8

Why did I have to do that? I ask myself as I down my third glass of whiskey. The bartender looks worried and decides to ask.

"Sir, no offense, are you okay? I know it's none of my business but seeing as it's morning, we've only just opened and there aren't many people here, I think I have the right to ask."

I sigh, I didn't appreciate a stranger asking me all this stuff. I look into his eyes and sigh.

"It's no big deal, it's not something I can discuss with just anyone. It's more personal and a little more complicated."

"I understand but just know I won't tell anyone your secret, you're neither the first nor the last client to tell their problems. Say, who have you slept with and regretted it?"

"How do you know it was sex?"

"Everyone I've talked to has a different expression based on what their problem is. Those with relationship problems tend to feel sorry for themselves, those stressed about exams carry their notepad to the bar and those with problems in paradise better said sexual problems are like you, they order whiskey after whiskey until they forget about them. So are you starting?"

"Yeah..." I say a little more anxious, I was just about to share my problems with a stranger.

"So, last night I made a big mistake, I can't exactly call it a mistake, I did something I should have done when I was ready. I was with him in a friend's Jacuzzi and it went from just talking to sex. Don't get me wrong, I like him, God, I like him I just didn't find the sex as good as I think it would have been if I was at least in a relationship with him."

"Wait, you're not in a relationship? Then it was just a one-night stand or something emotional."

"I'd say something full of feelings, I can't speak and from his point of view, I don't know exactly how he feels about me yet, I can only hope that his feelings are similar to mine."

He listened, he seemed like a nice person to talk things out with.

"I think you should talk to him, don't get me wrong but such matters can only be cleared up if you communicate."

"I'll try, thanks for the advice."

I get up and pay for what I've consumed, I head for the door but the barman calls out to me.

"Boy! Here."

He hands me a piece of paper with a phone number and a name.

Luke

+12067689653

I take the paper and leave.

I was feeling better after communicating my problems with Luke, he seemed like a calculate man and he was also good at his job.

I had seen him a couple of times but in those circumstances I couldn't talk to him, he was busy making cocktails and other drinks, he took my orders sometimes but always had that neutral expression on his face.

I had to go to college, it wasn't far from the bar since it was only 5 minutes to college.

I get there and walk into the lecture hall.

Everyone was so loud.

Skye, Sarah, and Lucas were that cheerful trio who were always gossiping and making the loudest noise even during class.

Adam, Athena and Monica were the quiet ones but their silence helped them to also have the best results in the group.

I didn't socialize with many people there. Just Sarah, Kyoko and Andrew.

Kyoko was in her chair, putting makeup on Andrew while laughing at the expressions he was making.

She notices me and says.

"Finn, what did you do last night? Did you have fun?" She asks with a visible grin on her face.

"I don't want to talk about it."

I'm going to sit in the chair next to her and put my head on the table.

She puts her hand on my hair and strokes it.

"Aren't you curious to see what Andrew looks like with makeup on?"

As soon as I hear those words, my curiosity is piqued and I look at Andrew. He really did look good in makeup but I couldn't take the makeup seriously because of the whiskers on his cheeks.

I couldn't stop laughing.

"Hey! Not funny! She tormented me." Andrew was annoyed but Kyoko was amused.

The Linguistics teacher enters the classroom. Silence settles in the classroom because he was a stern teacher, he knew how to silence the class.

He begins the lesson, based more on phonetics

He decides to ask a question.

"What do you call phonemes that have alternative phonetic realizations?"

He looks around the room and fixes his eyes on me, everyone was scared of him, no one wanted to answer. With his eyes already fixed on me it was logical that he was going to ask me.

"Finneas. Will you answer that?"

"Yes, Mr. Garcia.

Phonemes that have alternative phonetic realizations are called allophones."

"Correct."

It seemed strange to me that Mr. Garcia was always asking me, in every class he relied on me, ignored the others, and wanted to hear only me.

He favored me, but I didn't think it was too exaggerated, some teachers favored other students too, I wasn't the only one who was favored.

However, I noticed that Garcia always looked at me with a certain look that seemed to penetrate me. I was not interested in a relationship with him, he was my teacher and that was it.

He could believe me whatever he wanted, but I would never believe him any more than a professor of Linguistics in the college of Literature at Seattle University. After I finish my remaining 2 years here, I never want to hear from him again.

The class was ending and we had some damn sports classes, they weren't mandatory but they helped us get more credits.

I'm about to walk out of the class after Linguistics and I'm stopped by Garcia.

"Finneas, will you help me with something?"

"What would you like my help with?"

"I need to give out some flyers to some high school students and I'm supposed to hand them out tomorrow, but I have plans with my wife tomorrow and I can't. Will you hand them out?"

"Sure, what high school?"

"Cleveland."