"Over here!" I called out loud behind me as I stopped by the bulletin board outside a gym for seniors. It had about half a dozen flyers about vitamins for seniors and book club meetings. 

"Oh well, they can tell their grand kids about it when they see them," I mumbled, taking three posters from the stack in my sling bag and stapling them neatly in a row on the blank spot by the left.

The posters were brightly colored, glossy and sized at eleven by fourteen—something we wouldn't have really been able to afford for five thousand copies if Seth's family didn't sponsor the printing of all our promotional materials. His family owned one of the biggest publishing businesses in the country and they had their own printing press to support about a dozen of their publications. The posters were shipped from New York.

He wasn't kidding when he said he could rake in a lot of funds for the Children's Play Day. He already has plenty of Ballard's rich sign up as sponsors.

Yet here he is, being my errand boy and helper, putting up posters on foot all over the downtown area in the middle of a hot, humid day, I thought, catching sight of him squeezing through some parked bikes and stapling a couple of posters on a diner's bulletin board. He was in sneakers, golf shorts and a teal shirt, a sling bag of posters on his side, a water bottle on his hip and a staple gun on his hand.

The marketing committee has split up the town and assigned pairs to cover the different areas, putting up posters and distributing flyers. Liam had eagerly paired up with somebody else and Seth quickly volunteered to come with me and to avoid any curious questions if I profusely decline, I casually said okay and now here we were, on our second day scouring downtown. 

It wasn't bad. Seth was actually up for it. He picked me up from home and we parked his car by one of the free parking spots a good ten blocks away from main downtown and started walking and plastering the posters wherever we could. It's been three hours now and I personally wanted to call it a day.

When Seth still hasn't come a good two minutes later, I stopped, cast another glance at his direction and almost laughed out loud. He was  by the sidewalk, surrounded by half a dozen high school girls, each with a flyer in their hand, pretending to be interested in the event as they asked questions while gawking at Seth with starry-eyed looks. 

He caught my eye and flashed me a look pleading for rescue and I chuckled to myself.

I walked up to the small crowd, beamed at the girls who were quite aggressive for their age and slipped my arm behind Seth's waist.

"Hi, sweetie," I greeted him with a matching sweet grin and nodded to the girls. "Are you girls coming to our fundraiser?"

The dreamy smiles on their faces withered just a bit but enough to be obvious to the naked eye and they glanced at each other awkwardly.

"Maybe," one of them, a tall, leggy brunette, answered, eyeing me with blatant scrutiny. "We're not sure. It's all kids stuff. We're not exactly into carousels and ferris wheels anymore. It's like, so juvenile."

I shrugged casually. "I don't know about that. I mean, we will have some of Ballard's young elites there serving food and facilitating the different activities. All your friends will be there, won't they, sweetie?"

Seth beamed and even eagerly pressed a kiss on my temple. Surprisingly, I didn't feel like socking him with my knee for that. "Oh yeah, they'll definitely be there. They think that it's for a really good cause so they're willing to take the day off and help out."

This is such a shallow thing but the moment we finished saying our lines, the expressions on the faces of these young girls had drastically changed. They now looked like somebody who just got told that Louis Vuitton is giving one girl all the designer clothes she can possibly get and it's a race to that golden ticket. 

It was really sad to watch these teenage girls become the opportunists that they truly seem to be inside. There seems to be nothing more effective in skyrocketing your social status in Ballard than dating a Seth Wallace or one of his friends. 

"Well, it was nice chatting with you ladies but we have more posters to put up so we really have to go," Seth finally said, putting an arm around me and slowly steering me into our exit direction. "We hope to see you at the fair. Take care."

"Bye, Seth!" they replied in chorus and when we were fully turned away, I giggled and Seth grinned. 

"Jailbait," he muttered, his cheeks turning slightly pink. "Thanks for coming to my rescue. I don't know how these girls know me."

I grinned. "Facebook, MySpace, other high school girls, the local town's gossip blog."

He rolled his eyes. "I don't even know if we have one. And I'm not on MySpace. Just Facebook and it's restricted to close friends only. Do you have an account? I couldn't find you anywhere."

