Page 18

Now

Regardless of Seth’s worries, lunch went by smoothly.

More than smoothly, it was fun.

Seth laughed more times than he could count, and Nina appeared to be having a great time. Her and Jae bounced off of each other with jokes throughout, verbally jarring as if they were long lost siblings.

Anya looked on with amusement, her eyes shimmering whenever they fell on Jae.

It all seemed to be falling into place, just as it should be.

When they finished lunch, the four of them decided to go for a walk along the nearby Darling Harbour, a part of Sydney he hadn’t visited in a while.

Oftentimes, he only ever went straight to uni, and straight home.

During the first year of uni, when he accepted invites out more often, they usually went drinking at the heart of Haymarket and occasionally Circular Quay, which was nearer to the Harbour Bridge.

But this part of the city, he hadn’t been to since…

“Do you remember when we went here for our history excursion in Year 9?” Nina asked, nodding toward the Chinese Friendship Garden that they’d sauntered nearby.

At once, memories of the history excursion flooded through him. Usually, their class excursions were a bit dull, travelling to places closer to their high school in Western Sydney and far from the city that were hardly exciting.

But in Year 9, his history class had the best teacher. She took them to the Chinese Friendship Garden and Art Gallery of NSW for the excursion.

“I do remember that, actually,” Seth responded, his eyes taking in the exterior of the building.

He could almost see the ghost of his past self walking through the doors with Will by his side, and Joshua trailing behind with his girlfriend. Seth was trying to flirt pathetically with Gwendolyn that day, too.

The memory made him grimace.

“You and Will were such menaces that day,” Nina reminisced, shooting him a side eye, “You both kept going off and away from the class.”

“What can I say, I was cooler back then,” he retorted, nudging her a little.

She rolled her eyes.

“More like every teacher’s nightmare.”

He gasped in mock offence, clutching his heart, “You are brutal to me, Nina Mendez.”

Then, only because he was so happy from lunch, and the sun was shining brightly on them, he said, “Besides, at least I was a dream to someone.”

He regretted the words as soon as it left his mouth.

Why am I so cringe what the fu-

But, instead of a disgusted expression, Nina’s mouth twitched. She met his eyes, before glancing away, with a small shrug.

“Can’t say you’re wrong there.”

They continued onwards, taking in the city around them. Thankfully, it wasn’t too crowded for a Saturday. People were out, walking their dogs. Families on outings, making the most of the weekend. Groups of friends filming videos together.

It was only when Seth saw a cosplayer for a character in the multiplayer game he and Jae bond over, and turned around to point it out to him, that Seth realised he and Anya weren’t behind.

“Wait, where are Jae and Anya?” Seth asked.

Nina’s eyes widened, and she glanced behind.

“Oh my gosh, how fast were we walking?”

Seth shot Jae a text, somewhat pleased at the fact that he and Nina were left to themselves, and alternatively, Jae and Anya were together too.

Seth: Yo, where’d you go?

“Just texted him.”

“I feel terrible, I can’t believe that we lost your friends on my first hangout with them. What a great first impression on me, right?”

There was a crease between Nina’s brows which Seth had noticed appeared whenever she was deep in thought, or worried, or both. Seth knew that now wasn’t the time to dwell on how cute it looked.

Thankfully, his phone buzzed, breaking him from the moment.

Jae: Thought it was the best time to break off the group. You know, have some alone time with Anya. Might actually ask her on a proper date. Idk!!

Seth: Haha okay. Good luck bro.

Nina peeked over his shoulder, her head resting against his arm. The contact was subtle, soft, barely anything, yet it sent waves through Seth. He hoped she couldn’t hear how hard his heart was pumping.

“Wait so Jae wants some alone time with- oh…. oh !” Nina’s eyes widened at the realisation, her lips turning up to a smirk, “So Jae likes Anya?”

Her enthusiasm about the whole ordeal was infectious. Seth found himself grinning.

“Yeah, they’ve both liked each other for months now. They’re both really obvious with it actually. Especially Jae.”

