Nola threw a party at her house and invited her closer friends. The beta orbiters of international students showed up as expected, Asim, another Indian and a Korean called Jeong Un Lee. There was a boxing gym member who was Italian. He had a Grecian physique and was near seven feet tall. Eleanor was over for the day as well.

Nola had invited Nicole but she turned down the invitation with cryptic, vague texts, citing some reason with being with her boyfriend. She was pretty but it was hard to believe she had a boyfriend. Nola felt for sure she was on the spectrum. Perhaps not fully fledged autistic but lightly. Nola texted her she should bring her boyfriend over but she still declined. It was a shame; she was sure to have fun if she came.

Nola and some others sat in the sitting room in the dark watching a DreamWorks animation.

Allie's head laid on Nola's shoulder and she would occasionally stroke his flaxen hair like a cat. Lauren was in her room playing a videogame with the Korean and the two Indians. The movie audience could hear muffled shouts coming from her room.

They had ordered four extra-large pizzas from Deliveriloo and Nola knew that whoever was doing the cycling would probably be cursing at the back breaking order.

The doorbell rang. Nola exhaled a heavy heave as she uprooted herself from the couch to answer the door. Allie slapped her on the butt and called her fat ass. She gave a surprised shrug before jumping onto the couch to tickle him to an apology.

“Shush! You're ruining the good part.” Nola's ripped Italian friend shushed them which Nola and Allie then apologised for. His arms and calves were as thick as tree trunks. He was a soft, kind man who always wore a wife beater. His name was Alfonse del Rossi.

Nola opened the door and saw a man her height who wore a sailor cap.

"Ben!" She blurted out, eyes wide in surprise and shock.

Ben had already known it was Nola once he picked up the food from the fast food restaurant. Her name was listed on the food receipt and Nola was a unique name, a unique name for a Belarusian. He cursed her when he saw the amount of pizzas he had to stuff into his hot bag especially the two 1.75 litres of Coke and Fanta. The coincidence of meeting her also made his heart thump in anxiety.

"What a coincidence. Why are you here?"

"I live here! We're having a party right now. Join us." She said this without a single sign of hesitation and without leaving Ben any time to consider, she grabbed both of his arms and led him in. He was stupefied and got dragged in before he could form a single sentence.

"Come!"

Come, Ben thought, her words echoing in his head like a headache.

"Let me..." he stammered," -take off my shoes at least," seeing that she didn't wear shoes in the house.

Nola acted a bit forceful, knowing from experience with Nicole that sometimes you have to expend more energy with low energy people. Some people come naturally, some need a little push and others need to be dragged over mountains of corpses.

"That bag must be heavy, I'm so sorry. Forgive me."

Ben glared at her. Did she drag me into the kitchen so I can serve the pizza directly to her and her guests?

"Thirsty? Let me get you a glass while you take out the yum-yums."

He let out a light chuckle. Yum-yums. She was such a naïve, bubbly person. Ben stood in the corner and dropped the giant square box of a bag gently onto the ground. Can't be damaging precious customer food, he thought. He suddenly felt very depressed. These students were living the ideal life while he spent his time either staring at meaningless computer garble or delivering food for less than minimum wage. On a good day he would make twenty-four euro during the peak hours, 6-8pm.

It hit him with full regret that he shouldn't have signed up for the master's in marketing. Then he wouldn't have found himself in this situation. He also thought the government grant would cover the college fees fully but it was only half.

He finished stacking up the pizzas on the table. He looked up at Nola morosely.

"Here you go, pour a glass of whatever suits."

A Bacardi with an alcohol content of at least seventy percent mixed with the Coke would certainly numb the emotional pain right now if not the back pain, he thought.

"Take off your jacket. Make yourself at home," she said with a sweet smile. Nola went up close to him to take the jacket but he kneeled on the ground, struggling with the zipper on his gigantic cubic Deliveriloo bag. She felt a kindled sadness in him. Maybe I was too forceful. She saw that one of the zippers on his giant cubic hot bag was broken which was a common occurrence on those cheaply made Chinese quality bags. Maybe that's why he looked annoyed. She also used to work with Deliveriloo; that was something they had in common.

