22 (e)
Title: A Brief History of Hemingway and STRING THEORY
Previous
David wants to die.
When he and Cesc had first seen each other, they had shook hands and after a few seconds of awkward silence, he had said he would get their drinks and had escaped. Now they were at their table, with Cesc chewing on his donut and David picking at his muffin and a lot of silence.
“I’m nervous,” David blurts out.
Cesc is caught mid-chew, and he freezes, his cheeks puffed out, filled with donut. It takes awhile, but he finally swallows it down and says, “Me too.”
David feels his shoulders relax. “Really?”
Cesc grins. “Are you kidding? Yeah. Do you think I’m ever this quiet? Tomáš and Marouane would love it if I was like this all the time.”
“Who’s Tomáš?” David asks. “You said you couldn’t do without him.”
Cesc blinks. “I did?”
“Yeah, on your profile.”
“Oh. He’s my roommate.” Cesc pauses. “Well, he’s my best friend really. He keeps me sane.” He smirks. “Or as sane as I can possibly be.”
“And Marouane is?”
“His better half, or worse. They’re practically married. So Marouane is my best-friend-in-law.”
“What does Tomáš do?”
Cesc shakes his head. “No, wait. I’ll answer that soon. First tell me if you have a roommate.”
David gives him a funny look. “Why?”
“I don’t want to just talk about myself.”
David smiles at him. “Okay. I have two roommates, Mata and Alexis. They’re the ones who said I should try online dating.”
“Really? Tomáš didn’t approve of this.”
David blushes, even though he’s not sure why he cares that someone he’s never met doesn’t approve of him. “Really?”
“Oh, not you,” Cesc says, quickly. “Just online dating in general. He likes you.” He pauses and turns red.
“What?”
“Okay, truth? Don’t get mad.”
David tries not to cringe. He knew this was too good to be true. Cesc was going to say that this was all a joke and he was researching for an article about online dating or something. “No promises,” he says.
Cesc looks uncomfortable, and David wonders if he should make it easier and just leave.
“Tomáš found you.”
David blinks. “What?”
“That first message talking about Marley and Shakespeare? That was from him.” Cesc pushes his donut away, looking distressed. “We had a deal; if the first three guys I dated didn’t work out, he’d get to pick someone, and he found you.” He looks up and he reaches out across the table, like he was reaching for David’s hand, but he pulls back. “But all the other messages were from me.”
David stares at him, not knowing what to say.
~
Cesc wants to die.
He can’t imagine what had possessed him to tell David that Tomáš was the one who came across his profile. He was going to tell David at some point; he just always assumed it would be far off in the future when David was madly in love with him and wouldn’t care.
The silence was killing him. He wonders if he should just ask David if he wants him to leave, but he really doesn’t want to.
“Did you just call Marlowe Marley?”
Cesc looks up from his hot chocolate and is relieved to see David smiling. “Yeah, I don’t really know who that guy is.”
“That guy.” David looks horrified. “Really? You called Hemingway Hems and Marlowe Marley?”
Cesc shrugs. “Personally, I think Hemingway would be fine being called Hems, he was cool.”
David looks at him incredulously. “He’s probably rolling in his grave as we speak.” He shakes his head, still smiling. “What am I going to do with you?”
Cesc grins. He reaches out and briefly touches David’s hand then. “Wait. Are you really not mad?”
David smile broadens. “No, I sort of figured something was up when there was such a vast difference between the first message and the second one.” He gives Cesc a pained look. “Is that really how you type?”
“Hey, I geeked it up for you,” Cesc says, defensively.
“Yeah, how long are you going to keep that up?”
“How long are you going to keep using emoticons?”
“Never again. That was just bait to reel you in.”
“Well, you can get used to shorthand then, and lots of emoticons.”
David makes a face. “Just remember, all space right, okay?”
Cesc rolls his eyes. “You are such a nerd.”
David raises his eyebrow. “Oh, really? ‘Message me if you think you can follow a geodesic straight to my heart.’”
“Hey, that was clever and witty.”
David laughs. “No, it wasn’t.”
Cesc relaxes. It gets easier after that.
~
“What are you doing?”
David blinks up at him. “What?”
Alexis gestures to the blank television screen. “You were staring at it with this weird smile on your face. I thought you were watching your soaps or something, but the TV’s not even on.”
“I wasn’t smiling.”
“You’re still smiling.”
David brings his hands to the corners of his mouth and tries to flatten them out from where they’re turned up. But he can’t. He makes an unidentifiable sound and buries his face in one of the couch cushions.
