They have a chat

She let the young man into her apartment and motioned for him to sit down at the table. Her cheeks turned red as she knew he was staring at her ass as she walked toward the coffee pot. As she poured them both a cup, she looked back and smiled. This caused him to blush as well.

'God,' she thought 'he's adorable.'

As she sat down with him at the small kitchen table, she gestured to the jar of cream and bowl of sugar sitting between them.

"Help yourself," she said.

"Oh, I take mine black," he responded.

"Me too," she said and let out a little giggle. They sat for about 10 minutes discussing his plans to go to school and what he was planning on doing for work. For her part, Topanga gave him advice on how best to move around the city and local places where he could get some good cheap food.

Not only did Keith except the advice graciously but seemed to be hanging on her every word. She would have had to been blind to notice that he never took his eyes off of hers, except when his eyes wandered down a little bit. 'You know what,' she thought 'good. I'm proud of how I look.'

As they continued to talk, she realized that not only was Keith a good listener, but he was funny and charming as well. Over the course of the conversation, she learned that he had just finished up a couple years at a state school back in Delaware and had moved out to the city to attend NYU. As she started to gush over how beautiful the campus was, she's really noticed him shifting in his chair and a pained expression cross his face which he quickly tried to hide.

"Are you okay?" she asked, with genuine concern her voice.

"Oh, it's nothing," he said, sitting up straight again.

"No," she said, "something's wrong. What's up?"

With an embarrassed grin he replied "It's just that I think I might have over done it moving that furniture all by myself. My back's a little sore."

Topanga's eyes got wide with realization. "Oh no, and I bet that hardwood chair isn't helping. I am so sorry."

"It's no problem," he said, "it's my fault for not waiting for my brother."

"Well, how about we sit on the couch. It's the comfiest piece of furniture I own." As she said this, she shot him a disarming smile.

"I really appreciate," that he said, "but I don't want to be a bother."

"No bother at all," she said, "I'm enjoying this talk." And with a conciliatory grin, they got up and moved to the sofa in the living room. As his body settled into the cushions, he let out a contented sigh.

"Wow," he said, "you weren't kidding. This is comfortable. My back feels better already."

"See," she said, taking a seat beside him. "Now where were we...oh yeah, you're starting up at NYU in the spring."

"Yeah," he responded before taking a quick sip of his coffee, "I'm really looking forward to it."

"If you don't mind me asking," she said, sipping from our own cup, "why all the way to NYU? There's plenty of good schools in Delaware. Is there a particular program that jumped out at you?"

For the first time since they had begun to talk, he looked uncomfortable. Topanga started, "I'm sorry, I tend to ask way too many questions and sometimes that makes people uncomfortable."

"No," he replied "it's not that. It's just the reason I decided to come here is kind of petty. You see, one of my ex's favorite pastimes was to bash people that went to NYU. I don't know, something about the place just bothered her. So, when we broke up just before I finished state, I decided to come here as a kind of gotcha moment."

This made Topanga laugh before she caught herself again. "Oh, I'm sorry, that's not funny."

"No," Keith replied, "it's actually fucking hilarious." And to this, they both laughed. As the laughter subsided, she looked at him with a thoughtful expression.

"And she broke up with you right before graduation? That sucks. I hope it wasn't super serious going in?"

He averted his eyes once again before saying "She was actually my high school sweetheart. Gave her my class ring and everything, which she kept I might add."

This caused Topanga to audibly gasp. "I am so sorry," she said, and without knowing she was doing it, she reached out of hand and began to rub his shoulder. Instinct seemed to take over on Keith's part as he reached over and laid a hand on her knee.

"Thank you," he said before they both locked eyes and realized what they were doing. Now a heavy silence settled in between them. As the tension increased, neither one of them moved their hands. They just continued to stare at each other.