Several minutes later I’m outside my apartment, checking that I’ve brought everything. Wallet, phone,…Okay, I’m good to go. I start briskly walking towards the North Campus of my university.
“Hey, Jason!” I glance up and blink to see a brunette poke her head out of a car adjacent to me. “You’re headed to the event, right? Want a ride?”
“It’s not far.” I automatically reply.
“Come on! Why don’t we go together. I’ve got a bunch of stuff with me, foldable tables, table cloths, foldable chairs,…etc. You can help my bring it all in!”
“…Alright.” I slip into the front passenger seat of her car.
“I’m excited, It’s the first signing event after Sensei’s new book came out, right? So I bet there’ll be more people than our last one! Have you read it?”
I fiddle with a lose string as she talks. Upon hearing her question, I look up. “His new one?”
“Yup!”
“Yes.”
“Well, what did you think? I thought playing with the idea of the guqin and piano was really clever…”
We spend the rest of the ride discussing his latest work however, the “rest of the ride” hardly takes five minutes and soon enough, we pull into campus.
After parking, we get out of the car and start unloading.
“‘I love to read’ table cloths?” I glance down at the sheet of plastic covered in little books accompanied by the phrase ‘I like to read’.
“Yeah, aren’t they cute?” Mimi asks, lifting her head with a smile. I reply vaguely, with a noncommittal sound.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
We haul the items to the grassy patch outside the library one by one. Soon, other members of the Literary Club start arriving and help us finish unloading and setting everything up.
“Vb, Vfcrfl jcv atf gfra rtbeiv yf jgglnlcu rbbc yea wfjcktlif…” Vtf afiir er.
“Hey, Mimi!” Distracted, she turns to face an African American guy and an Indian dude. I turn back to my unloading. I continue unloading box after box, fingering the exquisite covers. Although the covers aren’t as exquisite as the content…
“Lfs, vb kf pera ecibjv atf ybzfr bcab atf ajyif?” P ibbx eq, la’r atf Pcvljc vevf P rjk fjgilfg.
“Ktf bcfr klat yief ajqf ub bc atbrf ajyifr. Efv klat gfv. Dijmx klat yijmx.” P gfqis, rtbga jcv mbcmlrf.
“Got it.” He bends down and joins me in unloading. I peer at him curiously, for a moment. Is he not here for Mimi? Many of the non-members helping out, are. I glance back and see the other guy, the African American one following her around like a puppy. Oh, it was him. Shrugging, I return to unloading.
Soon the authors arrive, and following them people start filling in for the autograph event. As I gaze at our three student authors, my gaze is caught by Sensei. Short and Chinese, no one looking at him would think that he’d written an award winning book but he has. And one day I’ll be successful like that and-
I feel a nudge towards my ribs and look down. It’s the Indian guy.
“Hey, what’s going on?” He asks. I give him a dirty look.
“It’s a book signing. What are you doing here if you don’t know that?” He smiles lightly, not offended by my reply. That’s rare.
“So they’re…”
“The authors, student authors who’ve already published their own books. This is their student held book signing, open to the community.”
“Wow. And he’s Sensei?” He asks pointing. This time I throw him a really dirty look.
“How can you not know Sensei? He is like a God, one of his books was on the New York Times bestsellers list and he’s still a student”.
“Wow.” He replies and I feel satisfaction, now that’s the reaction you should have.
Then he turns back to me and holds out his hand. “Hey, I’m Ram.”
“Jason.” I reply. Then we return to our respective tasks. The rest of the event proceeds smoothly. I help take down everything and bring it back to Mimi’s car before leaving the group.
As I walk away from the library, I pass by the soccer field. I hear shouts from the field and wrinkly my brow, noisy. “Acher!” Hearing this, I pause, then turn towards the field. There’s several boys casually playing on the field and my gaze is captured by one of them. As he sprints forward, dribbling the ball, the wind bats at his dark curls and caresses his cheeks. Although I can’t see it I imagine how the sweat drips down his face and Adam’s apple. His face must carry the wide smile of someone with victory in their grasp, and I’m sure the smile highlights the small black mole below his lower lip…His entire figure grows hazy. I blink, trying to clear my eyes…Finally, I turn away. I should get home, what am I doing here?
I turn in the direction of my house and walk away, refusing to turn back. After some 15-20 minutes I reach the door to my apartment, and blink when I see someone sitting outside it.
“Hey, Jason, man, I was waiting for you!” I scan his chocolate colored skin, well muscled arms, buzz cut, and wide grin.
“Rodrigo, what are you doing here?”
“I was waiting for you man!”
I unlock the door sighing. “And why would you do that?”
He pulls my arms and turns me to face him. “Jason, I think it’s a good idea for you to come on this hiking trip.”
“Why?” I step inside, he follows me.
“The view will be gorgeous!”
“So what?”
“Well you should see it before…”
“Before what? Before I can’t see anything?”
He looks at me hesitantly. Finally, he only says “Jason…”
I place my phone and wallet down. “That’s precisely why I have to stay here and study while I can.”
He looks at me, opens his mouth, shuts it, then sighs before mumbling “but there are so many beautiful sights you should see before it’s too late…”
Beautiful sights. My mind immediately reverts to the scene from earlier, sweat dripping from under the dark curls down those prominent cheekbones and down that firm Adam’s apple… I pause, then shake my head to clear it.
“Come on Jason…the view is really beautiful and the place is really neat…etc. Acher was just telling me that-“
I jerk around to face him.
“Who did you say?” My mind immediately projects those same dark curls, that dimpled smile.
“Acher,” he scratches his head, “you might not know him, he’s a psych and neuroscience major…”
“Is he going?” I look Rodrigo directly in the eyes. He blinks at my intensity.
“Uh, yeah, he’s part of the club…”
“I’ll go.” The words spill out before I have time to overthink them.
“He also plays soccer with those guys and-” He blinks. Then his face alights. “Seriously?!” Then, as if worried I’ll take it back he quickly adds, “it’s decided then. I’ll let them know!”
He turns towards the door, then pauses. “What made you change your mind.”
I gaze away from him towards the window. “I thought about what you said, about the beautiful sights.” Just not the same sights you’re thinking of.