Alexis nudges at David’s feet until he moves them, so there’s enough room for Alexis on the couch too. “Good date?”
“We have nothing in common,” David answers, his voice muffled by the pillow. “He called Marlowe Marley.”
“Did you throttle him?”
“No.”
“Really? Because when Mata called Shakespeare Will, your face got so red I thought your head was going to explode.”
“Oh, shut up.”
“So, you’re letting this boy play with your precious literature. I thought you considered that blasphemy. You must really like him.”
David turns around and sits up. “I do,” he says, squeezing Alexis’ arm happily. “We’re going out again on Friday.”
Alexis looks impressed. “Well, check you out. You’ll be out on a Friday night.”
David grimaces. “Not Friday night, he has some physics experiment thing to do, so we’re going out for lunch.”
Alexis shrugs. “Whatever, the point is, you’re going out on a Friday.”
David beams. “I know. I’m really excited.”
“So are you still going to meet Jack?”
David’s face falls. He had forgotten about Jack.
~
“I’m in love,” Cesc announces, as he bounds into the apartment happily.
Marouane looks up from all the books he has spread out across their dining table. “Really? With the Hemingway kid?”
Tomáš raises an eyebrow at him from across the table. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“I meant for Cesc,” Marouane hurriedly adds. He stops and gives Tomáš a sheepish look. “Uhh, nothing. Hemingway is great. Literature is great. You know, lots of fun and stuff.”
Tomáš rolls his eyes. “Just stop.” He turns to Cesc. “So you like David?”
“Yes!” Cesc pulls out the chair next to him and wraps his arms tightly around Tomáš. “When we get married, you can be my best man for bringing him into my life.”
“While I’m glad you had a good time,” Tomáš says, disentangling himself from Cesc. “You’ve only been on one date.”
“This is different, I can feel it.” Cesc props his elbows on the table and rests his chin on his upturned hands. “I haven’t been on a second date in forever. It’s always just been one date and that’s it. I want to date him again. And again and again and again and forever.” He sighs in contentment.
“You didn’t tell him all this, I hope,” Marouane says.
“I’m not stupid.” Cesc turns to Tomáš. “He’s so nerdy, it’s adorable. He talked about books and stuff, and I listened.” He pauses to think. “Should I be concerned that he seems to have a crush on a dead guy?”
Tomáš looks confused. “What?”
“Hemingway.”
Marouane snorts. “No. Tomáš has a crush on Oscar Wilde.”
Tomáš glares at him. “I do not, I just think he’s a good writer.”
Marouane looks at him, innocently. “It’s okay, I’ve already accepted that I’ll always be second place to Mr. Wilde, I’m fine with it.” He laughs and ducks in time when Tomáš throws a pen at him.
“Well, I’m not going to be second place to a dead guy,” Cesc says, crossly.
“Losing battle.” Marouane smirks.
“Oh, shut up,” Tomáš says.
~
“Okay,” Cesc says, handing David his ice cream cone as they leave the restaurant after lunch. “Tell me three embarrassing things about yourself.”
David quirks an eyebrow at that. “You’re going to reciprocate, I hope.”
“Yes,” Cesc says, licking at the ice cream spilling out of his cup. “I’ll start. When I go back home, sometimes Carlota paints my toenails and I don’t hate it.”
David laughs. “What colour?”
Cesc shrugs. “She doesn’t let me pick, but I’m impartial to this dark blue one she has.” He grins. “It sparkles.”
“You’re ridiculous,” David says fondly, bumping his shoulder against Cesc’s. “Okay, my turn? I really like the smell of markers.”
Cesc wrinkles his nose. “They smell so gross.”
“Hey, I didn’t say anything when you told me you get pedicures from your sister,” David says, breaking off a piece of his cone and scooping out some of the ice cream before putting it in his mouth.
“That is counter-productive,” Cesc says, watching him.
“You’re not telling me how to eat ice cream.”
“I’m just saying.”
“You’re up.”
Cesc thinks for a while, and then says, “I tried one of Adonis’ biscuits once.”
David stops walking. “Isn’t that your dog?”
Cesc blushes. “It looked good,” he mumbles.
“That’s gross,” David says, making a face.
“Says the person who gets high off markers,” Cesc shoot backs.
“I don’t get high off them,” David says, grabbing Cesc’s spoon and vindictively taking a huge bite out of his ice cream sundae.