I shook my head. "I don't have one. I just don't have the time, as usual."

"I'm sure," he said, sighing and putting an arm around me. I didn't shrug it away and only God knows why. "Us, mere mortals, can only try so hard."

I wrinkled my nose. "It's just that I've always felt I don't have the luxury of time or opportunity to relax. That if I'm going after my big dreams, I have to keep going, until I get there."

"You're too hard on yourself," he said, leaning down, his forehead touching mine. His green eyes were so vivid and bright from the afternoon sunlight bouncing off of the sidewalk. "You need a break—from yourself."

He flashed one of his mischievous smiles and pulled me by the wrist. "Come on, I'm tired and I'm parched and you need to have a little bit of fun and I've got the perfect solution to that."

"And what's that?" 

"Ice cream, of course!"

So, before I could even make sense of what was happening, we found ourselves in the long line of eager customers at the Ice Cream Deli, Ballard's famous gourmet ice cream shop where you watch as they make your selected flavor with the freshest milk, fruits, chocolate and candies. It's a bit steep in price and I've only ever gone there maybe twice in my entire twenty years of life. 

Fifteen minutes later, we emerged, each holding a large sugar cone of ice cream. He had pistachios, vanilla and mint chocolate chip on his and I had a raspberry cheesecake with graham crackers and fresh raspberries. They were the best-tasting ice cream in the world, I must say.

"Okay, now that we bought enough ice cream to cover our entire daily calorie requirements, where to next?" I asked before taking a big bite. 

The sun was warm and bright and the wind was cool on my cheeks and Seth's eyes were deep green and happy and he had a silly-looking ice cream cone in his hand. 

I had to swallow hard and look away. It was like one of those hypnotic scenes where after you've stared at something for too long, you can't get the picture out of your mind. 

"How about a walk?" he asked, reaching forward to wipe off some ice cream from my chin. "We can walk to the legislative building and sit by the fountain."

I was going to comment that it wasn't Seth Wallace's style to sit by the fountain in front of the legislative building. He was too cool for that. But maybe that's why I said nothing—because I didn't want Seth to remember that it wasn't his style—because I liked Seth when he was just being himself and not what everyone's reputed him to be. 

"Okay, I'm in," I answered with a grin. "On one condition though—we're going to have to keep giving out flyers while we're there."

He rolled his eyes and feigned exasperation. "Fine, let's go for it then, master."

I laughed and his face broke into a cute, lopsided grin. We didn't say anything else after that.

He took my hand, his fingers lacing through my own. They were warm and strong and so secure that they felt like they were going to keep holding mine for the rest of our lives.

I don't know why I didn't pull away or take a step back. I didn't want to. Logic is beyond me right now—all I know for sure is that Seth and ice cream are yet to be my favorite combination.

***

The rest of the week was pretty much epic chaos. 

Not only were we really feeling the pressure of the fundraiser which was only a little over a week away, we were also scheduled for presentation in Dr. Han's class.

We spent two evenings rehearsing with the performing group which we found through one of Seth's friends whose Dad worked as a lawyer for the current chairman of the Indian community in Ballard. The community council has a group of volunteers who perform in their many different cultural activities and they happily agreed to participate in our presentation. 

We went through their many, already-performed pieces relating to their vast array of folklore and we picked out bits and parts and merged them into one custom play which featured large chunks of acting parts, narration, music and video presentation which Seth and I stayed up until two in the morning for at the community council's office with one of the volunteers who was also their resident AVP expert. 

On the day of the presentation, we came into the lecture hall an hour early to put together the set and props and test the lights, music, audio and video projection controls located in this tiny cubicle at the back of the hall simply referred to as the 'tech room'.

Half an hour before the class started, the performing group, made up of six actors and one production assistant, arrived and changed into their costumes and did their makeup, finishing up just in time as people started to file into the hall.

When Dr. Han finally arrived and took a seat by the front corner of the dimmed room, I signaled to Seth who was at the tech room to turn the lights off completely and start the intro music. After an hour of stage play, we transitioned to the video presentation of the other popular folklore stories from their movie adaptations. 

