Stranger with the Stars

Class Together

“What an asshole! All within 24 hours. What a butt f*****g asshole! How dare he! I’m writing a letter. No! I’m writing two letters! Where’s my pen?!” Archie was screaming from the kitchen for the past few hours. He was livid from the events and kept asking if I was sure that I was okay.

“Are you sure you don’t want to file a police report? I mean he deserves it!” He called out.

“I don’t know! If Trenton did something after I left, I don’t want him to get busted. He did it to help me and I couldn’t even bother to thank him or stay put.” I was hugging a pillow to my chest. We had put on some movies on the T.V. but I couldn’t focus on that right now. My thoughts kept going back to Trenton standing over me.

“Okay, well you’re gonna see him if we have class together. You know that right?” He was angrily scratching on something, I hoped it was paper instead of the countertops. 

“Yeah, I know. I’ll just sit in the back or something. He’s normally off to the side somewhere. If I get there early enough, I can pick my spot. You know the girls around him always take the good seats.” I was hoping that he’d be too distracted by the other girls to try and talk to me.

“Could we drive your car? I don’t feel like bringing my giant orange flag back on campus to those who also feel like throwing hands today.” I really wanted to be as inconspicuous as possible.

“Yeah we could. Just let me clear some junk out. It’s not in the cleanest state right now.” He reached for the trashcan, banging it along his leg as he made his way to the garage. It was sweet he was willing to put in the effort to me. 

“Thank you, honey bunches. I’ll buy you dinner.” I called out as the garage door shut.

Truth be told, I kind of wanted to talk to Trenton. I wanted to thank him, I just wasn’t sure how. I could always surprise him with candy or some sort of flower. If he ever said more than a few things to me, I could try to become his friend. He seemed to always be within a few yards, but never close enough to talk to. His guy friends and the girls made sure no one got close enough. Signing, I decide to head upstairs and shower before going in. I was going, and that was final.

_______________________________________

“Hey so remember when we dressed you up to go dancing and you were absolutely stunning that night?” Archie asked. We were on our way back to campus. He decided to not let us have any silence so that my mind couldn’t wander. I learned the hard way that he had made the choice when he busted into the bathroom during my shower. 

“Yeah, I somewhat remember that. What about it?” I answered lazily. I was staring out the window watching the trees pass by. I couldn’t get enough of the nature around us. 

“Could you, maybe, do that again but like for me? I need someone to come into my theater class, I need to do their makeup and clothes to show ‘versatility’. Please, please, please, please. I love you so much.” Archie begged while trying to grab my hand, causing us to swerve a bit within the lane.

“Fine! Fine! Just don’t crash the car!” I forced him to put both hands back on the wheel. He let out a lil ‘yay’ noise bouncing around. 

“God, I love you. Thank you. I know you have some dresses in the back of the closet, but you’re gonna have to wear some of those heels. You’ll be dressed up for a few hours, so pick some heels you won’t die in.”

“I better get a gift for this. I don’t normally wear that stuff around strangers.”

“Honey, I’m gonna f**k you up on Christmas. Santa ain’t got nothing on this wallet when it comes to you this year.” He sarcastically threw his hands down. 

“Let me guess, you’re doing it in front of a group of people..”

“Maybe. It might… possibly be done in front of a large student body as the people have to vote for the best before and after…You could always do that chair dance for them. Who knows, the club is still deciding to make the finished people do a presentation via song and dance.”

“You better make Santa beg for forgiveness then. I also request that you try not to lure in a bigger crowd than needed.”

“No promises. However, I don’t think you’d object if.. Oh I don’t know… Trenton.. Casually passed by during the reveal?” His face brightened, sending me his biggest puppy dog eyes.  

“Shush, I don’t like him like that!” My whole face was burning, my cheeks turning bright pink. I swatted at Archie. 

“Thank you for agreeing, I appreciate and love you… And we’re here!” He blew a kiss to me before putting the car in park. I didn’t even notice at this point that we were at school. With Archie’s car, we can get a closer spot than we would in my truck, so we were within a short walking distance to the class. 

We trotted along, a few other classmates walking up with us making casual conversation. I think one was named Sadie, the other was maybe Joan? I couldn’t quite remember. They were super nice, and offered some jokes that made for some good laughs. It was nice to feel like a bunch of teens walking to class together. That was until we entered the lecture hall. 

It was relatively empty, with people starting to pour in from a few different doors. The back was deserted with everyone getting their desired seats in the middle or front. Scanning the seats, I decided the back row, towards the middle, was going to be where I’d plant myself. Archie and the girls decided to take the row in front of me but a bit closer to the outskirts. That’s when he entered. I could see him coming in from the left back door. How could I miss him?

Trenton looked as though he was scanning the room, when his eyes landed on me taking a seat. I could see him starting to make his way down the isle when the voices started piping up.

“Oh Trenty! Down here silly!”

“Yeah! Come join us!”