She pushed on and stuck out her two hands for his jacket after he spent a whole minute fixing the zipper. He handed him his worn with tear Chinese quality Deilveriloo jacket.

"Where's everybody?"

"They're watching a movie right now."

"You sure you don't want to go back to them?"

"Nah," she said in her usually bubbly demeanour. "I've seen it multiple times. My little brother has probably seen that one over a hundred times. I put it on just for the friends who haven't seen it yet and him. "

"Oh, you have a brother?"

Nola hanged his coat on the clothes rack that was beside him. It appeared to be a round mound of jackets and she stuck the jacket into the jacket haystack and the jacket disappeared within. Ben hoped he could find it later.

"Yeah, still a kid. My brother's only seven years old. He can't walk by the way. His legs don't work," grief welled up in her voice for a second, "He's been wheelchair bound since birth."

"I'm sorry," Ben said. He felt so lost within the sudden turn of the conversation. He felt awkward.

"I'll going to call them. Food's best served hot," she said jollily.

Nola walked hastily across him. She did not expect that. To feel so vulnerable mentioning a fact that she had lived with for so long. She quickly brushed the corner of her eye at the hallway mirror, feigning a fix on her faux eyelashes she didn't wear.

"Whoa! Did you invite the delivery boy in?" Asim said.

"Oh my god, Asim," another Indian said behind him, "don't mind him."

"Hi, yeah," Ben said staring at the large figure behind them. "She's too nice."

Behind the Indians and the Korean was a large shadowy round blob that completely blocked the light from the corridor.

"Hi," Lauren the gigantic mass of fat snorted at Ben's direction. She saw the pizzas on the table and her eyes immediately lit up. "Thanks, that must have been heavy."

"It's fine. It's good exercise." Not as heavy as you. Ben guessed she must have weighed at least 200kg give or take.

"That's true," Eleanor agreed, who suddenly appeared out of the shadows. Her body glided into full view out of the jutted wall at the kitchen without ever passing through the corridor. She had been in the kitchen the entire time.

Eleanor extended her slender arm with her head held high and eyes looking down even though she was shorter than him. He shook her hand delicately. She had incredibly long fingers, longer than his even though she was shorter by nearly a head and a woman. How pale they were as well. Eleanor's fashion sense was peculiar to everybody but Nola and Allie. She wore a black gothic dress with frills trimmed along the edges. Her dress stopped at knee length. Completely black and with the contrast of her porcelain white skin, she looked as if the colours of life had fallen off of her. She didn't look like she belonged here.

"That's a surprise! Eleanor never shakes her precious hands with anybody," Nola said as she wheeled Allie into the kitchen.

Eleanor tiptoed up with her hands clasped behind her back. Her little nose almost touching Ben's chin as if she was smelling the sweet fear in his discomfort.

"I feel like there's an eccentricity in him," her voice carried a mystique quality to it and an arrogance. "Like myself. Am I right, boy?"

"Boy!?" He laughed. "True. I have somewhat a mastery in meaningless languages."

“I knew I was right.” Eleanor didn't inquire deeper. She was fulfilled by the fact that she had prophesied a truth. If she was wrong, she would look stupid. “Do you know who I am?”

"A world famous pianist who recently performed with The Berlin Philharmonic," Ben answered easily. Anybody following the classical world of music knew her. Eleanor felt her heart flutter in shock, she didn't expect him to be such a cultured individual so she couldn't make a snide remark.

"I'm holding a concert here next year, you should come," she said meekly.

"I recognise you! You're in our class," Asim piped up.

They sat around the dining table. They ate and chatted together. It surprised Nola that Ben was somewhat normal and he communicated with the group well.

