~Tesla University, women’s dorm~

Saturday morning Sarah woke up earlier than usual for her. The sky was clear, and it was sunny. But sun didn’t bring any warmth, it was very cold.

Sarah went through her clothes to pick what to wear. She decided on a dark green cashmere sweater-dress, which goes well with her eyes, black leggings and brown knee length boots. She pulled her hair up in a ponytail and looked at herself in the mirror. ‘I wonder if Aiden will like it…‘ Sarah froze realizing her thoughts. ‘Why did I think that? Do I really care what he thinks about my appearance?‘ She shook her head, trying to dismiss her thoughts. ‘It’s only because we will meet for lunch.‘

Sarah usually does not apply makeup. She used only lip balm which gave her lips light pink tint and protected them from cold winter weather.

~Tesla University, cafeteria~

Sarah met Vivian for breakfast at cafeteria. First thing Vivian asked, was about Mimi and Megan incident from yesterday.

“News sure travel fast!”, Sarah was in disbelief.

“I just heard that they came to give you trouble, and Gabriel helped you by calming down the situation. Now you tell me details.”, Vivian was eager to find out more.

Sarah recollected details of what happened.

Vivian frowned, “What is wrong with them?”

Sarah felt warm inside because Vivian cares about her. “There is nothing we can do here. People who have complexes tend to bully others. It makes them feel more important.”

“No matter how you put it, they are bullying you. You need to be careful. And keep in mind that attack is always better than defense.”, Vivian paused for a second. “Are you sure that this is worth being with Aiden?”

“What can they do? Beat me up? I’m confident that I will not suffer if this is their approach. Can they sabotage my grades? I am way above them with academics, they can’t touch me there. Is there anything else they can do?”, Sarah asked.

Vivian thought for few seconds before saying, “They can sabotage your relationship with Aiden”

Sarah waved her hands dismissively, “There is nothing to sabotage. We are just friends. Those two can’t affect my opinion of him. And if they fill his head with lies and he believes them, then he is not worth of my time.”

“How about messing with your family?”, Vivian asked.

“My family is tight, and these two can’t touch them. Anyway, no one from my family comes here”, Sarah shook her head dismissively.

“But they will do something. If we can’t figure out what, the only thing we can do is wait with our eyes wide open”, Vivian concluded.

“Yes, let’s do that”, Sarah confirmed with a smile. “I’m glad you are my friend.”

Vivian made a frown, and said, “Hey, don’t get sentimental on me now”. Both Vivian and Sarah laughed and headed to the classroom.

…

When class ended, Sarah collected her things from the desk and checked her phone. There was a message from Aiden, one word “Outside”. Status: Received 2 minutes ago. Sarah felt her heart skip a beat, and she increased her pace.

Sarah and Vivian went out of the classroom and saw Aiden a bit further down in the hallway. He was wearing black boots, jeans, and black turtleneck partially covered with gray scarf and unbuttoned black leather jacket. His eyes were fixed on Sarah, and his smile would stop the traffic.

Sarah subconsciously checked him out and smiled.

Vivian could not hide her surprise seeing Aiden there, looking in their direction. “Is he waiting for you?”, she whispered to Sarah.

“Mhm”, Sarah confirmed, “We are going out of campus for lunch.”

“Oh, I’m happy that you are just friends”, Vivian teased Sarah, but Sarah didn’t catch the sarcasm in Vivian’s voice.

Sarah responded absentmindedly, “Yeah, will catch up with you later…”, and went towards Aiden.

…

Sarah and Aiden walked to the parking behind the building. He approached his car, opened passenger side door gesturing to Sarah to get in.

Sarah was observing the car, and said: “Mercedes Benz E-Class Coupe, 2018 limited edition. I must admit that I am impressed.”

Aiden was surprised, “You know cars… I must admit that I am impressed.”

She smiled and got inside. Her dad, Edward, is a car enthusiast and with him she learned a lot about cars. Later she continued following up with latest models by herself. On one of their properties Edward made a 2.5 mile (4 km) long racetrack, like Daytona Speedway. Sarah was driving cars there since she was 12 years old. Her favorites are sports cars, and she loves driving fast. Because of this, her family does not let her drive, they are afraid that she will go over speed limit in the city and get a ticket or end up in an accident.

Sarah found the drive to be pleasant. She was admiring elegant interior of the vehicle for some time, and then focused on changing views outside. During the drive they sat in silence with only low volume soft music coming from the radio. Sarah was surprised that she does not find the silence between them uncomfortable. It was just right, which surprised her. She is not much of a talker, but when facing someone she is not familiar with, she gets nervous which causes her to talk randomly, or to run away. But right here and right now, she does not feel the need to talk or to run away. This atmosphere can be described as soothing. She looked at him and admired his profile for some time and observed that he smiled. Sarah shifted her gaze outside. ‘Yes, very soothing‘, she told herself.

