The group project came in the third month.. Miss Song assigned the groups herself which meant nobody could complain without complaining to Miss Song, which nobody dared.. Denita found herself with Avet and two others whose names she kept mixing up.. They decided to meet at Denita's house on Saturday.. it was closest and her mother had said it was fine and Ray had been bribed with one extra hour of television to stay out of the way..
Avet arrived first.. which surprised her a little.. he stood at the door with his bag and a very ordinary expression and said.. The others will come in ten minutes, they messaged me.. as if they had always done this.. as if coming to her house was nothing new.. They sat in the small study room and waited.. and in the waiting he looked around once.. then looked at her and said.. Can I have your number.. for the project.. Just like that.. very straightforward.. very simple.. She told him.. he saved it.. the others arrived.. they worked for two hours and achieved approximately nothing useful.. and then everyone went home.. Denita thought that was that..
The second meeting was Sunday.. same house, same room.. except Denita had not calculated the time correctly and was still in the bathroom when the doorbell rang.. Ray opened the door.. she heard it from inside.. heard the muffled sounds of someone being let in.. assumed it was one of the others.. When she came out, hair still a little damp, she found the study room empty except for Avet.. sitting on the chair with his bag in his lap, doing absolutely nothing.. just waiting.. with the particular patience of someone who had decided waiting was completely fine.. He looked up.. She looked at him.. eyelashes went back and forth..in the mean time… their eye contact took place and no longer than a second..Both moved their heads .blinking.. 'The others have not come yet'.. he said.. 'Oh'.. she said.. and sat down.. and they waited together for the others in a silence that was not uncomfortable..
She noticed he had not touched anything.. not opened a book, not looked at his phone.. just sat there.. patiently.. like her coming out of the bathroom was worth waiting for quietly.. She did not think anything of it.. She really, truly did not..
That was the thing about Avet in those days.. he never announced anything.. never made a single moment feel larger than it was.. he just.. showed up.. again and again and again in the small spaces of her days.. after every period, on the games ground, at her door on a Sunday morning.. And Denita moved through all of it completely unaware.. the way you walk past a candle without noticing its warmth until much, much later.. when you are somewhere cold.. and you find yourself thinking..
Oh.. so that was what warmth felt like..