08

“I changed my mind,” I told him, walking briskly ahead of him. “We’ll sit in one of the picnic tables—get some sunlight and cool breeze so I’ll feel less inclined to be annoyed for the rest of the afternoon.”

“Works for me,” he agreed, finally falling into a step beside me. “I don’t even know why you’re always so irritable. Is your menstrual period on all the time ?”

I gave him a look of daggers. “The warm sunshine and cool breeze are fast losing their influence on my good mood right now, Seth.”

His grin immediately disappeared. “Shutting up now.”

“Good.” We reached my preferred table in the picnic area which today was only specked with a few people. Saturday classes are still on but most students spend their time between classes outside of campus to enjoy the weekend.

Seth put down the books and his Macbook down on the table and sat across from me. “By the way, what do you say we drive to the beach later this afternoon ? There’s supposed to be a really nice sunset there today and—“

“No.”

“Okay. How about getting some hotdogs at Bertie’s ? It’s Saturday steak special there too—“

“No.”

“How about some apple-banana smoothies at—“

“No.”

“Okay, then. I guess, that’s it for my suggestions,” Seth muttered with a resigned smile, shaking his head wryly. “So, let’s start. What do you have in mind ?”

“You might want to read the sheet I handed to you first,” I told him, zipping my backpack open.

He started reading it silently for a couple of minutes before catching what I was doing in the corner of his eye. He paused and looked up curiously. “What are you doing ?”

“You wanted to eat, didn’t you ?” I asked, taking out one of those cheap Ziplock containers filled with fresh slices of carrots, cucumber and sugar snap peas. I took out a smaller container with my home-made dip and another filled with my own concoted trailmix—a blend of dried raisins, pineapple, strawberries, pecans, almonds, peanuts and yogurt chips. Then I pulled out a couple cans of pop in a plastic bag, lined with ice packs on each side. “These are still chilled. Hope you like Sprite.”

“I sure do.” Seth had an amazed expression on his face as he helped me pull off the lids of the containers. “You should’ve told you me you had a small picnic in mind, I would’ve brought something. Now, I feel bad.”

“No, don’t,” I assured him. “I bring my own snacks ‘coz it’s cheaper that way. To be honest, I was worried you’d get hungry and drag me to one of those fancy places you rich people go to to eat. And I didn’t want to spend.”

He blinked at me then chuckled softly. “Don’t be silly. I can eat anywhere. And if we were going out to get something to eat, I’m not letting you pay. Not at all.”

In myself, I actually knew that. But I just shrugged. “Well, I didn’t want to owe you either. Anyway, hope these are enough for now. You can eat later after we’re done.”

He didn’t say anything. He just had a big grin on his face as he sat back and flipped through the research outline.

The two hours breezed past us. Most of it was spent arguing on our ideas. Seth surely had some of his own and by the time we were done, my outlined presentation had changed drastically. I didn’t complain. It seemed more interesting now than when I did it.

“Are you sure about this though ?” I asked him for the nth time as he typed up the new outline on his laptop. “What if they refuse ?”