"Look at you, being a speaker for a seminar about self-development, how ironic because the only recent development of our assignment is that you just replied to my text after a week of ignoring me. So, how about you practice what you preach? Like, developing your undeveloped brain."

Is what Daphne would say if she was not a wuss, but she is. She thinks she is. She needs to do something about it, it hinders many parts of her life, including making important decisions and regretting not making them when she clearly had the chance to do so before she can't anymore. College has been friendly, but not enough to cure whatever psychological problem she has currently. "I mean, look at him, he's definitely not mental health friendly. He will become the death of my mental stability I'm sure."

"Wait, I'm not even mentally stable, what am I saying.."

The wink was in the past, Daphne has decided that she was overreacting, and she probably mistakenly took whatever action he did as a wink. Maybe it was a wink, but not to her. She is still sure as hell it was for her if it was legit a wink. Thinking back about it, it was so weird and out of the blue that he did that, if he did, which Daphne is not so sure anymore because who does that!? However, that is not important now because time flies quickly when you only have one or two classes each day. Time flies slowly when Daphne was in school and have a shit ton of subjects. It was difficult, but now that she has less subjects to focus on, she does not know why it is so much more difficult to keep up.

No one is pressuring her to graduate with honors, not even her parents, they do not care what grades Daphne has, they just want Daphne to go to school and be educated, they are convinced she knows what to do on herself. She does not. She has no idea what she is doing but she is trying. She told her cousins once that she wanted to get at least a cum laude and they told her that what was important is that she gets the knowledge.

No shit, dipshit. Everybody who is serious about studying must get the knowledge because if not, then they are not studying, but to Daphne, her grades are the proof of her competence, proof that she indeed has gained the knowledge she pursues by going to college. She thinks graduating with a grade below 3.50 is half-assing college which she does not intend to do because college would just be a waste of her already-broke-parents' money. She knows grades are not everything, but if she can help it, then who is to say she cannot pursue it. It is not like it is impossible to achieve, so why not try? People have different standards, and this is hers.

Remembering Mason whose grades are unknown to Daphne, made her feel like crap. He does not look like the type to study hard, he even abandoned Daphne to their assignment on the first week of the semester, what faith can Daphne have in him, and how could she not judge him so quickly? She hates it. She hates that she has to judge him to make herself feel better. Afterall, even if he's not serious about his academic performance, he still seems to be doing a lot better than her.

She scrolls on her Instagram, stalking Mason's account with her burner one so she doesn't have to worry about accidentally liking a post or following him. She can watch his Instagram stories freely and it pains her. He is doing so well. Too well. For an annoying slacker. Free-rider. Bad-texter, or he just has been ignoring her texts on purpose. 

"This is useless, I need to get my shit together."

Daphne's laptop and iPad on her desk that were previously abandoned gather her attention once more. It is the second week of the semester and she is determined to be more self-disciplined and consistent in studying. No more slacking off, one motivation to not slack off is that she does not want to be anything like Mason, a slacker. Maybe, or maybe she is wrong about him. Maybe he's just naturally smart and his brain absorbs lessons like a sponge in class, but it does not change the fact that he's irresponsible in his academic pursuit.

Unbeknownst to Daphne who is in the comfort of her own bedroom in the apartment she shares with another student, Mason is out there, partying his hearts out. Living the college life like he has always wanted to, he thinks back to him giving that impulsive wink to Daphne. He cringes, but he is too drunk to care right now, he chugs more alcohol into his system like there is no tomorrow. What if he dies tomorrow and he didn't get to have fun tonight? He'd die now instead, fun-less.

The guilt is starting to eat him up, slowly, yet he is too prideful to admit that he is wrong. Daphne is cute, not cute enough. Perhaps he is in denial, or maybe it's just the alcohol. He wants to kiss her, though. He is stupid. Why is he stupid. Tomorrow he will see Daphne again, then maybe he will finally talk to her about the stupid assignment. Like the others, he is starting to regret taking the course. He took it because it was "sexual psychology", the name speaks for itself.

He is so, so stupid. 

His friends that he came here with are nowhere to be found. He is light-headed and wants to search for them because he suddenly wants to go home, but Mia stops him in his way, "hey, handsome." Mia's smirk and greeting+compliment is all that it takes for him to be riled up. In his head, Mia is his type, the standards, the everything he will ever wants in a girl. Even though, she is not enough for him to stay. No one will ever be enough for him to stay. Mia is fine with it, he thinks. When they first agreed on whatever type of relationship this is, Mason made it clear that he does not want any more than this.

"Hey, Mia," without wasting a second, he closes the distance between them, and the rest of the night is just history.