He was the first person she met in college, the first one that greeted her and that was pretty much it. He never went to any of the hundreds of nights out that was organised in the group messenger. He didn't even go out when everybody did during the class parties. Nola felt a tinge of disappointment that the mysterious veil between them was gone so easily. She didn't know what to think of him, in the back of her head he had grown into an ominous figure. He was actually quite normal and maybe she wasn't important to him at all. All that avoidance from him was a figment of her imagination.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

The Italian macho man and Eleanor took Allie back to the sitting room to finish the movie. Lauren fell asleep, snoring loudly with a pizza in her hand. The others went outside to the back garden which they jokingly called the beer garden. Nola and Asim came out with three beer bottles clasped between their fingers.

College students, Ben thought. Not that he didn't drink. In fact he spent some nights drinking alone in his dark room.

"Here you go," Nola handed him a drink.

"Thanks," Ben said.

"Ah, it's great that it's kind of cold outside. We sat out once and the moths and midges were crawling all over us," Lauren said. Ben nodded his head unable to take his eyes of the sheer obesity of her. He looked at the Korean and asked him why he came to this country bumpkin of a city. The conversation soon turned to talking about the global pandemic last year and how it affected them. Nola learnt that Ben was going to sign up for an English teaching job in Cambodia.

"I got accepted but you know, what happened last year, pretty much put a stop on everybody's lives. It cancelled the next four years of my life." Ben had decided to stay due to reasons now. There wasn't a need to move after what the calamity luckily caused for him. The conversation created an awkward silence for some who were negatively affected.

Nola changed the subject and asked if anybody wanted to see a new children's movie that came out in the cinema recently. Nobody wanted to go with her, not even her beta orbiters. She eyed around the table. It was silent. Some shook their heads. If Alphonse was outside here, she would be sure he would like to see it, she thought.

Ben let out a pity sigh quietly and told her that he wanted to see it. Nola glowed in joy and took the seat beside him to exchange their mobile numbers.

"I'll be bringing Allie. Is that okay?" she said in a meek voice.

"Well, that's the point, right?"

"Erhm... Yeah." She decided not to ask Alphonse.

After wondering so long of who the sailor hat boy was, he coincidently shows up and she had even secured an outing with him. She had developed an infatuation with him though she did not know herself.

...

During the week, Nola tried to talk to him directly in class but she couldn't get close to him without him suddenly vanishing in thin air, figuratively speaking. Ben made the first move and told her Tuesday was a good day. Movie tickets were four euro per student. Tuesdays were also half days in college.

Nola waited outside at the top of the staircase at the entrance of the cinema. They were two who were always notoriously late for class. On the day, surprisingly or not, Nola arrived five minutes early and Ben arrived exactly on time.

"Hi," Ben said. He was wearing a one size too large hoodie that bulged out making him look fat and capri pants that showed off his amazingly toned calves from all the cycling he does.

They went in. Truth was Ben had absolutely no interest in film nor did he have any interest in girls or dating games. Though he agreed, possibly out of sympathy.

He was surprised that they truly were alone, just the two. He envisioned some other people showing up or Allie being there.

At the counter, Nola asked for two adult tickets. You bumbling oaf was what Ben wanted to say. He glared in shock at her.

"You mean two student tickets," Ben whispered into her ear as politely as he could, trying to restrain himself. Doesn't she know you can reduce the price by nearly a half? I don't even go out and even I know that.

"Sorry I meant two student tickets." She smiled a thanks to Ben. He wiped the sweat away from his forehead. He took out his wallet but Nola said she'd pay for it, saying that it was thanks for carrying the pizzas and drinks that night.

His face reddened at the role reversal of expectations in society. Yet, he was also secretly glad that he was being pampered as by her.

"Ah, I want some food," she said. Her eyes eyed the food counter after handing the tickets to the usher.

"I actually brought my own so I'm fine." Amateur, he thought. Who buys food at the cinema? Amateurs, that's who. "I have some popcorn; we'll share it. Just get a drink." In his baggy hoodie was popcorn, a variety bag of assortments of sweets, nachos and a McDonald's meal.

