The Pursuit of Felicity

Chapter 7

I keep my head low for the rest of our meal and once Mel pushes her tray away from her, I insist we get to heading back to the apartment. After discarding our food, Mel and I hurry towards the exit of the dining hall. Just as we're leaving, a group of guys entering stop us. "Wait!" one of them calls. Mel and I slow to a stop as we turn and watch a strawberry blonde boy emerge from the crowd. I vaguely recognize him but I can't tell from where. I look to Mel to see if he's flagging her down but she only watches him with adoration. Way to make it obvious.

"Yes?" I prompt when I find that his focus is on me. His blue eyes are hesitant but almost certain, which throws me off.

"Fellllicity, right?" By the way he drags out my name, it's clear that he probably wasn't sure it was right as it rolled off of his tongue. I give a confused nod, wondering how the hell he knows who I am. "You don't know me."

"You're right." He chuckles and grins broadly at me.

"I'm Ashton- Cam's friend." I squint at him. Who the hell is Cam?

"Cameron?" My clarifying question receives an affirming nod.

"I have a message to deliver, kind of." He rubs his hands together. "Well, I was supposed to relay it if I saw you at a party but I wasn't sure if it was you or not but he said you have a short blonde friend and here she is. I figured 'she fits the description and I kind of recognize her'."

Mel seems elated at being mentioned meanwhile I'm still confused. "So what's the message?" I encourage the rambling boy.

"Oh, yes. Cam had to go home these last two weekends so he couldn't 'coincidentally' run into you at a party. He wanted me to tell you that he has not given up. He said you'd know what that means." Ashton seems proud of himself for having handed off the message.

I feel my face start to heat up as the group of guys a few feet away watch us. "Tell him I said he ought to."

"In case he doesn't run into you before Friday, I thought I'd let you know that we're throwing a party and you," he looks at Mel, "and your friends are more than welcome to come."

For Mel's sake, and also a little bit of mine, I quirk a brow. "What's the address?" In a second, his phone is out of his pocket.

"I can text it to you so you don't forget." I quickly judge the situation and scoff. Mel is lucky to have me.

"So you can give my number to Cameron? No way." He laughs again and Mel nearly falls into cardiac arrest. She grabs my arm tightly as if praying that this entire encounter goes right.

"Ah right, he has to work for that," Ashton excuses as he raises both of his hands in understanding. He turns to Mel. "Can I text it to you?"

She's at a loss for words as she bobs her head up and down. Luckily she manages to find them and relays her number to him. "Nice. We'll be there," Mel manages to inform him coolly. Her vice grip on my arm has yet to loosen.

"Alright. See you then." Simultaneously, we turn and go our respective ways. I grin at Mel as she waits until the boys are safely in the dining hall to speak.

"He was so hot!" She glances back in blatant shock and surprise. She takes her phone from her pocket and skims his message. "He's so cute. He even said 'be there or be square.' We have to go, Fee."

"Okay, okay," I reply in an attempt to sound like I'm giving in. I don't want to give her the satisfaction of knowing that I'm looking forward to Friday night more than I normally do.

+++

You know the saying 'out of sight, out of mind?' Well, I feel like that is applicable in most aspects of life. If you don't see a bad grade, did you really get it? If you don't see the list of chores you have to do, do you really have to do them? More specifically, if I don't see Cameron for a couple of weeks, does he really exist anymore? Well, the answer to that is yes. Though I still have yet to see him, I know exactly where he will be in just four days at 10PM and I know that I will also be there.

You'd think my concentration would be better seeing as I have a Chemistry exam in an hour, but I can't bring myself to focus because I keep thinking about stupid Cameron. I'm even at my favorite study spot on campus, Cuppa, which doubles as a coffee shop. It's ran by the students and staff of CSU and it's sourced by arguably the best coffee I've ever had. Also, not many people come here so it's typically quiet and serene- the perfect study setting. But for some reason, I can't seem to gather my thoughts.

I take a large sip of my iced latte in hopes that the caffeine will help me concentrate. Just as I grab both sides of my head out of pure frustration, the chair across from me is yanked out. In a confused and slightly irritated state, I look up from my study guide and make eye contact with Cameron, who has by far the largest grin I've ever seen him wear on his face. He leans over slightly, takes his straw between his lips, and stares right back at me. The backwards hat on his head allows a few choice curls to poke through and I have the sudden desire to touch them; this throws me off completely, as does the constant thought stapled to my brain: damn, he looks good. If I thought I couldn't focus before, consider me damned by his boyish appearance because there's no way I'm concentrating now.

