Baby, I Think We're Just Friends

I was trying to remember the difference between an isotherm and an isobath when Theo Lane asked if I wanted to leave the bar with him. I looked up from my flash cards. "I don't know what either of those things are." "That sounds like a problem." "It's a problem I'm fixing." "Then I'll make this a very easy question." He leaned his elbows on the table. "Do you want to leave the bar with me?" I had been at The Lantern for two hours, studying under the one lamp that didn't flicker. My coffee had gone cold. My notes had begun to blur. Outside, rain polished the streets of Bellwether into black glass. Theo's face was unfairly pretty. Dark hair, an easy smile, and the kind of confidence that suggested he had never once worried about whether he was taking up too much room. He wore a faded denim jacket and had a silver ring on his thumb. He had been flirting with me since he asked if the empty chair was taken. I glanced at the flash card in my hand. "Are you always this direct?" "Only when a woman looks like she might stab me with a pen if I waste her time." "I might." "Then I'll be careful." It was the first time I'd laughed that evening. I couldn't remember the last time I'd laughed without feeling guilty about the hours I'd lost. I was twenty-six, six weeks from the graduate admissions exam, and trying to get into Halewick's marine biology program. My application had already consumed a year of my life. The exam was the last obstacle between me and a chance to study coastal restoration, and I'd built my entire schedule around passing it. Apparently, my schedule had no provision for having a drink with a handsome stranger. I turned the flash card over. "What are you looking for?" "Tonight?" "Generally." "Someone who can tolerate my company for at least an hour." "That's all?" "I'm not going to pretend I'm searching for my soulmate over a bowl of olives." I liked the answer. More than I should have, maybe. "Good. I'm not looking for a soulmate." His smile shifted, as if I'd surprised him. "Excellent. We're off to a promising start." "I'm studying for an entrance exam. I don't have time for a relationship, drama, or someone who decides three weeks from now that he wants to be exclusive." "Then don't be exclusive." "That's what I was thinking." He lifted his glass. "To thinking." I clinked my water against it. "And to being honest." We talked for another forty minutes. He told me he worked as a freelance photographer and shot weddings, restaurant openings, and the occasional band that paid in drink tickets. I told him what I hoped to study. He listened without glancing at his phone, which made him seem more considerate than I wanted to notice. When he asked if I'd like to see his apartment, I considered the offer. I had a practice test scheduled for eight the next morning. I also knew that if I went home alone, I'd lie awake worrying about every answer I'd gotten wrong. "Okay," I said. "But I'm not staying over." "Understood." "And I'm not your girlfriend." "I haven't asked you to be." "And if we keep seeing each other, we talk about it if anything changes." "Sure." I studied his face, looking for a smirk. There wasn't one. "You make that sound very easy." "Maybe it is." "Maybe you're very good at saying what people want to hear." "Maybe you're very good at interrogating men you've known for forty minutes." "That's possible." He laughed and stood. "Want to find out?" I gathered my flash cards. The isotherm card slid to the floor, and Theo caught it before I could bend down. "Still don't know what this is," he said, glancing at it. "Neither do you." "I was hoping you did." I followed him out into the rain. His apartment was a ten-minute walk from the bar, above a bakery that started work before dawn. He asked before he kissed me. He asked again before he touched me. The care was unexpectedly appealing, and I tried not to make it mean anything. In the morning, I left before the bakery opened. Theo walked me downstairs in his socks, then handed me the flash card I'd left on his kitchen table. "You'll pass," he said. "You don't know that." "No. But I know you're going to study all day anyway." He was right. I went home, made coffee, and got four hours of work done. That night, he texted me. Theo: Did the isotherm survive? I smiled at the screen. Me: Barely. Theo: Drinks after your next practice test? I should have said I needed to focus. I should have said I had no interest in adding another moving part to my life. Instead, I typed: Me: If we keep it simple. His reply came a minute later. Theo: Simple I can do. At the time, I believed him.