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There she was. Kaede leaned up on tiptoe, craning her neck to get a better view around the messy crowd of students filing into the lecture hall and finding their seats. She’d located her target, and the only thing left to do was make her move. Hand wrapping more tightly around the strap of her backpack, she nodded to herself. It was time.
She wasn’t normally so nervous about talking to people, really. She was class president in high school, known as one of the bubbliest, most outgoing individuals in her friend group...even those who judged or teased her usually didn’t get her down for long. She was Akamatsu Kaede, extrovert extraordinaire. But she was still human, unfortunately. Some people made her second guess herself, and pretty girls were more likely to do that than most.
As she carefully made her way through the rows of seats, dodging bags, drinks, and open laptops, she did her best to give herself a mental pep talk. She was just going to strike up a conversation like usual! The conversation would just happen to include an invitation to dinner at some point, assuming everything went well.
“Hi, Harukawa-san!” Relieved to find that the seat next to Maki hadn’t been snagged by anyone else, Kaede slipped her backpack off her shoulders and sat down, offering what she hoped was a natural smile. “How’s it going?”
“Fine,” Maki said, glancing at her out of the corner of her eye. Even like that, her gaze seemed to go straight to Kaede’s heart. So piercing without seeming to exert any effort.
“Um, what did you think of the homework?” Kaede asked next, feeling her palms starting to get damp with sweat. “It was pretty tough, right? I can’t believe he decided to assign so much when midterms are right around the corner. I was so relieved to have a study group to get through it with.” She chuckled, trying to discreetly wipe her hands on her skirt.
“You’re babbling.” Maki set down her pen, looking up from her notebook in favor of meeting her eyes directly. “You want something and you’re afraid of how I’m going to react. Am I right?”
Busted. Kaede shrugged, the overflowing adrenaline making her break into nervous giggles again. Hands already in her lap, she fished her phone out of her pocket, blindly sending a text to the first contact she tapped on. GIRL HELP seemed to cover it, accompanied by a trio of dramatic crying emojis.
“Why do you think that? Can’t I just want to make conversation with you? I mean, we’re kinda friends by now, aren’t we?” Maki didn’t look convinced. Kaede risked a glance down at her phone. Her SOS text had gone out to Tenko...the most useless lesbian she knew. She loved her friend, but she was going to be absolutely no help, even if she replied before the end of this conversation. Kaede was just going to have to go it alone.
“Akamatsu, just get it over with and say it before class starts.”
“Right, okay. If that’s what you want! I was just wondering if you might want to grab dinner sometime? Like this Friday if you’re free?”
The pause leading up to Maki’s response seemed to last forever, stretching out time like a rubber band about to snap. Kaede was aware of the low din of noise around them—other students chatting, the door opening and closing, footsteps going up and down the stairs—but all she could focus on was Maki, who was playing with one long, scrunchie-wrapped pigtail.
“Are you asking me on a date?” There was no emotion on her face save for a raised eyebrow. Her voice was equally unhelpful, a low monotone that could mean anything at all.
“Yeah, I am. Is that okay with you?”
Once again, the silence felt painfully long, though it could only have been a few seconds in reality. Maki shrugged, leaning over to retrieve her phone from her bag.
“Sure. Give me your number.”
“Wait, really?” Kaede’s heart was pounding so loudly in her ears that she wasn’t sure she heard her right. “You want to go out with me?”
“You’re the one who asked me, aren’t you? There’s no need to act so weird about it.” Maki made a face, scrunching up her nose. “C’mon, just give me your number already.”
A few minutes later, as class was starting, Kaede’s phone vibrated with a response from Tenko, eager to find out what she could do to help. Biting her lip in an attempt to hide the massive smile that wanted to spread across her face, she typed out a quick “never mind.”