Closer (Part 1)

"Bye mom!"

I say as I open the door of the gate while mom is watering the flower beds. I was already three steps away from the house when mom whoops at me

"Don't forget to bring your boyfriend back home!"

"Whatever mom!"

I reply with an annoyed tone as I fasten up my pace, the sidewalks are being filled with students going to school and adults going to their jobs, the stores opening one by one as time passes. The greyish sky becomes sky blue as I arrive at the university, there are already a lot of students as I walk through the corridors leading to the room of my first period for today; the classroom is half filled and dead silent, the next week's exam is the cause of this phenomenon. Those loud mouths are studying with diligence like their aim is to be a summa cum laude or magna cum laude, but with their grades hanging between the grim reaper's scythe it will be a suicidal mission rather than a stroll in the park. I take my jacket off and hang it on my shoulder as the classroom is well warmed since the heater was turned on, I walk towards a vacant desk while scanning the room, there are no traces of Yohan, it seems I got a little bit early. My cellphone chimes in a loud way all of a sudden making the students' attention drift towards me, their eyes staring at me with discomfort and irritation for a matter of seconds and then they return to what they were doing, I take the cellphone out and put it in the vibrate mode before reading the chat,

"Morning, it's really cold out here. So cold that I feel like a penguin walking in the arctic tundra of Alaska."

"I'd like to see you in a penguin costume Charles and walk like Charlie Chaplin. haha xD"

I reply to him, after a few minutes Yohan arrives. I started chuckling as I see him wearing a penguin like hoodie, he walks towards the desk beside me and sits, taking the hoodie off; he smiles at me while taking the copies he borrowed out of his bag

"Morning Ash, good thing they opened the heater today. Outside is a freezer."

"Yep. Or we'll be popsicles for the whole day."

" By the way, do you understand this part?"

he says as he leans closer to me while showing the page and pointing at the part where he did not understand, I too leaned closer while looking at the part where his thin finger is pointing at, I can faintly smell a mixture of coffee and male's cologne from Yohan's direction.

"Let's see... Um, the Psychoanalytic Theory?"

"That one. I didn't get it last night."

"Well--"

"Morning class, please open your books at page 317."

I get interrupted when the Literature instructor enters making the room a little rowdy, we both tilted back and took our books out of our bags

"Yohan, I'll explain it to you later."

"Yeah. Better than getting yelled."

I turn the book at the page that the instructor told and he starts discussing the things written on it. The different elements of a short story and famous authors who write short stories. The hours flies and then lunch break comes, for the first time Yohan and I ate lunch together beneath the tree where I always spend time during noon and until the afternoon bell will ring. We sit with our sides close to each other while eating and discussing the lessons that he missed.

"The Role Exit is a process where the person starts to disengage from his or her particular role or social role. This is exemplified by the so-called "exes". For example ex-president, ex-governor."

" Hmm... I see you're really good at teaching Ash."

" C' mon, I'm not that great. I just understood the lesson, that's all."

I reply as I silently chew the last bite of my egg and tuna sandwich that we bought at the cafeteria while staring at the students playing in the soccer field while he intently reviews the copies. A free kick for the red team, the score is 1 for both red and yellow team, if he successfully scores then the bacon is theirs;

"Do you have plans for tomorrow?"

Yohan breaks the silence and sips on his can of soda while his eyes still glued on the papers, I look at him confused, is he asking for a date? Did he finally see my good points and fell in love with me? My heart starts to beats faster, my eyes wander back to the soccer field where the red team are celebrating the victory as they carry the one who made the win possible along with the cheers and happiness, I reply with a stuttering tone

"W-well, I d-don't."

"Then let's have a study session at your house."

"Eh? Wai-, why my house?"

"Why not?"

his face suddenly appears close to mine, I bolted away for the shock. His eyes that makes me feel like I'm drowning are staring at me and as time goes I feel like I can't emerge again.

"Okay! okay, come to my house after lunch! So let's continue the lessons tomorrow. It's almost time so we should head back to the classroom for our next period."

I blurted out while grabbing my bag, stood up and starts to walk away. He immediately follows while enthusiastically talking about what we should study first, I let it into my ear and pass it out to the other. The first period of the afternoon up to the last one finished in a blink of an eye. Yohan waves at me as he runs into his clubroom while me, who did not join any clubs, heads back home. I take my cellphone out and dials Amber's number, the cellphone rings for a few seconds before she finally picks it up,

"Hey Amber, do you have anything planned for tomorrow?"

"Um, no I don't. Why?"

"Well---..."