As the video played on, I went to check on Pardeep, the production assistant, who was briefing the cast about the routes we planned for distributing the Indian-inspired snacks we prepared for the class after the video presentation. It was a cocktail party-inspired setting where food will be moved to the front of the hall for everyone to enjoy while the casts moved around, still in their costumes, talking to people from the class about their culture and all things related that the students might be interested in. I was cautious about this part of the presentation but Seth insisted it would give the students the chance to get up and around the room (which he said will definitely wake them up), ask questions, speak with the performers, eat and converse casually about the topic, and relax after a long presentation. Surprisingly, Dr. Han had no protest, not even a raise of her eyebrow when we presented this to her.

"Hey," I greeted softly when I poked my head into the tech room. 

Seth slid off the giant earphones he had on and beamed at me. "Hey, how's it going down there?"

I closed the door behind me and went to peek through the heavily tinted glass. "They're ready to serve the food as soon as the video's done. I have to admit, I have never met anyone so anal about details as Pardeep. More anal than me anyway. She has everything followed to the dot."

"Do you think Dr. Han's impressed?" Seth asked. "I can't see her from here but I'm eager to know if we've reformed her old-school mentality about how to run this class."

"I think we have a pretty good chance," I told him with a big, victorious smile that I'm pretty sure looked as smug as hell on my face right now. "She didn't say anything but I think she wasn't convinced at first that we could pull it off." 

"People should never underestimate us. We make a notoriously amazing team," Seth added, raising a hand for a high five which I easily slapped with my own. It felt good, it really did. The adrenaline of an obviously successful project was hard to stomp down on but other than that, there was something else that has my blood rushing to my head.

Seth wrapped his hand around mine after the high five and leaned his head down to stare into my eyes. His own green ones glimmered beautifully in the dimly lit, tightly cramped room. "You see, if we work on it, we can do great things together. That counts for something."

I swallowed hard, unable to pull myself away. "I know."

"Is that enough to start with?" he asked, his voice gentle and husky.

I closed my eyes to regain my level-headedness but when I opened them, Seth's face so close to mine blocked out everything around me that might be calling to my reason.

"I..." my voice trailed off but I tried again. "I don't know what you want from me, Seth."

He smiled and clasped his other hand over mine as well. "A chance."

I swallowed hard again and what I suspect are tears began stinging my eyes but I quickly looked away to secretly blink them back. "I don't want to waste your time. Or my time."

"Please, Ali."

He cupped the side of my face and once again, I found myself staring into those familiar pair of green eyes that can make my toes curl.

I didn't understand. I don't know why Seth's bothering with me. I don't know if it's a game. I don't know if it's a joke. I don't know if I've completely lost my mind. 

The word 'no' was somewhere in the back of my throat but I never got to it when Seth slowly put both of his hands on my shoulder and gently pulled me close, my cheek pressing against his warm, firm chest.

I nodded, at loss for anything else to say.

"Thank you," he whispered as the video finished and the lights came on.

***

"Spill."

I looked up at the familiar voice and found Ria and Liam, each grabbing a chair around the desk I was occupying that peaceful Friday afternoon in the university library.

I grinned at them. "Hey, you two. What brings you here? I thought you had class."

"Teacher just gave us a chapter to read and write an analysis on and Liam's prof went home sick," Ria answered, flipping her long, silky, super-straight hair. I always envied her hair. She just naturally had hair that didn't have a single stray strand while I had a thick dark mane that waved so stubbornly at the ends and well, wherever else it pleases.

"So, don't change the subject. Spill."

I raised my brows and looked at Liam for help. Ria is a Biology student so she doesn't get to hang out with me and Liam as much. She spends a lot of time in the lab for research outside her classes. 

I wasn't sure if I was missing something obvious here.

Liam rolled his eyes and slipped out his cellphone and started fiddling with it as if he was bored. "She was very clear, Ali. Spill."

I turned to Ria, still blank on what she was talking about. "I'm lost."

Ria stared at me with a knowing look on her face and finally sighed. "What's the dirt on you and campus hottie Seth Wallace?"

I groaned and rolled my eyes. Of course, it's about Seth. Why didn't I see it coming?

"What about me and Seth?" I asked, not quite certain what she wanted to know exactly.

