Astronomy 101
1:1
She was doing it again.
While Professor Heath droned on about far away nebulas, six of the room's occupants had returned to their laptops, three were pretending to be absorbed in their books --while texting beneath their desks, eight were shamelessly sleeping, and she, the one sitting one row over, was writing.
Note taking, it was supposed to look like, but the sentence alignment was off. Groups of four or five lines, carefully printed in her tiny handwriting, making it impossible to read from even the short distance away.
Irritating.
Curiosity was not kind to those easily distracted. Usually it was accompianied with disappointment and frustration. What could she be writing? His own doodle of Kermit the Frog teaching from an Astronomy book had been abandoned the minute she pulled out her black and white Mead notebook, and it lay rough and unfinished on the edge of his paper.
He'd seen her doing this before, of course. Every now and then, when the day's lecture was particularly boring, she'd open to a fresh sheet and her left hand would start scribbling away. Why this action was so facinating to him, he didn't know. Maybe it wasn't even the action itself. Maybe it was just because she was doing it.
She'd caught his attention on the first day quite unexpectedly. It was early; far too early for any class, let alone a three-hour one, and five minutes before it he was standing at the vending machine fighting for the release of his favorite strawberry-flavored PopTarts. The metal spiral had barely moved upon taking his last dollar, and in his sleep-deprived and hungry state, he could only gaze at the food behind the glass with a sort of broken-hearted defeated frown, like the look his dog gives him when he loses his favorite bone.
In the reflection of the glass, he'd seen her, sitting on the bench on the opposite wall as the machine. He hadn't noticed anyone behind him before, but there really wasn't a whole lot of her to see. Physically, that is. She was tiny. Five foot nothing at his best guess.
It had taken a minute for it to register with him that she'd been watching, and smiling at him, but by the time he'd turned around she'd already gotten up and was walking away. He gazed after her curiously as she adjusted the strap of her bag on her shoulder and rumpled the back of her pixie-cut brown hair.
This was an action, he noticed, she did quite often.
Even now, as she sat next to him in class, he watched as she ran her fingers through the back of her hair. Slowly, as if expecting there to be more hair where there was none.
She'd stopped writing by now and pushed the book forward after closing it. Yawning, she stretched back gently in her seat and a few cracks of her spine could be heard. Without warning, she looked over at him.
She gave him an apologetic smile as if to say, "Sorry for the noise," and then glanced back at the teacher. He was dismissing the class early, and most of the class was already getting on their feet.
Quick! Say something!
The sudden thought came to him as he watched her getting her bag from the floor.
He hurriedly got to his feet but she was already walking towards the door.
"Hey, wait!"
The words came out of his mouth before he could stop himself. Clumsily he got out of his desk and walked after her. She turned at the sound of his voice, and quickly sidestepped the other class mates as they were exiting. When she saw who had spoken, her head tilted to the side in a silent question, but she walked back towards him nonetheless.
Unprepared for her sudden attention, he had nothing to say. Or rather, he had so many things he wanted to say that he couldn't force a coherent sentence out.
"I...would you...how do you...I want...know your name."
He mentally kicked himself for how completely stupid he sounded and could feel the blush rising in his cheeks. Seeming to understand what he was trying to say, she reached for the pen she had tucked behind her ear and took his left hand. Stunned by the immediate contact, he could only watch her with utter bewilderment as she wrote a number and a name across the back of his hand.
"See you around." She winked at him and smiled before turning to go.
Frozen with his hand still up where she had held it, he could only stare after her in amazement until she was out of sight.
While Professor Heath droned on about far away nebulas, six of the room's occupants had returned to their laptops, three were pretending to be absorbed in their books --while texting beneath their desks, eight were shamelessly sleeping, and she, the one sitting one row over, was writing.
Note taking, it was supposed to look like, but the sentence alignment was off. Groups of four or five lines, carefully printed in her tiny handwriting, making it impossible to read from even the short distance away.
Irritating.
Curiosity was not kind to those easily distracted. Usually it was accompianied with disappointment and frustration. What could she be writing? His own doodle of Kermit the Frog teaching from an Astronomy book had been abandoned the minute she pulled out her black and white Mead notebook, and it lay rough and unfinished on the edge of his paper.
He'd seen her doing this before, of course. Every now and then, when the day's lecture was particularly boring, she'd open to a fresh sheet and her left hand would start scribbling away. Why this action was so facinating to him, he didn't know. Maybe it wasn't even the action itself. Maybe it was just because she was doing it.
She'd caught his attention on the first day quite unexpectedly. It was early; far too early for any class, let alone a three-hour one, and five minutes before it he was standing at the vending machine fighting for the release of his favorite strawberry-flavored PopTarts. The metal spiral had barely moved upon taking his last dollar, and in his sleep-deprived and hungry state, he could only gaze at the food behind the glass with a sort of broken-hearted defeated frown, like the look his dog gives him when he loses his favorite bone.
In the reflection of the glass, he'd seen her, sitting on the bench on the opposite wall as the machine. He hadn't noticed anyone behind him before, but there really wasn't a whole lot of her to see. Physically, that is. She was tiny. Five foot nothing at his best guess.
It had taken a minute for it to register with him that she'd been watching, and smiling at him, but by the time he'd turned around she'd already gotten up and was walking away. He gazed after her curiously as she adjusted the strap of her bag on her shoulder and rumpled the back of her pixie-cut brown hair.
This was an action, he noticed, she did quite often.
Even now, as she sat next to him in class, he watched as she ran her fingers through the back of her hair. Slowly, as if expecting there to be more hair where there was none.
She'd stopped writing by now and pushed the book forward after closing it. Yawning, she stretched back gently in her seat and a few cracks of her spine could be heard. Without warning, she looked over at him.
She gave him an apologetic smile as if to say, "Sorry for the noise," and then glanced back at the teacher. He was dismissing the class early, and most of the class was already getting on their feet.
Quick! Say something!
The sudden thought came to him as he watched her getting her bag from the floor.
He hurriedly got to his feet but she was already walking towards the door.
"Hey, wait!"
The words came out of his mouth before he could stop himself. Clumsily he got out of his desk and walked after her. She turned at the sound of his voice, and quickly sidestepped the other class mates as they were exiting. When she saw who had spoken, her head tilted to the side in a silent question, but she walked back towards him nonetheless.
Unprepared for her sudden attention, he had nothing to say. Or rather, he had so many things he wanted to say that he couldn't force a coherent sentence out.
"I...would you...how do you...I want...know your name."
He mentally kicked himself for how completely stupid he sounded and could feel the blush rising in his cheeks. Seeming to understand what he was trying to say, she reached for the pen she had tucked behind her ear and took his left hand. Stunned by the immediate contact, he could only watch her with utter bewilderment as she wrote a number and a name across the back of his hand.
"See you around." She winked at him and smiled before turning to go.
Frozen with his hand still up where she had held it, he could only stare after her in amazement until she was out of sight.