The Psychology of a Crush #3
The Psychology of a Crush #3
"Hey! Tanner!" I looked up from my phone to see a grey furred lynx walking towards my table, waving an arm in my direction. She was dressed in her usual getup, a grey Timberwolf university track hoodie covering her upper body, her normal pair of glasses resting gently on the bridge of her muzzle. Today, unusually, she was actually wearing a skirt with some leggings. The change only caught me off guard because I swore she had a dresser full of black skinny jeans before today, guess I was wrong. As the Lynx approached I put my phone into the pocket of my own black hoodie and smiled at her as she took a seat across from me.
"Hey Lexie, how's it goin?" My voice sounded a little gargled from not being used all morning, luckily Lexie didn't seem to notice or mention it.
"Pretty awesome! I got to leave my math class early, so that was nice. What about you?" She kept eye contact as she retrieved a binder from the book bag placed on the seat next to her. She set the plastic booklet on the table with a loud "Thump!" making my ear twitch a little.
"Uhhh, pretty good. Just goin through the motions at this point. Sorta lost my enthusiasm after the 2ndweek." A chuckled rolled out of my muzzle. In the monotonous daily grind of going to lectures, writing essays and repeating I'd barely noticed that I was already into my 3rd week of the term at the school. The loosening grip on my awareness of time wasn't helped at all by how my relationship with hector was progressing either. He still wasn't trying to rush into anything serious, though we'd made a habit of going out every Thursday night after his practice to eat somewhere new. He never expressly referred to the get togethers as dates, but from how he acted I took it as more of an implied gesture. We hadn't had our first kiss, yet, but he was doing basically every other thing that he could to satisfy the need for romantic connection, not that I was complaining. We'd hug, hold hands, snuggle up on couches.... It made me a little disappointed that neither of us really seemed able to actually admit the feelings we were having for each other in a physical sense. At the same time, I was comfortable just chilling in the closet for now, especially if hector was content to be there with me.
"God! I completely feel you! I know that it might sound kind of dumb, but my math class has actually been kicking my ass. I'm barely scraping by with a C right now." She sighed, and her posture slouched. I leaned forward and tried my best at a cheery and encouraging sounding voice.
"Eh I know it can seem really hard but it just takes a lot of practice. What math class is it?
"It's just college algebra..." She answered in a hushed, almost ashamed tone.
"Well hey! You know what? That class can be pretty hard for a lotta of people. The tutors here are AMAZING though, just keep on at it and get some help from them and hey, I could prolly help ya' out to if you need it." I moved my muzzle into a smile, enjoying watching her own face gently switch emotions from disappointed to hopeful.
"Well, thanks Tanner. Glad I stopped and talked to you. Oh!" My eyes widened a little bit as her voice changed volume suddenly. "Did you finish the study guide for criminal courts? I kind of want to know if I got the right answer for number 55." She took another binder out of her bag. Turning back to see my face plastered with a look of horrible realization. "Oh.... Oh, tell me you didn't forget we had a chapter exam today...."
"Well uh...."
"Tanner! It's worth 150 points!" Her face transitioned from a small smile to a full-on frown in a shockingly fast amount of time as the small feline looked at me. "Ok mister! No more procrastination for you! We have 3 hours until this test and you're NOT going down a letter grade on my watch!" She threw her binder opened and flipped through pages of extremely detailed notes before suddenly flipping the binder around and shoving it in front of me. Placing the study guide in front of her face and fixing me with a determined glare. She was about to say something when a ram appeared behind her, looking between the two of us.
"Hey guys. Am I late to the party?" Josh of course spoke in the same half joking tone that he always did. After being in class with him I'd really started to notice his funny sense of humor. It also helped that the guy was by far one of the most positive people I think I've ever met. No matter what happened you could always count on this pudgy ram to have a smile on his face. I could almost immediately tell that he had a crush on Lexie too, probably from the first day of classes, but was just too shy to ever do anything about it.
"I'm helping Tanner fix his shit." She spoke in an uncharacteristic and flat tone. I was always just used to her being somewhat shy and introverted, it was scary. "Your helping." She grabbed his arm and pulled him into a chair beside her around the circular table.
