Sometimes I Just Like to Smile at My Notebook, NBD
“You look really pretty today.”
I looked up at Hudson, shaking my head. My cheeks were on fire, and I didn’t even try to hide it. Class hadn’t started yet, and he was already abusing the transmitter.
“You do.”
I looked at him with wide eyes. These weren’t walkie-talkies, so I couldn’t talk back. He looked really good today, too. I raised an eyebrow as I looked him up and down, making sure he knew I was checking him out.
I looked him up and down again.
His laugh came through, and I smiled in response.
“Keep that up and I’ll announce to the whole class how pretty I think you look today,” he whispered, his back to the room as he wrote on the whiteboard. Adjectives. “And maybe I’ll tell them about our trips to outer space.”
I pressed my lips together as I smiled at my notebook. The room was beginning to fill, and with the heat on full blast I was dying with my hair down. I hesitated, fumbling with the hair tie I kept on my key ring. I didn’t want to put my hair up; one, because it wasn’t part of the look I was going for today and two, because of my earpiece.
I closed my eyes, willing myself to just do it. To just put my hair up and not care if people saw the earpiece. Why was I so concerned about what other people would think? Why did I care so much? Almost twenty years old and I was still the thirteen-year-old afraid to let anyone see me.
Screw it. It had to go up.
“Hey.”
I looked up as I pulled my hair into a low ponytail. Our eyes locked.
“You look great.”
I watched as he wrote on the board. Content. Drôle. Beau. Talentueux. Doué. Mignonne.
Happy. Funny. Beautiful. Talented. Gifted. Cute.
My eyes were trained on his every movement. Now I couldn’t look away if I wanted to. Screw the earpiece; just having Hudson as a teacher was helping me focus more than any assistive technology had.
“Stop looking at my butt,” his words came through in a whisper, his back still to the room.
A burst of laughter escaped, loud and obvious. I slapped my hand over my mouth, eyeing the people around me who stiffened at my outburst. The girl in front of me even turned around. I mouthed sorry to her with a shrug, and when I looked up, Hudson was looking at me with that smirk that made me question whether to kiss him or kill him.
* * *
“You need to stop,” I said, my hand open, waiting for my transmitter.
It was the end of class. I stood near the back of the room waiting for everyone to leave and for him to pack up. The rest of the lecture had gone on without any more outbursts, thankfully, but I could still feel the heat in my cheeks.
“I didn’t do anything,” he said, feigning innocence. He slid his hand into mine instead of handing over the receiver.
“Not in class,” I whispered, pulling away from him.
“No one is here,” he said as he stretched his arms wide.
I opened my hand to him again, and this time he set the device in it.
“You’re abusing this privilege,” I scolded.
“I can’t help it. It’s just too perfect,” he said as we walked. “I can say whatever I want to you—get you to laugh out loud—and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
“Yeah, and that’s no fair.” I casually linked my arm through his once we stepped out of the building.
“But it’s such a beautiful thing to see your face turn pink as you smile at your notebook,” he said, shoving me playfully. “And that laugh, oh my God, I could never get sick of your laugh. That was too perfect. You have to admit that was so perfect.”
I tried my hardest to hold in a smile to match his. “You enjoy torturing me, don’t you?”
“I really do,” he said, pulling me into a side hug. “Speaking of torturing you…” He pulled his backpack off one shoulder and spun it around his body.
“Speaking of torturing me?” I asked, eyeing him as people passed us in a rush to their next class. I watched as he dug around in his bag.
“I got you something,” he said as his hand stilled in his bag. “Close your eyes.”
“I’m not closing my eyes,” I said. I crossed my arms, jutting out my hip.
“Close your eyes, Edie,” he warned, squinting at me.
I sighed deeply, rolling my eyes at him before closing them.
“Keep them shut,” he said. “I mean it.”
“Okay, okay, I—” I started, but stopped as I felt Hudson pull a hat onto my head. My hands immediately went to the hat to pull it off, knowing it was going to ruin my hair more than I already had by pulling it into a ponytail.
“Don’t you dare take that off,” he said, his hands over mine.
I dropped my hands slowly in surrender. “Can I open my eyes now?”
“Yeah,” he said.
I opened my eyes to see Hudson’s phone in selfie mode, his smiling face watching my reaction. “I got you one, too,” he said as I looked at myself on the screen.
I touched the beanie as I pulled my bottom lip through my teeth to keep my face from splitting in two. He’d gotten me his exact beanie but in a soft pink, close enough to rose quartz to make me wonder if he’d actually listened to me ramble on about the color at the volleyball game.
“You like it?” he asked, bouncing on his toes, the phone moving with him.
I looked from him to my own face and then back. I pulled at my hair, adjusting my ponytail to lie over my left shoulder. I checked the phone once more before pushing his hand out of the way and pulling him into me.
“This is adorable,” I whispered, my lips touching his neck as I spoke. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” he said. “Let’s go back to your room and hang out.”
“Can’t,” I said with a pout as I released him. “You know I have Media Econ.”
“After?” he asked.
I touched the hat again, touched my hair. “You mean when you have German Lit?”
He shrugged his backpack strap onto his shoulder. “I don’t need that class,” he said, reaching for my hand.
I shook my head. “No, I’ll see you tonight for tutoring. We need to study for the midterm,” I said, watching the smile spread across his face.
“Sure, we can study for the midterm.” He let go of my hand as we backed away in different directions. “But listen, I think we should study in your room, or mine, doesn’t matter.”
I put a hand on my hip and listed my head. “Nice try.”
“No, really,” he said, taking a step toward me. “I did some research about quiet rooms, and did you know that Microsoft has the quietest room on earth? It’s in Guinness World Records. And people have had hallucinations and stuff. Felt panicky just like you did.”
“Oh-kay,” I said calmly, though my pulse was starting to race just thinking about being in that quiet room again.
“What I’m saying is, let’s be proactive in avoiding hallucinations of any kind and steer clear of the quiet room. Which leaves my room or your room as the next best thing.” He reached forward and touched my hair, twisting my ponytail around his finger twice.
I looked at him, searching his face for any sign of teasing. “You’re serious?”
“Yeah, totally. I guess the longest anyone has ever stayed in this room was forty-five minutes. People couldn’t stand to be in there, literally—if you are going to go inside, you have to sit. For whatever reason it really throws off people’s equilibrium, too.”
“Okay,” I said after a moment. “We can study in my room…” I grasped his hand, pulling it away from my hair before dropping it. A big smile spread across his face. “After your German Lit class!”
“Sure, after class,” he said, taking a step backward.
“I mean it!” I said.
He took another step away, his thumbs hooked on the straps of his backpack. “I know you do,” he called, still walking backward. “But studying you is way more important than German Lit will ever be.” He raised his arms over his head.
“Oh my God, stop it!” I said, hiding my face in my hands. We were standing in one of the busiest places on campus, between two of the busiest class times. If my makeup wasn’t perfect, I would have pulled the hat down over my face.
“Not a chance!” he said, arms still in the air as he turned and walked toward his next class.