Noisy Fucking Neighbors

Angel wished that he had been paired with anyone else but the man he was now paired with. He awkwardly leaned forward in his chair, one of the few signs he was uncomfortable. Angel rarely did anything but lean back in any seat he sat in. But, now, he was on edge and a bit nervous. Tiger, at least he was pretty sure that was his name, was probably trying to kill him. He was half certain of it after the very strange encounter they'd had. The one in which Tiger nonsensically gave him a death glare, and the one in which Angel was almost certain he was being marked for death. Though Angel was 28 and hadn't been to high school in years, he knew that look well.

"Well," Angel said, trying to sound as unafraid as possible. He had practice, and it was pretty convincing. "So, do you like poetry? Do you have a favorite poem we could use?"

Tiger shrugged, his face like stone. It was involuntary; he always looked like this when he was nervous. He had been checking out the cute guy in his class for weeks, and had only tried to talk to him once. To be paired with him now was either a blessing or a curse.

"Never been into poetry," he grumbled in a low voice. Butterflies twirled in his stomach; he hoped he was making a good impression.

"Great," Angel grumbled to himself. Figured. Since there was no way they were going to meet alone and in private, he suggested, "why don't we meet at a coffee shop in about an hour. Maybe we'll have more ideas then, okay?"

"What about the Starbucks down on Fifth?" he asked a little too quickly.

"Uh, that's...okay," he replied, but he was rather suspicious. No matter, he figured it would be public enough that it wouldn't matter. "Okay, I'll grab some poetry books of mine and meet you there in about an hour, okay? Okay, see you then."

Angel couldn't have been more happy to get out of that classroom, but he was almost more worried about meeting at the coffee shop.

-x-

Tiger waited anxiously at the coffee shop, wringing his large hands. It was his fault for getting there half an hour early, but he couldn't help it; he was so eager to meet Angel for a coffee date. A coffee date with another man was one of those things he had always wanted but had never had the balls to ask for.

Angel reluctantly showed up ten minutes late and carrying a large bag full of books. He found Tiger, though he had hoped he wouldn't show, and set down the books.

"These are most of my poetry books, go ahead and look through them, I'm gonna order a coffee," he quickly moved to the counter, glad for the excuse to get away from the other man. He was all too disappointed when he was forced to sit down again.

"See anything you like?" he asked, playing with the straw until he got whip cream on it and then licking it off.

Tiger barely heard him; his eyes saw nothing but Angel's pink tongue, lapping up the cream from his straw. He leaned closer, hoping he'd do it again; it was several minutes before he realized Angel was waiting for a response.

"O-oh, I um--what was your question, again?" he asked in a serious voice, hoping to hide how flustered he was.

Angel, thoroughly creeped out, had decided to flip through some of his books instead. He was surprised when he heard Tiger speak. He figured he'd just decided to check out and not come back.

"Never mind. Here's the deal," he said, swishing around his coffee. "Just let me do all the work, okay? I don't want to get a bad grade on this."

"No, I can help," he insisted, not wanting to lose his chance. "Did you pick a poem, or what?"

He sighed.

"Really, I can tell you aren't interested in the project. Just let me handle it," he insisted, glancing over a certain poem he really liked. Maybe it would be too obviously explicit?

"No, I really want to help," he pressed. "I'm on the football team, right? I'm used to working together, I can do it, I swear. It's not like there's a problem, right?"

He wrung his hands awkwardly.

Angel was definitely sure he didn't want Tiger to handle it now that he knew he was on the football team. There was no way he'd do the work. But, just to humor him, he sighed and agreed.

"Fine, pick out a poem by the weekend and we can meet again on, say, Saturday? You can borrow my books. I bookmarked the ones I like, if you want to look at them," he replied. "Go ahead and borrow my books. If you don't have a poem picked out by Saturday, then I'll know you aren't serious."

"I can pick one right now," he insisted, grabbing one of the books and flipping to a bookmark.

"Look, this one seems fine--I like it." He pointed to the poem in question.

Angel looked at the poem and almost laughed. He read it aloud.

"You come to fetch me from my work to-night when supper's on the table and we'll see if I can leave off burying the white, soft petals fallen from the apple tree. Soft petals, yes, but not so barren quite, mingled with these, smooth bean and wrinkled pea; and go along with you ere you lose sight of what you came for and become like me, slave to a springtime passion for the earth. How Love burns through the Putting in the Seed on through the watching for that early birth when, just as the soil tarnishes with weed, the sturdy seedling with arched body comes shouldering its way and shedding the earth crumbs."

Then, he looked pointedly at Tiger.

Tiger nodded, smiling. His nervousness made his expression seem pained.

"It's pretty, right? I think it'd work."

"Sure," Angel replied. "Fine, whatever. We'll do this one, then."

Angel knew this would end badly, but he really just wanted to watch for when Tiger realized what the poem was about.

"That's enough work for today, let's get together over the weekend. Add me on Facebook."

"Really?" He asked, the butterflies in his stomach doing somersaults. "Okay, I'll do that! What's your facebook name?"

He groaned.

"It's Angel Joseph Christian," he admitted quietly. Even now, his name still brought him shame.

"Okay, cool," said Tiger, who had never cared to learn much about religion. "So, since we're both still here--wanna talk, or something?" He strangled the words as he said them, and the second part sounded more threatening than he had meant.

"...uh...I have a date," Angel lied quickly. It wasn't a total lie; he'd be taking someone home with him for sure, but he still felt a slight twinge of guilt.

"...Oh." He swallowed, and scratched his neck, trying to hide his disappointment.

"I get it, I guess," he sighed. "But, uh...if it doesn't work out or whatever, can we meet up again sometime soon?"

"Wait...what?" he asked,confused at the exchange. There were some key words there that made this feel all the more...awkward.

"I said, uh, do you wanna meet up again soon? Or, uh, later..." He sighed deeply, and shook his head.

"Look, okay, I'm sorry--I'm not good at talking to people I don't know well, and you and I kinda haven't spoken much before, and...I'd just like to get to know you a little. Since we're partners, I mean." He stared at his hands. "So could we possibly talk sometime soon? Get to know each other?"

"Uh..." he paused. "How about...tomorrow or something? I'll talk to you on Facebook, k?" he asked, hoping to finally slip away this time.