“Thief,” Cesc complains, looking down at his depleted ice cream cup.
“When we were kids, my sister liked to put on plays and she always gave me the female leads.” David leans over and scrapes some of his ice cream into Cesc’s cup. “She has a lot of pictures of me wearing dresses.”
Cesc smirks. “See, that’s not much different from my pedicures.”
“I didn’t like wearing the dresses. My sister was just the boss of my brother and me, we just always did what she said.”
“Okay, one more, let’s see. I watch Desperate Housewives?”
David scoffs. “And I watch Hollyoaks, that doesn’t count. I already knew that, you cheater.”
Cesc makes a face. “Okay, fine. Oh, I have one. I cried during Titanic.”
David mulls this over. “I don’t know if that counts? I feel like a lot of people did.”
Cesc scowls. “No, you don’t understand. I cried out of rage!”
David blinks. “That’s new.”
Cesc doesn’t hear him though. “Rose was such a selfish bitch, okay? Jack totally could have fit on that door too. Instead she just cries and promises him stuff and then lets go. Fuck that. That selfish bitch, she could have saved him too.”
David laughs and grabs Cesc’s arm. “You’re crazy, you know that?”
The scowl disappears from Cesc’s face, and he smiles. “I like to think of it more as eccentric.”
David’s hand slides down to Cesc’s, and he squeezes it slightly before letting go. “Last one? I was in the library reading a book of poetry and I teared up a little. I was with people from my class, so I tried to be discreet, but this girl caught me and now she makes snide comments every time we read something sad.”
Cesc pats his shoulder. “Would you like me to sort her out for you?” He puffs out his chest as if to make a point.
David smiles. “No, I can handle her just fine.”
“I don’t think that counts though,” Cesc says. “That doesn’t seem surprising.”
“What, you think I cry over books all the time?”
Cesc shrugs. “Don’t you? One time I couldn’t figure out this one formula for days and I actually wept. When I figured it out, I cried again.”
“Well, I don’t usually cry over books or movies.”
Cesc sticks out his lower lip a little. “Heartless.”
“Emotionally stable,” David corrects.
“Emotionally stunted.”
~
David is saying something, but Cesc has already tuned him out. He has noticed the ice cream on David’s nose and it’s distracting.
“What?” David is staring at him, his hands moving to his face.
Cesc blinks and looks away. “You have ice cream on your nose.”
“Oh.” David swipes at his nose. “Did I get it?”
Cesc smirks. “No.” He reaches out and then hesitates. “Can I?”
David turns a little red, but he nods, so Cesc brushes his fingers against the bridge of David’s nose. “All gone,” he says, holding up his fingers.
David glances at his fingertips and flushes slightly. “Thanks.” He pulls out the napkins he had grabbed and hands them to Cesc.
They approach the train station where David is dropping off Cesc. Saying goodbye had been awkward last time, and it wasn’t any better this time.
“I had a good time,” David says, awkwardly.
Cesc grins. “Me too. Thanks for lunch.” He feels self-conscious, too aware of his hands and his arms and everything. He laughs. “We’ll get the hang of this one day.”
David smiles, and Cesc sees the relief on his face. “Yeah.” There’s a slight pause before he adds, “So we’re doing this again then?”
“Sure. A proper date next time,” Cesc says. He pulls out his phone, and holds it out to David. “Can I get your number? Making plans through the website is starting to get weird, and-” He looks abashed. “I’m not so interested in spending anymore time there right now.”
David, who has dutifully been entering his number on Cesc’s phone, looks up. “Yeah?”
“You don’t have to stop or anything,” Cesc hurriedly adds. “I mean, we’ve only been out twice so if you want to keep your options open, then you should. I just meant I’m done.”
David doesn’t say anything, just hands Cesc’s phone back to him and holds out a pen to him. “I didn’t bring my cell phone,” he explains. “You’re just going to have to write down your number for me.”
Cesc rolls his eyes, and pulls David’s arm towards him. “Who leaves their cell phones?” he mumbles, scrawling his number on David’s arm.
“I meant write it on a napkin or something,” David complains, giving Cesc a dark look.
“Oops.” Cesc grins, not looking the least bit sorry.
David rolls his eyes. “You should go, wouldn’t want you to be late.”
“Yeah.” Cesc slips his phone back into his pocket. “Text me when you get home so I know you haven’t lost my number.”
David gives him a look. “So you know I haven’t lost your number or so you know I got home safe.”
Cesc scoffs. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he says, breezily.
