Chapter 3
friend*ship emoji*
Riz
What movie do you want to watch tonight?
Doesn’t Emma Stone have a new one out?
Riz
You have always had a thing for redheads…
I’m lost. Which is a great way to start this damn semester from hell. Not only do I one thousand percent NOT want to be taking Introduction to Acting, I definitely don’t want to be taking it at 9 a.m., three times a week. Not to mention, my morning has already gotten off on the wrong foot, starting with literally running into Anders Olsson at the coffee shop on this side of campus.
I have spent the last year and a half avoiding Anders. I thought I was in the clear when he left for New York shortly after undergrad, which was right when I was starting at Hawthorne. Then two years later he showed back up in my life when he returned to HU to get his MFA.
This last year and a half, I’ve done a pretty good job of staying away from that gorgeously infuriating man. Sure, that’s meant that I generally only see Gabe when we are at Mom and Dad’s, or he stops by my apartment. You know, because I’m avoiding his place. Since he lives with Anders. As in, they are roommates. And if I am around Anders for more than three and a half minutes, stupid shit comes out of my mouth.
I was trying to have a positive attitude this morning, doing one of those affirmations Luci always talks about, until I ran into Anders at the coffee shop. The miniscule crush I definitely do not still harbor threw me off, and somehow I ended up in the wrong building. Once I finally make my way to the mother fucking basement of a completely different building, I’m almost twenty minutes late to class.
I walk in and look for a seat at the back of what appears to be a small black room, right as a man pops up from the ground of a makeshift stage, seven or so rows in front of me.
The first thing I observe is thick auburn hair. And then a matching beard and bright green eyes that lock with mine as he stands to his full height.
Confusion passes through those eyes as he seemingly involuntarily mouths, “Rebecca?”
My eyes go wide and we stand there for what feels like an eternity.
“Uhh… here for Introduction to Acting?” he finally asks, his eyes cutting over to an older man that I’ve just now noticed. He looks vaguely like Santa Claus and gives me a warm smile before his eyebrows scrunch in confusion toward Anders.
All I can do is nod my head. My body is frozen in place. Is this what shock feels like?
What is he doing at the front of the room? If this man is my fucking teacher this semester I am going to lose it.
No less than eight different emotions flit across his face so quick I don’t have time to place any of them. He finally lands on smug with a side of pure amusement.
“Well then take a seat. We were just discussing the syllabus.”
I still do not know any words apparently, so I grab the extra copy he holds toward me and find a place to sit.
Anders continues to talk from the stage, but all I can hear is a shrill ringing in my ears. I have to figure out a way to get out of this.
My mind races with possible solutions. Maybe I can email my advisor and quadruple check that there are no other options available that will fulfill my fine arts credit. Only, I know for a fact that nothing else was available, that’s why she was so jumpy when we met.
Honestly, the rage that I initially felt about this whole situation is coming back. This time, however, I am mad at myself. What is wrong with me?! I’ve known this man for six years—why can’t I be in the same room as him? It frustrates me to no end how much he flusters me, and always has.
And if we want a little more honesty, I’m mad at Anders too. He has flirted with me since the moment we met, but I know he’s never meant anything by it. I don’t understand why he has always toyed with me in that way. I should not have to rearrange my whole life, possibly leading to an extra semester, just because I can’t be in the same room as Anders fucking Olsson.
I roll my shoulders back and mentally tell myself to suck it up, buttercup because every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning will now be spent with Anders, learning to cry on command or whatever the fuck you learn in Intro to Acting.
Fantastic.