"You enjoying the mixer?" he asks.
"It's thrilling," I say dryly. "Nothing I love more than forced socialization and root canals."
To my surprise, he laughs, and it's deep and loud, like he doesn’t care that people are looking over here now. "Yeah, not exactly my idea of fun either. But hey, free food."
Before I can respond, JP pushes himself into the conversation with the subtlety of a marching band.
"Hi! I'm JP, Sebastian's infinitely more charming friend." He extends a hand to Gavin. "And this is Wei."
I close my eyes briefly, mortified.
"Nice to meet you both," Gavin says easily. "These are some of my teammates, DeShawn, Marcos, and Jamal." He gestures to the guys behind him, who nod in greeting. "Guys, this is the doc we were bugging in the library. DeShawn, you're pre-med too, right?" Gavin looks at his friend, who nods.
"Organic Chem with Hayes?" DeShawn looks closer at me and asks.
"Unfortunately," I confirm, slightly thrown by this turn in conversation.
"That pop quiz last week was brutal," DeShawn says.
"The aldehyde reactions? I thought it was straightforward," I say before I can stop myself.
DeShawn laughs. "Of course you did. Hayes mentioned a Sebastian who keeps setting the curve. Guess that's you."
I feel a slight flush of pride, followed by immediate embarrassment at how good it feels to be recognized for my academic prowess.
"Sebastian's the smartest guy in our program," Wei adds, unhelpfully. "Well, except for Psychology. He's tanking that class."
I shoot him a death glare.
"Psychology?" Gavin asks, his eyes lighting up with what seems like amusement. "Not your favourite subject?"
"I find it lacks precision," I say diplomatically, not wanting to get into a debate with everyone watching.
"So what is your major?" I ask, a bit desperately, trying to change the subject.
What's your major… seriously, could you sound like more of an idiot?
"What do you think I study?" he counters, a playful challenge in his eyes.
"Sports Management, or maybe Exercise Science?"
His smile widens. "Not even close. But I'll let you keep guessing."
Something in his expression, a mischievousness, a secret enjoyment, makes me think he's playing with me. He clearly likes that I can't place him neatly in a box.
"Seb here thinks anything outside hard sciences is 'subjective nonsense,'" JP volunteers, making air quotes and ignoring my murderous expression.
"Is that so?" Gavin asks, looking at me like he finds this really funny.
"It lacks the empirical rigour of hard sciences,"Shit, I sound like such a tool.
There's no going back now, so I push on and try to defend, lifting my chin. "Too much interpretation, not enough data."
"Interesting perspective," Gavin says, looking at me with an intensity that makes me uncomfortable. I feel like he's not hearing my words; he's seeing right through them to something else. "Though behavioural patterns can be pretty predictable if you know what to look for."
"Human beings aren't elements on a periodic table," I counter.
"No, they're infinitely more complex and fascinating," he says without missing a beat.
