Chapter 20. Midterms (5/7)

I changed into my usual get-up and arrived at work right on time.

When I took a seat on the stool beside my coworker, she surprisingly closed her book right away. I started to wonder whether she'd fallen ill.

"Are you feeling sick?" I asked.

"Not at all. Why do you ask?"

"Not once have you ever closed your book when I arrive. You usually don't even notice when I get here and smile to yourself while reading without a care in the world."

"Well, there seems to be something different today that caught my interest."

"What's different exactly?"

She looked over to me calmly and said, "You."

"I'm different? How so?" I didn't forget to fix my hair or put in my colored contacts so I ruled those things out immediately.

"Well… it's hard to put my finger on it actually. I'm not quite sure myself. On the surface... you look exactly the same… but… there's just something different. Softer. I think that would be the best way to describe it. Though you still have the exact same look on your face as ever, something about it feels like it's softened up a bit. Did something good happen?"

"I wouldn't say anything particularly good happened. Maybe it's because I got some proper sleep."

"No. My woman's intuition is telling me otherwise. Did something good happen between you and your girlfriend?"

"Did I ever say I even have a girlfriend?"

"No… then… did you get a girlfriend or something?"

Woman's intuition was a much more fearsome thing than I'd ever imagined.

"Please stop making fun of me, it's not very nice of you to poke at a man's wounds like that. Do I really look like someone a girl would want to willingly date?"

"Is that so? Then maybe I am mistaken."

Having lost interest she reopened her book and returned to reading.

I didn't want to somehow end up inadvertently getting my girlfriend in high school entangled with the stupid lie I'd spun. The more people who got involved the harder a lie was to keep.

At the very least I had to wait until I turned 16 and I could untangle all the lies then. By then, I'd be legally employed and I wouldn't need to give a damn about what my coworkers thought about me blatantly lying to their faces.

After our little exchange at the beginning of our shift, we didn't talk much more. It was all business. We were pretty busy as well today so there wasn't much room to talk anyway.

When the clock struck nine I departed without delay. While I fixed my hair and removed my colored contacts in a public restroom, I notified her I was on my way via text. I got live directions on my phone to her place and arrived at her apartment ten minutes later.

She was waiting for me downstairs outside the complex leaning against the wall in casual clothes that were quite enticing. She wore short navy blue mini jeans which fully revealed her legs and a black tank top with a red heart on it. Her delicate arms, similar to her long slender legs, were completely exposed.

When our eyes met, she smiled and ran over in her brown open-toe high heel sandals. She held me by the hand and dragged me inside.

We stood inside the elevator, just the two of us reflected in the mirrors and elevator door.

"Uh… by the way… it'll probably be pretty late by the time we're done… do you… want to… you know. That thing…"

I naturally knew what she wanted to say. I had a sudden idea though.

"Hmm… how about we play a little game. After our study session, I'll quiz you on everything we've gone through. If you get everything correct, how about I spend the night? If you don't get everything correct, I'll return home in the dark all alone by myself. My safety is in your hands. If I'm forced to go home at this hour because you don't do well, who knows what will happen to me? Maybe I'll get stabbed in the middle of the night by some crackhead. Whether I live or die will be determined entirely by your performance."

I figured this sort of game might serve as a form of motivation to try her best. A little pressure never hurts anyone. Honestly, I didn't believe she'd really get everything right though.

"That's quite a bit of pressure you're putting on your girlfriend, you know. You're entrusting your life to me so easily? What if I betray your trust and let you die?"

"Then I suppose I was blind and my girlfriend didn't love me after all."

"... you're really not playing fair." She got a bit meek all of a sudden.

"When have I ever played fair?"

"My boyfriend really is the worst type of guy." She pouted her lips cutely when she said that.

"My girlfriend really is the cutest type of girl," I responded blandly.

While putting all her weight on her right leg she let her left leg swing back, crossing behind and lightly tapping the heel of her right foot with her toes. She positioned her right hand behind her back while she kept her hold on my hand with her left.

See? She really is the cutest type of girl. What the hell is with these pointless cute actions? They serve no purpose at all. None I tell you! Aside from being bloody cute as hell.

