The Boyfriend

Kelsey was yawning in class, she couldn’t look more bored and suicidal than any other time she was in a classroom. She turned to Julie and made a hand gesture as if she was tying a rope around her neck and pulled until her tongue rolled out. She was the kind of girl who would go as far as sleeping with the Professor just to pass a class because she couldn’t stand being in it and having to read all the papers when it was time for an exam.

Julie smiled in amusement, she kept jotting down notes after notes like she always does. She sometimes doodled on the faces of Mick Jagger, Axl Rose, or Tommy Lee and other times, Preston Hicks which she already tore down from her binder. She never had a grade below B+, her GPA was always close to a perfect 4. 0 and that was on a bad semester.

When the class was finally over, Kelsey let out a sigh of relief as if she was tortured for an hour and a half. It was only the first day.

Her phone rang, she quickly picked it up. Julie couldn’t hear what she was saying but it was brief and she took her hand right after she hung up.

“He’s in the lobby, come on!” she said and they ran along the corridors to the lobby to find a black BMW was waiting in front of it. Kelsey immediately jumped into the front passenger seat, Julie was hesitant to open the backseat door.

The car smelled nice, a soft musky cologne that must’ve come from the guy who was driving. His thick black hair was clean-shaven exposing his neck, and that was the only visible thing about the guy from the back. Kelsey was smooching him from the side but he seemed a little shy because Julie was there. He put his arm on the steering wheel and another on the clutch. His hairy wrists and smooth hands were the other things she can see from behind.

“Hey there … you must be Julie,” he greeted her as he looked at the rearview mirror to find her gaze. He had thick eyebrows, dark brown eyes. Julie returned his greet with a smile. He turned around to shake her hand, “I’m Nathan, I’ve heard so much about you,” he smiled, Kelsey never mentioned he was Eurasian.

“Hi, nice to meet you, Nathan,” her voice was soft.

“So what do you want for lunch, girls?” he asked. Julie didn’t reply, Kelsey usually made all the decisions, after all, it was her date and she was just riding along with them.

“I think that’s more of your department, impress us with your choice!” Kelsey said she had a point.

“Okay … Belvedere than, it’s my favorite bistro, they have killer lunch menus there,” Nathan said as he drove out of the campus area towards the cafe avenues near the Gastonburry library.

The place was rather hidden between stacks and rows of cafes and restaurants, the entrance door was a bit narrow and covered with vines that grew all the way down from the second floor. But once they opened the black metal door, the interior was as honey as an old French bistro in the French countryside. The smell of coffee and a hearty meal that was freshly cooked dominated the place. The people there seemed to have known Nathan, he was a regular there. Nathan pointed to the corner seat where he usually sits, and one of the waiters followed them to take their orders.

Nathan was casually ordering his usual, while Julie flipped through the menu. She took her time before she decided to order the same thing Kelsey ordered, and just before she closed the menu, “And a hot latte with an extra shot of espresso,” she said at exactly the same time as Nathan.

Kelsey rolled her eyes, “Have I told you that you always ordered the same type of coffee as her?”

“Finally! A coffee drinker, she drinks tea … I never understood why people prefer tea over coffee,” Julie said.

Nathan was laughing lightly, “I don’t prefer tea either, you know there’s a coffee place that serves the best gourmet coffee in Gastonburry ….” he remembered.

“Morning Brew,” Julie finished his sentence and he was amazed.

“It’s the best, right?”

Julie nodded. Kelsey rolled her eyes again, “That’s where she often ditch me whenever she gets that loner mood.”

“I heard you were supposed to join her in Bhorma, she never stopped talking about it,” Nathan held Kelsey’s hand and looked at her with infatuations.

“She never shut up about it with me either,” Julie mentioned.

Kelsey kissed him on the lips, she seemed to be smitten by his dreamy eyes, “I’m glad you found me there, otherwise, I’d be lost and alone because I have a best friend who often ditches me to study.”

The waiter came with their coffees, Julie couldn’t help to smell her cup before she took a sip. “I love this, this coffee is beautiful,” she commented.

“Don’t mind her, she talks to her coffees,” Kelsey jokes. But it’s true, she does have a weird relationship with her coffees, she loved them too much.

“I can understand that, I’m the same with my food and my ingredients … I cook,” Nathan said to Julie.

The conversation developed to discussing Nathan’s passion for cooking and the restaurant chain that he was currently working on. His family encouraged him to get a Bachelor degree in Business Management because they owned a large chain of meat companies. He found a way to accommodate both his family’s wishes and his own by starting a restaurant chain. His family was wealthy enough to fund the whole thing.

His first chain in Bhorma was a start, he was supervising the renovation and managing the start-up plan when he met Kelsey. He chose Bhorma because his family owned a house there where he can stay rent-free for the amount of time needed to set up his business. Nathan was very passionate when he described his work and the vision he had for his business. Kelsey was listening up until she was no longer interested in the minute details and her gaze started to wander around the room.

“I was pretty swamped and exhausted with all the preparation, I still have to recruit staff in the next few months and train them in the kitchen especially … and when I took some time to unwind to the bookstore, that’s when I met an angel … lurking around in the literature aisle,” he looked at Kelsey with a satisfied smile, she turned her attention back at him and kissed his lips. “Anyways … there’s nothing sexier than a girl who reads, right?” Nathan added.

Julie was halfway swallowing her food when she heard that, and she almost choked on it. She was coughing, tears started to swell up in her eyes, and even snort was coming out of her nostrils. She pads on her chest tried to stop her coughing but couldn’t. “Are you alright?” Nathan tried to figure out how to help her. She shook her head.

Kelsey was handing her a glass of water with a worried look on her face. She knew her best friend was choking because she never read a single book in her life, not even if her grades were depending on it. Kelsey was not one who could stay with a book and enjoyed the experience of reading. Julie can only imagine what Kelsey had said to make him believe otherwise.

When the ordeal had passed, Julie took the water and drank it, she was nodding, “Yes, I agree … Kelsey is a sexy angel, and a wonderful friend too,” she lifted her glass to toast on that. She had always played along with whatever Kelsey’s game was with guys, but to concur that she was an avid reader was something new.