Indifference, Disappointment, and Surprise

The first few days since I returned from winter break were notably quiet. With Tea back at home still, and most of the team not yet returned, I ended up spending most of my time either alone in my dorm room or training with Tillie.

Tillie had been a sort of a mentor for me since I started here at Eastfield, and some part of that relationship even persisted once I’d been named as the team’s captain.

No matter what our roles were on paper, her leadership was something I’d wanted to learn from.

On the third day since my return, Tillie joined me on the treadmills in one of the school’s many gyms, giving a pleasant greeting and starting up her own machine.

Normally we ended up doing most of our running outside, but it was currently well below freezing, making our change of plans a rather simple decision.

“Do you have any plans on the third?” She asked after a few minutes of talk about our next game.

“Just training, probably.” I responded, hesitantly.

I had no issues with joining Tillie for a fun day out, put it was a little out of character for her, and part of me had been looking to schedule something with Liam in the near future.

Despite the fact that he would be arriving today, and that I’d had his number for a while now, we hadn’t communicated much since our hike together.

The extent of our communication was mostly centered around when we would return, which was a large part of the reason I’d returned so early.

As much as I wouldn’t admit it, especially in response to Tea’s suspicions, I was looking forward to the chance of meeting up again.

“One of the reporters asked for both of us in an interview that day.” Tillie said absent mindedly.

Her look of relative neutrality and disinterest turned to mild surprise and confusion after glancing at the jumble of emotions that flashed across my face.

“You don’t have to do it.” She said, apparently misinterpreting my response.

“I’ll do it.” I blurt out, not wanting to miss out on this opportunity that seems to have been granted to me in response to my silent wishes.

I tried to look as nonchalant as possible as I asked my next question. As confident as I felt about the answer, I wanted to make sure that my suspicion was correct.

“Who’s doing the interview?”

She watched me for a few seconds, trying and failing to put the pieces together as to why I was so interested. She shrugged, either deciding not to pry or simply not caring enough to bother.

“Marcus. Apparently he wants to make an example project for the first years.”

I tried, and failed, to hide the rapid wave of disappointment that took over my mind.

It’s not that I have anything against Marcus. In fact, I quite like the guy, being a positive beacon for Liam for all this time.

However, that doesn’t mean I wasn’t hoping to hear that it was an interview Liam was conducting.

Tillie sighed, turning her gaze away from me as she continued jogging, not even breaking a sweat yet.

“Are you sure you’re okay with doing it?”

I got the impression that she didn’t want to get involved in whatever I was thinking, but also didn’t want to upset me.

Tillie had always been well connected, having many friends in different areas of study and such, but never seemed to care about much other than soccer.

Her closest friends were other fourth years on the team, and she would always choose the team over all else if it came down to it.

I knew that I could ask her to change the interviewer and there’s a good chance that I could get the project delegated to Liam, but I quickly shook off the idea.

While I knew I might have to cause some inconveniences in order to grow closer, that would be wildly unfair to Marcus and to Tillie. Also, there was no guarantee that Liam would welcome the extra workload with a smile.

“Yeah, I’m good.” I finally responded, feeling a little let down, but no worse off than I was five minutes ago when I knew nothing about any interview.

Tillie nodded and gave me a quick rundown of the interview’s concept.

I couldn’t help but wonder why I was involved, if the objective was interviewing someone of the same year, but glancing around at the empty room around us gave me my answer.

Honestly, the more I heard about it the happier I was to participate. I quickly decided that it would be a huge help to the first years, and couldn’t help but appreciate Marcus’ ambition in going this far for them.

Hearing Tillie explain it was the cherry on top, given how similar the two of them seemed now that the comparison was laid out in front of me.

I couldn’t help but wonder if there was something more going on there, since this must have been planned while everyone was gone for break, but I knew not to ask.

Tillie was patient, kind, and thoughtful, but also private. On the rare occasion she wanted to share something about her personal life, she’d tell you herself.

Also, I didn’t get the impression that there was much affection in her tone, maybe that of a close friend, but I doubt any more.

I finished up with my run, adding the details of the time and date in my calendar, and then bid Tillie good evening as I made my way through the harsh cold back to my room.

The few days passed in a repetitive blur, and I soon found myself walking into one of the buildings that had meeting rooms available for booking.

It was a common spot for study groups, interviews, or even team’s strategy meetings here on campus.

All of the rooms that I walked past were vacant as I approached one of the rooms towards the end of the hall, the one that had been reserved for our interview today.

As I got closer, I noticed that there were three silhouettes outlined through the blurred glass, not two.

Confused, I opened the door, shocked to find someone who I’d been hoping to see for a while now. The calm and composed face of Liam stared back at me, his slight smile a mix of familiarity and comfort.