The Unsolvable Equation

Chapter Twelve

Chapter 12

Almier POV

"One latte, please."

"Woah, you actually drink coffee," Almier said to Alexia as they stood at the counter of the coffee stand. The place was small and quaint, with most of its seats located outside. It also looked like the location of some romance novel.

"Yeah. My mom makes great lattes and my brother and I used to drink them for an early age, so I guess it became a habit," She replied, pushing her cash across the counter.

"I didn't know you had a brother."

"I don't blame you. Sometimes, I forget that I have a brother, too," Alexia said, rolling her eyes.

She received her drink and moved to the side. "Your turn."

Almier stared at the menu. Truth was, he had never been to this coffee joint before, nor had ever tasted coffee. He had just been too chicken to ask Alexia out to the dance and this was the only alternative that had popped into his head at that moment to prevent him from looking like a blubbering idiot. He wondered if he should just play it safe and order a hot chocolate, like he normally did. No! She'll think you're some baby. Alexia's so mature, you should at least try to keep up. "I'll have the same as her," he eventually said, hoping that his vitue of trying new things would not fail him now.

They collected their drinks and found a table outside, next to some old tree that, depending how you looked at it, was either the stuff romance novels were made of or looked suspiciously like it was going to fall apart and release its army of insects any moment now. Alexia took a sip of a coffee, looking like a sophisticated woman of high social status. Almier tried to follow suit, however, the moment the horrible, bitter liquid came into contact with his tastebuds, he wanted to spit it all out and bury the remains ten feet under the ground. Holy shit, that is disgusting! Why did I subject myself to this torture? He pushed the cup a significant distance away and wondered if Alexia would realize if he never drank the rest.

"You know," Alexia said. "I feel like even though we've been friends for a few months now, Almier, we've never gotten to know each other properly. I mean, I don't know much about you other than the fact that your french is amazing and you like heavy metal. I don't know anything about your family or any other interests of yours."

Almier considered this. Alexia was right. They didn't know much about each other, other than what was blatantly obvious. "Well, let me just start off by saying I do not like death metal. I guess I try a little too hard to impress people sometimes, or maybe that's just around you." Alexia looked surprised and Almier felt exactly the same way, too. Had he really just said that? Had he just confessed that in front of the girl he had been losing sleep over?

Alexia laughed. "Oh wow, I was thinking you didn't look like the type anyway." she grinned at him and he felt his insides turn to mush. "So what do you like?"

"Well," Almier said, wracking his brains for facts on himself. One of the things he hated most in the world was describing himself, but if he wanted to get any closer to Alexia, this was the price he would have to pay. "I am not much of a music fan. I like video games, any kind really. I like history, weird history facts and am also an expert at ancient torture methods," he blushed when Alexia started laughing. "Don't judge me, it's a passion! I also love languages, particularly French, but you already know that. I like writing, especially fiction, but I've never been able to complete writing a book. I have an older sister, Gwyneth, and she's 6 years older than me and a gold-medal winning equestrian, which also explains my interest in the Olympics, so I'm the ugly duckling in the family. I hate playing sports, but I love sporting history. I can remember all the host cities for the Olympics, and a lot of other useless facts, just test me anything," he paused, trying to think of more. "That's me, I guess. I'm not a very interesting person."

When Almier looked back up, Alexia was smiling. "I think that's cool, Almier. It's such a nice change from the guys who are either jocks or downright nerds. Ok, my turn. I was born on April 18, which is the same day Einstein died. Call it coincidence or call it fate, I don't know. I used to dance ballet when I was younger and I hated it. Some people have told me that I have a photographic memory, and I don't really know whether that's true. I was actually born while my parents were on holiday in Italy, so I technically have dual citizenship. I don't like people in general, but you know that already. I love French, just like you, and I am also fluent in 8 other languages. I absolutely love science and I have an older brother and an idiot father, but hey, what's new?"

"Wow, even your birth is more interesting than my entire life so far," Almier joked.

Alexia shrugged. "Ironically, I had no control over it," She crushed up her empty cup and tossed it into the trash. Almier stared warily at his almost-full cup and wondered how he might dispose of it oh-so-casually. "Can you really memorize every host city?" Alexia asked.

"You're Alexia Lee, why do you look so surprised that I can memorize a little useless information?"

"Ok, hmm, 1896!"

Almier rolled his eyes. "That was the first one! Give me something a little harder!"

Alexia narrowed her eyes. "Describe Hitler's role in the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games."

Almier grinned. "Now we're talking. Hitler's impact was reflected mostly in the 100 metre men's track and field final. The champion, a black American, was under heavy natzi scrutiny however, was befriended by a fellow German competitor. This, of course did not sit well with Hitler, who stormed out of the arena and refused to shake hands with the winner. There are a bunch of other bits of information but you don't want to hear that."

Alexia looked impressed and Almier beamed inwardly. Now's the time to ask her! Almier took a deep breath. "So Alexia," He started, willing himself to go on. "I was wondering if you'd, um, like to, um, gotothedancewithme."

Alexia blinked, as if she had not been expecting that. Way to pounce the question on her. You should have slowly introduced the topic, and release the big question gently. Nice going, now she's never going to say yes. Much to his surprise, though, Alexia broke into a big grin. "I'd love to, Almier," she said and he wanted to punch the air and do a victory dance. He had a date! He, Almier Lowe, who had previously never come into contact with a living breathing female outside his family, had a date to the dance! And with the smartest girl in the school, too! Heaven was looking down upon him with favour.

"Are you serious!" he stuttered. "Oh praise the mighty gods, I didn't think you'd say yes!" he felt as though his smile might split his face, but he just couldn't contain nor conceal his excitement.

Alexia giggled. Alexia Lee, giggling. Almier wanted to pinch himself. "Except, I don't know how to dance!"

"We'll learn. We don't even have to dance! We could just stand by the food and stuff ourselves all night! Ray told me the food there is to die for!"

Alexia's face was now frozen with the same big grin that Almier was sure was permanent on his own face. She looked down at her hands and Almier wondered if he just saw the tiniest hint of a blush. "I'm actually really excited," she admitted. "I've never been to the dance with a guy before."

"And I've never had a date with a girl!" he blurted out.

"Well I guess we're both learning things about each other today," Alexia said, laughing.

"Yeah, I guess we are," he replied with a smile.

"Oh, and Almier, I think I've learnt just one more thing about you that you forgot to mention!"

"What's that?"

Alexia nodded at his cup of coffee. "You hate coffee, too."