David laughs. “Yeah, okay, I’ll text you. Now go.” He reaches for Cesc’s hand and squeezes it quickly before letting go. “Thanks for the ice cream.”
“No problem.”
The ride to his school usually feels like it takes awhile, but it goes by quickly today. He’s out at his own station in no time, and he has just stepped into his campus when he feels his phone go off in his pocket.
From: David
5:28 P.M. 3/09
Your number is safe, stored under ‘String Theory Dork’.
Cesc smiles, and hurriedly replies:
From: Cesc
5:30 P.M. 3/09
i’m sure u mean tht as an insult but i’m flattered ;) wld u lyk me 2 store ur name as hemingway or HEMS mayb haha marley perhaps
From: David
5:41 P.M. 3/09
I figured that your text would be in shorthand, but are you really opposed to punctuation too? Are you trying to kill me? (You’re actually stored under Cesc.)
From: Cesc
5:42 P.M. 3/09
omggggg who evn uses full words in a txt??????? ur sch a loser ok! i’ll promise 2 use punctuation if u use an emoticon once in awhile. c’mon smiley face meeeeeee. ;)
From: David
5:50 P.M. 3/09
No. What time does your dorky lab stuff start? STOP TEXTING, YOU SLACKER. :P
From: Cesc
5:51 P.M. 3/09
aww!!! cuuute. nd we start @ 6.
From: David
5:58 P.M. 3/09
Good luck! :)
Cesc sighs happily before he sets his phone on silent and tucks it back in his pocket.
~
David is in his room reading when he hears his cell phone go off at around nine. He reaches for it and smiles when he sees Cesc’s name.
From: Cesc
9:05 P.M. 3/09
HEY HOT STUFF. sup? u doin nething? experiment finshd early (i rocked it btw) wanna hang out?
From: David
9:08 P.M. 3/09
It’s 9!
From: Cesc
9:09 P.M. 3/09
uhhh yeah &? nyt is still young grandpa. lets go out! unless ur already tuckd in2 bed w/ sme book or w/e.
From: David
9:16 P.M. 3/09
Not in bed but already settled for the night. Rain check?
From: Cesc:
9:17 P.M. 3/09
): lame! ok, din 2mrw?
From: David
9:21 P.M. 3/09
Deal. I’ll call you tomorrow with the details.
From: Cesc
9:22 P.M. 3/09
all righty (u c i’ve learned frm u!) nyt nyt loser.
David shakes his head as he puts his phone down and picks up the book he had been reading and tries to get his mind off Cesc. Except he was reading A Brief History of Time, and he was only reading it because it was apparently the only book Cesc thought was worth anything so David thought he might as well give it a shot.
Except that he thought it would be something in common they had when they spent more time again, and yet he had turned down actually going out with Cesc now to read something to make their future dates more interesting.
Oh my god, I’ve one of those people, David thinks, snatching his phone back up.
From: David
9:36 P.M. 3/09
Still want to go out?
From: Cesc
9:37 P.M. 3/09
:D :D :D :D i KNEW u cldnt resist me!
~
“You’re reading A Brief History of Time?” Cesc smiles at David over his glass of beer, looking pleased.
David gives him a non-committal shrug. “Reading might be a bit of an understatement,” he says. “More like skimming.”
“Doesn’t interest you, huh?”
“It’s okay,” David says. “It’s not really my cup of tea but it’s more interesting than I thought it would be.”
“You thought it would be boring because I like it?” Cesc pretends to be offended.
David laughs. “No, I just thought it might be too dense for me.”
“Ohhhh.” Cesc looks smug. “You think I’m smart then?”
David gives him a funny look. “Of course I do. Did you think that I didn’t?”
Cesc shrugs. “I don’t know, this started with you correcting my English.” He looks up and when he sees David’s face, he quickly adds, “I’m not offended or anything. I’m not the kind of person to go looking for other people’s approval, I just don’t think a lot of people look at me and think smart or physics.”
David smiles. “What do you think people see they look at you?”
“Hmm.” Cesc takes a sip of his beer. “I don’t know. Jock? Only in university because he got some athletic scholarship.” He grins. “It’s okay though. I know how I come off with the way I talk and type and text. I’m sure people expect all physics students to wear sweater vests and glasses and pocket protectors; to use words like capacitance and centrifugal force and macroscopic.”
“You’re a weird one,” David says, grinning.
“Do I intrigue you?” Cesc asks.
David laughs and he brushes his leg against Cesc’s. “You’re an enigma, Cesc Fàbregas.”
