Julien stood outside of the classroom, hands on his knees, his breathing heavy. 

“Ha, haa, huu—”

Damnit

He was 2 minutes late.

Time always seemed to move faster when you were in a rush, and he braced himself for the inevitable callout before pushing the door open and walking inside.

Dead silence.

How awkward.

“Pleasure to have you join us Mr. Rubane.”

Julien looked to his right and made eye contact with the professor.

He was smiling, that was always a good sign.

Feeling a little more relaxed, he gave the professor a tired smile.

“Good morning… Professor.”

Professor Vale waved his hand, a hint of cinnamon wafting off his sleeves.

His wife must’ve made something again.

“I won’t penalize you this time, but try to wake up earlier next time, yea?”

Oh, thank the gods.

He nodded and mumbled,

‘Not that I woke up late to begin with.’

The professor gave him a look then motioned toward the screen.

“Good, now go take a seat, I was about to make an announcement.”

I don’t know what happened to you, but I hope both sides of your pillow are always cold!

Unless he liked warm pillows for some reason…

Julien banished the thought.

Not wasting any time, he scanned the crowd of tired faces, and quickly spotted a familiar one staring back at him from the far end of the lecture hall.

A short girl with vibrant-blue-braids in a half up, half down style, tanish-brown eyes covered in alt makeup, and healthy, rich-brown skin, waved at him.

He quickly climbed the stairs, scooted past a few people, set his bag down, and took the seat next to her.

“Hey.”

“Hey yourself.”

Nevaeah looked at his frazzled state and raised a well-groomed brow.

“You run into a hurricane on the way or somethin’? You’re usually here before me.”

She gave him another once over.

“And you look like a mess.”

Nevaeah leaned on the table and pointed an accusing pencil his way, whispering with a mysterious lilt to her voice.

“You, something juicy happened again, didn't it.”

Julien gave her a tired sigh.

“Don’t even get me started, I-”

*Tap tap tap.*

The professor tapped the mic and cleared his throat.

“Ahem, everyone, I have good news and bad news, well, bad news for you, at least. What would you like to hear first?”

People shouted out in succession.

“Good news!”

“Bad news!”

“No news!”

“Shut up!”

“Are you cancelling class?”

Julien rolled his eyes.

These people have too much energy in the morning.

“Well, the good news is…”

He paused dramatically, changing the slide.

A badly taken picture of a sonogram appeared on the screen.

“My wife is pregnant!”

A few hoots, hollers, and catcalling whistles echoed in the lecture hall.

Mainly from a certain group of especially rowdy students.

“Aren’t you a little old for that?”

“Go easy on ‘er professor!”

Others congratulated him, and some were even quietly disappointed.

The professor chuckled and continued.

“I know that has nothing to do with you,”

He changed the slide again to a picture of the class schedule.

“But as a result, I’m going to be out for a while, so your exam has been pushed back to the 10th.”

The class exploded with chatter.

Some complained because of how close to finals that was.

But most were just glad to have more time.

Julien heard a snarky remark from his right.

“Well, I know what he gets up to in his free time.”

She snickered, nudging him while waggling her eyebrows.

Julien nudged her back.

“And? What are you gonna do with yours? Study?”

Nevaeah looked offended.

“What do you take me for? I’m gonna finish my President Evil playthrough, obviously.”

Julien shook his head in disapproval.

“I don’t even know how you made it this far.”

She smiled and started texting one of her girlfriends, trying to recruit her into the wonderful world of procrastination. They’d started playing the game a long time ago, but neither of them had completed it yet and he doubted they ever would.

The professor continued speaking.

“Unfortunately,”

The classroom quieted down to a nervous murmur.

“It’s time for the bad news.” 

Nevaeah’s fingers went still halfway through her message, and Julien waited impatiently for the teacher to do his ‘grand reveal.’

He should’ve signed up to be a damned drama teacher.

“Post-poning the exam means that your fourth and final exam schedule will be tight, accounting for your other classes of course.”

There was a collective groan.

“There is still plenty we need to cover, so I’ll be leaving you all in the hands of my…colleague.”

A hint of dismay slipped into his voice,

And the students weren’t happy with the arrangement either.

There were only 2 other biomechanics professors on campus this semester.

And only one Professor Vale had beef with.

“I’ve left Professor Zorro with my slides. So if he starts teaching you something different…and wrong, do notify me.”

He just had to pick the worst one.

Another round of groans erupted throughout the room.

To have Zorro teach the final few chapters before exams was like shooting everyone here in both their legs and telling them to walk it off.

It was a surefire path to failure.

Julien resisted the urge to groan with everyone else.

