“You should all take advantage of the events running on campus. I know it may seem like you’re very busy since this is all your first year at university but it will only get busier here. Your tuition is even covering the events such as the Halloween Haunt so it may be worth your while to see where your money is going.”

Janice spewed this mini-lecture right after a person interrupted the lecture to advertise the on-campus event called the Halloween Haunt. She had passed out flyers and one of them was clutched in my hands while I felt a surge of energy buzz through my head.

“They’re going to have a haunted house!” My fingers brushed over the poorly made graphic but I didn’t care. I was getting my horror fix.

“Wow, they’re really going all out…” Angelo didn’t sound enthused at all as he peered over my shoulder to read the flyer.

“We should go.”

“Why? We barely have the time to do our assignments.” Angelo gestured to his laptop and I glanced at his screen to see that he was working on a project for another class during the lecture.

“You fuck around doing god knows what half the time or you huff and sigh about how you don’t want to write with your laptop open on a blank screen,” I said.

“You keep watching those unexplained paranormal shows so I try not to pay attention by doing other things.”

“You can leave our room and socialize or something.”

“Ew, people.”

The lecture ended pretty swiftly and we began to gather our things.

“I’m just saying, if you want to write hardcore spec fic, then you need to experience a lot more stuff like a really cool haunted house,” I said as I jammed my binder into my bag.

“What’s spec fic?”

I look at Angelo and raise an eyebrow in concern. His expression got even more confused by the look on my face and I zipped my bag close.

“Oh my god, you don’t know what spec fic is.”

“Yes, that’s why I asked what spec fic is,” Angelo huffed. He quickly slung his bag over his shoulder and we made our way out of the corridor.

“So, you know fantasy and science fiction?” I explained and he nodded. “Those are the major groups of speculative fiction and like there are other genres that make it overlap. Like horror and alternative history or historical fiction.”

“What makes it speculative and not speculative?”

“I think the impossible has to take place in the stories. Like magic and monsters.”

“Stories with vampires would be speculative fiction?”

“Yeah, by that definition it would.”

“So, if I have a book that’s a romance book with a vampire then it would be speculative fiction?”

“No, I don’t think so.”

“Why? Vampires don’t exist.”

“I think speculative fiction needs a layer of something else.”

Angelo paused and scanned my face. I gave him a look and he shook his head.

“I think you’re bullshitting me,” he says. “You’re only saying that because I said it was a romance. I literally asked if vampires would be spec fic, you said yes and then when I added romance you did a three-sixty turn.”

“Well,” I felt myself sweat a little. “Romance stories usually have a larger focus on the romance plot as opposed to the fantastical elements.”

“What if the love interest has a magic di—"

I put a hand over his mouth and felt my face burn with embarrassment.

I was hyper-aware of the other students sluggishly moving through the halls with their coffees and chatting away with their peers.

Angelo slapped my hand and I gave a small yelp.

“I understand why you’re having such a hard time writing romance now,” Angelo wiped the side of his mouth. “You don’t just dislike it, you look down on it.”

“I don’t,” I said with so little conviction that Angelo could only stare at me with an unimpressed expression. “I just think it’s a different genre with different expectations.”

“When we made our deal. You said and I quote, ‘how hard can writing romance be?’ end quote.”

“You didn’t have to say 'end quote,' I know what I fucking said.” My face was still warm and my hands rubbed my cheeks as if it would help them stop. “I didn’t think romance would be hard to write but maybe it was just writer’s block. Maybe I need to be really inspired to write.”

“Bullshit, I bet you don’t know what you even want in a relationship.”

I froze.

If he noticed any change in my demeanour, he only challenged it by staring me directly in the eye.

“You probably are those people that trash romance as a genre because it’s popular and think it’s worse quality because of that.”

I broke away from his gaze and rubbed the back of my neck. “It’s not because of that.”

“Is it because it’s viewed as a girly genre?” His voice became harsh and it made me do a double take.

“What? Dude.” I raised my hands. “Where is all this coming from?”

He seemed to take a second to process what we just talked about before taking a step back. His shoulders slumped and he avoided looking in my direction.

“Sorry, I just get really passionate about my hobbies,” he mumbled.

I doubted what he said. We both had stepped on each other’s nerves in some way and pressure weighed on my chest which made it feel harder to breathe.

“It’s not your fault, I wasn’t really good with defining speculative fiction,” I said and gave him a gentle pat on his shoulder. “We should look it up together. Say it’s for the sake of our works in progress.”

Angelo’s face lit up in devious delight and I instinctually leaned away from him.

“You know what would benefit you more?”

“Don’t tell me I have to go da—”

“You’ll have to go on dates!”

“Oh, fucking wha—”

“Nuh uh, no complaints. If you want to go to the haunted house with me then you need to go on a date.”

He grabbed me by the arm and began to drag me away while I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion.

I did suggest we should go to the haunted house together, didn’t I? Weird. I would’ve been perfectly fine going alone.