Next
Previous
David wants to die.
When he and Cesc had first seen each other, they had shook hands and after a few seconds of awkward silence, he had said he would get their drinks and had escaped. Now they were at their table, with Cesc chewing on his donut and David picking at his muffin and a lot of silence.
“I’m nervous,” David blurts out.
Cesc is caught mid-chew, and he freezes, his cheeks puffed out, filled with donut. It takes awhile, but he finally swallows it down and says, “Me too.”
David feels his shoulders relax. “Really?”
Cesc grins. “Are you kidding? Yeah. Do you think I’m ever this quiet? Tomáš and Marouane would love it if I was like this all the time.”
“Who’s Tomáš?” David asks. “You said you couldn’t do without him.”
Cesc blinks. “I did?”
“Yeah, on your profile.”
“Oh. He’s my roommate.” Cesc pauses. “Well, he’s my best friend really. He keeps me sane.” He smirks. “Or as sane as I can possibly be.”
“And Marouane is?”
“His better half, or worse. They’re practically married. So Marouane is my best-friend-in-law.”
“What does Tomáš do?”
Cesc shakes his head. “No, wait. I’ll answer that soon. First tell me if you have a roommate.”
David gives him a funny look. “Why?”
“I don’t want to just talk about myself.”
David smiles at him. “Okay. I have two roommates, Mata and Alexis. They’re the ones who said I should try online dating.”
“Really? Tomáš didn’t approve of this.”
David blushes, even though he’s not sure why he cares that someone he’s never met doesn’t approve of him. “Really?”
“Oh, not you,” Cesc says, quickly. “Just online dating in general. He likes you.” He pauses and turns red.
“What?”
“Okay, truth? Don’t get mad.”
David tries not to cringe. He knew this was too good to be true. Cesc was going to say that this was all a joke and he was researching for an article about online dating or something. “No promises,” he says.
Cesc looks uncomfortable, and David wonders if he should make it easier and just leave.
“Tomáš found you.”
David blinks. “What?”
“That first message talking about Marley and Shakespeare? That was from him.” Cesc pushes his donut away, looking distressed. “We had a deal; if the first three guys I dated didn’t work out, he’d get to pick someone, and he found you.” He looks up and he reaches out across the table, like he was reaching for David’s hand, but he pulls back. “But all the other messages were from me.”
David stares at him, not knowing what to say.
~
Cesc wants to die.
He can’t imagine what had possessed him to tell David that Tomáš was the one who came across his profile. He was going to tell David at some point; he just always assumed it would be far off in the future when David was madly in love with him and wouldn’t care.
The silence was killing him. He wonders if he should just ask David if he wants him to leave, but he really doesn’t want to.
“Did you just call Marlowe Marley?”
Cesc looks up from his hot chocolate and is relieved to see David smiling. “Yeah, I don’t really know who that guy is.”
“That guy.” David looks horrified. “Really? You called Hemingway Hems and Marlowe Marley?”
Cesc shrugs. “Personally, I think Hemingway would be fine being called Hems, he was cool.”
David looks at him incredulously. “He’s probably rolling in his grave as we speak.” He shakes his head, still smiling. “What am I going to do with you?”
Cesc grins. He reaches out and briefly touches David’s hand then. “Wait. Are you really not mad?”
David smile broadens. “No, I sort of figured something was up when there was such a vast difference between the first message and the second one.” He gives Cesc a pained look. “Is that really how you type?”
“Hey, I geeked it up for you,” Cesc says, defensively.
“Yeah, how long are you going to keep that up?”
“How long are you going to keep using emoticons?”
“Never again. That was just bait to reel you in.”
“Well, you can get used to shorthand then, and lots of emoticons.”
David makes a face. “Just remember, all space right, okay?”
Cesc rolls his eyes. “You are such a nerd.”
David raises his eyebrow. “Oh, really? ‘Message me if you think you can follow a geodesic straight to my heart.’”
“Hey, that was clever and witty.”
David laughs. “No, it wasn’t.”
Cesc relaxes. It gets easier after that.
~
“What are you doing?”
David blinks up at him. “What?”
Alexis gestures to the blank television screen. “You were staring at it with this weird smile on your face. I thought you were watching your soaps or something, but the TV’s not even on.”
“I wasn’t smiling.”
“You’re still smiling.”
David brings his hands to the corners of his mouth and tries to flatten them out from where they’re turned up. But he can’t. He makes an unidentifiable sound and buries his face in one of the couch cushions.
