Lo'ak hadn't spoken to Tsireya since asking her on a date on Friday. This was unintentional, for the most part. Part of him was waiting for her to reach out first. Part of him was trying to come up with an adequate way to bring it up without making their conversation awkward. The rest of him was so intimidated by her that the idea of going on a date with her made him want to hide in shame. She wasn't looking at him. She was turned to the side, talking to her brother down the lunch table. Lo'ak wasn't aware of what she was talking about. He was focussed on the dusting of freckles on her bare shoulder. He hadn't noticed that before. Her cardigan had slipped off her shoulder and hung effortlessly by her elbow. Her cheeks dimpled and her eyes creased as she talked. Lo'ak felt his stomach pitch. She didn't even have to smile. It was as if she had spent so much time laughing that her smile lines had become permanent, reminders of the way she looked at the world. Lo'ak pursed his lips, tearing his eyes away from her face and staring down at his lunch. Asking her on a date had been a mistake. Now that he knew she thought highly enough of him to say yes, he was more nervous than he ever had been around her. Around anyone, really. Did she like him? Did she just say yes because of the intense attention that had been thrown at her? Lo'ak didn't want to know the answer. He was scared that it would be the latter.
She was looking at him now. He was still looking down at his lunch. Lo'ak could feel her soft gaze on his face, as intense as if she was touching his cheek with her hand. He knew he should say something to her. He owed it to her, and she deserved it. He raised his eyes from his plate to her face, feeling his nerves building. Her face softened into a smile as their eyes met. "Hi," she whispered. Lo'ak felt his throat go dry. "Hey," he managed, after a few seconds of trying to find his voice. "How was your weekend?" she asked, tilting her head to the side. "Uh, good," Lo'ak answered lamely. She blinked at him. "That's... good," she nodded, glancing in Kiri's direction. "How was yours? Your weekend," Lo'ak mumbled, humiliated by how weak his voice sounded. "Meh, could have been better," she shrugged, grinning. "It was okay, though." Lo'ak nodded, not sure if he should ask her what she meant by that or not. Lo'ak didn't speak for the remainder of lunch, he just sat in nervous silence that he hoped came across as mysterious rather than terrified. He knew it probably didn't. On their walk to third period, Tsireya made an attempt to make conversation. She asked him about soccer, if he'd found a team here yet. He hadn't. He hadn't even begun looking. He would probably try out for the school team, if they had one. However, Lo'ak was so nervous that all he could get out was single-syllable words. "No," he answered, keeping his gaze fixed on the hallway in front of him. He felt ridiculous. He didn't have to look at her to know the expression in her big blue eyes, confusion mixed with a little bit of hurt. He sighed to himself, putting his hands in his hoodie pocket. When they got to chemistry, Lo'ak made sure to distract himself from thoughts of her by focussing on the classwork. He got out his laptop and turned it on, cringing at the loud "whoosh" sound it made as it powered up. "Lo'ak, where are your glasses?" Tsireya asked, eyes wide in concern. Lo'ak tried his best to hide his smile. "Oh, you're right, my bad," he said, quickly pulling them out of their case and putting them on. He looked at her, grinning. She nodded in approval, a small smile on her face. Little did she know, Lo'ak had made a point not to wear them. He knew she would comment on it. He actually took them off before lunch so she would have to remind him to wear them. He figured she would ask sooner, actually. "They don't make blue light goggles, by the way," Reya whispered, eyes sparkling. Lo'ak felt his jaw clench as he felt the humiliation of that interaction all over again. "Aw, really?" he asked, feigning disappointment. "Yeah," she said, shrugging. "They should," Lo'ak grinned. "We should start a blue light goggle company," Reya exclaimed. She looked around apologetically at the classmates she had startled with her sudden outburst. Lo'ak laughed quietly. "Yeah, we should." She beamed. "What would we call it?" she asked, tilting her head to the side. Lo'ak grinned at her. "Reya-bans. Like Ray-bans, but, you know," he gestured with his hands. She blinked at him. He could tell she was trying her hardest to maintain a deadpan expression. "Not funny. Didn't laugh," she whispered. Despite her comment, the right corner of her lips tugged slowly into a smile. Lo'ak felt his face flush at the site. "That was literally top-tier comedy, Reya, don't act like it wasn't," he whispered back, keeping his face equally expressionless. "You come up with a better one, then," he urged, leaning forward in his seat. She thought for a moment, pursing her lips. Lo'ak tried not to notice how her dimples showed unintentionally, yet again. "How about..." she trailed off, glancing around the room for clues. "Oh! I know, we could-" "Tsireya, that's enough," their teacher called. She froze, face instantly flushing in embarrassment. "This is not a partner based assignment. If I have to, I'll separate the two of you." Lo'ak glanced over at him. "My fault," he apologized. The teacher grunted dismissively, looking back at whatever paper he was grading. Lo'ak opened his mouth to apologize to Tsireya, but she was staring determinedly down at her computer screen. Lo'ak tore a scrap of paper from his binder. "I'm sorry," he wrote, adding a frowny face. He slid it across the table to her. She picked it up discreetly, smiling softly as she did so. She wrote something and slid it back. "It's okay," it read, accompanied by a small doodle of a snail. Lo'ak made sure she wasn't looking before folding the note up and pocketing it. He wanted to keep it for himself.
After about 20 minutes of working, he got out another sheet of paper. He hesitated, contemplating how to ask the question he wanted to. "Do you have plans on saturday?" he wrote, deciding that was good enough. She read it, glancing up at him with sparkling eyes. She scribbled something and handed it back. "We have morning swim practice, but other than that, no". Lo'ak had forgotten about swim team entirely. "Wanna maybe get something to eat after?" he wrote back. He hesitated before handing it to her, knowing it wasn't subtle at all. She read it. Lo'ak watched her blush as she picked up her pencil. "I'll take that," said a voice from over Lo'ak's shoulder. He turned and locked eyes with their teacher. Tsireya's eyes widened and the color drained from her face. "I, uh," she stuttered, handing it to him with shaking hands. Lo'ak felt his gut twist with pity. "Hmm," their teacher grunted, crumpling it up with one hand. He threw it in the trash as he made his way back to his desk. Lo'ak turned back to Tsireya with an apology written across his face. She wasn't looking at him. Her brow was furrowed with what could be either anger or nerves.
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forced kiri to take this picture for his instagram story, put a yeat song on it and refreshed his page frequently to see if reya saw it
