The Prince and the Plant Whisperer

Early End to the Intimacy Experiment

[~Posted April 14, '21]

The list of questions the professor's given them is truly, truly long.

And each is more painful than the next.

Kai has felt hypnotized in a trance, for the past... half-hour. Hour? Two hours?

She has no idea how much time has passed! The rain drums steadily on the roof, and the face of the broad shouldered male student watching her seems to blaze with a strange intensity, as he listens to her responses to questions, then shares his own thoughts.

"We're almost done," Kai says, half whispering. Mostly to encourage herself to get through all this. "Question thirty three."

If you were to die this evening with no opportunity to communicate with anyone, what would you most regret not having told someone? Why haven't you told them yet?

This question, Kai thinks.

Gaw-DAMMMMN-itttt...

She stands up.

Every single awful question on this list is bringing me back.

... to October 5th, she thinks.

She stands up abruptly. "I think, I need to be done," she says, quickly, so that tears don't flood her eyes. Her mind reeling, she scrambles at the first excuse she can think of:

"—We're going to miss dinner soon," she says.

All he asks in response: "You working in the dining hall tonight?"

She shakes her head. "Not tonight." She's vaguely surprised: He's aware of this?

And then she remembers that, if he's truly as brilliant as everyone says, his mind probably just absorbs and catalogues every detail he sees.

They stand up and begin walking side by side. At the foyer, Lukas pushes open the heavy wooden doors. They squint into the cool downpour outside. The light impact of rain hitting the slate steps in front of them sends mist into their faces.

"Here," says Lukas.

Kai looks down.

He's holding an umbrella pointed at her.

"I have to go to meet some friends for dinner," he says, in his deep, matter-of-fact voice. "But you'll need this."

He's right! I forgot an umbrella! she thinks.

She reaches for her own backpack. She wants to look tough, and prepared. But she completely forgot to check the weather that morning.

"What about you?" she asks.

His face is impassive. "I'm meeting my friends at the law school cafeteria. Just right there." He gestures down the hall. "By time we're done, it won't be raining anymore."

Oh! thinks Kai. He led me here...

... so he'd be steps away from his next meeting when we were done!

He really IS a master tactician!

"You planned ahead well," she says wryly. "How convenient."

He just smiles. Then, pointing to the umbrella, he adds, "Just return that to me, whenever. No rush."

Under the stone overhang where they stand, his eyes are dark in the early evening light.

Suddenly, the street-lamps flicker on all at once, up and down the road. The warm, golden light of the lamps is reflected in smudges on the rainy street.

Kai and Lukas's faces are suddenly both lit in the lamplight.

She catches a faint whiff of a clean, smoky scent—a vetiver scent—from his shirt. It suddenly makes her realize how angled and wide his shoulders are. How sharp his collarbones.

I'm standing so close to him, she realizes. That realization makes her take a step back. To cover her sense of growing discomfort, she quickly blurts out "See you!"

She gives a small wave. Then, fastening up her coat, she opens the umbrella Lukas has handed her, and begins scurrying back towards Gaffigan.

Under the umbrella, she's enveloped in that same scent from a moment ago..

Shaving cream? Soap? Whatever it is, it's a scent that's his. From his daily routine.

She suddenly pictures this silent older student standing in front of a mirror. Shaving. Putting on his clothes. Going about most of his day, in a completely different world: Talking to people she's never met. Having business meetings with executives she doesn't know. Traveling places she's never seen. Scheduling dates with women older, confident, ambitious women who are sophomores and juniors, not freshmen like her.

And then—how strange that our lives overlap because of Intro Psych 101, before returning to normal!

. . * * * * . . . . . .
. . . . * * * * . . . .
. . . . . . * * * * . .

Behind her, Lukas watches for a moment and then turns back toward the law school cafeteria.

When she disappears out of sight, he takes out his cell phone.

"Ed," he says. "We on for dinner?"

His roommate answers in the affirmative.

Lukas continues, "Change of plans: Can we meet at the law school cafeteria? Yeah. Long story. Yup. Got stuck here in the rain without my umbrella. Can you bring an extra?"

On the other end of the line, Lukas's roommate Ed Okoye hangs up the phone, shaking his head. Always such an enigma.

Ed has the feeling there's something else going on. Something that Lukas hasn't bothered to explain.

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