Pucker-Up

Chapter Two - Mathew

I watched as she embarrassed herself not even two minutes before the class began. Running my hand through my thick hair, I caught a whiff of her perfume as she slumped down beside me- maybe it was the scent of fabric softener. Whatever it was made her smell so clean like fresh bed linen.
I noticed movement in the peripheral of my left eye, turning my head to look in her direction. My eyes moved down to her face that was already looking back at me, the small smile I initially had, instantly vanishing from my lips. Her soft blue eyes were staring into mine, piercing into my soul with a look of confusion, but also a little judgement as if I were the one who was caught staring.
"Hey, how you doin'." I say casually trying to ease the awkwardness in the air, and I could've sworn I saw her tense shoulders relax slightly. She gives me a small nod of acknowledgment and begins to look away. "Hello-" I couldn't tell if she was originally going to continue with something more before our time was cut short, but once our professor entered the room her attention instantly focused on the man that stood in front of the class.

The professor placed a piece of paper onto the desk at the far left side of the room, students needing to write their names for roll call. Keeping my head faced to the front of the classroom, my eyes slowly peer down and watch as the girl next to me pulls a small pencil case from her tote bag, unzipping it and taking out a black felt tip pen. She wrote on the paper and slid it in front of me without even looking back in my direction. I stared down to her name that read Gaby Fisher while shoving my hand into my pocket under the desk, and pulling out a random stray pen to sign my name right below hers. Mathew Barzal. My writing font was completely different to hers, more of a squiggled mess compared to her old-schooled cursive writing.

When I glanced up to pass the paper along to the next person on the table, I caught Gaby staring at the name I had just wrote. She quickly looked away and began setting up her laptop to take notes.
I wondered if she had realised we shared the same class together last year. Prior to our 4 month uni break over New Years, we both studied Philosophy. She usually sat a table behind me because obviously no one would want to sit in the front row. It wasn't by choice, I just struggled reading the board in that classroom. It was the way our tables and chairs weren't even positioned to face the board, needing to break your back or snap your neck just to look over at it. Or maybe it was the old red marker lines that seemed years old, stained across the grey colour of the whiteboard. Didn't help that George - our professor, wrote in a dying green pen over the top. Literal hell for a person who just want to pass the class - so can you blame me?
But now I finally know Gaby's name after a year of just waiting and observing.