INTO THE VOID

CHAPTER 7: FANNING THE FLAMES

Xaviere took off his lab coat and folded it into his bag. He had just finished a 3-hour physics experiment. He was fatigued and just wanted to lie on his bed. There was nothing he wanted more right now than the solace of his room. Not his dorm room, no, no; his room. The one upstairs the 6 bedroom, semi-detached duplex he called home. There was nothing he would not give up right now to sit in the safety of his room, eating a plate of his mother’s cooking. But he could not go home, at least not till the end of the semester. He could not even go to his dorm because he had another two hours thirty minutes to work at the library.

He dragged his tired self to the library and simply just waved at Miguel; the security guard who took the afternoon shifts.

“Hi Xaviere…” Sarah said waving.

“Sarah, hey…” Xaviere responded unenthusiastically while still trying to fake a smile.

Sarah was an English literature major and was also working shifts at the library. She was a chubby brunette that wore catlike framed glasses. She was a lively and chatty person. She and Xaviere usually had a lot of book conversations whenever they had shifts at the same time. She easily smiled and easily showed emotion. She was an easy going person and not complicated.

“Well someone looks burnt out.” Sarah said responding to Xaviere’s lazy salutation.

“You have no idea. I had labs earlier and let me just say, three hours of Optics is not a very exciting experience.”

“I’m so sorry love. I guess these are the sacrifices we need to make for a better life huh? Well you’re in luck Mr Williams because I got my world famous baloney cheese sandwich, taadaa.”

“Oh my God, Sarah you’re the best. You really shouldn’t have. Thanks a lot.”

“You’re welcome and you know it is always my pleasure.”

Xaviere smiled at her as he took the sealed, transparent plastic bag from her. He took a bite and closed his eyes for a bit.

“It’s so good. Thanks a lot Sarah.” Xaviere said.

After he finished the snack, he walked around the shelves checking for the books that have been incorrectly placed. He found a few and placed them correctly. He sat behind the desk and scrolled through the computer.

“Sooo how was your day? Wait let me guess, morning workout, latte from Alice and a bunch of lectures you hate.”

“Hate is kind of a strong word.” Xaviere said smiling. “I met someone today… at the coffee shop.”

“Okay?” Sarah said.

“She is a girl from my Psychology class.”

“Okayyyy” Sarah said again; this time very enthusiastically. “Tell me everything.” She said adjusting her seat, her elbows on the table with her palms supporting her jaw.

“Stop it.”

“What?”

“Stop that; stop looking at me like that.” Xaviere said very shyly. He being uncomfortable only made her more inquisitive. She sat there like a puppy waiting for a treat; eager eyes. All she was missing was a salivating tongue and a wagging tail. Xaviere went on to tell her about Petrichor and how nice she was. He did well to exclude all his awkwardness from the story.

“I looked at the serviette and it was her number.” Xaviere said.

“Have you called her?”

“No, no wouldn’t it be too soon?”

“It has been almost a day. Don’t be a dumbass. If a girl gives you her number willingly and without you asking, she wants you to reach out. Call her or text her. Don’t just stand there, do something.”

“I will, I will. Are you happy now?” Xaviere took his phone and search through his contact list. He saved the number as Petrichor Psychology. It was her w******p number. He texted her, “Hey, it is the afro guy from psychology.”

“It is done, what now?”

“You wait, silly.”

Xaviere sat there scrolling through his laptop with his phone on the table. He was playing solitaire while he pretended to pay attention to Sarah. She was blabbing on about her day sparing him no detail; the colour of the cab drivers shirt and how he was an immigrant with a weird accent, her thoughts on overpriced clothes that girls are buying, she told him everything. All Xaviere did was nod, intermittently raising his head to look at her like the way a governmental official would when reading a speech and give responses like, “Wow”, “Damn”, “Really”, or “Is that so?”. This was a skill he picked up from Andrew on their excursion to Italy.

“What exactly do you say to these girls? I’ve watched you speak to these Italian girls all day, what do you say? You even make them laugh? Is there some secret you’re not letting me on?” Xaviere said. Andrew laughed hard.

“There is nothing to it mate. All you got to do is be confident and just… well, talk.”

“Confidence aside, what exactly do I say.”

“Nothing really; let her do the talking. Girls hate it when a guy talks too much. Suggest stuff to her but don’t exactly say anything. Find her interest and dwell there. Have her explain things to you and act like you’re really interested in the things she likes and talk about.

“C’mon, you want me to be some yes-man?”

“Well you can’t exactly agree to everything; it’s gon’ get boring. Object to some stuff; like ephemeral stuff. Like how you think Justin Bieber is better than the whole of one direction combined… stuff like that. Nothing too deep though because I know you. One little convo and you start talking about the structure of ancient Italian monarchy.

“Forget it; I doubt I’d even talk to any of these females.”

“Bruv, do you see these peng things? At this rate you might as well just graduate and go to senior seminary because broooo!!!” Xaviere smiled awkwardly.

