4
She felt something cover her from behind and she jerked out of sleep immediately, grabbing an arm that didn't belong to her before she raised her head to see who it was.
"It's me." Ramiel, one of her course mates said as she released his arm, and he bent over to catch the jacket he had wore over her which was slipping off.
"What's the time?"
"It's gone seven." He replied and her eyes widened. "Already?" She asked and turned to look out the window. The sky had gotten dark.
"I slept off for too long."
"You have working late recently, so it's normal for your body to feel exhausted."
"I guess so..."
"By the way, are you going to Dream Orchids? I heard the class went drinking there." Ramiel said.
"Yeah, you?"
"Sure. Let's go together, then." He replied.
"Give me a minute." She said and walked towards the back of the class to get out of her overalls.
She walked towards him to pick her bag when she was done and they turned to head out, after she'd stopped to drop her overall in her locker.
The beauty of the city was out that evening with all stores by the road lighted up as they walked down to Dream Orchids.
"Tahti." Ramiel called and she turned to look at him. "What's your piece about this time?" He asked. Usually, her pieces were usually on abstract feeling but she guessed it didn't look like it this time.
"It's a secret." She smiled.
"Come on, just spill it out...You know I really adore your work." He said.
"Wait, till it's finished then."
"Tahti..." He whined as they turned over the corner leading to the bar.
Her eyes locked with a familiar pair of eyes as they approached and she could feel her heart racing as they walked up to each other, directly in front of the bar.
"Hey man" Ramiel greeted.
"Hey." The guy from the bar replied and turned to throw a smile her way. "We meet again."
She was surprised when the front door of the bar opened and April walked out with a smile, to face the guy. "You're here?"
"Yeah. I'll head in first." He said and glanced at her before he headed in.
"Hey, Ramiel." April greeted.
"Hi." He replied and walked past her to the bar.
Tahti was too surprised to talk as April turned towards her.
"Hey, you actually came." April called out.
"Who's that guy?" She finally found her voice and free will.
"He's the guy I was talking about. The junior who was hoping to drink with you." April replied with a dubious smile.
So he was a student at their school, she thought to herself as she turned to head in with April.
Her course mates had already started drinking, she noticed as April sat to join them before she did, not shooting a glance to the guy from the bar, who was seated opposite her.
"We have a newbie now. She made a rare appearance, so be nice to her." April said, snaking an arm over her shoulder and her colleagues cheered.
"This is Aydemir Wilson" April said pointing her can to the stranger from the bar.
Aydemir Wilson, so his name was Aydemir Wilson.
"Oh, okay." She replied and tore her eyes off him looking unimpressed, as much as she would have liked to drool over him. The scene from that night still made her angry at herself and at him for toying with her in that manner.
"What's that look about? Have you guys met before?" April asked surprised, she knew Tahti so well to read her reaction easily, but she didn't want to believe they'd met before. Tahti couldn't have run into him so soon.
Tahti's head shot up on hearing the question, she glanced at him expecting him to answer but he wore the same expression he seemed to be looking at her, like he expected her to answer as well.
"No... we're just meeting for the first time." She said and hurriedly looked away before April figured she was lying. She expected him to look disappointed in her as she had lied, rather he smiled.
"You're meeting for the first time?" Ramiel asked surprised.
"They took turns taking a leave and she barely attends school events." Jasmine, one of her colleagues replied him.
"That's right. She never shows up, but you both come to all of them." April said to Jasmine and Ramiel with a hearty laugh.
"Hi." The stranger now known as Aydemir greeted leaning a bit closer to her and stretching his hand for an handshake.
Everyone on the table stopped talking and turned to focus their eyes on the duo as she raised her eyes to him, the silence helped in increasing the awkwardness she felt to another grand level.
"Oh, hi." She said timidly accepting the handshake, while everyone laughed.
"I got butterflies in my stomach." Ramiel said before he tried to mimic her.
"Oh,hi." He said in the most feminine voice he could muster earning a round of laughter through the table.
"I'm Demir Wilson." Demir said with a smile and a light squeeze on her hand.
"He was a business major at Ohio university but he took the entrance exam again to study sculpture." Jasmine cut through the conversation in a bubbly voice.
"I see." Tahti said as April passed her a can of beer.
"I saw you before, though." He said as she popped the can open and her head slowly went up.
"What?" She responded shocked, trying to keep her cool.
She already said they were meeting for the first time. Was he going to talk about the meeting at the bar? "Wh...where?"
She waited for his response with batted breath as he locked eyes with her.
"At school."
A sigh escaped her lips and he smiled, pointing his bottle to April.
"I told her I wanted to drink with you." He said to her with so much innocence she almost doubted they had actually met earlier.
"You did. So you two finally met." April muttered .
"It's nice to meet you up close at last." He said as she popped her can. She couldn't help but notice how warm his hand felt compared to the cold can of beer in her hand.
"It's nice to meet you too." She responded.
"She's half Korean, if you were wondering." One of her course mates chipped in.
"Who asked?" Derek popped in from behind the group as he joined them in the table.
Drinking games started a couple of minutes later and Tahti couldn't help but notice how often Demir smiled.
"He's devilishly cute." She muttered to herself "Who?" April responded shocking her.
She was surprised that April had heard her, despite the noise. "It's nothing." She said and made to pick up a piece of meatball on April's plate but April was faster than her.
"It's mine." Pricking her hand with her cutlery
"Duh." Tahti reacted exclaimed quietly before she rolled her eyes.
To her surprise, Demir had asked that the plate of meatballs on Ramiel's table to be passed to him, before he placed it before her.
"Hey guys, gather around." Chris whispered, after taking a gulp from his beer. "Who are the scumbags who did it in the student council secretariat last semester?"
Herley leaned forward eager to get an answer "Then it is true that a condom was found in the trash can?" She asked.
"That's disgusting." Jasmine replied.
"On the sofa..."Chris correct Herley, making a wild gesture of pressing against something.
"You better fess up. Could it be..." Ramiel's voice trailed off as he turned to Demir, who pretended like he had heard nothing.
April dropped her can. "Quit playing detective. You're barking up the wrong tree."
"Do you know who it is?" Chris asked.
"Who is it?" Ramiel asked as he held on to Derek,who slapped him off.
"Get off."
April sighed. "Do you not still know? It's Michael."
The gang gasped in shock as they covered their mouth with their palms.
"No way." Jasmine muttered as she buried her mouth in her palms.
"Michael O'Neil,from the Theatre Arts department?" Chris asked.
"His girl is Rose." Herley said. "Then was it with her?"
"Of course not. He was sleeping with someone else." April replied.
"He was cheating on her?"Ramiel asked and Tahti, feeling uncomfortable with the subject, picked up her can to gulp its' contents.
"That asshole. How could he do that to her?" Herley said mock furious.
"I feel sorry for her." Jasmine said and her eyes met with Demir, who hadn't taken his eyes off her, even as she made to lower her can of beer.
"There are quite some pretty girls who have poor judgement." April said
"No wonder you're called April news." Someone said with a laugh.
>This is boring, isn't it? Should we leave?<
Demir mouthed to Tahti and she smiled.
>Don't be ridiculous.<
She mouthed back as a waitress returned with their meal.
"Here you go." Her kerchief dropped as she served their meal and she turned to leave after she was done, oblivious of it.
"Excuse me." Demir called and she turned back to him as he bent to pick it up. "You dropped this." He said and handed it over to her.
"Thank you." The waitress smiled shyly as she received her kerchief and Tahti noticed he threw her a smile as his fingers grazed hers.
"Look at him." She heard someone whisper behind her as he returned to sit,his eyes on her.