The elevator door opened once we arrived on the 15th floor. She led the way forward and pulled me along in tow.

We stopped at unit 1520 at the very end of the hallway. She opened the door with the key then stepped inside. The first thing I noticed when I entered was the smell. It was a rather weak trace of the sweet girlish scent she emitted naturally which I'd grown quite accustomed to. Her humble abode was filled with the pheromones she released. There would be no way to avoid it, not that I saw the need to.

Once I got past the pleasant scent inside I noticed the appearance inside. The rooms inside were all fully furnished much unlike my empty one. Her kitchen was well equipped with all sorts of different machines, likely the result of her hobby being cooking.

Inside the living room area, there was a table low to the ground with a couch against the wall. It looked like it would be quite comfortable. I couldn't help but notice the fresh food laid out on the table. There was still steam rising from the plate.

When she realized I'd noticed the food she said, "Since you probably didn't eat anything all day as usual I figured it would be best if you at least had something to eat before we started. You'd normally eat when you get back home after work… right?"

"Yeah."

"Then before we start studying please go ahead."

She dragged me over to the couch and sat down pulling me down with her into sitting directly beside her.

"Did you eat already?" I asked since there was only one plate.

"No, I haven't eaten yet. It's a bit embarrassing but since I normally don't have anyone over I only have enough dinnerware for myself."

"Hmm… is that so? It sure didn't seem like that'd be the case judging by the appearance of the kitchen."

"Well it is, so just open your mouth okay?"

It wasn't hard to see through what was going on, but I didn't bother to bring it up as she'd already raised the fork with some food to my mouth. I opened my mouth obediently and we alternated the way we normally did during lunch.

It seems she enjoyed this sort of activity. It may have been because she was alone like me and didn't have someone else to eat with at home that she especially preferred this arrangement when eating.

"Don't you think the food tastes better when eating with someone else like this?" She asked me that with a smile on her face after a gulp to swallow the food she was chewing.

"I wouldn't really know since there's no control group. For the control group, I'd also need to eat your food alone when you're not around to establish the validity of your claims."

"Well, I've eaten alone so I'm the control group and I can say with certainty it does."

"How can you say that with certainty when you only have one control group and one group where you're together with me? At the bare minimum, don't you think you'd need another group to eliminate other possibilities such as me being an outlier group? For example, if you ate with your most hated enemy, do you think the food would taste better?"

"Hmm… my most hated enemy?" Her expression soured when she thought about it. "I think I'd get an upset stomach. I guess that means it's just with you then."

"You still can't draw that conclusion, your most hated enemy may also be another outlier as it is an extreme case, right? Thus, you would also need someone you have no particular feelings about."

"I see. That would make sense. Hey… did you just do what I think you did?"

"Yes, precisely. Do you think you will remember it if something similar were to come up on a test?"

"I think so."

"Haha. Well, it's easy to say that, we'll need to see about that. Anyway, do you mind handing me the fork for a bit? I'll feed you for a change."

At first, she looked somewhat reluctant but when she heard the part about me feeding her, she immediately agreed.

"This is a first. Why'd you suddenly want to do this? " She asked, trying to hide her happiness.

"Well, I had a little idea, that's all."

I started to explain some topics to her while we ate and asked her to repeat what I said back to me. When she did so successfully I lifted the fork up and put it into her mouth to see a happy smile bloom on her face.

Before I took a bite and got back to her I continued talking slipping in information related to tests in casual conversation between the two of us. When I asked her questions related to what we were discussing and she got them all correct I fed her again to see that overly happy smile bloom.

Yes, I was making good use of her food to give her a rewarding feeling, I associated that happy feeling of being fed food by me with her getting the things I asked her correct. It was a rather simple trick where one dangled a carrot before a horse on a fishing line.

I kept this up all the way until the plate was empty and we were both full. After we finished, she picked up the empty plate and washed it in the kitchen sink. When she returned she took out her textbooks from her bag beside the couch and laid them down gently on the table.

I figured I'd start with the simplest subject for me to teach to get a baseline for the effectiveness of me teaching her without the previous reward system we had with food.