The Writer

Chapter Four

"Xander, get up."

I rolled to the side, avoiding Ollie's look. I pulled the covers over me, hugging one of my pillows to myself as I closed my eyes.

"Xander. Lectures start tomorrow. You need to get your textbooks, and sort out your school ID. Come on, I postponed getting my stuff, so I could go with you," I heard Ollie say as I felt the twin sized bed sink with his weight. He was probably sitting beside me now, and my guess was confirmed when I couldn't pull the section of the blanket he was sitting on. "Okay, forget the textbooks and the school ID, what about just going out to eat?"

"Xander—"

"Just leave me alone, don't worry about me," I said, cutting him off. My voice was coarse and rough, seeing as all I'd done for the past day and a half was sob into my pillows.

I heard Ollie sigh, and after a while, I heard him get up. "At least come out to eat. Have you eaten anything at all today?" he asked, and just on cue, my stomach rumbled.

"I guess that's a no," he said, making me chuckle a bit. I sighed, taking my blanket off before sitting up on the bed. Ollie turned to me, smiling a bit before he headed to take a sit on his bed. "If you're up for it we can go and grab lunch at the cafe downstairs," he said, making me look down at my hands.

"Okay," I said. He wasn't asking me to go out of the building or anything. I'm sure I could manage going downstairs.

"Great!" he cheered, clapping his hands before getting up from his bed. "I'll head to the gym downstairs for a quick run. That's enough time for you to take a shower, right?" he asked, making me nod. When he left I got up from my bed before heading to the bathroom. I took a warm shower, trying to just concentrate on my empty stomach, and the action of washing my body instead of what had happened back at the student union building. When I was done I headed back to my room, and called Ollie. He was back up just in time, and he waited for me to get dressed before we headed downstairs to the dining hall together.

The cafeteria downstairs wasn't as large as the one in the student union building. It had enough tables for about a hundred people to be there at the same time, and there weren't many food options. Ollie and I grabbed toast, bacon, and cups of juice before heading to sit at one of the high tables at the center.

Ollie started, and tried to keep a conversation afloat, probably to keep me out of my mind so that I wasn't a moping. I smiled to myself, happy that he was trying to be understanding. Ollie was still in his gym clothes, and his black hair was a mess. From time to time he'd move his attention to his phone, replying to whoever before looking back up to talk to me. I was so lost in watching Ollie talk that I didn't realize when a person with ginger colored hair pulled up a seat right beside me.

"Hey." My body stiffed, and I could feel my mind go faint at the sound of the person's voice.

Maxwell? I thought, turning to find the him sitting right beside me with very small smile on his face. He seemed Wary, and he soon looked down at the tray of food in front of him. I didn't say anything out loud, I just sat still as I wondered what he was doing here.

Wait — If he's here that means he lives in this building. I thought to myself, realizing that avoiding him was probably going to be impossible if that was true. I retreated to my mind as I tried to figure out ways to avoid bumping into him in the future.

Ollie had gone quiet as well, and I looked up to find him looking from me to Maxwell with a confused look on his face — like he was trying to figure out what was going on. His brown eyes looked partly worried, and partly confused. I couldn't blame him. Maxwell was all smiles while I was cowering on my seat.

"Hey," Maxwell said to Ollie with a small smile. Ollie looked stunned, but he replied to Maxwell's greeting soon after. The table then went quiet, and we all ate in silence. I was trying my best to finish up what was on my plate as quickly as possible. The faster I ate, the quicker I could get up and retreat to my room.

"What's your name?" I turned to find Maxwell directing his question at Ollie. Ollie looked up from his food, c*****g his head to the side. He frowned, giving Maxwell a quick look over before answering.

"My name's Oliver, but people just call me Ollie. So, yeah, call me Ollie," he said with a shrug, making Maxwell smile before he nodded.

"Ah," he said before looking back up at Ollie. "Do you think you could excuse Xander and I for a bit? For just a few minutes?" Maxwell asked, making Ollie frown before he looked over at me. I gave him a pleading look, hoping he could see that I wanted him to stay on the table and not leave. He looked at Maxwell, and then at me again like he was trying his best to decide what was best for the situation.

"I don't know—"

"A few minutes, I promise," Maxwell said as his smile became wider.

Don't. I cried in my mind, watching as Ollie let out a sigh before he got up with his tray and walked towards the table with other students from our floor. I could feel the blood drain out of my face when I realized it was just me and Maxwell on the high table. We didn't say anything after Ollie left, making the background noise from the other students in the cafeteria fill the void instead. I looked down at my fingers, too shaky to even eat. What does he want to talk about? I thought to myself, feeling my face warm up in embarrassment when I remembered the incident from before.

