Lauren Williams had developed a habit.

Her friends found it quite peculiar that she started to attend class earlier than usual but they never had enough interest to actually spy on her.

If they did, they would find Lauren on her seat with an unanswered copy of her assignment. She’d bring out a pencil and start to fill it out as much as she can. Science and Mathematics had never been her strongest points which was why they made the perfect assignment to accomplish.

The bell rang, signaling that the students had 5 minutes left before class started. Most of her classmates came rushing in and took their seats. She didn’t pay them any attention.

One person, however…

She heard the scrapping of the chair’s legs against the floor next to her. Instinctively, she lowered her head further as if in deep concentration with her work. She let a curtain of her golden blonde hair fall on one side of her face. This way she could sneak a peek without getting caught.

Alex Carter pulled out the earphones in his ears and stuffed them in his bag. Then, he took out the things he needed. While he waited for their teacher, he played on his phone.

Lauren noticed this was his usual routine every single time but that despite that, she still hadn’t seen what game he plays on his phone. She’d see him pause for a moment before making a move. She knew it was a game because it made light sounds as Alex played.

This time, she was determined to find out so she could download the game and strike a conversation with him. Unknowingly, Lauren leaned in too much that Alex detected her presence. His stormy gray eyes flickered towards her.

Lauren felt like a fish. Her mouth opened and closed repeatedly without making a sound. At her hesitation, Alex tilted his head to the side and asked, “Are you alright? Do you need to go to the clinic? I can take you there.”

She swore that her heart melted at the sound of Alex’ words. If only she could use it as an excuse to go to the clinic. Instead, she shook her head and smiled apologetically, “I’m sorry. I just… uh… can I borrow your eraser?”

“Oh, sure” Alex handed over his eraser instantly, the corner of his mouth curving upwards, “Here you go.”

Lauren carefully grabbed the eraser. Her fingers brushed against Alex’ lightly. They were smooth almost like butter. They were also warm. She could almost imagine the feeling of having that hand wrap around her own.

She liked that feeling.

She lightly erased a part of the solution she previously wrote. She did something wrong, she knew it. The latter part of the solution didn’t make sense so it meant that she made a mistake along the way. It couldn’t be that incomprehensible. The answer would at least be a whole number. If not, it would only have 2 decimal points at least and not 5 that needed rounding up/down.

Lauren constantly tried to fix her solution. She wrote and erased constantly for a whole minute that Alex couldn’t help but peek at her work.

“This should be -5” Alex whispered near her desk, taking aback Lauren. Her head snapped towards him and saw that his face hovered only inches apart from her own. He didn’t look at her but at her paper. He had a wrinkle on his forehead and on one of the smoothest skin she had ever seen. She could not detect a single pore on his face which made her envious.

A guy actually looked prettier than her. What were the odds?

When Alex glanced up at her, she heard her breath stop.

“Are you sure you’re okay, Lauren?” Alex frowned, “If you can’t quite understand it yet, let me write it down for you.”

Lauren shook her head, realizing that Alex had been talking to her all this time. He took her pencil and began to write the correct solution. She did her best to pay attention to the explanation Alex made but the closeness left her a bit dizzy.

She could even smell his cologne, fresh and woody fragrance with a light floral scent. She found it pleasant to the nose and maybe slightly addicting.

“And there!” Alex concluded, “The answer is 3. Did you understand now?”

Lauren could only smile meekly, “Math isn’t one of my best subjects. Thank you for explaining. I think I know it a bit better now.”

“No problem” Alex beamed, “If you ever get stuck again, don’t hesitate to ask me. I wouldn’t mind.”

“Ah, really?” Lauren squealed, “I’d really appreciate that a lot!”

“Yeah, don’t mention it” Alex leaned back in his chair. Lauren’s eyes immediately went to his phone which had its screen lit.

“Is that a new phone?” She asked, unable to recognize the previous phone features she saw before.

“Uh, yeah” Alex cleared his throat, “I kind of lost mine a few days ago.”

“Were you robbed?” Lauren exclaimed.

“Yeah” he answered her but quickly shook his head, “I mean, no. No, I wasn’t robbed. Someone found it thankfully. Hopefully we’d be able to meet next week so I can have it back.”

“But you still bought a new one?”

“Yes, my parents are away a lot. They tend to worry when they can’t contact me for a while.”

“They must really love you a lot” Lauren sighed admiringly, both at his words and at his side profile.

Alex laughed lightly, “They do. And I love them just as much so ta-da! New phone.”

“They must be so proud of you too.”

“I guess so. What about your family?”

A lump grew in Lauren’s throat. This had become a question she grew to fear. She wouldn’t say her family situation was bad but it did weigh in her heart heavily.

“Well, mom likes to think she could join me in new diet escapades to stay fit” she giggled, “Dad teases her about it. They can be fun.”

“Seems like it” Alex chuckled, “Do you have more drawings around? I think you had a sketchbook before.”

No moment could top up this one as Lauren realized that Alex had paid attention to her in the past.

“Oh… uh… I…” she muttered, completely flustered by the sudden conversation. She had done a few homework for a number of days now in hopes to catch Alex’ interest. Not only did she talk to him but also they had an actual conversation with changes of topics. Unfortunately for her, Alex picked the ones that she’d rather reserve to herself.

And yet, she thought she could lay it all out and not have to worry about Alex’ image of her.

“It’s okay if you don’t want to show it” Alex continued to say, “I get it. Not everyone is that comfortable with sharing. Totally fine. But I do hope you show it to me someday.”

“What kind of drawing would you like?” The words flew out of Lauren’s mouth before she could process them. After she realized this, she actually became curious as to what kind of sketch would appeal to Alex.

Plus if she could do a good job at it.

Alex thought carefully, gazing at the ceiling as he did so. The wait made Lauren’s heart beat faster. It seemed that the longer it took to decide, the higher chance that it would be a hard one.

“A lotus flower.”

“Hm?” Lauren leaned her ear closer to Alex. She didn’t quite picked it up what he said.

“A lotus flower” he spoke again but louder, “It’s a flower that grows in mud. Despite how dark, dense and sticky mud is, it still manages to bloom into a beautiful flower. Draw one like that as pretty as you can so anyone who sees it would feel empowered to keep going even with life’s harsh challenges.”

A wise answer. She should have expected such a thing from him.

A beautiful lotus…, Lauren mulled in her head. She mostly drew with pencils and charcoal so far. She had yet to make colored creations but maybe it was high time to buy some watercolor pens.