Chapter Six

 

I glanced at my watch for the fourteenth time in the last twenty minutes and assured myself that I was just being paranoid. There was still a good ten minutes before the meeting with Dr. Han was supposed to start. Neither Seth nor the professor were here yet at the lecture room—just me and the relentless patter of the rain against the window.

I opened my old, trusty, green leather Filofax and reviewed my schedule. It was right there on my Monday afternoon: meeting with Dr. Han & Seth for outline presentation at two-thirty. It was right under another event—Shawn’s birthday at two-thirty as well.

I breathed in deeply and shut the organizer close, turning my attention to the windows.

The small university town of Ballard has two seasons most of the year. It either rained or was very dry and hot. It rarely snowed during winter but the freezing rain is usually enough to keep everyone inside. The other three seasons didn’t really distinguish themselves well from each other as it could rain buckets during summer or could be very hot during the fall. It happens with very little explanation that most people stuck to just two seasons—sunny and rainy.

Today’s apparently rainy.

The rich crowd of Ballard, which made up majority of the town’s population, would be filing into the many posh Italian cafes in Hatter Boulevard which is what you call the long stretch of boardwalk along the beach that housed the swanky restaurants, boutiques and other commercial establishments frequented by the yacht-racing, Dior-toting, champagne-sipping elite. When the sun is high and bright, only very few can be spotted at the Boulevard as they’d be all aboard their yachts, sunbathing or partying with friends. When it rained, they got into their tinted SUVs and met up with their crowd in cafés that put Starbucks at the bottom of the list of outrageously priced-coffee.

How does a poor, odd-jobs girl like me know all this?

Because that’s what Ballard’s all about.

Never mind the highly sought-after Cox University which I attend or the turquoise waters of Sylvan beach. It was the high life of some of the country’s richest families that put Ballard on the map. I grew up doing odd jobs at some of these highly-exclusive shops and restaurants along Hatter Boulevard. It wasn’t hard for me to notice. It was reconciling that life to the slums that lay behind the town’s high-rises and mansions—Dock Garren, where the working class make ends meet every day of their lives through jobs supplied by the rich’s lifestyle—that was difficult to understand. How could two, completely different worlds exist in a small, coastal town boggled me. The separation was clear and defined and no one ever bothered to stand up and challenge its existence. The rich had staked their claim on all things pleasant and abundant and the poor were content to live on scraps. It was a reality that caused me constant inner turmoil and often kept my gap to the rich unbridged.

But I needed to attend their schools. I needed to seize the same opportunities laid out in front of them for their picking. I had no advantage other than my brains and hard work and most of the time they were not enough to keep me ahead of the race. That must explain why every waking hour of my life is dedicated to success—dedicated to prove a point that whatever line there was that separated these two worlds can either be crossed by the poor if they willed themselves to or can be pushed out of the way by the rich if they ever paid attention to something else other than themselves.

Life had many ironies. I always feel like I am one of them.

I blinked out of my deep thoughts at the sound of the door softly shutting close. I turned around and saw Seth walking to my direction.

I looked at my watch again. It was now two-twenty-two. Dr. Han should be here shortly.

“You’re smiling,” was the first thing he said when he finally reached me by the window.

My hand flew to my mouth in surprise. “Was I?”

“Yes, you were until you made it go away,” he answered, pulling my hand away from my face. “You had this very faint smile as if you’d just woken up from a real good sleep late in the morning.”

I snorted. “I didn’t even know there was a smile for that. I was just thinking. They weren’t even happy thoughts. I don’t know why I would’ve been smiling.”

“Don’t believe people who say you’re loony when you smile for no reason,” he said with a small grin, cranking the window open. A blast of cold air hit us but the room was quickly enveloped with a refreshing coolness. “I do it all the time. Well, mostly there’s a reason but sometimes, I’m just plain happy and content.”

I closed my eyes and leaned closer to the open window, letting the cool air touch my face. “It’s hard to imagine someone like you not being content, Seth. You can have everything you want.”

There was a brief gap of silence before he answered. “Not everything.”

I opened my eyes and saw him staring into the distance, his hand outstretched, trying to catch some raindrops. “Well, we can’t always win. If we can, life would be pretty boring. There won’t be anything to work for anymore.”

He turned to me and his eyes crinkled with a smile. “There’s plenty in my life that I have to work for. Some of them demand more than the rest do but I figured it’ll be worth it in the end.”

I nodded. “The battle’s just as important as the prize. Success is greater when well-deserved, wealth is more enjoyable when honestly earned, happiness lasts longer when it’s not superficial.”

“Love is sweeter too when it conquers many great adversities,” he supplied, his smile broadening.

I rolled my eyes and shook my head. “Well, that’s not part of my quote but maybe you’re right. I don’t know. Relationships are not my thing. I can’t make it work.”

He eyed me curiously. “Why not? We can all make it work if we really want to.”

“That’s the thing. I don’t want to. I don’t want to because it will take me away so much from my plans. I don’t want to because… I don’t want to have to find out that I’m right about something.”

“Right about what?”

I blushed a bit and glanced away. “Never mind.”

“Right about what?” he pressed. “Oh, come on. You’ve already started so finish it.”

I took a deep breath and held out both of my hands to catch some of the raindrops myself. “Well… Right about no one ever being able to take me on because I’m difficult to be with. I have a feeling that I will drive that person crazy.”

“You have no idea,” he grumbled so lowly I wasn’t sure I heard him right.

“What did you say?” I demanded, scrunching up my nose.

