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“Galo! Do you expect me to do this assignment on my own?”
Galo had actually completely forgotten about their assignment. His attention was locked on a far more interesting subject, and his partner’s question failed to distract him.
Galo’s dreamy blue eyes rested on a lovely sight: the shimmering blond head of hair which was bent over a rather thick textbook at a table two down from Galo’s.
“This always happens.” Galo’s assignment partner smacked him over the head with his own rather thick textbook. That—finally—drew Galo’s attention.
“Owww!” He whined, rubbing his head. “What’d you do that for, Lucia?”
“This assignment is due in three days and we’ve barely started the planning phase. If we don’t get something down today, we won’t have time to build the robot,” Lucia pointed out as she sat back down across from Galo.
“It’s just a really high-tech camera,” Galo pointed out in return. “It won’t take us long at all.”
“If we want to get good marks, then this needs to be more than just a ‘high-tech camera’,” Lucia replied tartly. “Stop daydreaming about your Mr. Mysterious Twink and get focused!”
“Okay.” Galo’s voice carried a whine, but he did his best to accommodate Lucia. She was right, of course. They did only have three days left. Three days to plan, to secure all of the materials they needed, and to build the robot. They could do it—but not if Galo kept getting distracted by his newest obsession.
Galo knew next to nothing about the pretty blond male he often saw in the campus library. It was the blond’s attire that had first drawn Galo’s eye. The blond always dressed in tight leather, and Galo had a thing for leather.
The blond was short, with thick, fluffy blond hair and a pale complexion. He often studied alone, but Galo had also seen him in the company of friends on occasion. Today he was alone.
“I give up! Just go and ask him out already!” Lucia threw her hands up in the air, then leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms over her chest. She glared at Galo.
“W-who?” Galo asked, not totally managing to pull off an innocent smile.
“Mr. Mysterious Twink,” Lucia replied, her tone exasperated. “It’s pretty clear we aren’t going to get anything done until he tells you he isn’t interested.”
“Why would you think he wouldn’t be interested in me?” Galo’s question carried bewildered hurt. Sure, his blue mohawk was a bit outlandish, but Galo had been told by some of his fellow students that he was handsome. He had a shot with the mysterious blond…right?
Galo’s mouth went dry as he thought about actually asking the blond out. Could he handle a rejection? It would be so humiliating…
“Because you’ve practically been stalking him like a repressed weirdo,” Lucia retorted.
“I have not!” But Galo kind of had. He knew that the blond stayed on campus, he even knew which dorm the blond lived in. He knew that the blond attended a lot of classes, though Galo hadn’t figured out his major yet. But he didn’t know the blond’s name, or even if he was straight or gay or whatever. The truly important details eluded him.
“Just go ask him so we can finish this assignment,” Lucia demanded.
Galo took a deep breath. “Yeah,” he said. “I can do it. I can totally do it. What’s the worst that could happen?”
“That’s the spirit.” Lucia’s voice wasn’t exactly encouraging, but Galo stood up anyway.
“I can do it,” he repeated to himself. Then he turned and took several large strides in the blond’s direction.
Behind him, Lucia sighed, “He’s hopeless…”
The blond didn’t notice Galo’s awkward, stilted approach. His attention remained fixed on his textbook as he scribbled studiously in a notebook.
The library was usually quiet, but it seemed as if all the sound was sucked entirely out of the space as Galo stopped next to the blond. Galo gave a small cough.
The blond didn’t notice him.
“Um…hello?”
The blond lifted his head. Galo sucked in a breath. The blond’s eyes were stunning. Such an unusually bright pink colour. Perfect.
“What?”
The deep voice yanked Galo out of his reverie like a fish being yanked out of the water on a fishing line’s hook.
“Um…” Galo licked his dry lips. “I…uh…”
“What?” the blond repeated, his tone harsh. “I’ve got work to do so spit it out!”
“Wouldyougoonadatewithme?”
The blond stared at Galo with those gorgeous eyes like Galo had just started spewing bubbles from his mouth.
“Hopeless…” Lucia groaned from her chair.
Galo tried again. “Would. You. Go. Out. On. A. Date. With. Me?”
The entire library was as silent as a sealed tomb. Galo fancied that even the overhead fans were soundless, though they still spun in endless circles above.
The blond looked Galo up and down critically. “I’ve seen you around,” he said. “A lot, lately.”
Galo laughed awkwardly, while squirming underneath the blond’s suspicious eyes.
“If you try anything funny, I’ll burn you to death and bury your bones and ashes in a shallow grave,” the blond said.
“And I thought Galo was the weirdo,” Lucia commented, her expression incredulous.
“Is that a yes?” Galo queried uncertainly.
“I just threatened to murder you—and that’s your response?” the blond asked in return. His eyes were narrowed into slits as he continued to study Galo.
“I’m not gonna try anything funny, so I guess that means I don’t need to worry about you murdering me?” Galo grinned nervously.
“I might regret this,” the blond murmured to himself. Louder, he said, “Fine. It’s a yes.”
“Whoo-hoo!” Galo’s shout reverberated around the library, practically rattling the windows.
“Mr. Thymos!”
Galo ducked his head as he delivered a sheepish apology to the librarian. “Sorry, Professor Prometh.”
The elderly librarian huffed before disappearing into the bookshelves. It was a well-known fact that Professor Prometh could never be found when needed, but would always appear like a vengeful ghost to reprimand any student who broke the library’s rules. One such rule was to keep noise to a minimum so as to avoid disturbing other students. That wasn’t much of a concern right now for Galo as everyone in his vicinity was watching him anyway.
“Here’s my number.” The blond held out a torn piece of notebook paper to Galo, who took it with a hand that slightly shook.
“Okay, yeah, I’ll call you. Great,” Galo babbled.
A hand grabbed his belt and yanked. Galo let out a squeak as Lucia dragged him back to their table. “Assignment first,” she said.
Galo turned to glance at the blond, who watched with lips quirked. Then the blond looked down at his own textbook and his pen resumed its scratching across the page.
Galo read the piece of paper the blond had given him. ‘Lio Fotia’, then a string of numbers. A name, and a contact number.
“Lio Fotia,” Galo murmured, trying the name out on his tongue.
“Galo! Focus!” Lucia snapped her fingers in Galo’s face. “Or I’m going to confiscate that piece of paper until we’re done!”
Galo hurriedly tucked the precious note into his pocket. No way was he going to lose it. It was worth more than a top grade in any of his classes.