Alexis nudges at David’s feet until he moves them, so there’s enough room for Alexis on the couch too. “Good date?”
“We have nothing in common,” David answers, his voice muffled by the pillow. “He called Marlowe Marley.”
“Did you throttle him?”
“No.”
“Really? Because when Mata called Shakespeare Will, your face got so red I thought your head was going to explode.”
“Oh, shut up.”
“So, you’re letting this boy play with your precious literature. I thought you considered that blasphemy. You must really like him.”
David turns around and sits up. “I do,” he says, squeezing Alexis’ arm happily. “We’re going out again on Friday.”
Alexis looks impressed. “Well, check you out. You’ll be out on a Friday night.”
David grimaces. “Not Friday night, he has some physics experiment thing to do, so we’re going out for lunch.”
Alexis shrugs. “Whatever, the point is, you’re going out on a Friday.”
David beams. “I know. I’m really excited.”
“So are you still going to meet Jack?”
David’s face falls. He had forgotten about Jack.
~
“I’m in love,” Cesc announces, as he bounds into the apartment happily.
Marouane looks up from all the books he has spread out across their dining table. “Really? With the Hemingway kid?”
Tomáš raises an eyebrow at him from across the table. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“I meant for Cesc,” Marouane hurriedly adds. He stops and gives Tomáš a sheepish look. “Uhh, nothing. Hemingway is great. Literature is great. You know, lots of fun and stuff.”
Tomáš rolls his eyes. “Just stop.” He turns to Cesc. “So you like David?”
“Yes!” Cesc pulls out the chair next to him and wraps his arms tightly around Tomáš. “When we get married, you can be my best man for bringing him into my life.”
“While I’m glad you had a good time,” Tomáš says, disentangling himself from Cesc. “You’ve only been on one date.”
“This is different, I can feel it.” Cesc props his elbows on the table and rests his chin on his upturned hands. “I haven’t been on a second date in forever. It’s always just been one date and that’s it. I want to date him again. And again and again and again and forever.” He sighs in contentment.
“You didn’t tell him all this, I hope,” Marouane says.
“I’m not stupid.” Cesc turns to Tomáš. “He’s so nerdy, it’s adorable. He talked about books and stuff, and I listened.” He pauses to think. “Should I be concerned that he seems to have a crush on a dead guy?”
Tomáš looks confused. “What?”
“Hemingway.”
Marouane snorts. “No. Tomáš has a crush on Oscar Wilde.”
Tomáš glares at him. “I do not, I just think he’s a good writer.”
Marouane looks at him, innocently. “It’s okay, I’ve already accepted that I’ll always be second place to Mr. Wilde, I’m fine with it.” He laughs and ducks in time when Tomáš throws a pen at him.
“Well, I’m not going to be second place to a dead guy,” Cesc says, crossly.
“Losing battle.” Marouane smirks.
“Oh, shut up,” Tomáš says.
~
“Okay,” Cesc says, handing David his ice cream cone as they leave the restaurant after lunch. “Tell me three embarrassing things about yourself.”
David quirks an eyebrow at that. “You’re going to reciprocate, I hope.”
“Yes,” Cesc says, licking at the ice cream spilling out of his cup. “I’ll start. When I go back home, sometimes Carlota paints my toenails and I don’t hate it.”
David laughs. “What colour?”
Cesc shrugs. “She doesn’t let me pick, but I’m impartial to this dark blue one she has.” He grins. “It sparkles.”
“You’re ridiculous,” David says fondly, bumping his shoulder against Cesc’s. “Okay, my turn? I really like the smell of markers.”
Cesc wrinkles his nose. “They smell so gross.”
“Hey, I didn’t say anything when you told me you get pedicures from your sister,” David says, breaking off a piece of his cone and scooping out some of the ice cream before putting it in his mouth.
“That is counter-productive,” Cesc says, watching him.
“You’re not telling me how to eat ice cream.”
“I’m just saying.”
“You’re up.”
Cesc thinks for a while, and then says, “I tried one of Adonis’ biscuits once.”
David stops walking. “Isn’t that your dog?”
Cesc blushes. “It looked good,” he mumbles.
“That’s gross,” David says, making a face.
“Says the person who gets high off markers,” Cesc shoot backs.
“I don’t get high off them,” David says, grabbing Cesc’s spoon and vindictively taking a huge bite out of his ice cream sundae.
“Thief,” Cesc complains, looking down at his depleted ice cream cup.
