I close the books I was using, shut my laptop, and go to my bed, sitting with my back against the wall. Casey joins me, snuggling against me, with his head on my chest and his eyes closed. He loops his arm over my waist. I stroke his short, dark brown hair. He smells of chlorine and the cheap nondescript shower gel they have in the showers at the swimming pool. He does two training sessions on Mondays. One first thing in the morning and one in the evening, with lectures in between.
“How’s your day been?” His voice is soft and sleepy.
“Oh, you know, the same as always. Although I did have a strange encounter.”
Casey glances up. “What kind of strange encounter?”
“A guy talked to me.”
“Um, why is that strange?”
I push my glasses up my nose. “Let’s put it this way. If my life was an American high school movie, he would be one of the cool kids.”
“The cool kids?”
“Yeah, you know? The ones in the films who are gorgeous and know it.”
“You thought he was good-looking?” Casey’s voice has a slight wobble to it.
I open and close my mouth a couple of times. “Yes, in a scruffy kind of way.”
Casey frowns.
“He had dark, messy hair, which was falling in his eyes. It looked like he hadn’t shaved for a week.”
“What colour were his eyes?”
“A dark sapphire blue.”
“That’s a lot of detail.”
I scowl. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Do you like him?”
“I don’t know him.”
“I imagine if you fancied someone, you’d notice a lot of details about them. Like their hair, their eye colour, and the length of their beard.”
My scowl deepens.
“I still don’t understand why a guy talking to you was strange,” Casey says.
“Because the cool kids never talk to nerds.”
Casey chuckles. “It’s a good thing your life isn’t an American high school movie. But if it were, he would probably have asked you out.”
I snort. “Yeah, only because his idiot friend would have dared him to or made a bet with him or something. I’ve seen all those films.”
“So have I. You make me watch them with you. According to them, we shouldn’t be friends, but we are. Did he ask you out?”
“Oh, god no, nothing like that. He wanted to know if we were meant to do any reading for the lecture.”
“That’s not strange at all. That’s a normal thing to do.”
“Guys like that don’t talk to me.”
“Um, why not?”