"Hey." He greets me as if we're friends and this was a planned meeting.

"Hello?" It's a good enough attempt at sounding uninterested. I actually want to ask where he's been but figure it's not an appropriate question in any form of interpretation.

He gets a kick out of my disinterest. "I've been looking for you." My eyes absorb his sly grin before I glance back at my icy drink.

"So I've heard," short nod as I struggle to not kill off the conversation, "your friend Ashton actually told me."

"You remember his name after a five minute conversation but not mine?" he blurts in slight shock. I only remember it because Mel wouldn't shut up about him on the walk home yesterday and at breakfast this morning. She even hounded me for Cameron's last name so she could find him on social media and then find Ashton just to show Gen a picture.

"Eh." I can't just out Mel like that.

"So are you coming on Friday?" Absentmindedly, he licks his lips, which are just as full and smooth as I remember. I decide to play it cool and narrow my eyes in thought. I may or may not have already picked out an outfit.

"I'm not sure yet." Another nonchalant shrug.

"So I'll see you there?" His raised brows tell me he knows that I'm coming whether I want to admit it or not. "Sooo...how's your day going?" His plump lips close around the straw of his cold brew, which is black and sweating. I break my gaze from his mouth once I realize how pointedly I'm watching.

"I have a chemistry exam in an hour," I motion to my stagnant textbook, "but I can't focus for shit." I don't think I'm screwed completely. I studied for two weeks in preparation for this but my mind feels barred from retaining any more information.

"Let me quiz you." He reaches for the study guide I filled out. I go to tell him it's fruitless but he doesn't listen. He dramatically clears his throat and starts asking me questions, which I decide to answer. This goes on for twenty minutes and he uses my pen to mark which questions I need to study more. When we finish going through the double sided sheet, he nods admirably. "I think you're going to ace this exam."

"I hope so." I give a nervous sigh as I rub my hands against my thighs beneath the table.

"You know, you should text me afterwards so I know whether or not you passed." He lightly traces doodles on my paper with his finger.

"I am not giving you my number." I fight back a small smile at the idea of him genuinely wanting my number. I must admit that it feels good to have someone as persistent as him pursuing me. I'm trying not to get too used to it though because I know he'll give up eventually.

"I'll give you my number to use at your own discretion," he corrects me with a light tap of my pen to his phone screen. When he sees my hesitation, he leans in. "Or you can let me take you on a date. It's completely up to you."

"How about...neither?" My eyes are slightly entertained and he seems to notice this because his lips pull back further into a larger beam.

"Why not?" He tilts his head like a puppy.

"I don't need to explain myself to you," I conclude and give a slow shake of my head. I really hope he catches on to the fact that I'm flirting with him, just not the average style of flirting.

"That's very true but if you give me a reason, I'll leave you alone." As we banter, he absentmindedly taps along the table with my pen. "I'm just confused because it kind of seems like you're flirting back. Plus, you seem like the type of girl that would flat out reject me if you were completely uninterested."

"You seem like the kind of guy that won't settle for slightly interested," I remind him with a faint smirk on my lips.

"Another truth, which is why I want to know why it's only slightly." He tosses a curious hand around as if looking to a higher power for answers. "Do you have a boyfriend? A girlfriend? Am I just a little ugly?"

I chuckle at his suggestions. "No." He perks up a bit. "You're a lot ugly."

His deep chuckles fill the room for a few seconds before he quirks a brow. "So what? Are you just not interested?"

"I don't date," I reveal as I thrum my fingers quietly along the tabletop. His mouth opens slightly in understanding.

"Ah..." He nods. "What about friendship? You do that?"

"Nope." I shake my head as my stomach fills with appreciation of his second request. Knowing me, I'd mess things up and sleep with him, which I feel would not go over well. "Not with you, at least."

His eyebrows tug lower and his lips pucker out a bit. "Why not?" I just smirk in response. This only confuses him more.

"I have to go." I lightly tug my study guide from him.

"Good luck," he wishes as I yank my backpack over my shoulder and approach the door. "Text me when you get your grade back."

"You didn't even give me your number." I don't even bother to look behind me.

"Look at your paper!" I allow my eyes to skim the top of my study guide. He gave me a grade for our short study session. It's a familiar three digit area code followed by seven numbers, which I'm assuming make up his phone number. I sigh, shake my head, and listen to his laughter as I leave the shop. I hold back the smile until I'm clear out of his view. I think he's starting to grow on me.