Chapter Text
“Okay, deep breaths in and out. Breathe in..and out…and in…and - oh, blast it,” Isaac opened his scrunched-up eyes to glance at his watch once again. Precisely 29 seconds had passed since he last checked the time. Great. If he waited any longer, he may be able to come up with the conceptual corollary for the Theory of Relativity. Given where she said she was, in her last update, it may take her around 7 minutes to get here. Under current traffic conditions though, it may be another 2 minutes, excluding potential lane closures, disruptions and no work zones. Well, if were to factor those in, it may be more like-
“Isaac! Sorry, I didn’t mean to be late!” you rushed in through the door, trying to somehow push the hood of your raincoat back, fix your hair and not trip over your own feet on the now-muddy tiled floors, at once and entirely missing the looks of relief and concern that flitted across the young man’s face. Looking up, you saw him staring back at you with an inscrutable expression. “Isaac?”
Shaking his head, he shoved his hands in his pockets, only to retrieve two tickets from his right pocket. “Here, we shouldn’t be late.” You smiled brightly, taking one of the tickets and rewarding him with a bright ‘thank you’. In turn, you were rewarded with a small, shy smile.
It had been a long journey, your friendship with the physics undergraduate - long and with many embarrassing moments (most notably the one time you dropped lab equipment on his foot during freshman year) but in the end, he became your favourite study buddy (he was way too intelligent for his own good and you felt smart just by being around him), favourite person to grab a meal with (he mostly let you pick, though but you had figured out his favourites by now too) and your favourite person to go on coffee runs with (a pumpkin spice latte when available, otherwise a cinnamon dolce latte and a strawberry cake pop - you had his order memorised by now).
He had seemed like an awkward lab group partner but now, if you had to be honest, you cared about him more than anyone else. Of course, you could never tell him - Isaac’s life was academia and he had mentioned, on multiple occasions, that he couldn’t afford distractions. You knew he was in the running for some very prestigious scholarships and in an ideal world, you would’ve asked him out after he was awarded the scholarship of his dreams. Life rarely goes according to plan though, does it?
As you climbed up the stairs behind Isaac, lost in your thoughts, you missed a step and stumbled. Isaac gasped, reaching out for your arm to steady you while you simultaneously held your other hand out to steady yourself on the railing. “A-are you alright?” he spoke and you looked up to find Isaac looking back at you with a perturbed frown on his face. He really didn’t suit it, you thought to yourself and smiled as brightly as you could muster.
“I’m absolutely fine, Isaac, thank you.” Who cares if life didn’t go to plan? You had Isaac in your life, that’s all that mattered anyway.
Isaac looked back at you, for a few moments, before pursing his lips and let go of your arm - only to grab your hand. Your eyes widened as you looked down, seeing how he held your hand gingerly, almost tentatively and then you looked back up at him again, only to see that he had started walking again and was resolutely not looking at you. “In…,” he paused, clearing his throat. “In case you trip up again. You can let go if you want, though. It doesn’t matter to me.” Your cheekbones were threatening in protest but you couldn’t stop smiling, as you wrapped your fingers around his hand and whispered another thanks, noticing how the tips of his ears seemed unusually bright, like blushing cherry blossoms.
Oh shit, Isaac thought as he looked around the near-empty theatre. There were a couple of people near the front but…this would absolutely ruin his plans of asking you out after the movie ended! Whatever was he to do, now? Isaac could feel his heart beating against his chest like crazy, with his plans going haywire and the girl of his dreams holding his hand out of order. He knew that it would’ve been a good idea to have let go of your hands approximately six minutes and 32 seconds ago but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. There really hadn’t been much hand-holding before you and Isaac before but today, both of you unconsciously reached for each other’s hands throughout the movie. It would be amiss to call it a horror movie but there was something about /Parasite / that brought out the gasps and almost-silent ‘oohs’ out of your mouth. Isaac also seemed utterly engrossed in the movie, every time you glanced towards him, you found him either gnawing his lip with worry, biting his nails or concentrating otherwise on the movie and seemingly sinking into his oversized hoodie. Luckily the dimmed lights did a good job of hiding your blush; he had no right to look so adorable, anyway.
As the movie ended and you walked out of the theatres, your hands naturally and subconsciously found their way towards each other again, as you discussed what had transpired within the movie.
“No way,” you groaned. “I definitely didn’t think he was going to do that! Don’t tell me you saw it coming!?”
“No, I don’t think it was obvious at first but there was a logical rationale behind his actions, so I suppose it made sense to follow it through and come across the conclu- watch out!” Isaac yanked you out of the way of a ‘slippery when wet’ sign, causing you to stumble into his arms and your lips to be mere inches away from his.
“I…-”
“Well…!” Both of you had started speaking at once and seeing the consternation and fluster so clear on Isaac’s face made you take a hasty step back. Isaac cleared his throat, as if wishing it would get rid of the sudden awkwardness. You could feel your own words getting stuck at the tip of your tongue - would it be an apology first? Or a thanks? Perhaps both, if you said it really quickly-
“I really should be going, bye!” Flight won your acute stress response battle and before Isaac could get in another word edgeways, you had turned on your heels and were long gone.
“I…oh, blast it!” Isaac’s exasperation was only witnessed by himself, as he heaved a sigh. That was definitely not how he planned for this evening to go! He was meant to casually suggest getting dinner, maybe. Or perhaps that was too forward. He hadn’t actually thought it out yet - but what he hadn’t expected was you to storm off like that. This…absolute disaster, how was he to recover from this? Should he just fake his death and move across the country, changing his name and living under his new identity? If he just stayed in his room long enough, would you forget it ever happened? If anything, cosmetic surgery was always an option. He sighed so loudly that he almost missed the text notification on his phone. Reluctantly, he glanced at his phone, hastily unlocking it when he saw that it was a message from you.
[From [Name]; 6:45PM: Cinnamon dolce latte for our study session tomorrow? I’ll pick it up on my way to the library!]
An unabashed smile played on his lips, as he read and re-read your message again. It wasn’t anything special - but that’s what made it special, gave him hope. Sure, maybe things didn’t go according to plan today and you’re not his girlfriend - but you’re still his favourite study buddy and someone you were willing to see on a Sunday morning. Perhaps it meant nothing more than an apology latte, perhaps it meant something but for now, it gave him just the encouragement he needed.
[From Isaac; 6:47PM: You really need to watch your step more often, you know?]