“I will follow you.” The Sypent gestured for Dex to keep walking. “Then it won’t be stalking.”
“Why? ’Cause I’m a guy? Kinda sexist, don’t you think? Not that you’re a girl. That’s not what I meant. I just try to be a feminist, you know?”
Cya blinked at him. “Every time you open your mouth, I dislike you more.”
His tail drooped to the ground. “Aw, really? That sucks. I think you’re pretty cool.”
“You… do?” they asked, genuine shock replacing the irritation pinching their features.
“I mean, yeah. I really dig your vibe,” he admitted, kicking at a few stray pebbles on the sidewalk.
“You dig my vibe?” Cya echoed incredulously, and Dex nodded.
“Totally.”
“You…” They worked their jaw, fingers drumming against their biceps. “You’re very strange.”
Dex pursed his lips and exhaled in a quick succession of puffs, like an engine sputtering to life, before he asked, “Like, in a good way?”
“Remains to be seen,” they said after a moment of pondering.
“M’kay. So, should we figure out a tutoring schedule?”
Like it was the last thing they wanted to do, Cya rubbed the space between their eyes before huffing out, “Fine.”
“So I got dyscus practice every afternoon before class and Saturday mornings. The season doesn’t technically start until April, but once it does, most Saturdays will be game day.” Dex fished out his phone and checked his calendar. “Sundays could work for me, unless you don’t wanna study on the weekends.”
The Sypent inspected their nails, the rattled tip of their tail flicking impatiently, but they offered no verbal response.
“Uh, okay. So during the week, I have a few evenings after class that we could meet up in the library or something—”
“Here?” Cya interrupted, eyes wide with alarm. “On campus? Where people would see?”
“I mean, other people in the library, I guess. Unless you wanted to meet at my house? That would actually work way better for me, no lie. It would free up more evenings, at least.”
“Yes, fine,” they agreed quickly, tucking their hair behind their heavily pierced ears as they muttered, almost too quietly for Dex to hear, “Anywhere but here. Or my house. Or any public place with witnesses.”
Something told Dex that he should be offended, but he shrugged it off. “Sweet, then my place. Tuesdays and Thursdays work? We could go together after class on Thursdays and go over what the prof taught us and stuff, then refresh and go over other material on Tuesdays.”
With a shrug, they hooked their purse over their shoulder. “Sure, whatever.”
“Cool. This is gonna be fun.”
“This will be the opposite of fun!”
Dex frowned and shook his head. “Well, yeah, with that attitude. You should try being more optimalistic.”
Their nostril slits flared. “You mean optimistic?”
“Sure. That too.”
“Oh my gods,” they lamented miserably before they headed toward the arched entrance to campus.
He jogged after them. “Wait, shouldn’t we exchange numbers or something?”
“Why?”
“So we can, you know, coordinate and stuff?” Dex said as they came to a stop under the entrance arch.