“Now don’t be like that.”

The professor clapped his hands together to get everyone’s attention.

“Indira may’ve been unavailable, but feel free to reach out to me even while I’m out. I’m happy to help in whatever way you all need. I’ll be back on the 8th so we'll review everything then, come prepared with questions if you have any.”

He switched to a different slideshow.

“Additionally, to keep things fair, I’ll be extending extra credit to those of you that use your resources and send me an email with proof of your studying. There’s a 10 points maximum towards your final exam grade—should you choose to do this assignment—which I highly encourage.”

There were sighs of relief from some of the students as the chatter slowly died down. Only then did Professor Vale start the lecture.

“Now, if everyone can turn to page…”

Everyone furiously jotted down notes like their lives, or in this case, their grades, depended on it.

—

Class ended, and as Julien collected his things, Nevaeah nudged him with her shoulder.

“Hey.”

He looked at her.

“This new food joint just opened up down the street, come eat with me.”

Julien swung his bag over his shoulder.

“What kind?”

“The delicious kind.”

Julien feigned hesitation.

“Hmm, I don’t know I’m a little—”

“I’m paying. Birthday exclusive offer by the way.”

Not one to refuse a free meal, he gently spun Nevaeah around by her shoulders, ushering her towards the steps with a cheeky grin plastered on his face.

“What are you waiting for then, let's go.”

They filed out of the classroom and walked at a leisurely pace towards the ‘delicious’ restaurant Nevaeah mentioned. Mindlessly chatting about their plans for the break and where they wanted to go.

Any concerns he had previously totally slipped his mind.

Once they arrived at the Latin style restaurant, they ordered and sat down at one of the window booths. Julien discreetly downed one of his pills while sending Nevaeah a stupid video, and she sent him a weird post in return. They swapped feeds until the food came out.

As they began eating, Nevaeah suddenly perked up as if she’d remembered something.

“Oh yeah, why were you late this morning?”

“Uh, that’s because…”

Why was he late this morning?

Racking his brain, he went over what he’d done since waking up.

Then the memory hit him like a vaguely man-shaped semitruck.

Shit.

Julien felt like he was about to have a mini-heart attack.

How the hell did I forget about that.

He abruptly stood up.

“What?”

Nevaeah licked salsa off her lips and looked at him with confusion.

“I completely forgot about him.”

Julien quickly wiped his hands on a relatively clean napkin.

“About who?”

He grabbed his backpack and threw it on.

“There’s this guy in my apartment right now.”

With a teasing lilt to her voice she asked,

“One night stand?”

He looked at her dubiously.

“Not funny.”

Julien looked at the rest of his quesadilla with regret. Wiping his face, he quickly pulled out his phone.

It'd been 2 hours since he’d left and yet, he had neither a missed text nor a phone call.

Unless the guy was taking a nap, not many people would actually sit completely still for 2 hours without touching anything.

Then again, Julien could imagine the taciturn fellow being capable of just that.

Julien tapped his foot anxiously, but remembered to at least give his friend a proper goodbye.

“I’ve gotta go, I’ll text you about it later.”

Julien waved his phone at her then left the restaurant in a hurry.

He was speed walking as fast as his feet would allow through the busy streets, backroads, and alleyways.

He wasn’t too worried, he trusted his sister's judgment—at least when it came to important matters—but the thought of leaving some complete unknown alone in his personal space nagged him like a pesky mosquito.

By the time he passed through the park and was a straight shot from the front of the building, his phone dinged.

Slowing down, he opened the message notification.

Unknown Number: “I’m hungry.”

Julien stopped walking.

Jules: “Who’s this?”

A few seconds passed and a selfie appeared on his phone. It was a picture of a muscular man in black clothes—a puppy and a comically large collar both sitting on top of his chest.

It only took him a moment to realize who sent it.

Seriously?

Julien didn’t dwell on it though, when he realized he’d never gotten the man’s name, he accepted the rather strange form of identification.

Jules: “Eat something, check the fridge.”

A few minutes passed in silence, Julien tapped his foot impatiently as he waited.

*Ding*

Another message.

Unknown Number: “It’s empty.”

Jules: “What about the cabinets next to it?”

A few more seconds passed.

Unknown Number: “Also empty.”

Jules: “Pantry?”

Andrew: “…What do you think?”

Another minute went by before another message appeared on his phone.

Unknown Number: “Buy something.”

Julien couldn’t believe his audacity.

“Shameless motherfucker.”

Saving the man’s contact into his phone, he turned towards the parking garage.

Pulling out his keys, he turned on the engine to his chic, sleek, and beautiful black-red motorcycle and listened as his pride and joy roared to life—music to his ears.

