He laughed at her use of the words ‘super psyched’, loving any time her quirky personality showed itself. He loved how enthusiastic she got about things she loved.
“It’s not really my scene but I do love a good exhibit,” he said. “Thanks for coming with me. I really appreciate it and would probably have no idea what’s going on without you.”
“It’s my pleasure,” she said teasingly with a wide grin, “you know I love this stuff.”
“We should probably get inside to our seats.”
“Lead the way,” she beamed up at him and snuck her small hand into the crook of his arm, another gesture that took him by surprise. He quickly regained his composure and stood tall, leading her towards the large building.
The performance was about an hour long, and Tristan was surprised by how captivating it all was.
The set designs were intricate, and the actors commanded the stage. The set went through Shakespeare’s plays and the history behind them, and the play found a way to tie everything up together at the end. It was actually very helpful for Tristan to have it explained to him like this. He was very visual learner.
Tessa sat with her arm sharing the arm rest on the chairs between them, their elbows touching gently. She would lean in every once in a while to whisper into his ear about what was happening on stage with various pieces of information she knew or whenever she noticed his brow furrowed in confusion, she quickly leaned in to explain something to him.
His heart skipped every time she leaned in. Her voice was thick and smooth in his ear, and he could smell whatever perfume she was wearing. Whatever it was, it smelled like fresh oranges mixed with a deep vanilla scent and was arousing and made his head dizzy. To be honest, everything about her was arousing and made his head dizzy.
They both stood enthusiastically at the finale of the play, clapping and smiling at each other. He then led her to the building next door where there was the exhibit and let her take the lead. He stayed about a half a step behind her, watching as she walked through each portion and waited eagerly for her to turn back towards him and explain whatever display they were at.
Truth be told, if he was doing this with any other girl he’s been with in the past, he would have been bored out of his mind. Honestly, he would never have taken any of those girls to something like this and would have rolled his eyes at the notion of extra credit. He always put 100% of his effort into things he cared about, but English Lit simply was not one of those things. But something about Tessa ignited something inside of him that he didn’t know was there, and he didn’t even have a name for. All he knew was that being around her for some reason made him want to be better and do better. He thanked her genuinely for all the ways she was helping him and thanked her again for accompanying him.
“There’s a small coffee shop down the street that has some amazing desserts,” he said, pointing behind his back towards the street once they had finished everything and were standing outside of the exhibit.
“Oh, you mean Sagebrush? The little one on the corner?”
“Yeah, you been there?”
“I love it there,” she said with a smile before she took a few seconds of silence to contemplate if she should go with himor not. She took a steady breath and looked around at all the people walking around, holding hands, laughing, and busying themselves around the college town. Finally, she met his eyes and shrugged her shoulders lightly. “Yeah sure, why not?”
He tried, he really tried to keep his smile casual, but he beamed and his eyes crinkled in the adorable way that gave Tessa goosebumps. She felt a shiver run up her spine and she clutched her cardigan tighter around herself even though she knew it wasn’t from the cold.
“Hell yeah!”
She laughed out loud at his joyful outburst and followed him down the street.
Once they had ordered their drinks and a few decadent pastries, they sat outside at a small table and began happily sipping and taking small bites of their shared desserts. The air between them was comfortable. To Tessa’s amazement, this larger than life, very popular star football player somehow had the ability to make her feel more comfortable than most other people she encountered. It had taken a few meetings but now instead of being nervous or uneasy around him, she found herself looking forward to their meetings. She also pleasantly discovered that he was very funny and was able to make her laugh in ways she hadn’t since she was a child.
There was a cool breeze that danced through the air. It was now late September, and the weather was just starting to change, reminding Tessa of the upcoming holidays which was her favorite time of the year.
“Do you usually go home over Christmas break?” Tessa asked. “Oh my gosh, I don’t think I’ve ever asked you where home is!” She laughed, her cheeks turning a bright shade of pink. He gaveher an easy-going smile in return. “Are you from Nashville? You don’t seem like you’re from Nashville.”
“Hell no,” he said, leaning back in his chair and stretching out his very large and long legs.
“I’m from Ohio, baby.”
“A Midwest boy,” she said with a smirk, her blue eyes dancing with curiosity. It made his heart jump. “That makes a lot of sense.”
“Oh yeah? Is that a good or a bad thing?”
“A good thing,” she said with a laugh. “It explains your kindness and humor.”
“What, guys in Pennsylvania aren’t nice and funny?”
“Not really,” she replied, her tone still light but with something else behind it that he couldn’t place.
A few moments of silence lulled between them as they sipped their coffees. He didn’t want to overstep her boundaries and the last thing he wanted to do was make her uncomfortable, but the warm insistence in his chest was becoming too much to ignore. There was so much that he wanted to know about her.
“So, are you every going to answer my question about if you have a boyfriend?”