“When we were kids, my sister liked to put on plays and she always gave me the female leads.” David leans over and scrapes some of his ice cream into Cesc’s cup. “She has a lot of pictures of me wearing dresses.”
Cesc smirks. “See, that’s not much different from my pedicures.”
“I didn’t like wearing the dresses. My sister was just the boss of my brother and me, we just always did what she said.”
“Okay, one more, let’s see. I watch Desperate Housewives?”
David scoffs. “And I watch Hollyoaks, that doesn’t count. I already knew that, you cheater.”
Cesc makes a face. “Okay, fine. Oh, I have one. I cried during Titanic.”
David mulls this over. “I don’t know if that counts? I feel like a lot of people did.”
Cesc scowls. “No, you don’t understand. I cried out of rage!”
David blinks. “That’s new.”
Cesc doesn’t hear him though. “Rose was such a selfish bitch, okay? Jack totally could have fit on that door too. Instead she just cries and promises him stuff and then lets go. Fuck that. That selfish bitch, she could have saved him too.”
David laughs and grabs Cesc’s arm. “You’re crazy, you know that?”
The scowl disappears from Cesc’s face, and he smiles. “I like to think of it more as eccentric.”
David’s hand slides down to Cesc’s, and he squeezes it slightly before letting go. “Last one? I was in the library reading a book of poetry and I teared up a little. I was with people from my class, so I tried to be discreet, but this girl caught me and now she makes snide comments every time we read something sad.”
Cesc pats his shoulder. “Would you like me to sort her out for you?” He puffs out his chest as if to make a point.
David smiles. “No, I can handle her just fine.”
“I don’t think that counts though,” Cesc says. “That doesn’t seem surprising.”
“What, you think I cry over books all the time?”
Cesc shrugs. “Don’t you? One time I couldn’t figure out this one formula for days and I actually wept. When I figured it out, I cried again.”
“Well, I don’t usually cry over books or movies.”
Cesc sticks out his lower lip a little. “Heartless.”
“Emotionally stable,” David corrects.
“Emotionally stunted.”
~
David is saying something, but Cesc has already tuned him out. He has noticed the ice cream on David’s nose and it’s distracting.
“What?” David is staring at him, his hands moving to his face.
Cesc blinks and looks away. “You have ice cream on your nose.”
“Oh.” David swipes at his nose. “Did I get it?”
Cesc smirks. “No.” He reaches out and then hesitates. “Can I?”
David turns a little red, but he nods, so Cesc brushes his fingers against the bridge of David’s nose. “All gone,” he says, holding up his fingers.
David glances at his fingertips and flushes slightly. “Thanks.” He pulls out the napkins he had grabbed and hands them to Cesc.
They approach the train station where David is dropping off Cesc. Saying goodbye had been awkward last time, and it wasn’t any better this time.
“I had a good time,” David says, awkwardly.
Cesc grins. “Me too. Thanks for lunch.” He feels self-conscious, too aware of his hands and his arms and everything. He laughs. “We’ll get the hang of this one day.”
David smiles, and Cesc sees the relief on his face. “Yeah.” There’s a slight pause before he adds, “So we’re doing this again then?”
“Sure. A proper date next time,” Cesc says. He pulls out his phone, and holds it out to David. “Can I get your number? Making plans through the website is starting to get weird, and-” He looks abashed. “I’m not so interested in spending anymore time there right now.”
David, who has dutifully been entering his number on Cesc’s phone, looks up. “Yeah?”
“You don’t have to stop or anything,” Cesc hurriedly adds. “I mean, we’ve only been out twice so if you want to keep your options open, then you should. I just meant I’m done.”
David doesn’t say anything, just hands Cesc’s phone back to him and holds out a pen to him. “I didn’t bring my cell phone,” he explains. “You’re just going to have to write down your number for me.”
Cesc rolls his eyes, and pulls David’s arm towards him. “Who leaves their cell phones?” he mumbles, scrawling his number on David’s arm.
“I meant write it on a napkin or something,” David complains, giving Cesc a dark look.
“Oops.” Cesc grins, not looking the least bit sorry.
David rolls his eyes. “You should go, wouldn’t want you to be late.”
“Yeah.” Cesc slips his phone back into his pocket. “Text me when you get home so I know you haven’t lost my number.”
David gives him a look. “So you know I haven’t lost your number or so you know I got home safe.”
Cesc scoffs. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he says, breezily.