But now, here he was using the wisdom Andrew had given out so easily back then; applying textbook “Female Psychology” as Andrew will call it. “Buzz, buzz.” Xaviere’s attention was drawn to the vibrating phone on the table. He had developed the habit of always setting his phone on silent due to his frequent classes. For someone who hated public attention, it would be an absolute nightmare to have his phone ring in class; Mozart’s Magic Flute playing very loudly over the speakers.

Xaviere took the phone in his right hand, looked at the screen while he adjusted his glasses with the left and looked towards Sarah.

“What’s wrong?” Sarah asked.

Xaviere said nothing. He just looked at the screen; his lips agape. Like he suddenly became aware that his shift was over, he frantically packed his things. He closed his laptop without properly shutting it down as he would normally do. He put all his belongings in the bag and slung it over his shoulder.

“Goodbye Sarah, I will see you later.” Xaviere said while he briskly walked away like he just remembered he left the stove on. He had walked quite the distance when a confused looking Sarah asked, “What’s wrong, did something happen?”

“She texted me back!” Xaviere yelled but just loudly enough so as not to disrespect the sanctity of the library. Sarah gasped. “Oh my God, Xaviere come back here and tell me what she said!” Sarah screamed with a little less decorum than Xaviere did to which she got a shushing by the chief librarian. By this time, Xaviere was far gone.

“I thought you preferred ‘Guy with square glasses.’” These were the words Petrichor texted back. They were preceded with three laughing emojis. Xaviere was so anxious and yet so confused; he did not know what to text back. Yes, he has had history texting females before but with Mary it was just dumb teenage stuff like what her favourite colour was or what shows she liked the most; there was nothing to it really. The craziest thing they had done was send pictures of their unclad bodies to one another. Xaviere did not tell anyone; not even Andrew. It was Mary’s idea. She casually mentioned it and Xaviere brushed it off as a joke. Twenty minutes later, he receives a picture of her bare chest. She had done well not to include her face but he could tell from the braids that were on her shoulders that that was her; voluptuous chest and pointy n*****s. They looked swollen, bigger than normal. She must have really been in a mood. To this gesture, Xaviere took off his shorts and sent a picture of his erectile organ which was also looking bigger than normal; excited at the image Mary had sent.

What was he going to text back? He was just short of words. Stuttering during physical speech was normal but he was always comfortable writing. He had more time to comport his thoughts and express them with words without the watching eyes of a person. But at this moment, he still did not know what to type. He tapped on a few letters and then hit the backspace button. He did this a couple of times while briskly walking back to the dorm, phone in hand contemplating his reply.

He walked up the stairs and through the hallway. He got out his key to open the door but found out that it was not locked. Logan had not left the room since morning. He walked in and saw his roommate propped behind a laptop on the table; pad in hand, playing video games. Logan, like most boys loved video games but he did maybe a little too much. He had a complete gaming set up; a large monitor screen, surround sound speakers, a game console and stacks of different game CDs. Whenever Xaviere was not around, he loved to play his games at the highest volume. He even got the room sound-proofed so he could avoid the noise complaints of members of other rooms.

“What’s up, what’s up.” Logan said spinning around in the chair. He put the game on pause and turned to face Xaviere who just walked in; occupied on his phone.

“Hey, Logan…” He replied; eyes peered to the phone screened.

“Oh well, I am feeling so much better, thanks for asking.” Logan said sarcastically.

“I am so sorry bruv. How’s your head?” Xaviere asked.

“Much better as you can see. I took the Aspirin as you suggested; worked like a charm”

“You didn’t go to any class. I hope you understand that there is a minimum attendance requirement you must meet to keep playing for the sports team.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah; I know that. Get off my case… coach.” Logan said laughing. He then connected his headphones to the game and continued playing now facing the monitor.

After much contemplation, Xaviere texted back a reply, “How did your day go?” To this question, Petrichor will give detailed narrations of events that occurred during the course of her day; much like what Sarah did but this time, Xaviere was actually paying attention, doing well to chip in comments when necessary.

“We had our first practical session on excavation. It was kinda interesting but from the looks of things it is really stressful.” Petrichor texted

“You are lucky. At least you do practical sessions related to your field. We had three hours of Optics. How is this going to help me deliver mothers of their babies?”

“That reminds me. Why do you want to become a Gynaecologist?”

“Here we go again. Well, I’ve always been fascinated at the miracle of life. The way each and every one of us becomes a living thing. 9 months ago you’re non-existent; just a jumbo of cells in two different people and one day those people decide to copulate and boom embryo, a few more days; foetus and then there is an intricate group of processes taking place each week as we lie in our mothers’ uterus. All of these fascinate me. I want to know what it is like to bring these miracles into the world. The honour to be the first one to hold a neonate; this bloody, crying baby… now that’s something I’d dedicate myself to.”

“When I think you can’t get any cuter, you find new ways to prove me wrong.”