Page 22 of Psync
The looks Haruka was drawing from the crowd said they agreed with Eli.
“What are you doing? Why did you come back?”
Haruka had plenty of admirers on the other side of the fence—not that Eli had been paying attention. The man didn’t need to come over here and get more.
“Coming with you to make sure you don’t fall off something else.”
“I don’t see how that’s your problem.” Eli was going to die of embarrassment long before that would be a possibility.
“It’s everyone’s responsibility to make sure our fellow students are safe!” Alice had emerged from her phone and took Haruka by the arm. “And the more eyes the better for Eli.”
“Alice!” Eli hissed. Betrayal. This was betrayal on the highest level.
Alice ignored him and continued being the worst friend in the history of ever. “We need advice on what club to join anyway. Let’s go, everyone.” Without looking back, she dragged Haruka away, leaving Eli and Nate with no other option but to join them.
For the next hour, they roamed the quad, going from booth to booth, sometimes staying at one for a long time before finally deciding against it and moving on to the next. Alice didn’t want anything packed with people—reasoning that it would be easier to make new friends in a smaller club. Nate flat out refused to join any club that had more men than women.
That left out the Pride club—it had nearly a thousand members—which almost had Alice breaking her rule. “But the rainbow lifestyle flows in my veins!” Alice wailed and shook her bag in Eli’s face. It rattled with an assortment of bi, trans, and LGBTQ rainbows.
Eli would have felt odd joining anyway. Since he was undecided on his sexuality, would he even be welcome? “You don’t have to join the club to live the lifestyle, Alice.”
Haruka gave no input on the decision-making process at all. Eli would have forgotten he was there, except for the quiet aura he radiated that drew every eye around him. He should have come off as intimidating, or annoying, but he didn’t. He justwas.And every now and then, he would focus all that quiet intensity on Eli, as if Haruka was trying to convey something. For the life of him, Eli couldn’t figure out what.
“What about the baking club?” Alice asked. “Plenty of girls in that one, Nate.”
Eli bit his lip and said, “I’m not the best at baking.” It was an understatement. “Massive fire hazard would not be an exaggeration of my talents.”
“Next booth, then.” Haruka said and walked toward a tent that had hanging scrolls on one side.
Eli joined him, he loved calligraphy. He wasn’t very good at it, but he loved looking at the curling swoops and swirls and taking in the personality of the artist. Every scroll was different, even if some had the same characters. Whatever was on the scroll was a reflection of the soul of the artist at the time they made the piece.
“This one is wrong.” Haruka pointed at a drying scroll on the table. Eli recognized what he assumed was the kanji for kindness. It was missing a stroke from the base of the first symbol.
A young woman hurried up to them from the back of the tent, looked at it, and then at Haruka. “What did I do wrong?”
Haruka took a brush out of a jar, dipped it in ink, and completed the stroke.
“Thank you. How embarrassing!”
Eli didn’t think she looked embarrassed. More like thrilled.
“You’re welcome.” Haruka nodded to her.
“Would you like to make one of your own?” She held out an empty scroll.
“No, thank you. I already have a club. They’re still looking, though.” Haruka took the scroll and handed it and the brush to Eli just as Alice joined them.
“You have tea!” Alice’s eyes took on an unholy light as they locked on to the tea sets on the other side of the booth.
“We do! We’re kind of a quirky club. My friends and I formed it three years ago when we found out we all shared an extreme love of tea and calligraphy.”
Alice went to the tea display. “Do you buy it, or make your own?”
Another young woman joined her friend and answered. This one was a redhead with a cute little mole next to her eye. “A little of both. We like to find unique blends from all over the world and then come up with something new, inspired by our favorite ones.”
“What’s the difference?” Nate materialized in front of the redhead. “Doesn’t all tea taste the same? It’s just leaves in hot water, right.”
Everyone on both sides of the table stared at Nate in various stages of shock and horror.