"Well, Liam here tells me you don't seem to hate him as much as you used to," Ria started with a raised brow.

"I never hated Seth," I argued. "He just... exasperates me—sometimes."

Liam smirked. "Well, from the looks of it, you two seem to be getting along much better now—him showing up randomly to help you with the tickets or bring donuts and coffee at the fundraiser meetings he doesn't really need to attend but you're attending or him sitting with us every now and then at the cafeteria during lunch—things that well, Seth normally did before anyway except that now you don't bite his head off."

I glared at Liam. "You make me sound like an animal."

Ria rolled her eyes. "We all know that poor Seth always took a verbal beating from you happily, God knows why. But the surprising thing is that now, you, my darling friend, seem to be finally being civil to the poor guy. What's with the change of heart?"

I slumped back against my seat and buried my face in my hands. "Oh God, you guys. You know me, you  know my temper, you know what drives me crazy. Seth drives me crazy because he's so annoying but he's so nice at the same time and I feel like a loony trying to decide how to act around him whether I should tell him off or be nice as well. I didn't mean to be nasty to him or anything like that but he just knows how to push the wrong buttons sometimes."

Liam raised a brow at me. "Seriously, Ali, you don't get it?"

"Get what?" 

Ria and Liam exchanged disbelieving glances.

"Get what?"

Ria leaned forward and suddenly gave me little light slaps on the cheek and I blinked and moved away from her.  

"Whoa, what are you doing?"

"Trying to wake you up," Ria answered after she finally backed off. "Because it seems like it's never occurred to you that maybe Seth was just trying to get your attention all this time and not being purposefully annoying. "

"Uhm, why would he want to do that?"

"Maybe because the guy likes you?" Liam supplied. "You're so cute, Ali. You're amazingly genius but you can't even get one of the ten thousand hints a guy throws at you."

I sighed, feeling resigned. "Fine. I may have noticed one or two hints. I'm not completely clueless."

Ria's face immediately brightened up. "Great! And what are you gonna do about it then?"

"I don't know. I really don't."

"How about that guy you met at the art class you took last semester? What's his name?" Ria asked.

"Michael," Liam supplied. "They went out on that one date at the Freeverse Bar but Ali found it too weird. He apparently liked doing half-naked interpretative dance. She was not impressed."

I faintly smiled at the memory of that awful date. Michael was cute but he was too weird for me.

"This is why I stay away from dating or anything that resembles it slightly. It's too confusing," I told them with a sigh as I slumped back in my seat. "This thing with Seth, whatever you want to call it, is more confusing than anything I've ever come across."

Since that moment at the control room with Seth, things have been spiraling out of control in this slow, blissfully gradual yet natural manner—the way a flower would suddenly bloom on a spring morning—the process precise yet happening so fast that if you decide to blink you might miss it.

The future felt uncertain and I hated uncertainty but there was something about this quiet, natural revelation of things between him and me that kept me from taking off like a mad woman.

I still don't know fully what Seth wants. But neither did I know what it is that I want myself.

***

Before I even stepped out of the classroom, I already spotted Seth waiting outside by the lobby. Liam had a point—he's been showing up a lot more frequently than he used to and I don't seem to be minding too much. 

Fine, I have developed a soft spot for the guy but that's it. A soft spot is all that I can afford right now.

"Hey, it's late. What are you still doing here?" I asked him, noting that that was my last class for the day and it was eight in the evening.

"I was in the area. I had to meet with my group for a project anyway so I thought I'd hang around until you were done with class," he answered casually. Seth, despite this weird, unnamable relationship we've developed in the past couple of weeks, never seemed awkward around me. "I feel like dinner anyway. What do you say we grab something to eat at the grill by the university courtyard?"

I bit my lip. "Uhm, I'm not sure..."

"Oh, come on," he insisted, grabbing my books and my wrist. "That was an accounting class, wasn't it? I'm pretty sure it was because you look like you could use some amazingly delicious ribs. My treat. Let's go."

Ten minutes later, we were at a table by the outdoor patio of the grill, going through the menu.

I told him I was happy with a half-rack of ribs and some garlic mashed potato but he named a few more items to the waitress.

