Burying herself in her book, she sharply drags her mind away from her daydreams and into focus on her reading.Burying herself in her book, she sharply drags her mind away from her daydreams and into focus on her reading. It is a long cold walk from where he parked his car to the Math building, but it is so good to be back that he is undaunted, although a coffee is starting to feel like a splendid idea. There is another reason, he knows, for his desire to stop at the third floor. He wants to see if she has waited for him, if she has still maintained her old habits and routes on campus. He does not allow himself to think that she may have graduated, or left for a work term, or simply given up waiting. He has had plenty of cause to wonder if simply disappearing was as good an idea as originally he had thought; yet they had started in anonymity, and he had chosen to finish that way as well, in spite of all the potential consequences. Now, however, he is back, and he braces himself for the impact of seeing her again. It isn't enough. He draws up short just outside of the lounge, almost spilling the hot coffee he's just poured into his insulated mug. As if no time had elapsed ever, there she sits, curled into a lounge chair and buried in a book. In that split second, he notes the new clothes, the new coat, the new haircut that frames her face in a softer, more flattering style. He is unprepared for the emotional surge, and the abrupt realization of how much he has missed her. He almost feels shy, but the old reflexes are being stirred, as are a few ... other things. Quickly he puts aside the urge to run to her and hold her and apologize for leaving her; he is quite certain she would not know how to take that kind of behaviour from him. He did teach her better than that. A smile spreads over his lips as he wonders just how much of that teaching she will have retained after four months with no practice. A seat just behind her becomes available, and he slips himself into it as surreptitiously as possible, trying to avoid attracting her notice. In sidelong glances he admires how good she looks in her stirrup pants and loose, baggy sweater. |