He gave his bike a once over.

She’s due for a nice cleaning soon.

He’d get around to it.

But first,

He sent one more message.

Jules: “Wait.”

With that, he tucked the phone away, pulled the spare helmet over his head, and headed towards the supermarket.

If that man wanted to eat so bad, he’d get him something to eat.

—

By the time Julien got back, it was already going on 11.

Here we go.

Hyping himself up, he opened the door to his apartment, a carry-out bag in one hand and a couple of paper shopping bags in the other.

And froze the second he stepped into the foyer.

He expected a lot of things.

Maybe the house would be a mess, maybe the man would be quietly reading or watching TV. He even considered if the man had already left, tired of waiting on his return.

Regardless, he mentally prepared himself for a long, and exhausting conversation, even a fight.

But he didn’t expect…this.

It was quiet, and the man was staring very intensely at his own reflection, standing perfectly still beside the entrance.

And Julien was staring at him very intensely as well.

His eyes darted to the overt red object around the other man’s neck.

He actually put that thing on.

Then Julien realized.

Oh my gods.

It was his the whole time!?

Julien was horrified.

But he couldn’t take his eyes away from it.

Even when the man started calmly walking away. Even when he started following behind him, a lost expression on his face. Even when the man asked for the food and the two of them sat across from one another at the kitchen counter.

As the man began to eat, Julien finally snapped out of his reverie.

If he could ignore it, why couldn’t Julien?

Julien began to think about other things to distract himself. His motorcycle, his exams, holiday plans…

Then he remembered his poor abandoned quesadilla.

The sad thing was, he didn’t even have an appetite anymore.

Salty, Julien pointed a finger at Andrew’s food and icily said,

“I hope you like it.”

The man’s chewing slowed down and he looked at him.

Julien continued.

“I had to rush over here in the middle of my own meal, you see. Perhaps you’ll have more luck than I did.”

Julien shook his head disparagingly.

People these days.

The man gave him a weird look and swallowed his food, he didn’t make any moves to eat more.

What Julien failed to mention was that it wasn’t because the man texted him that he decided to abruptly abandon his meal.

But who needs the details anyway.

“Oh, don’t stop eating on account of me.”

He added,

“I hope you enjoy every bite, really.”

Julien pulled out a receipt from his pocket and slid it across the counter.

“Ah, and it’s not free.”

He smiled politely, secretly satisfied with his ‘triumph,’ albeit a short-lived one.

The man took the receipt and glanced at Julien before pulling out his phone, scanning the paper and holding the device out to Julien.

The payment was there.

All Julien had to do was tap.

He clicked his tongue and reluctantly tapped the other man’s phone.

“Exchange Complete”

Julien stared blankly at the notification for a while, completely missing the befuddled expression that flashed across the man’s face.

With nothing else to say, he awkwardly fell silent, and the man continued eating as though it didn’t bother him either way.

In the silence, Julien’s eyes began drifting back to the abrasive collar still around the man’s neck and he quickly turned his face away in a huff.

Seeing that they were getting nowhere even with Julien clearly picking a fight, he rethought his strategy.

Just as the man finished eating, Julien glanced at his face and spoke again.

Cordial this time, cordial.

"So…”

The man looked at him.

"Do you… like dogs?"

Julien cringed at his failure to engage in a casual conversation.

Kill me.

While Julien had a mini-crisis, the man considered his question. He answered in an even tone, with the same husk to his voice as before.

“They’re cute.”

Julien was a little surprised.

What an odd response coming from someone that looks like that.

The man paused then continued,

“Not angry anymore?”

Julien suddenly felt the need to avoid eye contact.

“I wasn’t really angry.”

If he was angry about anything, it wouldn’t have been at him.

Julien’s eyes wandered away, and they landed on the puppy who was cautiously sniffing one of the legs of a coffee table beside the stairs.

“Does it have a name?”

“She does...”

“Well? What is it?”

“...n’t?”

Julien’s mouth twitched.

Finish your sentences sooner dude.

The man glanced at the puppy, and for a moment, Julien thought he saw a hint of something flicker across his expressionless face.

“I’m not sure. I haven’t checked.”

He paused, called the puppy over, and picked her up when she arrived at his feet.

“It’s probably on her collar.”

Why ‘probably?’

The man furrowed his eyebrows and his upper lip twitched down a bit.

Was he…angry?

Julien’s own brows scrunched up in confusion.

“You haven’t checked? I thought she was yours?”

“She’s not.”

He put her back down. She scurried away.

“Then whose—?”

An indescribable expression crossed Julien’s face.

"It's not supposed to be mine is it?"