Aiden was surprised when Sarah pointed out model and year of his car. Most of the girls he knows would say “white Mercedes” and some would call it “white car”. He concluded that Sarah is definitely not an ordinary girl. Even now, alone in the car with him, she is silent, gazing through the window. Any other girl would talk her mouth dry, trying to get his attention… yet, Sarah is right here, next to him, treating him like nothing special. ‘Did I lose my touch? Is she not finding me attractive?‘ This thought bothered him more than he wanted to admit. With the corner of his eye, he saw that Sarah turned her head and is looking at him. He smiled, ‘Maybe I still have a chance.‘

…

After a short ride they reached their destination. Aiden parked in an underground parking and they took the elevator to the 7th floor.

“I have reservation for White”, he told to maître d’.

Maître d’ looked at the computer screen for few seconds, and said, “Yes, Mr White. This way, please”.

They got inside a private VIP room, with a great view of the downtown below, and city skyline. In the distance Sarah could see the mountains.

“Do you like the view?”, Aiden asked.

“Yes. It reminds me of the view from my sister’s office”, Sarah responded.

“You have a sister?”

“Yes, two of them. I’m the youngest one.”, Sarah said. “You?”

“I have an older brother” Aiden handed her the menu, “Pick whatever you want.”

“How about you pick? You picked this place; you pick the food. Surprise me.”, Sarah said with a smile, and then added, “I don’t have any food allergies. And I don’t want alcohol, other than that anything is fine.” She put the menu down while looking him in the eyes.

Aiden looked at her with a smirk on his face, ‘Does this mean she does not care about the food, because she only wants to be with me?‘

He opened the menu and few minutes later, discussed menu items with the waiter.

Sarah ordered hot herbal tea, and he said he will have the same.

Sarah looked around and observed that it was quite upscale restaurant. “This does not look like a place where we can just pull out laptops and work on the project.”

“We can do whatever we want, it’s a private room”, Aiden said, “But let’s talk about it later”. Their tea arrived. He took a sip, and said with a serious expression, “I hear that Mimi and Megan are giving you hard time. Do you want me to do something about them?”

Sarah frowned. She thought for some time before responding, “Two of them are unreasonable. You know that they are interested in you?” Seeing that he didn’t give any visible reaction, she smiled. ‘Of course, he knows, and he is probably enjoying this.‘

Sarah sighed. “I told them that since they are interested in you, they should go to you and to stop pestering me. But they have holes instead of brains, so they will not listen to reason. If you do something about it, you will only make it worse. I need to deal with them myself if I want them to get off my case.”

“You are straightforward, aren’t you?”, he was amused. At the same time her lack of interest about relationship he has with Mimi and Meghan, bothered him.

“I will take that as a compliment”, she responded with a smile.

He relaxed, and smile got back on his face, “I will keep an eye on them, and when I see them planning something, I will let you know”.

Sarah tilted her head, “Thank you, but I don’t think it’s necessary”.

‘Again, she does not ask if I have anything going on with those two. Shouldn’t she be at least curious?‘ He was hoping that she will ask if he has a relationship with any of those two, and that would tell him that she is interested in him, maybe even jealous. But nothing. She even rejected his offer to help! He never met a female who does not like to meddle into other people’s business.

The food arrived. Multiple dishes, one at a time. It was a five-course lunch. Aiden explained for each dish what are the ingredients, how it’s prepared and why he ordered it. Sarah listened with admiration and enjoyed tasty food.

“You don’t look like someone who is into cooking”, Sarah acknowledged that he impressed her, again.

Aiden laughed, “I would not say that I’m into cooking, but I like to know what I eat”. He enjoyed the way she looked at him at that moment.

They finished food and were drinking tea. Sarah observed that he is not mentioning the project, and she could not contain her curiosity, “You don’t seem in any rush to work on this project. Don’t you have a deadline?”

“Not really”, he responded.

‘It seemed that he is telling the truth, but is there more to it?‘ Sarah was not able to decipher his expression. “What kind of class project does not have deadline?”

“I never said it’s a class project.”, He was amused with her confused face.

Sarah was sure that he said that it IS class project. But she didn’t want to bring that up. It was not important. “What kind of a project is it?”

“My friend asked me to do it. I don’t have much time to work on it. I hope that is not a problem for you.” He paused for a second. “How about we split the work? It will help you practice work in team setting.”, Aiden’s smile disarmed her. He saw that she is not opposing the idea and continued, “I think we have most of the project figured out, so we can divide work.”

Sarah didn’t need to think about it before responding with an “OK”. She found it impossible to say ‘no’ to him.

He was happy, “Let’s divide work now, then we will go and play a bit before finalizing UI* design.” Aiden pulled out his laptop and created a document, filling it up with relevant information. Sarah scooted closer so that she can see the screen.. It didn’t take them long to finish.