Chapter 12 - He seems nice

Next day, Sarah headed for her morning lecture in good spirits.

Sarah sat in her usual seat, front and center. She was thinking about afternoon lecture that she has together with Vivian. Sarah pulled out her phone texting her if she wants to meet for lunch. After few seconds, Vivian responded: "Yes, see you at the cafeteria at 12:30".

With a smile on her face Sarah switched her phone to silent mode and put it in her pocket.

At that time, someone sat next to her. 'Aiden?' Sarah was surprised that she thought it's him. She hoped that it's him.

Sarah looked up and saw a young man looking at her while his brown eyes scrutinized her. Sarah felt disappointment that it's not Aiden.

Looking at the young man next to her, Sarah knows him from earlier, but she does not know his name. For few seconds she tried to remember who he is, but without success. Sarah was always bad in remembering faces and names. Matching them is almost an impossible task for her, most of the time. Sarah thought more than once, that her brain must have a filter of its own: people who are not relevant will be forgotten.

She was uncomfortable under the gaze of this young man. Sarah turned towards him, "Do I have something on my face?".

He chuckled in amusement before saying, "You are Aiden's girl?"

Sarah almost choked when she heard what he said, "Huh? I think you got the wrong person"

"I don't think I do..." He smirked. "He joined you for lunch yesterday, and he was sitting next to you during Distributed Systems class. Right?"

"Yes. How do you know all these?" Sarah was confused. "I don't remember seeing you yesterday.", 'but then, even if you were right next to me, I probably forgot', Sarah finished sentence in her mind.

"I'm well informed", he smirked proudly.

"Why do you think that makes me his girl? I've seen people sit next to him.", Sarah finally asked question she wanted to ask.

"But Aiden never approaches anyone. People, especially women, come to him, if you didn't notice", the young man sounded like he is stating something everyone should know.

Sarah was not sure that she can follow what he is saying, but she was 100% sure that she is not interested in continuing this conversation. She wanted to end it quickly, "You got the wrong idea. I barely know him. I don't know if we can even be called friends. Acquaintances, at best." Sarah was agitated and didn't want to talk to this young man anymore. To Sarah he looks like someone who gets his nose into other's people business, makes his own exaggerated conclusions, and spreads rumors - and that is the worst type of people, in her opinion.

"Fantastic!", the man exclaimed with glee, just as lecturer entered the classroom.

During the lesson Sarah was doing her best to keep her eyes on the lecturer, and to ignore frustration she has because of a young man who is sitting next to her. Sarah felt that lecture was much longer than normal, she counted minutes until the end. Once class was done, she quickly picked up her things and dashed towards cafeteria making sure she gets away from the annoying young man as soon as possible.

~Tesla University, cafeteria ~

It was still 10 minutes before her agreed lunch time with Vivian. Sarah got her lunch and sat at a table.

Sarah got a book from her backpack. It is her favorite book: Anna Karenina by Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy. She loves the story and read it multiple times. She also uses this book when she does not want to engage with other people. Sarah would read her favorite parts, and at the same time book is effective: people assume that she is busy reading and leave her alone.

About 15 minutes later, Vivian arrived and took a seat opposite of Sarah placing her lunch on the table. "Hi, Sarah! I see you got your secret weapon out. Did something happen?"

"Hi. Is it so obvious that something happened?", Sarah raised her eyebrows.

Vivian now had a smirk on the face. "Well, you have your head down, burying yourself into that book. And you look gloom. So, to me, it's obvious that something happened, and you want to avoid people. Tell me, it might help". Vivian looked compassionate and eager to hear what is troubling her friend.

Sarah thought for a minute before speaking. "Do I attract trouble?"

"Explain", Vivian said shortly while waving her fork.

"I want my University days to go without trouble, but it seems that lately I'm attracting all kinds of troubling characters.", Sarah sighed.

"I still need more details."

"Give me a minute to try to say what's on my mind without causing confusion", Sarah stared at her lunch. Her thoughts started from Mimi and Megan and moved to the young man from morning class. Sarah remembered how they made her uncomfortable, and how she wanted to avoid that feeling. For her, perfect setting is the one where she can focus on her studying and not to be disturbed.

As she was thinking about this, Sarah heard a voice coming from above her: "Can I join you?" Sarah looked up and her eyes met Aiden's. He was smiling and looking as dashing as ever.

Suddenly a thought hit her: 'all these disturbing people are after me because of him. If he is not around, others will leave me alone.' Her mind shifted towards finding an excuse to shoo him away, and then in her mind replayed his voice: 'Do you really care what they think?' That is what he asked her yesterday, and it reminded her that others are not important. 'So far, he seems nice, so why should I avoid him?' With that thought she smiled and said, "Sure".

Aiden sat next to Sarah and looked at Vivian who was just staring at him. "Hello, I'm Aiden", he said to Vivian. Vivian didn't blink. Sarah nudged Vivian's leg under the table. Vivian was startled and said with a huge smile, "I know."

Sarah struggled to keep a straight face seeing how silly her friend looks like.

That brought Vivian's mind back to Earth from wherever it was, and she said while looking at Sarah: "I think I understand the troubling confusion you mentioned".

Sarah gave a warning look to Vivian. She doesn't want any more misunderstandings.

"Did you have morning classes?", Aiden was looking at Sarah, like he didn't hear what Vivian said.

"Yes. You?" Sarah was happy that he ignored Vivian's remark.

"My morning was free", he responded. "Did you think about me?"

"What?", Sarah was not sure she heard him correctly. 'Something must be wrong with him to ask such a bold question.'

Aiden was amused with her confused expression.

Aiden leaned toward Sarah and enunciated slowly every word, "Did you think about me?"

Sarah remembered when disturbing man sat next to her, she thought that it was Aiden and smiled, "As a matter of fact, I did."

Aiden was surprised for a second, and then showed her his dashing smile. "Tell me more."

She shook her head lightly and winked at him, "You don't have access to that information."

Aiden was stunned, as he looked at Sarah with respect. 'She managed to surprise me again! Just when I thought I got her, she turns the tables. Amazing young lady!' He could not stop himself from admiring her.

Aiden and Sarah chatted about classes, and other mostly school related topics, during lunch.

Vivian was unusually quiet. She observed two of them between taking slow bytes of her lunch. After some time, Vivian realized that she felt like a third wheel on a bicycle. 'There is no apparent intimacy between them, so they are probably just friends... but why do I feel that if I leave this table, they will not notice that I left?'

Afternoon class was Artificial Intelligence. All three of them headed in the same direction after lunch.