"That's an awful lot of food, Seth," I told him when the waitress left. "You could feed a dozen people with that."

He grinned. "We could always have it packed up to take home. There's still dessert but we'll figure that out later."

"If I gain fifty pounds by tomorrow, I'll know who to blame," I teased with a knowing smile. "It's surprising though how I see a lot of girls eat out all the time but they don't seem to be gaining any weight."

"Because they probably order all vegetarian or vegan stuff or just order normal food but not touch any of it," he answered with a shake of his head. "I hate that. They get so excited ordering food and how you're going to have such a wonderful dinner and by the end of it, their steak looks as complete as it was when it was brought to the table. Just order what you want to eat and eat it, whatever it is."

I raised a brow teasingly. "Weight-conscious girls disturb you?"

"No. Just people who don't own up to whatever makes them happy," he corrected just as our food arrived. "Because most of the time, the pretense isn't going to end there. If you can't own up to what food makes you happy, then you probably won't have the guts to own up to anything else."

I blinked, too surprised to say anything right away so I just watched him as he happily dug into his meal. 

"What?" he asked, looking up.

I shook my head. "Nothing. Just thinking that you might be right. Maybe some girl can't own up to the fact that you're privileged and that's not actually a problem even though she seems to always make it out to be."

He looked up, his green eyes smiling and amused. "May you be referring to someone we are both very familiar with?"

I shrugged noncommittally. "It's hypothetical."

He straightened and looked up as if deeply thinking it through. "Well, you see the thing is, I understand her. I get her philosophy that people should work hard for what they get in life which is why she's not a big fan of rich kids who relies on nothing else but their trust fund to go through life. I really understand where she's coming from with that, as hard to believe as that may be."

His eyes focused back on me, this time, looking a little bit serious. "I guess I'm just hoping that once she's gotten to know me a little bit better, she'll see that I'm not planning on being the person she dreads me to be. And maybe then, she'll go a little easier on me."

I sighed and gave in to a smile that was tickling the corners of my mouth. "Listen, I'm sorry if I was so harsh and judgmental to you. I'm just naturally—defensive."

He laughed. "You're pretty good on the offensive too."

I blushed but knew that he was quite accurate about that. "Fine, that too. I guess I was pretty comfortable criticizing people like you from afar—comfortable that I'm never going have to find out that I'm wrong. And then you showed up and pretty much knocked me out of that comfort zone. And you wouldn't leave me alone and that took a while to figure out."

He smiled and I smiled back and then suddenly there was this unmistakable high-pitched bark of a woman.

"Seth!" There it was again.

I looked up and saw a tall, leggy blonde in skinny jeans, high-heels and a fitted, tangerine blazer over an almost see-through blouse. 

She looked very glamorous and very, very angry.

Uh-oh.

"There you are!" she blustered as soon as she came to our table. "You haven't returned any of my calls! What's up with that?"

Seth looked uncomfortable, straightening up in his seat, his dark green eyes narrowing. "Katherine, excuse me, I'm with someone right now."

Ah, so that's Katherine.

She turned to look at me as if she just realized I existed. She raised one finely penciled brow at me.

"And who's this?" she demanded.

"Katherine, this is Ali. She's my—"

"Never heard of her," Katherine interrupted, rolling her eyes and flipping back her hair. "Anyway, I don't know what's up with you but you've been practically MIA in the last couple of weeks. Don't tell me you're now doing charity projects for the, uhm, less fortunate students in our school."

I didn't miss the surreptitious glance she cast me. 

Seth got up and clasped Katherine by the elbow. His lips were set in a tight line. "Excuse me, Ali. I just need to talk to Katherine for a minute. I'll be right back. I'm sorry."

I saw him drag her a bit to a dimmer corner of the patio and they quickly seemed to have gotten into a hushed yet heated conversation.  This is probably the first time I've seen Seth actually upset and Katherine's attempts at putting her arms around him disturbed something in my gut.

I waited a couple minutes, trying to finish my dinner while pretending I can't hear or see them.

A few more minutes passed.

Finally, I pulled out a couple of twenty dollar bills from my wallet and quickly scribbled a note on a clean paper napkin.