David laughs. “Yeah, okay, I’ll text you. Now go.” He reaches for Cesc’s hand and squeezes it quickly before letting go. “Thanks for the ice cream.”
“No problem.”
The ride to his school usually feels like it takes awhile, but it goes by quickly today. He’s out at his own station in no time, and he has just stepped into his campus when he feels his phone go off in his pocket.
From: David
5:28 P.M. 3/09
Your number is safe, stored under ‘String Theory Dork’.
Cesc smiles, and hurriedly replies:
From: Cesc
5:30 P.M. 3/09
i’m sure u mean tht as an insult but i’m flattered ;) wld u lyk me 2 store ur name as hemingway or HEMS mayb haha marley perhaps
From: David
5:41 P.M. 3/09
I figured that your text would be in shorthand, but are you really opposed to punctuation too? Are you trying to kill me? (You’re actually stored under Cesc.)
From: Cesc
5:42 P.M. 3/09
omggggg who evn uses full words in a txt??????? ur sch a loser ok! i’ll promise 2 use punctuation if u use an emoticon once in awhile. c’mon smiley face meeeeeee. ;)
From: David
5:50 P.M. 3/09
No. What time does your dorky lab stuff start? STOP TEXTING, YOU SLACKER. :P
From: Cesc
5:51 P.M. 3/09
aww!!! cuuute. nd we start @ 6.
From: David
5:58 P.M. 3/09
Good luck! :)
Cesc sighs happily before he sets his phone on silent and tucks it back in his pocket.
~
David is in his room reading when he hears his cell phone go off at around nine. He reaches for it and smiles when he sees Cesc’s name.
From: Cesc
9:05 P.M. 3/09
HEY HOT STUFF. sup? u doin nething? experiment finshd early (i rocked it btw) wanna hang out?
From: David
9:08 P.M. 3/09
It’s 9!
From: Cesc
9:09 P.M. 3/09
uhhh yeah &? nyt is still young grandpa. lets go out! unless ur already tuckd in2 bed w/ sme book or w/e.
From: David
9:16 P.M. 3/09
Not in bed but already settled for the night. Rain check?
From: Cesc:
9:17 P.M. 3/09
): lame! ok, din 2mrw?
From: David
9:21 P.M. 3/09
Deal. I’ll call you tomorrow with the details.
From: Cesc
9:22 P.M. 3/09
all righty (u c i’ve learned frm u!) nyt nyt loser.
David shakes his head as he puts his phone down and picks up the book he had been reading and tries to get his mind off Cesc. Except he was reading A Brief History of Time, and he was only reading it because it was apparently the only book Cesc thought was worth anything so David thought he might as well give it a shot.
Except that he thought it would be something in common they had when they spent more time again, and yet he had turned down actually going out with Cesc now to read something to make their future dates more interesting.
Oh my god, I’ve one of those people, David thinks, snatching his phone back up.
From: David
9:36 P.M. 3/09
Still want to go out?
From: Cesc
9:37 P.M. 3/09
:D :D :D :D i KNEW u cldnt resist me!
~
“You’re reading A Brief History of Time?” Cesc smiles at David over his glass of beer, looking pleased.
David gives him a non-committal shrug. “Reading might be a bit of an understatement,” he says. “More like skimming.”
“Doesn’t interest you, huh?”
“It’s okay,” David says. “It’s not really my cup of tea but it’s more interesting than I thought it would be.”
“You thought it would be boring because I like it?” Cesc pretends to be offended.
David laughs. “No, I just thought it might be too dense for me.”
“Ohhhh.” Cesc looks smug. “You think I’m smart then?”
David gives him a funny look. “Of course I do. Did you think that I didn’t?”
Cesc shrugs. “I don’t know, this started with you correcting my English.” He looks up and when he sees David’s face, he quickly adds, “I’m not offended or anything. I’m not the kind of person to go looking for other people’s approval, I just don’t think a lot of people look at me and think smart or physics.”
David smiles. “What do you think people see they look at you?”
“Hmm.” Cesc takes a sip of his beer. “I don’t know. Jock? Only in university because he got some athletic scholarship.” He grins. “It’s okay though. I know how I come off with the way I talk and type and text. I’m sure people expect all physics students to wear sweater vests and glasses and pocket protectors; to use words like capacitance and centrifugal force and macroscopic.”
“You’re a weird one,” David says, grinning.
“Do I intrigue you?” Cesc asks.
David laughs and he brushes his leg against Cesc’s. “You’re an enigma, Cesc Fàbregas.”
Next