“Kellan.” He scans the hall as if searching for an escape. “This is a surprise.” He clears his throat, shifts from foot to foot, gripping the strap of the backpack hanging off one of his shoulders. “What are you doing here?”
Whatever he says to me, it goes in one ear and out the other. He’s studying me like he can’t figure me out. His eyes are beautifully dark, intense. The air feels alive around me. I know an attractive man when I see one, and Max is very attractive.
“What?” I say, my voice dropping an octave.
Max’s gaze drops to my mouth, then the rest of my body. I don’t know what’s going on here. My body is thinking it likes the attention. My mind is saying the more attention, the worse it will be for the coverup.
“I thought your major was advertising. Why are you in the computer science building?”
I didn’t think I’d need to worry about running into Kellan’s teammates in the computer science building. I figured most of their majors would be communication or business, something that doesn’t require as much academic focus due to their athletic obligations.
“I—” Why would a student who isn’t in computer science be here? “—was meeting a friend. I had to give him something.”
“Ah.” He hikes up his backpack and again looks around.
It’s then that I realize he’s uncomfortable. As in, he’d rather be anywhere but here. So I wonder. Why ishein the computer science building?
“What are you doing here?” I ask. “I thought you were in…” I trail off, hoping like hell he’ll be a good guy and fill in the blanks.
“Communication,” he states with enough force to make me suspicious. “But I also was… meeting a friend.”
We’re just a couple of liars here. I’m meeting a friend. He’s meeting a friend. Is it possible his major is in this building?
I take in his Zelda shirt. It’s the last thing I’d expect someone like him to wear.
“You’re not actually a communication major,” I say, “are you.”
His lips press together. His face takes on a ruddy hue. Fascinating. He was so confident on the field yesterday. Now he’s squirming to escape. “No, it’s not.”
“Then what is your major?”
He mumbles something I can’t make out.
“Sorry?”
“It’s programming.” The words are clipped. He holds his body in high tension.
Knowing the lie and hearing it are two different things. I can’t stop the disbelieving “Really?” that slips out.
A curt nod, his hands buried in his coat pockets.
Soccer captain. Uncomfortable with revealing his major. His programming major. I think I can put two and two together. For whatever reason, it’s his embarrassment that upsets me the most. It’s people like him who think coding is stupid or lame, only for the social awkward folk. People like him who perpetuate the stereotype. Loveless, sexless nobodies.
“Right. Well. Guess I’ll see you then.” I give him a curt nod of my own and move around him, heading for the doors. The faster we part ways, the faster I can forget about this run in and convince myself it was a bad dream. Now that I know he has a class in this building, I’m going to have to be more careful in the future.
“Kellan, wait.”
Max follows me outside the building to one of the surrounding courtyards. He catches my arm, but I jerk away as soon as my body registers the heat of his hand through the material of my coat. Piles of snow cover the edges of the walkway. Technically, I don’t have anywhere to be. Video game design was my last class of the day. Generally I’d go home and work more on Miaku. Maybe stop and pick up dinner if I was feeling especially dangerous. It’s sad how uneventful my life is.
“Hey.” He steps in front of me, blocking my path. “I’m sorry. I just—the guys don’t know my real major and I’d rather keep it that way.”
“Are you embarrassed by it?”
A few seconds pass before he shrugs. He might as well have screamed,Yes.
A sneer starts to creep up my face before I tamp it down. “If you’re in programming, I’m guessing you’re pretty smart.” Coding isn’t easy, after all. “Why do you hide that from the team? What’s so bad about pursuing something with good job opportunities?”
He shrugs.