“Nothing. I said, you don’t know that,” he replied. “Maybe it’ll drive him crazy but if he can see past that and still want you then maybe he’s a keeper. I’d say he’s a little bit suicidal doing that but you may be really worth it for him.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “You’re surprisingly profound today. Are you dating a Psych student?”

He laughed and shook his head. “No. Can I not offer some wise advice because I’m just some popular, superficial guy whose life is so easy and dandy?”

I shrugged. “I didn’t mean it that way. I’m just… curious.”

He leaned against the window and moved a bit closer to me, his expression mischievous. “Curious as to whether I’m dating somebody?”

I scoffed. “Why would I be curious about the most predictable thing in the world?”

“Ouch, that hurt.” He winced and put a hand on his chest. “You make me sound as if I have no credibility at all.”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying.” I broke into a big grin before wiping my dripping hands in front of his face.

“Ali!”

Laughing, I darted away from him, slipping through the desks as he raced after me, his hands dripping as well.

“Come here, you sly little fox!” He closed in on me and I shrieked as he backed me into a corner and wiped his wet hands down my face.

“Eew! That is gross!” I blinked the water out of my eyes and wiped whatever I could of my face with the sleeve of my sweater.

“Just giving you a taste of your own medicine.” Seth grinned and pulled out a neatly folded handkerchief from his jeans’ pocket. “Come here. Be still.”

He lifted my chin up with his thumb and gently dabbed my face with the handkerchief. He did it so patiently that I had time to catch a glimpse of how close his lips were and how they curved into a small, faint smile that invited my fingertips to trace it. I balled up my hands into fists and kept them on my side.

“Th-thanks,” I stammered when he finished wiping my face dry. “Your face is wet too.”

His smile evolved into a lopsided grin as he wiped his face with the same handkerchief. “That was refreshing.”

I instinctively reached up to dab off some water on the top of his left brow. “Uhm, you missed a spot.”

He looked at my still-outstretched hand then glanced back at me, his dark green eyes shining. “Thanks.”

We were too close, I finally realized, and so I backed away a couple of steps and tried to change the subject. “Well. Good thing Dr. Han didn’t walk in on us dumping water all over her lecture room. She’d be here any minute.”

“Oh, no, she won’t be,” Seth replied, still dabbing some wet spots in front of his shirt. “She can’t make it today. I ran into her earlier and she has some meeting to go to. She postponed the meeting to tomorrow morning at ten. I came to tell you.”

My eyes widened in shock and irritation. “You knew all this time and you just mentioned it now?”

Seth scratched his ear and looked at his own watch. “Well, I didn’t realize it was that big of a deal. It’s only a couple of minutes after the meeting’s supposed to start.”

I sighed and went back to the desk where I’d put down my bag and books. “It’s just that it’s my nephew’s birthday today and he’s having a kid’s party at two-thirty which I decided to miss so I can attend the meeting with you and Dr. Han.”

Guilt immediately washed over Seth’s face. “I had no idea. I’m so sorry, Ali.”

I shrugged and headed for the door. “It’s okay. I just wish I knew earlier but you don’t have my number so you couldn’t have really told me.”

Seth grabbed the sweater he draped at the back of a chair and followed me out into the hall. “How are you going to get home? It’s pouring outside.”

“Bus, as usual.” I dug into my bag and fished out a plastic ID envelope that protected my bus pass. “It’ll take about half an hour to get home but I should still be able to make it in time for the games.”

“I’ll give you a ride home,” he offered, trying to keep up with me through the crowded hallway. “It’ll be faster that way plus you won’t be soaked.”

I fished out another of the many bulky things in my backpack. “I have a foldable umbrella. I’ll be fine. I don’t want to get in your way.”

“I’m done for the day,” he insisted as we approached the exit to the parking lot. “Please, Ali. It’s the most sensible thing. Don’t you want to make it there as early as you can?”

I paused and looked at him for a full minute. “I live in Dock Garren.”

He looked back at me with a blank expression. “And the problem with that is what exactly?”

“It’s not the kind of neighborhood you’re used to, Seth.”

He exhaled sharply in exasperation and looked heavenwards. “I don’t know why you’re always so sensitive about that kind of thing. So I’ve never been to Dock Garren. So I live in a gated community. So what? Can I not find my way to Dock Garren? Can I not go there and not faint because it lacks the affluence I see around me every day of my life? Aren’t you underestimating me too much, Ali?”

I opened my mouth, ready with a retort but the pained looked in his eyes stopped me. He really seemed hurt and I briefly wondered if I ever really thought Seth was that kind of person.

“Fine,” I conceded, unstrapping the cream-colored umbrella and extending it open. “Just make sure you know what you’re doing.”

He instantly beamed. “Of course, I’m sure. Thanks, Ali. It means a lot to me that you trust me enough to do this for you.”

I rolled my eyes and stepped out into the rain, the umbrella raised over my head. “Drama doesn’t really suit you too much, Seth. Come on.”

He stepped under the umbrella and slipped his hand around the handle, just right under mine that I let go and let him hold it as he was taller. The umbrella was big enough for one person and we had to huddle close to each other to avoid getting soaked on the side. He opened up the right side of his blue-gray jacket and wrapped it around my shoulder, his arm pulling me closer into the warmth of his body.

I sneaked a glance at him and all I could see was his forest green eyes and the quiet smile that hovered on his lips.

I quickly glanced back down at my feet and try as I might, I couldn’t resist a smile of my own.

I suddenly couldn’t remember the many reasons I knew were there as to why I’ve always pushed Seth away.

All I knew at that moment, as rain continued to pour down around us, was that it felt warm and sweet and strangely happy being that close to him.