They grabbed seats in the middle of the cinema. Ben took out his sweets and shared it to Nola. They finished it before the ads started to roll. Throughout the movie Ben would casually take out packs after packs of sweets and food. Nola's eyes couldn't help but glance from time to time at the food he kept pulling out of his deep pockets. She commented that he must have had a four-dimensional pouch and Ben let out a sly smile. He even took out a whole McDonald's meal which they shared.

They walked out of the theatre down to the McDonald's in front of it for some much needed ice-cream to cool down. The cinema experience had been a wild ride.

The movie had everything for a kid's movie. It was a romantic action comedy with a dash of mystery.

The emotional narrative was pinpoint to garner sympathy. The main character, a black kid, searches for his missing father and fights an evil organisation in a series of battles using genetically altered beasts. He finds out his lost father was working as the leader for the evil organisation. The twist was somewhat predictable but the director executed it well.

It is revealed then that the father who was evil was actually secretly working as a double agent for the government.

In a turn of events, it's revealed that the government was in fact the true culprit of the entire movie who were trying to clean up their dark past by having the son hunt the father. The son commits patricide before finding out the devastating truth. At that point, Nola was lost in the conspiracies within conspiracies and plot twists and was just enjoying the ride. Over a contrived series of circumstances, the protagonist got the girl in the end. They both walked out of the film satisfied and talked a great deal about the movie as they walked down to McDiddly's.

"Cultural appropriation is wrong even if it's right." They both agreed to the statement.

"Hollywood's gonna Hollywood. They're probably patting themselves on their backs even though none of them are black."

"Ethnicity pandering is hot these days. Film Culture class is going to have a field day over that one. I bet they'll somehow twist it into some commentary about gender representation though."

They made fun of how their film culture class, the extremely feminist lecturer, the even more aggressive feminist speakers she brought in for talks, the weird transsexual guy and the couple of female students who sported the same shaved on one side haircut.

"I think it's like the lesbian haircut," Nola said.

"I think so too and I think it looks awful. It looks like the hairdresser gave up halfway. I'd only pay half price for that cut. I hope they did as well."

Nola stomach growled loudly and they decided to eat another Big Mac meal. She came up to the self-serving touchscreen machines they recently installed in the newly refurbished McD's. Ben had a horrid look when she started poking the machine for a fast food meal. Nola felt his fingers touch lightly on the side of her arm.

"Don't you know you can get student discounts on the meals?" She answered no but she has learnt a lot about the nature of him instead, frugal and furtive. "You can get them at the counter, not by these machines. You might want to learn about financial security."

"Ha-ha," she laughed.

Ben wasn't joking.

They got two large Big Mac meals with student discounts saving a grand total of eight euro. Nola got a sprite with hers while Ben got a coke with no ice. Ben paid for their meals. He commented that the saving was enough to see another movie. She laughed and he gave a look of distraught with how loose with money she was.

Nola chowed down his burger and chips fairly rapidly and got a chocolate sundae afterwards. Ben struggled to keep the lettuce from falling out the back of his burger.

"Do you eat out often?" she asked.

"No. there's never a need. I cook all of my own food and I've done it for years. The internet is the best teacher. All the resources to learn everything is readily available. I could cook up a burger McDonald's could only dream of."

"Tell me."

“Well, the bun falls apart too easily and the patty of this burger is too thin for my taste. First, I would choose better meat. This hamburger meat is just a jumble of low grade meat mashed into a meat cake, they use to mix it with horse meat.” He did not know why he reminded themselves of the horse meat scandal right after eating it. “I would sear a wagnu beef on a brass pan, high heated, sprinkled with freshly grounded coarse salt. Caramelise the onion with the steak in the pan. The vegetable would be freshly picked from my botanic farm in my garden that uses permaculture methods,” Ben spoke with the confidence from experience. “Pepper, diced onion, lettuce, large tomato and a perfectly aged pickle from balsamic vinegar. The secret is freshness. Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper sprinkled on top of the steak as it hits medium rare. One slice of pepper jack cheese or Gouda or if you are feeling extra adventurous, le bleu cheese. On the side, create your homemade sauce. I personally would go with 150ml of mayonnaise, Coleman's sufficient if you can't get your hands on something better, 20ml Leyda Sauvignon Blanc, which has a fresh lemony touch with good acidity, mustard again, Coleman's will do, 7g of paprika powder, salt and pepper and taste. I'd go for a ciabatta bun with olives mixed in the bun and I'd toast it before assembling the burger. I personally prefer an elongated shape. Easier to eat as well.”

