Thursday, 1133 a.m. #2
“Alright, alright. Calm down,” Dane grumbled and turned around, not wanting to make this situation any worse than it already was. “I’ll keep looking for it myself. Thank you.” He could feel the scowling eyes following him as he shuffled down the hall.
Why is a jock like him working here anyway? With that attitude, that guy shouldn’t be anywhere near people who enjoy reading and the peace of a library. He’s probably underfucked and letting out his frustration on others.
There were many swears Dane would’ve enjoyed yelling at him through the halls, but he kept them to himself. Somehow, this guy was going to get what he deserved. Karma was a thing, and if Dane just let it go for now, it would strike that temp even harder. That, he was sure of.
Dane nestled into the glass corner of the cafeteria, claiming a table meant for four people.
Gigantic windows behind it framed a view of the park next to the campus while also providing a good vantage point of all the entrances and the checkout line.
This made it the perfect table to have everything necessary within view.
Yet, despite its advantages, the spot couldn’t shield him from what he hated most about the cafeteria: the noise.
Hundreds of people talking over each other, the relentless clanking of cutlery on porcelain, and the indistinctive hum of background music combined to create a nerve-wracking symphony that was even more stressful than the bass-heavy music at his roommate's parties.
Dane rummaged through his backpack for the earplugs he always carried with him. He had been using them for years and had grown so accustomed to them that he could easily engage in conversations with people who sat close to him while effectively blocking out a significant portion of the noise.
A few seconds later, the sounds became muffled, and even though it wasn’t as heavenly quiet as in the library, Dane felt a thousand times better.
He scrutinized the freshly baked pepperoni pizza and a side salad awaiting him on the table alongside a coffee-to-go.
Dane’s stomach grumbled, but it would’ve been rude to start eating while his roommate still wasn’t there.
He searched the dining hall and spotted Leon at the checkout, fumbling his oversized smartphone from his light blue jeans.
Their eyes met for a second, and Leon nodded, confirming that he saw him.
He held his phone to the contactless card reader and smiled at the older woman wearing a hairnet who worked the cash register.
Seconds later, Leon’s tray found a temporary home next to Dane’s. He had ordered the same things as Dane, except for the coffee—Leon’s was served in a porcelain cup.
“Forgot about it again?” Dane asked.
“I’m pro reducing waste, but it’s so inconvenient that they don’t even ask. Isn’t it obvious that I won’t finish a large coffee within the fifteen minutes I’m sitting here?”
“Guess we’ll just take a longer break,” Dane said with a smile, not minding if that became a reality. He wasn’t eager to rush back to the library just to run into that stupid prick again.
“How’s it going with Henderson’s paper?” Leon asked as he settled into the chair on the opposite side of the table.
“Good,” Dane replied, not wanting to delve into the topic nagging on his mind.
However, his face must’ve given too much away as Leon wrinkled his eyebrows like a worried friend was obliged to.
“Just had a minor mishap half an hour ago,” Dane added to get rid of Leon’s curious expression. “Almost got thrown out of the library.”
“Thrown out of the library? You?” Leon slid his chair closer and leaned forward, tilting his head to the side. “Come on, tell me the juicy details.”
“Nothing juicy there. They hired a new temp. The guy refused to help me find a book, and when I told him it was his job, he got all offended and threatened to call security if I kept screaming, which is super funny because I wasn’t.”
“I think I know who you’re talking about. There aren’t that many guys. Is he about my size, has a similar haircut and beard, and always wears leather sneakers?”
“You forgot to mention the shitty attitude toward me.”
Leon pointed toward the waiting line. “This guy?”
Dane turned his head and felt a quiver in his stomach as he spotted him holding a beige tray with a Greek salad on it.
The name tag was replaced by a brown bomber jacket over his black shirt, and a red baseball cap adorned his head.
He looked even more handsome, like every college girl's dream, which drove Dane wild. People as mean as him shouldn’t be allowed to look that good.
“Why is he everywhere I go?” Dane shifted in his chair.
“That’s Ty,” Leon said, turning back to their table. “And I think he counts as one of the things people call juicy.”
Ty. What a stupid name.
Dane tucked in his upper lip as a lump formed in his throat. “You know him?”
“We go to the same calculus class.”
“Any dirt on him?” Dane laughed, but his question was only answered with pursed lips.
“You really dislike him, huh?”
“He didn’t do anything to achieve the opposite.” Dane lowered his chin and pulled it back against his neck. “So?“
Leon grabbed his coffee, taking a sip as if hoping to buy time to think about what to answer. His eyebrows drew together, and he slowly peeked toward Ty before his eyes met with Dane's.
“He’s a business major and plays on the baseball team,” he said, taking another sip from the oversized coffee cup.
“That’s it?”
“Yes. It’s not like Ty and I are friends.” Leon scooted closer and let out a deep breath. “I’m honestly surprised you have such a rough time with him. Ty strikes me as one of the friendliest guys on the baseball team. Maybe he just had a bad day?”
“Oh my god, if he’s one of the friendly ones, I don’t ever want to meet the rest of the team.”
A crash turned the volume of the cafeteria down for a second. Dane and Leon turned their heads to see what was happening like everyone else.
Right next to Ty, a skinny dude lay on the floor with soup all over his shirt and jacket, and another guy in grey joggers towered over him.
“Watch it, moron,” he scolded him and stomped away.
Before anybody else could react, Ty placed his tray on the side of the counter and squatted down to assist the soup-drenched dude. He helped him back on his feet and jumped to the utensil station, grabbing a handful of napkins.
“See?” Leon said, “You probably just hit a nerve or something when you talked to him.”
“Maybe,” Dane replied, still watching Ty, who was now joined by several others, helping clean up the mess.
Dane sucked his cheeks in and bit on them as if this would help to endure the possibility that Ty might not be a bad guy but just didn’t like him.
Though, if that were true, what drove Ty to be so mean to him would be even more incomprehensible.
Leon took a bite of the pizza, and Dane decided to join him.
As they ate, Dane’s eyes were drawn again and again toward Ty, now smiling at the soup-drenched dude, who couldn’t stop thanking him.
Ty raised his head, thrusting his chest out, and looked across the room until his eyes fixed on Dane.
Uncertain if this was accidental, Dane turned his head to check if Ty was looking at someone else, only to remember that he was in a corner and no one else was behind him.
Ty’s smile widened to a grin as he continued glancing at him as if to say, ‘Look, I’m not a bad guy, but you’ll never get to see my good side, you fucker.
’ Dane narrowed his eyes while Ty’s eyebrows twitched upwards as if he were trying to provoke Dane to come at him here and now.
Dane clenched his fingers into a fist. What the fuck was Ty’s problem?