The Prodigy Series

"I hope we're not late," Felix said, looking out of his car's window as he drove into the compound of the rented hall. We were heading for the showing of our site. It was right after the hackathon and a series of talks from small entrepreneurs and representatives of some big companies.

"We still have time. I think we've just missed one talk," I said, looking down at my leather wristwatch. I heard Felix sigh in what I believed was a relief, making me look up to find out that he'd seen a free parking space.

We got down soon after, heading for the main building together with our backpacks, our computers, and presentation sheets safely within them. We did the necessary by identifying ourselves at the main entrance before heading into the semi-lit hall with air-conditioning.

"Do you have our seat numbers?" Felix asked as we squeezed through the rows.

"Yeah, 26 and 25," I said, watching him nod as he led the way. We were soon seated in our separate seats, the number tags attached to the headrests of the chair with safety pins. When I settled down I let myself relax and watch the petite woman that was currently on stage speak into the mic in her hand. I pulled my bag to my l.a.p, searching for the sheet of events I'd received at the door. I nodded when I read through it, realizing that she was a small tech entrepreneur, and was addressing the revolution of technology within small businesses.

"Ben," I heard Felix say a few minutes into us listening to the talk. I turned to him, wondering why he'd called me before I looked down to find his palm spread out on the armrest of his chair. I looked at it for a bit, flushing when it dawned on me that he was looking for me to hold on to his hand.

I blinked for a bit, nodding before taking his pale hand in mine, smiling a bit when he gave my hand a squeeze. I watched the rest of the lady's talk with warm cheeks and a racing heartbeat.

This is what boyfriends do, right? I thought to myself, letting the fact that I was now dating Felix sink in. I'd told Ayiana and the rest that we were during a school day, and they'd just nodded — well, Ayiana had attacked me with a hug. My mother's face had paled when I'd told her about it. I had been a bit demoralized, but having a chat with Felix right after had cheered me up.

People clapped at the end of the lady's talk and a bald, white-bearded man replaced her on the stage when she walked down.

"I'm a university representative looking to talk post-secondary opportunities to the participants of today's showing of young inventors. So, I hope some of you are excited about that. On to my talk then, we'll be discussing content creation—"

"Ben?" I heard Felix's voice say as the man's voice blurred into the background as I zeroed in on Felix with a confused frown, wondering why he was calling me.

"Can we leave the hall and walk around? We'll come back during the second to the last talk before the showing so that we can set up our stand. I don't think I can sit here for three more hours," he said, his head bent towards me so that the people sitting beside us couldn't hear him.

I thought about it for a while before eventually nodding. I didn't think I could sit through it either. We got up soon after, slipping out the row of seats before leaving through the main exit, and walking out into the open parking lot. I made to head for his car, but Felix took my hand and pulled me towards a different direction. It was then I noticed the small shop hiding in the corner. People were gathered around it, buying snacks. I waited on the line with Felix until it was our turn.

The man behind the counter handed us two bags of popcorn and two canned drinks. We took it, heading to Felix's car to eat.

"What's funny?" I asked when I heard Felix chuckle. I turned to find him shaking his head as he smiled. He turned to me, before turning away.

"It's nothing. I was just wondering how everyone in there is managing through the talks," he said, throwing some popcorn into his mouth. I hummed, looking away from him before opening my can of coke.

"We shouldn't stay here for too long though, we'll have to set up our stand and everything."

"I understand," he said, making me turn to find him scrolling through his phone. I nodded, noting that he probably set an alarm or timer.

We ate in the car in silence. Well, until Felix's popcorn ran out and he starting taking out of mine.

"Stop frowning. I bought it anyway," he laughed as he took another handful from the red and white striped paper bag.

"It doesn't really matter if you bought it, it's mine," I countered, hugging the bag of popcorn to myself as I watched Felix munch on the handful he'd already stolen.

"Really now," he said with a grin after swallowing.

"Really," I said in an oddly formal tone, making Felix laugh.

"Ben," he said, making me stare on at his smiling face. "I get that you're upset now, is there any way I could remedy that?"

I shrugged before looking away as I thought about it. "You can buy me another bag of popcorn."

Felix laughed, resting his head on the steering wheel. "Okay, is there anything I could do that doesn't involve me spending money?" he asked as I took a sip of my coke before putting the can in the cup holder beside my seat.

"Maybe a kiss?" I asked in a low tone as I felt my face warm up. I looked up to find Felix fairly red as well as he looked down at his t.h.i.g.hs, letting his fingers c.a.r.e.s.s the steering wheel.

Great, I'm not the only embarrassed person, thank God.

"Sure. I mean, why not," he said, letting out a chuckle that came out more like a nervous chuckle. It was panicked — shy. You'd think after doing this for a while it would less emotionally charged.

I watched him sit up in the driver's seat before he smiled at me. I put the bag of popcorn I had on my l.a.p before he leaned in to peak me. I tightened my grip on the bag when he deepened the kiss.

The area around me felt sparked — warm. Who'd have thought the act of mashing lips together would be so exciting?

We continued to kiss, and maybe we got into it a bit too much. Felix broke the kiss with a labored laugh, touching his forehead with mine as he smiled at me and looked into my eyes. I let myself look at him, looking away when I started feeling overwhelmed.

"I hope I'm not scaring you."

"You're not," I mumbled, pulling my face away to look at him. I brought my hands up to hold on to his face, biting the inside of my cheeks as I observed his flushed face and hazy eyes. "You just — I just got overwhelmed by looking at you, that's all."

"Oh," Felix laughed.

I smiled, leaning in to kiss him. I let out a hum of content when he moved his lips against mine and we built a slow rhythm.

Making out with Felix is fast becoming my new hobby.

We jumped apart when we heard a knock on the glass of the car. We looked about until we spotted the fair-haired woman with an amused look on her face bent over a bit by the driver seat's window.

"Are you sure you want to stay out? The talk right now is by a Microsoft representative," she said as I tried to calm down and stop my face from burning. Felix seemed partly amused and partly embarrassed by the situation.

"We're not going for the talk, just the showing at the end," he answered, watching as the lady nodded. She looked like she was about to say something else, but she turned away when someone called out what I assumed was her name.

"How long do you think she was looking?" Felix asked, making me laugh. He chuckled too, slouching against his seat before turning his head to face me.

"I love you. You know that, right?"

I felt my face warm up again as a smile played on my lips. He's been saying that a lot frequently for the past week but it still had a way of making my heart swell.

"Yeah," I said, using my fingers to drum against the dashboard. "Yeah, I know that."

"And I love you too," I added a few seconds later before looking to find Felix staring at me with a smile. I was trying to say the words more frequently too, and each time a felt a bit proud of communicating my feelings.

"I really want to say something cheesy and make you laugh, but I don't know — I'm just really happy, and my mind's too preoccupied with that to do something else."

I laughed at that, shrugging. I understood what he meant, and I was happy too.

Extremely happy.