"Woah! Ok! Strong grip." Despite the shocked tone at first, he ended the sentence with a chuckle. I looked back at Lexie who still had a mean look about her, telling me that I was in for a long ride....
I wasn't disappointed by the feeling either. 3 hours of Lexie quizzing me on every single part of the chapter that I didn't read. There were no breaks, no stops, nothing but answering the questions. Honestly, it kind of felt like I was being interrogated by a CIA agent or something, little Lexie can get INTENSE. The time went by a little easier by Josh throwing in a couple curve ball questions, usually ending in him cracking some sort of joke that earned him a glare from Lexie. The study session was hard, but it strangely also made me like the little group of friends I had just the littlest bit more.
"Alright! Well, I think your as good as your getting. We've got like 45 minutes until class so...Breaktime!" She took her binder full of notes from in front of me and shoved her study guide into it before closing all of her stuff into her backpack. "I'm going to get a sandwich from the food court really quick." She bumped Josh with her shoulder, jolting him awake from his comfortable slumber on the table.
"Wha-What?" His eyes fluttered open and her turned up to see the Lynx smiling down at him.
"I'm going to get food, wanna come?" She brushed his headfur back down from it's messy and upright position as she asked him. The ram smiled back at her and chuckled.
"Uh, are you kidding? Of course, I want food!" He stood up and followed behind Lexie, who had already started walking towards the food counters. He looked back at me and called out. "Hey! Make sure nobody steals our stuff ok?" I just gave him a thumbs up, seemingly content he continued after Lexie. I was about to hide his backpack under the table to freak him out when I heard a voice call out to me again, this time from behind me.
"T! There you are!" The smile crossed over my face long before I turned around. Nobody calls me T besides him. Finally twisting myself around I was greeted to the site of a tall, dark and handsome canine, strutting with a confident swagger towards me. When the Doberman finally got to my table he gave my shoulder a solid pat, grasping lightly afterwards and then moving his paw to rub in circles on my back. I couldn't help but let out a little relaxed groan, it had been a really long time since I last had a back rub of any kind. He didn't seem to take much notice to the groan but continued the light back rub regardless. "I've been looking around for you for a while." He stopped rubbing my back and sat down in one of the chairs next to me, leaving me with a growing cold on my back where his paw had been. "So I'm going to say that it's a no for lunch." He smiled at me.
"What? What do you me-" I was cut off by Hector putting his phone in front of me. Open was a conversation with me.
Tanny ?
Hey T, did you want to grab some lunch right now? I just got out of my Bio class and I'm missing my fluffy husky.... ????.
"Oh geez I'm sorry I didn't read your text, I was cramming in some studing for an exam I forgot about." My heart practically melted at how sappy the message was. "Awwwwww. I'm your fluffy husky?" I Looked up from his phone and did my best attempt at a puppy dog eyes face.
"Psh well there isn't anybody else in my life that fits the bill, so yeah." He looked away, probably slightly embarrassed by hearing how the message sounded out loud. Regardless though he managed to power through it and looked into my eyes with a renewed sense of passion. I'd been focusing so hard on his eyes I hadn't even noticed his subtle movements closer to my chair with his own. "H-have I told you recently how beautiful your eyes are? They shine like a sea of ashen glaciers...."
My checks flushed from the statement, despite the cringyness of it all. Though my embarrassment soon turned into a light chuckle. "How long were you thinking about that one?" I flashed my sappy Doberman with a flirtatious grin and spoke in a playful tone.
His eyes opened up in a little surprise before breaking out laughing, causing a few furs to glance in our direction from the volume. "That's been cooking all morning. I've been getting into poetry and stuff a lot lately". He scratched the back of his ebony furred neck, a telltale sign that I had succeeded in flustering the usually confident canine. I leaned forward slightly, still conscious of the fact that we were in a extreme public place right now.
"Poetry? Damn, when did you start doing that?" A twisted my head to the side as I asked the question. I was genuinely interested in the answer, when we first met he said that writing was one of his worst subjects.
