But he's..."
He turned to her to ask."I know, it's over now, right?"
"Over?" She asked, wondering what he meant when he threw his arms around her. "Dennis."
"You know that he only hurts other people.
Don't let someone who was never sincere towards you hurt you...I know...what it's like, but it's all meaningless.And most of all, you two don't suit each other."
He was right. They didn't.
"Alright." She whispered and raised her hand to tap his shoulder before he let go. "It's okay."
Her expression changed when he slowly neared her and she realized what he wanted to do. Already? She wondered with a chuckle.
She clasped a hand over her mouth before he heard her but it was too late as he had opened his eyes. "Sorry, Dennis. I...I was about to sneeze." She lied and the hurt look on his face gave him away.
"Forget it." He replied and raced away.
Laughter broke out from her lips as she went after him. "I really did...Dennis, wait up."
