Chapter 13
“Why have you been home so much lately?” Gabe’s presence is really cutting into my reading time.
“Anders has a girlfriend and I need someone to hang out with.”
Oh.
Bardot Besties
Bex’s Favorite
Tell Anders good morning for me, Bexy!
You guys renamed yourselves and the group chat again…
I can’t tell who that is.
Also why would I tell him good morning?? You all literally just saw him last night and I’m guessing you have his number.
BBE (Big Bro Energy)
Fuck. What did they change my name to?
Okay so that’s Jules.
#1 Brother
How do you know? THIS could be Jules.
Because Jules is actually my favorite brother – he doesn’t give me shit like you two hooligans. He would have no idea you hijacked my phone… AGAIN.
BBE (Big Bro Energy)
It would help if you change your passcode from your birthday to something a little more secure.
#1 Brother
Oh Julien, ever the practical one.
I don’t have the time or energy to remember a random series of numbers. Maybe Gabe and Ben should just, I don’t know, respect my privacy??
Bex’s Favorite
Just tell him good morning! He was already gone when I woke up this morning and I might have been kind of hard on him when we talked after dinner last night.
Gabe… Text him yourself. I’m walking into class, gotta go byyyyeeee!
*Bex’s Favorite changed the group name to Band of Bardots*
Rolling my eyes, I slide my phone into my backpack. I’m late to class which seems like it will continue to be a trend in my life. Not even the allure of seeing my red headed Viking man is enough to get me out of bed, so you know it’s bad.
Wait. My? Where the fuck did that come from?
I shake off that thought along with the snow on my boots as I make my way into the theater. A coffee is waiting for me by my normal seat which does something to me. I was so thankful when I woke up to a text from Anders that just had the coffee cup emoji and a question mark. Obviously the answer was yes and this little routine of ours is doing a number on that organ I’ve kept on lockdown for the last several years.
Smiling into my coffee cup, I let my curls fall around my face as I inhale the bitter scent of my favorite dark roast. I look up just in time to catch Anders staring at me with the stupidest, adorable smirk on his face.
His smirks make me angry. But like, hot angry, if that”s a thing. Really, his smirks make me hot and that makes me angry. I scrunch my nose and his smirk grows into a full blown grin.
Damn him. The grin is even better than the smirk.
The rest of class goes that way. Anders looks so good doing absolutely nothing, and I just watch him. We do some breathing exercises but thank God, no crazy theater games today. Anders does a quick lecture on the intention that actors need to set in a scene before assigning us our own scene to analyze with a partner.
Glancing down my row, I make eye contact with a guy sitting a few seats away. And because I apparently have zero social skills, I do a weird little gesture with my pencil, pointing it to him and then back to myself.
He raises an eyebrow but obviously gets my point, because he gathers his things and closes the gap between us. I stick my hand out like an idiot even though there’s not a ton of space.
“Hi! I’m Bex. I have no interest in acting so I will definitely be a horrible partner—thanks for coming over here anyway.”
He laughs at that as he awkwardly pulls his arm in, T-Rex style, so he can shake my hand. “Grant, nice to meet you. I have a lot of interest in acting, so you just lucked out with the partner gods.”
“Oh yeah? You’re in this class on purpose?” I ask.
A snort laugh precedes his answer. “Yes, I’m in this class on purpose. I’m a transfer so I’m having to take some of the prerequisites again, but I’m an acting major. Very much on purpose. I’m guessing you’re not?”
“Absolutely not. I am a senior social work major and ended up in this class as a last resort for a fine arts credit. But it hasn’t been as bad as I thought it would be.”
At that moment, Anders walks up to us. “How’s it going guys? Any questions about the scene?”
Grant launches into an in depth analysis, asking insightful questions, and engaging in a dialogue with Anders that has something to do with one of the characters in the scene. By the time they’re done, my eyebrows are in an intimate relationship with my hairline and my eyes are at risk of falling out of my head.
“Do you agree, Bex?” Anders asks, even though he knows I did not follow any of that.
“That… seems… accurate.” I have no idea if it’s accurate.
Grant just smiles and whispers, “Told you.”
My wide eyes turn back to Anders, whose gaze is shifting between the two of us. “Right. Well, I’ll leave you two to it. Seems like Grant has it under control. Don’t do all the work for Bex, though,” he says with a wink, turning to help the next group.
We spend the next twenty minutes working with our partners. Grant knows his shit, so I try to contribute where I can. Anders wanders around the room talking to different partner groups, but every time I look over at him, he’s already watching me.
Class wraps up and I cautiously make my way to the front of the theater, telling myself I only want to thank Anders for the coffee.
I hold up my empty to-go cup. “Coffee. Thank you.” Goodness shit. “I mean, thank you for the coffee. Again.”
“Anything to entice you to come to class,” he laughs.
As if I need something other than him to entice me to do literally anything.
“I’m enjoying the class more than I thought I would. You haven’t made me do anything too embarrassing.”
“Yet.” His smile is devious. I’m hot angry again.
“Well that is very comforting, thank you.” I sit in one of the front row seats as I watch Anders pack up his class materials.
“I do my best.” He pauses and takes a deep breath, bracing himself for whatever he’s about to say. “Listen, I wanted to talk to you about something.”
Oh God, the worst sentence known to anyone with even an ounce of anxiety.
“Is this about the alien smut?” I ask, frantically waving my hands in front of my face. “Because I really think it would be better if we all just forg—”
“Bex, stop spiraling. This is not about your alien smut, though I would definitely love to talk more about that.” He sits down next to me and the corners of his eyes do a little crinkle thing as he bites his lip, like he’s trying to stop himself from howling with laughter.
“I only wanted to let you know that I spoke with Professor Callahan this morning about our friendship.” Something inside me revolts at that word and it must show on my face because Anders immediately begins to clarify.
“Sorry if that was overstepping. It’s just that we’ve known each other for a long time now and we’re friends? Ish? Friends-ish?” All of these sentences are ending like a question. I watch as Anders flounders through what he’s trying to tell me, and all of a sudden it hits me. I’m reading too much into this, which is exactly what I was trying to protect myself from.
I get it, now—I’m Gabe’s little sister. I’m not really Anders’ friend, more like friend-adjacent. Friend-ish, as he so eloquently put it.
He continues, “I didn’t want anyone getting the wrong idea about us and wanted to make sure everything was ‘above board.’” He air-quotes this. “Gabe talked to me last night and I realized he was right. I don’t want to get either of us in trouble.”
“You spoke to Gabe about me being in your class?”
“Gabe brought it up actually.” Remind me to kill Gabe. “Sorry this is not going how I wanted it to.” He takes a deep breath. “Bex, I want to be—”
“Friends-ish, yeah. I heard you. I didn’t mean to make things weird. Don’t worry, I’ll just be a regular student in this class. I’m not expecting special treatment or anything.”
“I didn’t mean to imply that you were, but I don’t want to be friends with you.”
I rear back because ouch.
His eyes widen as he realizes what he just said. “Wait, that”s not what I mean. I meant—”
“No, it”s fine.” I stand abruptly and grab my stuff so I can get the hell out of here.
I can’t even look him in the eye as I speed walk to the exit. “Thanks again for the coffee. That was a very friendly thing to do. I won’t hold my breath for it to happen again.”
Am I being petty? Yes. Do I regret it? Also, yes.
I yank the door open as Anders yells, “Bex! Wait! I want to be friends! Be my friend!” His voice sounds a bit hysterical as the door slams shut behind me.