Chapter 18 - Like I have the Plague

"So, any exciting news?," Avery nudged my arm while I pondered over asking again to my mom if I could get a nose job, to which she had declined all of the times.

"Who, me? Mm, let's see. Oh, I saw something interesting yesterday. Did you know the female praying mantis chops the male's head off after mating?" I asked rhetorically; I knew no one other than a weirdo obsessed with animal videos like me would know that.

"What?," She laughed, picking up another fry from Joey's plate, "What kind of things are you watching, Donny?" She shook her head at me.

"What, it's interesting! And they even carry on with the process after he's decapitated." I added matter-of-factly.

"Okay... That is interesting, but I was actually expecting something else."

"Like?" I pressed. What interesting news could she expect from me? I don't think telling her I tried a new charcoal toothpaste last night would apply.

"Like, you know, how is that project going with Collin?" She asked me lowly as the others mindlessly kept their own conversation going.

One of the things I loved about our friendship was how well we knew each other. Over the 13 years of being close friends, she figured I wasn't a person who liked being the center of attentions and she respected that.

"Oh, that." I said and she shot me a duh look. "We haven't started yet." I shrugged.

"But it's been a few days, when are you going to get down to business?" She raised an eyebrow at me.

"That's an odd way of referring to 'working on a project'," I chuckled, "but yeah, I'll see to that soon."

It had been two days since Collin approached me to talk about the project, and it's been two days that I've been trying to avoid him. It's not like he intimidated me that much, but I just didn't want to be around him. First of all, the idea of working with boys didn't please me, so I was postponing our little talk; secondly, people would probably assume I was trying to get with him or something like that. As if.

She laughed, "Right. You're reaching out to him? I wanna see that."

"Oh my God, you too? He is literally just a person!"

"It's not that, he could be the ugliest guy on Earth, but you still wouldn't go to him to speak about the project."

I shot her a challenging look, urging her to elaborate.

"You'd most likely work behind his back and do all of it yourself, then ask for his opinion at the end of it, when he can't have a say on anything anymore and you won't have to endure a whole conversation."

"You have to admit it's always worked beautifully." I laughed, knowing she was right.

"Sure." She shook her head again, dipping a fry in ketchup. I think that maybe she wanted me to socialize more and come out of my shell. Well, too late for that.

"I will talk to him, okay?" I countered and she hummed, skeptical of my word. "Seriously, I'll go later." She hummed again, making me laugh and shake my head as well.

It's just a guy, I'll only talk to him about timings and who does what. Simple. 10 minutes for that should be enough.

I was already rehearsing in my head how this conversation would be. What I would say first, how I would approach him and the replies to all the possible things he could say when the one and only started walking towards our direction, tray in hand and that permanent detached-from-everything look on his face. Again, speak of the devil and he shall appear.

If I think about Taylor Lautner will he show up too?

A normal person would probably take the advantage of his or her partner getting closer to them to start a conversation, but me? Nah, that ain't me. I got up and took my empty tray with me before he could realize I had seen him.

Yeah, maybe I needed help.

"See you later, people." I told my friends after hurriedly huddling up my many crumpled napkins. They said bye back whereas Avery was the only one who found my sudden desire to leave strange and looked up, her eyes landing on the popular boy who was only a few meters away from us.

She laughed before turning her gaze to me, "I'll talk to him," she said in a mocking tone, copying my previous statement.

"Shut up, I said I would later." I snickered and turned around to leave.

After retrieving my tray and throwing out the disposables, I quickly swerved my way along the long buffet table, making a safe distance between Collin and me; him on one side of it and I on the other. I was playing dumb, pretending I hadn't noticed him walking behind me in hope that he'd try to "catch up", as he put it, some other time.

Maybe he doesn't even want to talk to you and just went to throw his trash out and is now leaving. You're being ridiculous.

Regardless of my brain telling me that, I walked faster.

Come on, legs, y'all gotta be long for a reason.

I finally reached the exit and had my foot on the first step of the stairs - I was planning on finding an empty classroom to stay in and read something or finish the draw I had started the other day - when his voice stopped me.

"Excuse me, Carson. Why exactly are you avoiding me?"

Crap. He noticed it?

Playing dumb again would be childish and useless, so I had no other choice but to turn around and face him. The look on his face made me feel even more like an idiot; it was that face you make when someone does something really stupid and you make sure to let them know just how stupid it was. I had been caught on the act.

"Collin, um, hi," I could feel my cheeks heating up, "what do you mean? Why would you think I'm avoiding you?" Returning a person's question with another question was always how I would try to get away with something without having to lie. I hated lying.

Surprisingly, he laughed. I didn't know whether to feel relieved or worried. "Are you serious? I've been trying to talk to you since Wednesday, but every time I approach you, you just run off like I have the plague. Do my fingers look black to you?"

That comment made me want to laugh, but I couldn't. So instead, I just looked at his fingers by instinct.

"Wow, you're actually checking if they are, okay." He laughed again, but it didn't seem like a sarcastic laugh. It just looked like he was finding my idiotic behavior entertaining. It must have been.

"I'm... I'm sorry, I was just... um..." I had no idea what to say to him. The floor became very interesting to look at, instead of his face, and I just felt like a culprit facing the judge in the court. I never thought he'd actually notice that I was trying to get away from his sight. I guess I never even fully believed that all those times he got close to me, it was because he wanted to talk and not just a coincidence that he was passing by. Why didn't I just go talk to him? Oh, right, it's because I'm a coward when it comes to talking to strangers.

"You know what? Never mind. Do you have a minute now?" He asked, saving me from embarrassing myself any further, taking a few steps towards the stairs.

"Yes. Yeah, I do." I answered, finally looking at him.

He actually smiled a bit. "Great, let's find a place to settle things."

With that, he started his way up the stairs and I followed behind, cursing me for being so awkward.