Monday, November 15, 2021

Jaime and Jaime (part 2: 8 seconds)

 


Upon entering the room there were exactly two vacant seats. Jaime pulled my sleeve and made way for the seats.

The guy beside my seat is asleep and the one beside Jaime introduced herself to us, she has way too much energy for a morning class.

“Good morning! I’m Marisol, this is Mark and that sleepy guy there is Leon. You guys look cute, are you a couple?”

Jaime and I flustered and blushed

“No!” we said in unison

“I’m Jaime and this is Jaime, but you can call him Jay to avoid confusion”

“So are you guys twins?”

“Wrong again”

After the professor got in, we were all silent but different from the first one this is more aloof and loose in the least.

“Is this your first class?” Mark whispered

“No, you?”

“Technically, no because our first class was cancelled. Please wake that guy up”

Jaime patted his shoulders three times and he woke up immediately.

During the roll call, Marisol along with the professor and other students laughed as they discover that we share the exact same name.

“If you guys get married, then you remain Jaime Flores”

“Like that will happen though”

After that, Jaime didn’t talk to me for the rest of the period. I didn’t mind though as Mark and Marisol kept me company.

“I think there was a junior that’s also named Marisol but I can’t remember”

“Oh yeah? I bet I’m prettier.”

“Dunno, haven’t seen her yet”

“Oh yeah, let’s compare schedules!”

Mark, Marisol and Leon matches everyday which crosses mine and Jaime’s for three subjects, one in the morning and two in the afternoon.

“For our assignment due on Thursday, write a poem about your greatest desire, and you are now dismissed” the professor said.

Walking outside the room, Jaime was still not talking to me until I quipped “Atleast the scary professor doesn’t give assignments in the first day.”

She chuckled.

Suddenly, I felt lighter and warmer as she smiled after the period.

“See you after lunch!” Marisol said as she grabs Mark and Leon.

“We won’t be seeing them in a while”

“Yeah” she said while fiddling with her bracelet.

The next class was plain boring as it was just me and Jaime knowing each other in class and I kind of miss Marisol’s presence. When I said it to her she looked sad for a second and gave me a stupid grin after.

“It’s not that, it’s just it seems like nobody wants to talk to us here”

“You have me”

“I guess that’ll do”

She punched me in the arm “Stop acting like you settled, it’s not my choice to be stuck with you”

As I’ve said, the class was uneventful because there was no class as the professor did not come. An early heads up would have been nice.

“Early lunch?”

“Sure”

Walking toward the student lounge, there were some guys are fighting there. It’s the first day of class and they decided that they hate each other. Jamie seems to be the type terrified of those acts, seeing how she was flustered by the shouting and stepped back a bit.

“Let’s go to the cafeteria instead”

She was jollier as it was peaceful there and the food is good, while eating  I realized we don’t really know each other much so I asked her some stuff.

Gleefully, she answered when the topics are about food, music, tv series, and video games. But when it came to the subject of family she frowned and looked down.

“I like ketchup on everything!” I exclaimed trying to change the topic

She laughed “That’s why you like fried foods as you’ve said”

“Yes”

Family seems like a taboo topic, I should probably avoid it.

“Ever dated anyone?” For some reason I felt dumber as these words escaped my lips.

“A few in the past but they were more puppy love than a serious relationship, you”

“I’m a serial womanizer”

“Really?”

“No, I’ve never dated anyone. I don’t remember making an eye contact with a woman for more than eight seconds”

“That is oddly specific”

“There was this study where they said if two people have eye contact in eight seconds , they will fall in love”

“That’s dumb”

“It’s science”

“Try it with me”

“Huh”

“Let’s see if it works”

“What if it does?”

“We’ll know it when we get there”

Closing are eyes real tight we counted up to three then opened our eyes.

We looked into each other’s eyes.

For the first second I wondered who could fall in love in this scenario, it was rowdy, we smell lick chicken and her eyes doesn’t say “fall for me” instead it says “Blink you goddamn loser!”

The second second I got the urge to blink but I was keen on her eyes that everything around me blurred and the noises were slowly muting.

Third second, everything around me was muted and blurred. Fixated only on her eyeball where I saw a reflection of myself. I was fixated on my reflection in her eyes and then

By the fourth to fifth second I zoomed out and slowly noticed the features of her face. Her sharp eyes, cheek and nose makes her cute but dangerous look. Her red lipstick greatly blends with her complexion.  The mole under her eye just made her even more beautiful. Her earrings were small and golden.

Sixth second, a streak of her violet hair fell and it didn’t faze her at all. At this second, I cannot discern her emotions. All I know is that she looks wonderful

By the seventh second we both look away.

 

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