Nina giggled at that.

“I could tell.”

Seth tried not to dwell on the fact that her shoulder was bumping his, or that she could see through Jae’s feelings for Anya. He wondered if he was as transparent about his crush on Nina as Jae was.

“How about you, Seth?”

“What about me?”

“Do you have a special someone?”

If Seth was scared about being transparent about his crush before, then right now, he wished he could bury himself in the Earth. He really prayed that the heat of his cheeks wasn’t obvious, or that she couldn’t tell that he was close to choking on his heartbeats right that second.

“I - uh -”

Just lie. Just say no. You don’t have to elaborate.

“Not really. No.”

Nina nodded, a small smile.

“Not even a little crush on anyone? No one is catching your eye?”

Was she suspicious of him? No, she couldn’t be. They’d only reconnected a couple of weeks ago, so she couldn’t possibly suspect anything.

His phone pinged again. Thank goodness. He took this as an escape, but as Seth went to read the text, he suddenly wished he could drown.

Jae: Go enjoy your alone time with Nina tooooooo ~~ she most defs likes you back (again?)

“Oh! What is he saying now?”

Nina glimpsed over her shoulder and Seth whipped around so fast, his heart pounding. Did she see the texts?

“Nothing, nothing. Uh - why don’t we go somewhere? Is there any place you wanna visit?” Seth asked.

Nina smiled, humming in thought.

“Since we were on a little memory lane back there, why don’t we visit the Art Gallery for a bit? Or we could check out some shops if you want?”

“The gallery sounds perfect. Let’s go visit, I don’t remember what it looked like.”

Nina’s expression lit up, her mouth stretching into a wide grin and all Seth could think was he wanted to be the reason she lit up like that for a long, long time.

The art gallery had a scarce crowd for the weekend.

There was a small scatter of people, mostly elderly, tourists, and groups of friends around he and Nina’s age.

It was quiet as well. There seemed to be a mutual agreement that the space was to be respected, that it was a sort of personal moment when one looked at art.

Nina approached one of the artworks, and as they sauntered down the corridor, he felt time strip away, until they were both 15 and 16 year olds again, on a field trip.

They stopped before a painting depicting a man and woman locked in an intimate embrace.

Lovers, it was called. He’s seen this before, back when -

“This is my favourite artwork,” Nina said. Seth turned, fixing his gaze on her.

“All the artworks here always inspire me so much, but this one inspires me the most,” she continued, “Something about the way their love is depicted, how intimate their embrace appears. It’s been my favourite since…”

“Since high school,” Seth finished for her.

Her eyes turned, meeting his, her lips parted in quiet surprise. Seth hadn’t even realised that the memory was tucked away for him to recall, but it’d risen to the surface, replaying in his mind as vivid as day.

Of Nina standing before the artwork all those years ago, telling Seth the same thing. It’d been one of the first times Nina had peeled away a layer of herself to him, the first time that she hadn’t hidden behind her blushes.

“You remember?” Nina asked, and he felt his breath pull at her wide eyes. He could see his own reflection in those wide pupils.

“Well I -” he began, his tongue tumbling on itself. He swallowed, an odd heat rushing to his ears, “I mostly remember the way you kept blushing the entire time we were paired together. That was the best day of your high school life, wasn’t it, Mendez?”

He nudged her, a little pathetically.

Nina rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to the painting, but the smallest hint of a smile was playing on her lips.

“One can only dream of experiencing a love like this,” she murmured.

Seth studied the painting himself. The lovers’ embrace did appear intense. They were interwoven into each other in a way that said that their separation would be almost impossible.

But this was a painting, meaning it wasn’t real.

“How can you believe so strongly in something that isn’t even…that can’t be tangible?”

Nina turned to him, her brows lifting in surprise.

“What do you mean?”

Seth nodded at the painting again, but felt the words getting stuck at his throat.

“Well, you know. Love and all that.”