My head's out of the sand. Just let me be.  Ali

I ignored the ugly feeling that was washing over me like one bucket of ice cold water after another and quickly escaped the scene.

At the end of the block, I hopped into one of the city's older street cars. They run a small portion of the city now after the major routes have been replaced with new giant red buses but the university preserved them in the area for historical value.

Five minutes after it started to go and I tried to get comfortable in my seat, sliding open the half window to let some cool breeze blow in.

Another five minutes after, I saw a familiar red Porsche Cayenne aligning itself with the bus and matching its speed.

My eyes widened when I saw the window roll down and heard Seth yelling from the driver's seat.

How the hell did he find me?

"Ali!"

I glanced at the driver who was looking at me and back at Seth through his rearview and side mirrors.

"Are you trying to get yourself killed, you idiot?" I yelled back though the wind muted my pitch. 

"Ali, I need to talk to you! I need to explain!" Seth went on, swerving to the next lane just right before he rear-ended the car that slowed down in front of him. Two minutes later, he changed back to the lane next to the bus.

"Stop this, Seth!" I shouted at him, glad the bus only had me and a sleeping old lady in the front row. "There's nothing to explain. Stop this before you seriously hurt yourself!"

"Get off at the next stop, I'll meet you there!"

"No, Seth!" I called after him but he had already sped up ahead of us.

"I suggest you get off the bus and talk to your boyfriend miss, before he kills himself or get arrested for reckless driving!" the bus driver, a dear old man, yelled at me as we passed the intersection a block away from the next stop. 

 I sighed and crumpled back in my seat. Groaning, I pulled myself up and headed towards the door.

When I got off at the stop, I saw his Cayenne parked by the street that led into a residential area.

I grudgingly walked towards the car and got in.

I didn't bother looking at him, just at my hands that were clasped tightly together on my lap.

He didn't say anything.

"I want to whack you in the head, you know that?" I muttered, still avoiding his eyes. "That was a pretty stupid stunt you pulled back there."

"I know," he answered quietly. "I just didn't want you leave without giving me a chance to explain—"

"As I've said, there's nothing to explain," I interrupted, unable to hide the irritation from my voice. "I may be pretty dense sometimes but I can make pretty accurate deductions when things are quite obvious."

"It's not what you think—"

"Does it matter what I think?" I demanded, my voice rising a bit now. "What matters is that I realized the mess I was diving into before I completely drowned. I'm not into this kind of game, Seth. I'm sorry."

He exhaled sharply, his voice almost pained when he spoke. "I'm not playing some kind of game with you, Ali. Katherine is of no importance or significance to me, do you understand?"

I looked away and out through the side window. "I want to go home now, please."

"Ali, listen to me."

"You can drop me off at the next stop."

"Ali—"

"I don't want to listen to this anymore, Seth!" I snapped, turning around and glaring at him, my cheeks burning up in anger. "I just want to go home and forget that you ever existed. Understand?"

Then I scrambled out of the car but he was quickly right out after me, grabbing my hand before I could pull away.

"Hey, hey, Ali, please," he pleaded in a hushed voice as he pulled me close and tight within his arms. "I'm sorry you had to hear that and that Katherine talked to you that way. She's pretty upset that I'm not accessible to her anymore and I told her why. I don't like her the way you think I do."

I groaned and shut my eyes. "Stop messing with my head, Seth. I told you—"

He cupped my chin and lifted my face up so I could look at him. "You told me you're not into this kind of game. Well, it's not a game for me. Don't you get it?"

I swear, I would die if those tears dangerously hovering at the corner of my eyes roll down my cheeks. 

The immortal question lately: "Get what?"

He managed a small smile as he gently brushed his thumb against my cheek. "That if there's one girl I care about, it's you. Haven't I made that obvious enough?"

Hearing it from him had its own magic. The anger stripped itself away from my heart and melted like ice on a warm summer day.

"No," I choked out the word and he just laughed and his arms loosened around me. I guess now that he's pretty sure I'm not going to jump and run. 

"Crazy girl." He held my hand and gestured to the car. "Come on, I'll take you home."