Nola's eye's was paying attention and she had taken out a little notepad to write out the recipe. "Sorry, could you go back to the sauce part, I lost you there," she looked up from her notepad. "Actually, you should come over and show me how to cook the perfect burger."

Behind Ben's eyes was regret. His weakness was being indiscreet.

"Actually this Big Mac is-" Ben licked his lips, “-the best burger I've ever eaten in-"

She chuckled. Nola eyes were undeceived by his futile act and she switched to a heavy deadpan expression. "I doubt you can cook it like that," her voice became high and mocking in tone, something she learnt from Eleanor.

"Of course I can. I can even show you." He walked himself right into the trap with pride. Pride as he had learnt, was a defence mechanism and also a weakness.

"Yay!" Nola clapped her hands together, "You can't back out now.” They had a formal handshake to consolidate the deal. She would purchase the ingredients and he would demonstrate his cooking prowess. "You need to meet my sister by the way. She's the head chef of a fancy Parisian restaurant. I'll call you over when she visits. She always cooks seven courses of fancy experimental gourmet food of bite sized portions. Every time at the end I'm like, yeah it was alright but I think I prefer fast food. And it drives her mad." She laughed.

They exited the fast food restaurant and walked out to the back alleyway beside the cinema. Ben told her that this way was a shortcut to her home. Ben knew the streets since he delivered food and had all the nooks and crannies mapped into his brain for the optimal delivery route.

Nola was aloof and happy with her craving for fast food sated. She also felt a bit nervous. She always hung out in small groups like with her beta orbiters. Now that there was only the two of them, the situation held a lot more intimacy. Ben had an intimating, mysterious aura to him. He was handsome, intelligent, quirky and had a trait that was extremely important to females, being taller than her. But she knew she could still overpower him in a fight due to her kickboxing training and larger than man muscles. Though she also felt that he had no qualms with morality and would try to jab her in the eye and aim for critical blows as quickly and slyly as possible. A fight between them would be a close match. Nola blushed at her insane thoughts.

Suddenly, they both turned their head to each other and she lightly karate chopped him on his left shoulder. "Hiya!" she called out.

"What was that for?" He laughed and said with a puzzled face. Her eyes were large and bulged out with a wild craziness in them. She was weird and it allured him. Ben never wanted to get close to her. It defeated the thrill, the power you have over one. When Nola grabbed him into the house, he felt powerless to the opportunity. When she had texted him to go out to a movie and then seeing they were the only ones, his imagination ran wild hidden underneath his cool composure. In his mind, there was no doubt it was what people would term as a date when two members of the opposite sex went to a movie together.

"Ben,"

He gulped.

"Do you know what that was today?” a gentle smile formed on her lips.

He let out a deep breath, a deep apathetic breath and nodded. The movie tickets were her treat because she didn't tip him the other day for that backbreaking load.

"Do you like me?"

He nodded three quicker nods.

"Will you..."

Beads of sweat had formed above his brow. If Nola looked closely, she would have seen smoke blowing out of his cherry red ears.

"...be my..."

He gulped.

"...friend."

"Yeah, sure," he said.

"Wow, I felt nervous just saying that. I always got the impression that you were avoiding me in class." He was. He wondered if she knew he was stalking her, if she was messing with him right now. All this didn't matter because for the first time in his life, he felt he had met a genuinely nice person. A person that wouldn't mind the nefarious deeds he did.