Nina was a lover girl, through and through. Everything in her world’s view was romantic. It was one of the things that made her shine in high school. Her ability to see everything in bright, rosy colours.

“You don’t believe in love, Seth?”

I haven’t believed in it for a long time, he thought. His silence spoke all the answers that Nina needed.

“I believe in it because I see it all around me. In my parents’ love.

The stories that've been passed down through generations. In paintings, like these. Everything is done in the name of love. It’s the purest, most human form that exists, and wired into our very being.

Our downfall but our salvation, too. It’s beautiful. ”

Her words trickled over Seth, soaking him like rain would. It warmed him, even as he didn’t comprehend the concept.

Maybe, he will never come to believe in love as passionately as her.

But as she stood beside him, her eyes glazed over, drinking in the painting, he could almost believe. Almost understand.

“I want to write something beautiful like this,” Nina spoke again. “To tell stories that reach out to people. To make people feel something with my own works. You know what I mean?”

Nina met his eyes again, and Seth felt the world shift. Her eyes, so round, so brown, the same as he remembered them back then, yet so entirely different.

Is this…what crushes are meant to feel like? To be this…intense?

All he knew was that he wanted to spend all his time getting to know all the little intrinsics that wrote up Nina’s character.

“Yes,” he said softly. Holding her gaze. Hoping that she knew that he was feeling. “I know what you mean.”

Nina held his gaze a second longer, but it was a second that was all but enough to spark the wick of hope within him. That maybe, maybe she could possibly reciprocate if he were to tell her how he truly felt.

“Let’s have a look at the other works,” Nina said, breaking the moment with that smile she always had gracing her lips. He couldn’t read her at all.

Together, they continued observing the rest of the paintings. Seth could not concentrate on any of it at all.

Not when she was there.

A blanket of night had covered the sky, by the time that Seth and Nina made their train ride home. They’d lost track of time at the art gallery, as Seth listened to Nina gush over different artworks and encouraged him to join her in making up narratives about them.

On the ride home, they listened to music, seemingly exhausted from the day. She’d even drifted off a bit, and Seth felt the weight of her leaning against him when they were three stops away, her eyes closed.

Her head rested against his shoulder unknowingly, and his heart jumped into his throat.

As the train reached their stop, he dreaded having to shake her awake.

“We’re here,” he whispered, and she jolted, surprised at their closeness.

“God, I can’t believe I fell asleep,” she laughed.

The two of them walked side by side at a steady pace, but Seth noticed that Nina wasn’t trying to rush home. He wasn’t sure if that could be a sign, but he was taking every little win he could get.

“So, I had fun today,” Nina said.

Seth contemplated on whether he should drop the hint now. It seemed like the perfect timing. Walking with Nina under the street light, with no one around them. As if the scene were written just for them.

Do it. Just - ask her out.

“Me too,” Seth glanced down at Nina with a smile, “We should do it more often.”

“We so should!” Nina said, enthusiastically. “I really enjoyed meeting your friends as well. They were really fun. Even if we kind of separated at the end.”

Seth tried to ignore the way his heart dropped. He hoped Nina also wanted to hang out with just him.

They were slowly approaching the street where they’d part ways. If he was going to put the idea out there, he needed to do it now.

“I - uh,” taking a deep breath, he decided he’d just dive, “I meant just the both of us. Going out. Together.”

And…

Silence.

Their paces slowed, as they reached Seth’s street. He genuinely could not tell whether only three seconds had passed, or whether it was three minutes. He peered down, at the sidewalk, suddenly interested in the crevices of the cement.

“I’d love that.”

Then, before Seth could react, Nina turned down the pathway, glancing over her shoulder at him.

“Goodnight, Seth Roman Moore.”

“Goodnight, Nina Mendez.”

And he watched her, as he did every night they walked home, until she was out of view. Her words echoed in a ricochet around his mind, all the way up the driveway to his front door. He decided then and there that, yes, crushes are great, they’re beautiful.

They’re the best feeling ever.