Three Phantoms of You [bxb]

Every Corner, You.

Kiev:

Hey

Exhaustion always creeps in whenever you're somewhere you don't want to be. In my case, it's always school. I'm back studying at the wooden table placed on campus, with not a glimpse of understanding in my mind.

It's puzzled and fixated on only him.

"What are you thinking about?" My friend Wallen just came, bringing me lunch, to accompany me at the table.

He barely joins me since he's always with his girlfriend, yet after he heard the news of my breakup, he couldn't help but feel sorry and heavy hearted.

He definitely should be. I mean, he's the one who introduced me to Chaiste anyway. That girl—

And he always does this thing of broaching me new people, leaving me to get to know them, then coming back after partition counters. It's not foreign. But I couldn't really ask him to stop because he'd just keep bothering me about it.

We're already seniors; you need to experience real love, dude.

Just try; it'll take your mind away from studying too much.

Funny how much I'm icked at the fact that someone like him would even try to escort me in finding the true definition of love. Love doesn't really excite a cruel heart, but rather burns it. I got that from my biology class to conclude after studying it detail-by-detail. Hearts aren't given to feel; everything is just a state of mind.

However, even though he's douchey of a friend sometimes—I mean, most of the time. It doesn't cancel out the fact that he's all I have here.

We've been best friends since we were kids and are the only two to pass through this university from my small town. Even if we don't have classes together, I still wish to have his presence here while I'm battling academics to satisfy my erudition. He feels the same way. And I'm fine with every help he can give.

"Just studying again," I answer.

He examines what I'm holding-another biology book that discusses population dynamics. He seems to not understand it because he's more of an artsy guy. No. Literally. He vents how hard my course is more often than he yaps about his problems; that's a good thing yet—

Him.

I can see his presence from a mile away. I always seem to be coaxed whenever I see his phantom brush among students on our campus. I've been eyeing him for a long time, yet I couldn't gaze directly into his soul. He's far from me, and it pisses me off.

Why do you still afflict my mind?

A question I keep recalling over and over when I converse, sit, and compete with him. It's our dynamic. I piss every rationality out of him while he pierces disturbance through my body.

It has always been like that since high school, every time I see him at contests. His eyes are nothing more than warmth, contrary to mine, which persists in all fakeness and devilry in his glance.

"You again, Mr. Weisser. So glad you never injure your ego from a huge fall," he starts.

That's what he said on our first day here. He never fails to bring up our history whenever we see each other instead of letting it go.

"I never injure. Though my fist is about too if you don't quiet down," I reply in grit. "Why not greet me welcome instead?" I continued with only bitterness in my face.

He looks at me, smiling. f*****g smiling. Before pushing out a reply. "Well, I only give welcome to those who I'm happy to see. And happiness doesn't really hit me whenever I see you, sorry." Told you, he hides his madness from his smile.

Much less; I'm used to it, and he knows that I'll do anything to give him cold shoulders as well. He's a b***h of a grimace. And I hate it. "Better wipe that smile off then, or I might get the wrong idea."

"I won't," he ends.

"Stop it," Wallen warns.

He knows how much this guy iritates and annoys me, yet he doesn't entirely get our conflict.

"Dude, you're grown up. Enough with those high school s**t," he says. "If you'll keep eyeing him instead of avoiding, you'll be all over him. Might as well f**k with him at this point." My jaw clenched at that thought.

Him? Nolan Staten? The one I spent my high school life pining and hating, ending up being the one who enlivens me? Funny, but not on my memo.

I'd rather he curse me with indignation instead of yearning, because I see him indifferently.

Our past doesn't entirely revolve around high school disputes though. It's more than that. It's more than that, for me and for him. We were never close, yet I somewhat understand him. If Winch says that one is to meet someone who's opposite of you, where you'll find everything about yourself in a different light than them, then you have met your match. Opposites do attract. However, attraction is replaced by hatred between us.

Once again, Nolan is sitting one table apart from me, facing me as he briefly flashes me a smile. He always does this, and in exchange, I return a flash of frown.

I hate how I idolized him before and saw him with incandescent eyes, yet his kiss speaks far from ingenuity and wrecked us both. Now, we only see each other as enemies, which is not what I had hoped for.

"I need to go." I counter.

Wallen shifts from his seat and moves out of my way. I needed another escape, and my mind wouldn't think practically if I were invested in the sight of Nolan's foolishness instead.

I took my book and my bag and hastily walked away from our campus' lunch area. It's debilitating to continue every day running away from him when he keeps pushing himself on me for all the bad reasons. I usually keep up with it, but right now, I can't. I still have a test to study for. So, I try to find a nearby cafe and walk through its door.

Shit.

Cold air flashes on my face as it whispers the promise of calmness. It's another different sensation, shifting my body away from what keeps bothering me. All's tables are packed with individuals enjoying their own type of cravings, and I'm one to join them.

I head straight to the counter and order my regular caramel macchiato with three pumps of vanilla syrup.

The barista lists down my order and writes my name in a cup.

She seems like a newbie here. A new phantom I haven't really known to crash into, causing me to once again observe. It's what I do best whenever I want to know someone.

Her nametag says Nina. Yeah, It doesn't ring a bell. Yet her face seems like it had been taken from one of my formalities. I saw her. I know where. She's wearing the same thing a barista in this cafe would wear. A shirt of the same print, promoting its brand. Her skin is glowing, as it is fairly toned across her whole body and her eyes glimmer tranquility. All I see is how much she knows herself, from her lush, curly hair to her rehearsed smile to her carefully calloused hands. It's condescending to watch someone so familiar be another name I had never thought of remembering. Same age, same idea of where we are in life, yet different in thinking. She's more rational, I'm immature, and I'm well aware of that from just analyzing her.

"Sir, is that all?" she asks, taking me aback once again from my thoughts.

I flash her a dainty smile, trying to cover more of me. I'm used to lightening up those who interest me. It's easier than expressing love. It's friendly and less of a hassle. And it's cute to see her smile back genuinely from what I have given.

"I know you," I suddenly announce.

She gives me a knowing look, signaling that I'm not mistaken. "Yep, from your science class. You were one of those students I look up to so much from," she compliments. "It wouldn't surprise me to know that you're a scholar here."

It's nice to her something flattering from someone coming from her mind rather than their heart. "Yeah, I do. And you..." I trail.

She still looks genuine, even if her smile faints into neutrality. "I stopped," she says. Which hits me.

It's hard to know that people you seem to have seen before are just souls wandering now and are estranged from what you've known them to be.

She didn't say much more, and we finished off our talk. There were people waiting behind me as well, so I didn't bother to continue the peace we had begun.

However, as I trail away from the cashier, my eyes instantly fix on someone sitting alone across the room.

Nolan.

What the f**k are you doing here?