Coffee & Nerves (boyxboy)

[7] Mixing Turtles & Porcupines

"Please sit next to your group/partner and after you introduce yourselves to each other I will give you further instructions."

The room bustles with noise as everyone stands and searches for their co-mentor.

Everyone stands... except me.

I am not going to be the one to walk over to Jack. He's going to have to come over to me. I had my game face on. This was serious.

I stay seated, my leg bouncing as I stare at a spot on my desk in order to avoid making eye contact with him.

I feel a presence behind me. This presence unnerves me. The low rumble of the presence clearing its throat causes my ears to twitch in reaction to the noise.

My fists clench under my desk, clutching tightly onto the fabric of my pants. I feel a cascade of goosebumps fall over my skin and my pores start to sweat.

The presence leans over. I feel hot breath fan over my ear.

"Hi, Spencer."

He says it in a low whisper.

I jump a little in my seat, startled.

Jack chuckles. "Scared?" he asks.

Without waiting for an answer, he moves away from me, his hand brushing over my shoulder slightly as he reaches for the seat next to me. He pulls it out and sits down.

It takes me a second to regain my composure. When I do, I fill with red-hot anger. I grit my teeth.

"Hello, Jack," I say with malice, not giving him the satisfaction of replying to his rude question.

This is a competition. If we weren't friends before, we definitely aren't now.

Jack surprises me by mumbling, "Thank god we don't have to introduce ourselves and shake hands and all that crap." He continues, explaining, "Since we already know each other."

Then he brings his guard back up and crosses his arms tightly. "Cause I don't really feel like talking."

I scoff. "We don't know each other." I almost roll my eyes at the thought.

"...You know my coffee order though," he points out with an arrogant smirk.

I huff out a frustrated sigh. "That's irrelevant. And even if it was relevant, it only further proves my point that we don't know each other because that's me knowing you." I lean back with crossed arms, "You don't know me."

He turns toward me with an accusatory glare. "Well, that's your fault."

The anger boils furiously in me. "My fault?!"

He raises his voice. "Yeah! You and your unfriendly glares."

I let out a humorless laugh. "You got a lot of nerve, look at who's talking."

"What did I do?"

"Oh really. The angry boy that storms off randomly doesn't know why he's not seen as approachable," I joke, my words dripping in sarcasm.

He just stares at me with this weird look on his face. It makes me angry.

"Go ahead," I wave my hand, "Feign innocence."

He spits out between clenched teeth, "I'm. Not."

"Oh come on. You've never been anything but rude to me. You know what you did. You're a football player for gosh sake."

"So you do know about me." He has a satisfied smirk on his face, but it quickly turns into an angry snarl as he inhales sharply. "And how does being a football player have anything to do this?"