I still hadn't lived it down.

"I'm sorry." His voice was small, but clear. I felt my eyes watering at it, and I didn't even stop the tears from my eyes from running down my cheeks. I sobbed in silence for a bit, but after a while I sniffed, blinking back tears before a full-on water work could start. I tried to put myself back together, sighing as I hugged myself.

"I shouldn't have looked at it. I'm sorry," he said, making me turn to stare at him. His pale freckled face was currently red, and he was looking down at his food as he played with the fork on his plate. His ginger hair her was bobbed around his face in tighter curls today, like he hadn't bothered to style it.

"I..." I started, not knowing what to say, where to begin. "I'm just really embarrassed. I don't know..." I found myself saying as I covered my red face with the palms of my hands.

"Did you laugh? You laughed, didn't you? I'm sure you did. You were disgusted—"

"I didn't laugh. I wasn't disgusted, okay?" he said firmly, cutting me off. I looked at him with wide eyes before looking away as I sighed in disbelief. He was just trying to make me feel better.

"You write very well," he mentioned after a while of us just sitting in silence. I bit my bottom lip, not knowing what to say to that. I could get up at any minute and head back to my room upstairs, but I was here — sitting next to Maxwell and listening to him apologize as my cheeks burned with embarrassment. Maybe I should leave — just get up without another thought...

"I want to show you something," I heard his voice say, pulling me out of my thoughts before I turned to look at him. He smiled a bit before bending over to grab his backpack that had been resting on the high stool he was sitting on. I watched him put the green bag before he went through it and pulled out a book. He stretched it out to me, and after a while I took it.

My brow shot up at the sight of the cover. Well, it was interesting, to say the least. I didn't think that amount of nudity could get on book covers.

"I..." I trailed off, not knowing what to say. "What is this?" I asked, watching as he bit his bottom lip as he ran a hand through his hair. Is he trying to make fun of me? The thought was putting me in defense mode, and I wanted to get up before he could hurt my feelings by laughing or mocking me in some way. I'm not sure I'd be able to handle that — in public even.

"That's my favorite book," he finally said, looking up at me before chuckling a bit. "That's the kind of stuff I like to read."

"Oh," I said under my breath, and I wasn't even sure if Maxwell heard it.

"So, I'm not sure if that explains why I read so much from your journal, but yeah..." he trailed, rubbing the back of his neck. He'd adjusted the position on his stool now, so that he was facing me directly. "Your writing's great. I was just going to take a peak and I kind of got absorbed... I don't know." He shrugged. His face was becoming redder, and I could see the tint on his ears too. I looked down at the book again, and then at him. A question bubbling in my mind that I wanted to ask.

"About my journal," I started, making him look straight at me with his brown eyes.

"What about it?" he asked, crossing his arms over his chest. He was wearing the green school sweater with dark blue denim jeans.

"It was about you—"

"What? I knew. That made it even better," he said, cutting me off. My eyes widened before I looked away from him. I didn't know what to say to that, what did he even mean by better? In the midst of my confusion, Maxwell got up from his seat before picking up his bag.

"I better be going. I'm trying to get my textbooks and ID sorted out before lectures start on Monday," he said, making me look up at him. "I'll see you at the first writing group meeting I suppose." he smiled as he started to walk away.

"Your book!" I said on top my voice a bit, hoping that he could hear me over the noise in the cafeteria. He turned, shaking his head at the sight of the book in my hand.

"Keep it," he said with a smile before hurrying off. I watched him leave, only looking back at my food that I suppose was now cold when he disappeared out of sight.

I didn't even notice when Ollie returned to the table with his tray until I heard his seat move. I turned, finding him settling down. I made to tuck the book into the pocket of my sweater before Ollie could spot it.

"What did you guys talk about? You looked tense," Ollie said.

I shook my head, picking up my fork as I tried to continue eating. "Nothing much," I said, making Ollie sigh, but he didn't say anything in response.

My face was beet red throughout our meal, and it only grew warmer when Ollie and I headed back upstairs, and I settled to read the book.

When I used to think of Maxwell I'd pictured him as shy and a bit oblivious. That guy people wanted to date, but was a bit too innocent to even comprehend it.

Well, that's out the window. I thought to myself as I laughed, flipping a page of the book in my hands. I had covered the book with wrapping paper, so the cover wasn't out in the open for Ollie to spot it. As I read through, my embarrassment from that day seemed to ease a bit. I couldn't really explain it, but I was.