The guys sit too, and I can’t help but blush as my knees bump into Sebastian’s below the table. He doesn’t move away, but I shift so we’re no longer making contact … even though I very much would not mind if his leg continued to press against mine. They all rest their forearms on the table, and this table is so much smaller than I realized. Maybe we should have stayed standing. Our hands all rest so close together, they’re practically touching.
They’re still fidgeting with their cubes, but I can feel how heavy and direct their attention on me is. It’s a little disconcerting. I’m the type of girl who fades into the background and likes it that way. I’m not used to being anyone’s focus, much less having the complete attention of four good-looking guys.
“Okay, ask your questions.” Lukas sets his cube in front of Felix to his right and takes the cube from Sebastian on his left. Felix passes his to Elliot.
Elliot sets his cube in front of me.
I stare at it, unsure what to do. Do I pass it to Sebastian on my right? The table is so small that if Elliot had wanted Sebastian to have it, he could easily have reached over my notebook and set it in front of him. Surely he can’t mean formeto solve it. I’m suddenly buzzing with nerves. I look at my notebook sitting under the cube, but the words on the page blur together. I can’t remember a single question I have written down to ask.
“I … don’t know how to solve it,” I say finally, sure they’ll laugh at me or get up and leave in disgust at my ineptitude.
All four of them look back at me, obviously confused.
“It’s easy,” says Lukas. “There is a solution to each pattern, so you simply assess what the configuration is and then apply that solution.”
“That doesn’t sound easy at all,” I say, trying to sound unbothered that I’ve clearly just failed some sort of test.
Sebastian snags the cube from in front of me and solves it slowly. Well, slowly for them. It’s probably nearly a minute or so, but he’s being very deliberate with his motions, tilting the cube towards me so I can watch each twist and click. It’s kind of sweet, that he’s trying to show me how to do it, even if I still have no idea how he’s doing it.
The others are also solving theirs slowly, giving me the chance to watch and magically deduce how it’s done. Like it’s that simple.
Clearing my throat, I pull my focus away from how smoothly their fingers manipulate the cubes and redirect my gaze to my notebook, forcing my brain to make sense of the words.
The questions I’d written down last night all seem so ordinary now.How long have you been solving cube puzzles competitively? What’s your favorite event in the competition?These may have been perfectly fine questions if I was stillinterviewing twelve-year-olds with zero interest in me or my article, but they seem silly and amateurish to ask these guys.
“So, the four of you were the oldest people in today’s competition,” I hear myself say. Why did I say that? It wasn’t even a question. They stare at me, waiting to see if I’m going to ask them something or just keep stating the obvious and wasting their time.
I’ve got to get it together.
“Do you know why that is?” I add.
“When you’re young, you have lots of time to practice,” says Lukas. “When you’re older, you have more commitments.”
“We’re still in college, so we still have a little bit of time to practice, but this will be our last year probably,” says Felix.
“Oh? What college?” They look my age, but I hadn’t put it together that they would also be in college. Maybe even my college. I don’t know very many people around campus, unless they’re in my classes. I don’t have the social battery that my roommate does.
“MIT,” says Lukas. “And you?”
“BU.” I’m not sure if it’s smart to give them this information—it’s definitely not professional—but what could the harm be? It’s a big campus and it’s not like I told them what dorm I’m in. I’m just making conversation.
I ignore the little thrill that runs through me at the idea of these four guys tracking me down and showing up at my dorm. I’m supposed to be working right now, and anyway, who fantasizes about four strangers stalking them online and knocking on their door unannounced?Get it together, Rebecca.
“And what do competitive Rubik’s Cubers typically study?” I’m not flirting, I’m researching. Asking questions. Like the journalist that I am.
Okay, maybe I’m flirting a little. Which is completely unlike me. Ronnie must be rubbing off on me after a year and a half of us being joined at the hip.
“Not all cubes are Rubik’s Cubes,” Sebastian says. His tone tells me that this is not the first time he’s had to correct someone, and every time he has to say it, it weighs on him. “It’s a brand name. Like Kleenex.”
“Oh.”
“We study different types of mathematics. I do applied,” Lukas tells me.
“Theoretical,” says Elliot.
“Pure,” Felix mumbles.
“Philosophical,” says Sebastian.
