The First Talk

CHAPTER ONE;

The First Talk

—

She was only in her first year in high school when Althea met Tyler. He was more dazzling than the sun. One couldn't help but squint their eyes when they saw him. Tyler was one year ahead of her.

She was 15 at that time, and Tyler was 16.

Of course, as a normal teenager, Althea is also a victim of his charms. She sometimes blushes when their eyes meet, then hastily drags her eyes away, making the other intrigued and curious of her.

She can even still remember their first conversation like it was yesterday.

--

Lunch.

The cafeteria is full of students as usual. The place was so chaotic that even scraps of food were flying in the air. The voices of other students are loud enough to drown the conversation of others. Some looked at the noisiest group with disdain. 

Lunch is supposedly peaceful!

Althea, who was sitting alone near the corner, was busy with her books. Her food remained untouched on the corner. She cannot bother eating them since her exams are coming. She's conscious of her grades. Failure is not an option for her.

Her head bowed as she was reading and highlighting the important words and phrases and she naturally did not notice the almost flying figure heading toward her table.

Althea's focus is topnotch, she didn't even notice that a fight broke out.

As the flying figure, who was unfortunately kicked by his enemy, flew towards her table, another sturdy figure appeared just in time. He stopped the figure from directly crashing toward Althea's table, but because of the force, he was pushed back a little and managed to disrupt the still table of Althea.

 Althea was in the middle of highlighting a sentence when her table moved. The pen was pushed upward.

Startled, she raised her head to see what was going on. Many heads turned toward her table and stared at the two figures in front of her. Some were laughing loudly; some were frowning since their lunch was ruined. It was so noisy that she couldn't make out most of the words they said.

But she still managed to catch one word; Tyler.

Surprised, Althea focused her attention on the man, who was currently laughing while holding another man by his collar.

 The man, who was apparently Tyler, was facing his back to her. His body is sturdy and the lines of his muscles are visible under his shirt.

 What is he doing here? Althea asked herself. 

As she was busy asking herself why, Tyler suddenly whipped his head to look at her over his shoulder. Incidentally, their eyes met.

At once, Althea blushed and hurriedly lowered her head down. Why not? She has been crushing on him ever since she saw Tyler on the school grounds months ago. That time, too, their eyes met. As the weakest one between them, Althea was the one who dragged her eyes away and stumbled for escape.

 So, naturally, she did not see him gazing at her back with amusement in his eyes. Since then, Tyler kept on noticing her everywhere.

Althea really scolded herself that day. Stupid! She's usually calm and rational, but how can she be flustered by just one man?

 Come on Althea! You have faced many men already!

 "Hey."

A low and tempting voice pulled her out of her internal battle.

Althea almost jolted in shock. Fortunately, she stopped herself. She looked at Tyler with wide eyes.

Di- Did Tyler just talk to me?!

She was already squirming inside but her outer self remained calm, except for her traitor cheeks and ears that were currently reddening in shame and, well, a little bit of excitement.

"Hey, hello." 

Althea mentally sighed in relief. Thank goodness, I did not stammer. If she did, she would literally dig a hole and bury herself, or just pray for the ground to open up and swallow her whole. She can't take such humiliation. Not in front of anyone, and not in front of this man.

Seeing that Tyler was still staring at her, she blushed even more and hastily looked down, then she pretended that she was reading. Such an obvious lie.

 She wanted to persist and stubbornly hold their gaze together, but she couldn't handle the intensity of his gaze. She cowered like she always did.

Unbeknownst to Althea, a soft smile with a hidden amusement appeared on Tyler's face, only to disappear a second after.

"Is this seat taken?" Tyler asked.

Althea raised her gaze again but carefully avoided his piercing eyes. She was already composed and the red tint of her ears and cheeks was already gone as if it had never existed in the first place.

 'Aw,' Tyler thought. 'What a shame.'

 If Althea happens to hear what he was thinking, surely, she will not only have red cheeks and ears but from toes to head, will be colored with flaming red. Her head might even let out some steam.

But unfortunately for Tyler, she isn't a mind reader, nor a psychic.

Althea looked at the plastic chair he was referring to and shook her head. She was thinking about saying it was, but she did not want to be rude. Besides, she has no friends on campus. Not that she did not want to have one, it's just that no one approached her. That is understandable though. She is, after all, a transferee. 

"No, it isn't." She finally said.

"Sweet!" Tyler sat down almost immediately after Althea said her reply and, once again, bore his gaze towards Althea.

She can't understand why he has to stare at her openly. She shrugged it off, thinking that he will stop looking at her later on.

But minutes passed, and Tyler was still looking at her.

Althea was feeling really, really uncomfortable under his gaze. She straightened her back and asked. 

"... Is there something wrong with my face?"

"No, of course, there isn't."

'So why are you staring at me like that?' Althea wants to ask, but she has no courage to do so. 

Althea just nodded and pretended to read her books again. 

Even if wants to focus, she can feel Tyler's gaze on her. How can she focus?! One cannot focus if one knows that someone is staring at them. Of course, she's not exempt. Unless she was already too focused on something before they gazed hard at her, she wouldn't notice.

 But Althea is fully aware that someone is staring at her. And that the man who was staring at her was not a random person. He was the person she had been crushing for months now!

 She originally thought that it would just last for days, but now, after many months, she confirmed that it did not even lessen. Worse, it even intensified!

 How in the world?!

 Althea labels herself as a rational woman. She firmly believes that there's no such thing as love at first sight! What a ridiculous thing it is! No logic at all!

Still, she can't explain it herself. For some reason, she took the liking of looking at him from afar. It was frightening. She had never been like this in the past.

"So, how about you?"

 Tyler suddenly asked. Althea's internal suffering paused for a while after she heard him talking to her again. She looked up and Tyler directly held her gaze. His deep green eyes are holding her aquamarine one. 

Those eyes...

Althea unconsciously held her breath. Those captivating eyes again! They were in deep green, like a black hole. You can feel the strength of the pull in his eyes. 

"Althea, how about you?" He asked again. His eyes showed a small smile.

 Althea was startled. How did he know her name?! 

"What about me?" 

Tyler smiled and leaned back in the chair he was sitting on. He crossed his arms across his chest, not breaking their eye contact even for a second.

"Althea, how about you?" He paused for a while before his smile widened. But unlike his previous smiles that carried carelessness and amusement, the smile he was showing right now was full of seriousness. 

"Are you taken?"

Silence engulfed their table.

It took a minute or so before Althea understood what Tyler had just said. She opened her mouth, but nothing came out. She closed it again.

Thi- thi- this Tyler is, Tyler is, Tyler is too lame! He's lame! Super lame! That was not cool at all!

Even though she has that in mind, under the gaze of many students inside the cafeteria, Althea's face heats up. Her face is colored deep, deep red.

Did she just receive an indirect confession?!

-- 

If only she knew what would happen 4 years from now, she would never, ever ask that question. No, if she did know, she would never, ever meet those eyes of his again.