"Well..." His voice shifted into a deeper, lower tone. The rumbling voice of the Doberman in front of me sending shivers down my spine and a giddy smile across my face. He leaned in closer to almost whisper into my ear. "It might have been to show a certain sexy canine I met recently how much he means to me". If it was even possible he leaned in even closer, to the point where our muzzle fur brushed together. His voice was saturated with an emotion, but one that I couldn't place. The deep, meaningful words, and the need to be closer together felt lustful. As Hector gently moved his hand to grasp at my inner thigh though the feeling became clear, mutual even. I could feel my tail twitch up slightly in a movement that shocked me, if this dog kept going I might have a full hard on in the middle of the commons. "To show him what I'm feeling in my heart." His last statement was accompanied by a small lick on the side of my face. My heart was beating a million miles an hour. Never before had I felt so intimate with another individual, and it made me almost want to scream with anxiousness, anxiety, joy and so many different mixtures of emotions....
"Uh...Hello..." Hector almost leaped feet backwards as he launched himself away from me. I burst out laughing from the movement, the knee jerk reaction reminding me more of a feline that's been splashed with water rather than a canine. We both looked up to see a familiar lynx and ram duo. I smiled quickly at them to ease the awkwardness while hector just grasped at his chest as if he had just had a heart attack.
"H-hey Lex. How's it going?" I gave a full tooth smile, only causing a more suspicious glare from the feline.
"It's going fine.....Uh, I don't think we've met...." She turned her gaze towards Hector, who was just now starting to relax from his traumatizing experience. He stood up quickly and almost thrust his hand forward to her.
"S-sorry, my name is Hector....It's great to meet you".
"Lexie....This is Josh". She gestured to the ram beside her before taking the hand that was offered to her and shaking it with a gentle grip. Josh gave a small little head nod, in typical josh fashion.
"Yo." Was all the ram had to say.
Hector looked over at me, winking with his left eye and flashing his usual charming grin. At least his charisma is back. "Well it's been nice meeting you both. I gotta....Get going though. Lost's of homework to do and stuff." He clapped his hands together and started to turn and walk away, before turning around and looking back at me. "See you later tanner." He turned back around and fast walked out of the commons, almost running into a rhino dude on his way out but narrowly dodging disaster.
"Well, that was interesting. I'm certainly going to have a few more questions about what the hell just happened after class. But we do have to get to class so off your lazy but dog." She gave me a up gesture with her paw. I quickly took the opportunity to avoid more questions for the timing being and grabbed my backpack, also handing josh's his. On the way to my courts class I got a message from Hector. Pulling out my phone on the way to class and temporarily blocking out the conversation Josh and Lexie were having about some law concepts or something to respond to him.
Tor (Hector)
Sorry that I sort of just left you hanging...I did actually have to get to practice, but I'm also pretty bad with new people. I just had a major brain fart after being caught with my hands in the cookie jar. ????
I chuckled at the Doberman's apology. Of course he's shy around new people, because why WOULDN'T a 6'5 300 pound hunk of muscle be shy around a 5'3 lynx and a tubby ram....
It's fine Tor. Honestly I just thought it was funny how you reacted...Though I was a bit surprised at how...Close you were getting.
I didn't want to sound to needy or anything with my response so I just decided to be cryptic, hopefully he'd pick up on it. His response came almost lighting fast back to me
Tor (Hector)
Ohhhhhh. Did a certain fluff butt enjoy himself?
Luckily for me Lexie and Josh were still talking, and didn't notice my occasional chuckle and smile.
Let's say I maybe did have a little fun when a strong Doberman took a little control....
His response actually took a little longer than I had expected...But still came quickly.
Tor (Hector)
Well than you might be looking forward to this Thursday. Your Doberman might have something special planned. ? ?
Gotta go, the coach is calling us out. Can't wait for Thursday night though. I like you a lot T.
I chuckled again that he felt the need to censor the world love with I like you a lot. The message still came across though. Besides, maybe we were not quite ready to really use the L word yet anyway. It was strange that hector would be so spontaneous all of a sudden, but I was really starting to like how romantic he was getting. It was hard to hide the rush of giddiness that I felt when we finally arrived at class though anyway. I had a date, and the guy was a cute, strong, dog who really liked me. The smile plastered on my face when I walked into the room would probably seem a little out of place for a class full of students who had to take a chapter exam.
"What's got you so happy?" Lexie looked at me with her investigative glare as we all sat down in our seats. I just looked at her plainly and answered.
"Oh nothing, I just have a really good feeling about this test".