When Mason finally wakes up, the headache that strikes his head is unbearable. He looks around, the left part of his body is heavy and he can't move. He looks over and there is Mia, sleeping soundly. He can't remember anything from last night, he just hopes he doesn't get anyone pregnant, he's not ready for fatherhood, or anything, really. A part of him wants to just leave Mia here alone, but this is not her place either. The better, bigger, part of him wakes her up instead. Even though he could care less for a commitment, he is not evil. An asshole, maybe.

"Hey, wake up," he nudges Mia , trying to wake her. She shifts, blinking her eyes open, "Mason? Where are we?"

"I have no idea, let's go," he readies himself to just leave the place. They're still at whoever held the party last night's house. Why did I even go in the first place, he thinks, feeling like shit. Mia sits up and gathers herself together. When they're outside, Mason orders an uber for her first before he orders his. The gesture warms Mia's cheeks. Mason has that effect sometimes on Mia, he doesn't seem to notice. Sometimes, Mia thinks he's just pretending not to, to not ruin whatever it is that they have. In reality, he's just oblivious. 

On some nights, Mia feels like he's just using her, and that feeling is stupid because they are using each other. It is her fault for agreeing in the first place, she has a feeling that it'll end soon because she started to catch feelings and before going inside the car Mason has ordered for her, she has mustered up the courage to ask him out on a date, though, she doesn't preface that it is a date, in her mind, it will be a date. Perhaps, Mason will catch on to this. And he did. Eyeing her up and down, suspicion in the back of his mind, before answering her.

"Today? No can do, I'm meeting someone today, she's been nagging me for days, I need to get her off my dick."

She?

"Who is ..she?" Mia asks, feeling jealousy courses through her veins, washing the alcohol away in from her blood. She tries to not show it, afraid that it will freak Mason out. Too late, though. 

"Nobody, get in the car, Mia, the driver's waiting, take care."

Mia stares at Mason for a moment, and nods, "thanks a lot."

"No problem, thanks to you too, last night was good," Mason says, knowing that he doesn't remember a second of it. It's an attempt to be nice, because probably he needs to end whatever this is soon before it becomes something more complicated, Mia takes it and she smiles gratefully before the car brings her away, and his uber comes to take him home too.

He takes a shower when he's finally back, washing off the sweat and dirt that have accumulated their way on his skin. He plops onto his bed, not caring if he's wetting the bed, it'll dry, he thinks. He just wants to sleep when his phone buzzes. He clicks his tongue in annoyance, but checks it out anyway, it's been hours since he last checks his phone, after all.

[13.30]
Daphne: you're coming to class, right?

"Fuck," he mutters, before replying. Looking at the time, he's already 30 minutes late, might as well just sleep in. 

[13.31]
Mason: Sorry daphne, i wont make it to class today, we can still meet at the cafe like we planned, though, dw

Daphne reads what he sent immediately, he imagines her shocked face because he replies right away, unlike the past few days where he ignored all her texts. He closes his eyes. Daphne never texts back after that. Only when it is 16.00 that she texts him again to remind him of their upcoming discussion. He woke up half an hour before she texted. He gets the memo already, there's really no point in responding, he thinks. Daphne, on the other hand, she is twitching with anger, there is nothing that she wants to do more than coming over to his place unannounced, and slap some sense into him. 

[17.00]
Mason: I'm omw

They finally meet, and Daphne is miserable, staring at the drinks' prices, she's crying inside when they're at the counter. She's bad at this. She's unfamiliar with the menu, her eyes dances through the list of various drink she can choose, panicked out of her mind for making people behind her wait, she asks Mason what he wants, "Mason, what will you have, just order first, I'm still thinking."

Mason, bored, replies, "I'll have what you have." 

Daphne's blood boils, but she doesn't show it. "No, I'll have what you have."

"Fine, I'll have ..."

Please, don't be expensive, please, don't be expensive.

Great.

I should've known that he would pick the most expensive one. 

She watches him pulling out his debit card to pay for the drinks, dreading the moment where she has to pay him back. They walk to unoccupied seats to settle for the discussion.

"You want cash? or should I just transfer the money?"

Mason looks up, confused, after pulling out his laptop to the table, "for the coffee?

Daphne only nods.

Mason just stares for a moment, he thought it was just a crappy attempt at a joke, but when he realizes that she's not, he shrugs, "no need."

"..Okay, thank you."

Mason hums. Daphne is not as intense as Mason thought she would be. She's pretty calm and doesn't talk much, but she does walk him through everything she has planned for the assignment. She is now sitting next to him, instead of across him because it's easier to show what's on her laptop. She's very detailed and organized, it kind of drives him crazy because he can never be like this. He knows he's going to mess this assignment up at some point, but seeing that she's very serious about it, unlike some other people, it is hard for him not to care, so he listens. He thinks it's the least he can do.