II AFFABLE FREAK II

07 - CROSS CONNECTION

Quivering from the icy cold water, the drenched boy was mumbling incoherent words like, "Sstt.... Pppiidd gga-ame.... Sstt... Ppiidd... Bbet... Ssttuu... Ppiidd D-ddylan."

Nathan was busy in his walk of shame all by himself, when an arm holding a towel stopped him on his tracks. He looked up at the face, he had been admiring for the last three years.

"TTh-anks... But how did you know?" He asked softly, trying to sound confident, failing miserably. "Who doesn't? It's all over the place." The girl replied in a passive tone.

He hung his head low in embarrassment. "Don't worry, everybody has better things to do than laughing at these silly bets. It will die down in couple of days." The girl assured the poor guy, wrapping the towel around him.

Nathan cheered up at her words, "You're always the one to make me smile. That's why I fell so hard for you since the first year, Scar."

"Now don't start dreaming about us. I'm just being a nice person here. Why did you even try it? You don't pick up on juniors like that." Scarlett said folding her hands.

"The boys were...saying things like... girls from our batch.....were also kinda fawning over..." Nathan stuttered partly because of the cold, partly because of the reaction of the girl in front.

"And you being a dumbass thought, I was one of those girls and wanted to trick the poor kid." Scarlett completed for him, her arms still folded, judging him mentally.

"Get yourself changed before you turn blue!" She yelled like mother of five, pointing her index finger towards the boys dorm.

"Yes Ma'am!" Nathan scurried away, lowering his head. He stopped midway, turning back, he shouted from a distance, "I know you care about me more than a nice person should." With that he jogged away, hopping like a clown.

"How does that guy manage to get me all worried about him every time?" Scarlett said to herself, smiling at his disappearing figure, shaking her head slowly.

"You should've seen how proudly she talked about you." Eleanor spoke over the phone.

"Yeah, we never left her alone." A boy chuckled.

"I still can't believe a guy like you is talking to me, when girls probably follow you around every where." The girl said seriously thinking about it.

"Well I may look like a hot shot to people but I'm just a potato when it comes to dating." The other side spoke.

"And how do I know that?" Eleanor played a little.

"Because I asked you out like five times now and you rejected me brutally. If someone were in my shoes, they would've died in embarrassment by now. " He said dramatically.

"Don't worry, you'll rise up from the ashes since you're the Phoenix." The girl joked, laughing heartily.

"Your engine wrecking laugh is one of the reasons I wanna be with you Ms. Eleanor." He said dreamily.

"You'll never get any girl like that Mr. Joe." Eleanor smiled, looking at the sky.

"I don't want any girl. I want you. I know your studies don't give you much time for yourself but I wanna hold your hand when you get tired. I wanna take you to park when you feel exhausted. I wanna have ice cream dates with you when things just don't feel right." Joe said smiling at the thought.

"Med students usually don't date people outside their community you know?" She said lightening up the sudden intense mood.

"You're not an usual girl to me you know." He mimicked her tone.

"You sure are persistent. " She replied back shyly, looking at her feet now.

"So are you finally giving me a chance!?" Joe yelled in excitement.

"Ask me out again and you'll have your answer." Eleanor said, a toothy smile plastered on her face.

It's hard for some people to see the love they are surrounded by from different people. They might resist at the beginning but will fall harder for them than they could ever imagine.