Page 16 of The Music of Greyson Hyun
“N-no,” I stammered.
“Great,” he said cheerfully. He set down his cup and slung his backpack off his shoulder before settling down across from me.
We looked at each other for an awkward moment, neither of us speaking. I didn’t know what I would say when the time came. Screaming red lights blared in my head, warning me of danger.
“What did you think of that class?” Grey asked, choosing to approach a conversation first.
I shrugged. “American lit was pretty similar structurally, so I wasn’t really surprised by anything. Not today at least.”
“That’s good,” Grey said. “I’ve mostly done my literature electives in poetry for obvious reasons.”
“The songwriting.” I nodded. “That must be why I haven’t seen you around campus. I avoid poetry.”
Grey laughed at that. I blinked at him, unsure how I’d been accidentally funny.
“What brought you to British Literature?” I asked.
“Shakespeare mostly,” Grey said. “Figured I could learn a thing or two about prose from him.”
For some reason, the image of Grey holding a feather quill and writing lyrics on a piece of parchment sprang into my mind, and I had to smile.
“What’s your major?” Grey leaned forward, staring directly into my eyes.
I was momentarily taken aback by his intensity. “Uh—creative writing. What about you?”
A smile spread across Grey’s face. “Guess.”
“I don’t know,” I said.
Grey had an incredible smile. His teeth were perfect, of course, but it was beyond that. It crinkled the corners of his eyes in the most attractive way. His cheeks formed cute circles. And his face seemed to light up with the grin.
“Music theory?”
“Close.” His eyes simmered. “Actually, it’s audio engineering. Redmond has a pretty good program.”
“Sounds impressive.”
“It does until you realize only one in a hundred use it for anything worthwhile,” Grey said. “Basically, I’m just taking what I learn and using the campus facilities so I can produce music for Dreamscape. I hope I can do more with my education than that, but if not”—he shrugged—“at least I got some good music from it.”
“Your degree is about as useful as my creative writing one,” I said. “I mean, Iwantto get an internship in a publishing house next year, but publishing is so competitive…”
I didn’t know if I wanted to cry or laugh because here we were spending all this money on degrees that presumably were to help us chase our dreams but, in reality, were crapshoots at best. I didn’t like to think about an alternative future where I couldn’t find a job in publishing, and I found myself not wanting Grey’s time and effort to go to waste either. He was talented and handsome and, apparently, a bit charming. He deserved to get whatever he wanted.
“Seems like we’re both doing a pretty good job at making our parents lose some sleep over our futures.”
Grey laughed, and I joined in, glad that it was this instead of crying.
“So, Ethan, what do you like to write about?”
My face flushed. “I’m mostly focusing on school assignments right now. I don’t have a lot of time to work on personal projects.”
“Well, what are you working on now?” He scooted his chair closer to me.
I pulled back in response, nearly knocking my chair over.
“You okay?” Grey asked.
“Y-yeah I just… wasn’t expecting you to come closer,” I said.