“Oh please! We can do notes together!”

The girls that normally surrounded him were down towards the front, absolutely reaching for his attention. I could see a few of his guy friends up there as well, I think the one was named Matt? Matty? I couldn’t quite remember. He shot me a glance and gave me a wave before turning back. I tried to wave back, sadly getting the attention of the girls calling out to Trenton. 

“You’re not going to sit back there!”

“We’ll come to you!”

“Yeah!”

They started to pick up their bags, looking more than eager to head to the back. I could see Matt attempting to grab one's backpack strap, but failing. Fabulous, I was going to spend class surrounded by these people. I kicked the back of Archie’s chair, sending him a pleading look when he turned to see what was going on. Before he could pipe up, the front presentation door opened. 

“All right class! Seats, now!” The professor shouted in the room. The girls froze and tried to still make their way up the stairs.

“Ladies, back down in the front. I want your full attention. Thank you!” He sang out. The girls moaned in protest, clomping their way back down and huffing to their seats. 

I made a personal note to thank the professor for his wonderful ability to shut something down without even knowing it was happening. Before my small celebration was done, I hear the seat next to me making the dreadful noise of being filled.

Shooting my head to the right, I came face to face with Trenton. His eyes trained on my face, offering me a ‘did you miss me’ kind of smile. I groaned back. He responded with a light chuckle.

_________________________

The class wasn’t exceptionally exciting. I kept trying to make myself smaller, in hopes that my body would disappear from existence. I could feel Trenton’s eyes on me the entire time, but each time I snuck a glance back, he was focused on whatever was on the whiteboard. The professor was speaking about something to do with the meaning of words in simple poetry. Explaining that even the smallest phrase, the choice of a tense of a word, could change the entire meaning. The girls from earlier looked bored out of their mind, Archie was still giggling with the girls in front of us. The clock hands were moving at a snail's pace, reminding me that this wasn’t just going to end with a prayer.

“You could try to be more friendly when someone sits next to you.”

At first, I didn’t recognize Trenton was directing that at me. I sat back to face him, looking at that perfectly tanned face. His plaid button up was lazily strewn across his chest. The light green shirt wrinkled into each abb that he had the graciousness to own. The dip in the t-shirt allowed a beautiful view of the muscular neck. I felt like I had run into him before.

“Thank you for earlier, you didn’t have to. You also didn’t have to sit back here.” I sheepishly responded.

“Mhmm..” He responded with a low tone. We were back to one-word answers. 

Shortly after, the class bell rang out. The professor granted us all a release with a warm goodnight to follow. As I was going to get up, Trenton reached for my wrist. It sent tingles throughout my body. 

I turned to face him. We stood in silence for a moment, searching each other's faces for answers on what to say next. I didn’t want him to let go, I didn’t want to leave. I wanted time to stop right then and there. 

“Ellie, I..” He started, just to be cut off by the shrill voices piping up once more.

“Trenty! I can give you a ride home!”

“Yeah, Matty said that you guys walked here, we can take you!”

The girls were coming up, and hadn’t noticed him holding on to me yet. I didn't want to hear it from them. I felt him pull me in, his face inches from mine, staring straight into my eyes.

“You’re welcome, Ellie.” He whispered into my ear at a tone only a mouse could hear.

I felt him release my wrist, allowing me to pull back. A smile etched on his face. I made my way to the back door completely stunned. My senses slowly make their way back to me.

 Archie had already made it outside. I took a glance back before leaving. Trenton's eyes were on me, his hands went into his pockets. His face sent out a ‘you know you want to stay’ look, with a twinkling in his eyes.  

I sucked in the air I was forgetting to breathe, stepping out into the evening air. I wanted to go home and sleep. Archie was still laughing with the girls. We didn’t live far, so I sent him a text letting him know I could walk home. I could be home in maybe 30-40 minutes if I walked at a casual pace. 

“I don’t f*****g think so, sweetie.” Giving me a heart attack, Archie snatched the phone out of my hand. The girls were gone. 

“Jesus, Arch, you don’t gotta kill me!” I brought my hands to my chest, gulping in the air. 

“You’re not walking home, I was promised dinner and I don’t want another fight. Let’s go.” He grabbed me by the arm, dragging me to his car.

I stopped in my tracks.

“Maybe we could go to the library instead?” I posed the question to Archie. He stopped, turning to face me.

“You wanna go study? Now?” He raised his arms to bring my attention to the setting sun. We had a free weekend, it wouldn’t be a bad thing to go study. 

“I could go without you. I'll meet you at home later.” I pointed behind me. Turning around to start my walk towards the library. I could see Trenton already making his way towards the building. I didn’t know if he knew, but I was excited that he did. 

“Ugh, fine. But you’re buying me dinner. You’re not getting out of it.” He sighed back at me. 

“Let’s go, my little study buddy!” I grabbed his arm. He offered a hearty smile back. We made our way to the library, arm in arm.