Page 42 of Psync
Eli fidgeted with his hoodie strings. He didn’t have any more classes that day, but he had no trouble keeping quiet about it if it meant the overly friendly girl would go away.
“Oh, okay then.” She continued to linger as she stared at Haruka. For a moment, Eli thought he was going to have to abandon his backpack to escape the increasingly awkward situation, but Rocky squirmed and tried to jump out of his person’s arms. “Ack! Stop it, Rocky! I’d better go before he gets away again. Can I call you so I can thank you properly? I’m Amanda, by the way.”
Eli was certain the girl hadn’t looked at him once the entire encounter. Hopefully, Rocky wouldn’t starve to death under her care. Maybe Eli could hide the kitten under his bed? It wasn’t too late to grab him and run.
“No thanks necessary. Come on, Eli, let’s go.” Haruka turned and walked away without so much as a glance at the girl or her kitten.
Eli waved goodbye to the surprised girl and jogged to catch up with Haruka. They walked in silence for a few minutes until Haruka tugged on Eli’s earbud cord and placed the bud in his own ear.
“Thai pop music? Meung poot passa Thai, reu bplau?”
Haruka had just asked—somewhat rudely—if he spoke Thai. Eli’s grin could have split his face. He politely answered in Thai. “Yes, but I think your accent is better.”
Haruka switched to Japanese. “How’s your Japanese?”
Eli responded in kind. “I understand it better than I speak it. It’s a work in progress, but I’m getting there.” Eli switched to Hindi, “I’ve been told my accent is better in Hindi, but my vocabulary is limited. What about you?”
Haruka snorted. “It’s garbage.” He switched to Mandarin. “This is my best language, after Japanese.”
“Seriously? Even better than English? That’s completely unfair.”
“I’ve had longer to practice. I am older than you, after all.”
“I had, in fact, noticed that.”
What Eli hadn’t noticed was how close they were to each other as they walked. It wasn’t until his sleeve brushed Haruka’s jeans that he realized. Eli could have moved over to gain some space, but since his body wasn’t making him do it, maybe he could just relax a little.
Would it really be the worst thing in the world if they accidentally touched? He’d touched Nate the other day by accident, and it hadn’t been the end of the world.
They continued playing Eli’s favorite game in the world until Haruka stopped in front of the main cafeteria.
“What’s with you and food?” Eli asked.
“You’re not hungry?”
Eli’s stomach growled loudly. “Maybe a little?” He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “Will you give me my bag back if I eat lunch with you?”
Haruka’s mouth curved into a devilish smile. “Eventually.”
As they got their food, Eli learned there was only one language where they didn’t overlap—Eli was studying Vietnamese while Haruka had chosen Russian. Haruka planned on adding in Norsk as well, but only recreationally.
Eli totally got that. He’d occasionally flirted with Tsalagi—the Cherokee language—as a nod to his father’s side of the family and to pay homage to the days he spent as a child going to pow-wows and moon circles before his family had moved north. But there was very little opportunity for him to interact with the language—there were only a handful of speakers in the world and very little media in Tsalagi—which meant he had never made much headway with it.
Halfway through lunch, Alice plopped herself down next to Eli, announcing, “You’re both massive nerds, by the way. If you keep this up no one will ever be able to understand either of you.”
That was when Eli realized they’d never really stopped playing their game.
Haruka smirked. “As long as Eli can understand me, I’m good.”
“Oh really?” Alice shot Eli a look loaded with meaning. “You two are moving fast.”
Eli’s cheeks heated, and he threw a breadstick at Haruka. “Knock it off. You’re going to give her the wrong idea.”
Haruka deftly snatched it out of the air and put it back on Eli’s plate. “Am I?”
“That was stupid hot, Haruka. Eli, how do you feel about sharing?” Alice asked, because she was a terrible, horrible person.
“You’d better be talking about food right now, Alice.”
