Every day since the second tryout leading to the final evaluation, Rohan was stuck in a perpetual state of anxiety for what was to come, whether he was training with Sriya, in class, eating, sleeping, working, and helping. Of course he still was able to maintain his grades and work without problem, as he had become enough of a machine that he could afford mental detachment, but the fact of the matter was that it still ate his mind.
Initially he didn't really care whether he would get in or not, as while he did enjoy playing air hockey, he saw no importance in playing it during college, and had even seen it possibly as a hindrance to what he really should be prioritizing, his classes.
Besides, he planned to graduate and aim for a strong job through his academics and classes, not by being on a big sports team, and so if anything, having both could burden him in a way where he fails everything.
Yet, now everything has changed. He feared nothing more than to fail getting into the team with Sriya, he felt he couldn't look his friend in the face when the roster list came out and his name wasn't on it. It was clear that he was destined to fail, as he appeared as a beginner to the coaches, someone who had tried to pick up air hockey during the tryouts with no prior training.
It wasn't the truth, but it was their perception; and their perception mattered most above all in this situation.
Then again, Rohan wasn't even sure that he himself knew the truth of how trained he truly was. He continued to try remembering, and had even asked his brother at night if he remembered, but to no avail.
None of these problems affect his grades, none of them affect his course of graduation, his future in finding a job, nothing of the sort that he would care about. These issues surrounding air hockey were side matters that didn't change where he was headed, and as such it would make no sense for him to worry so greatly about it.
For the man who thought he could solve any problem, understanding this anxiety was one he couldn't find an equation for.
This anxiety built more every day leading up to the big event, and the night before the final tryout day would be no exception. In an attempt to find a way to get his mind off it, he found himself asking Erica if she needed any help, rather than just letting her ask him when she needed the aid. It was the first time he deliberately sought to help, as on the first day he was more inclined to not want to go, but now he felt as if he needed to.
Even though it was always him helping her with work, he found a therapeutic relaxation from doing it, and while it used to be more like a small treat for himself for spending time and effort helping, now he needed it to help himself with his other problems.
Erica was initially taken aback by the request, as he had asked on a day where surprisingly she had no homework, and all she could think of was work on the art club she helped to host, but she didn't see any reason that Rohan would be interested since it wasn't academic and failure in the club wouldn't hurt her grades.
So she found it surprising when Rohan agreed to help her with her clubwork, and so she gave him a time to go to her dorm, which was 8:00 P.M on Saturday, a bit later, but she claimed it was because she had much more to do.
While Rohan knew sleep was important to a good performance for the next day, and so going at such a late time could hinder that, it was a sacrifice he felt he needed, as he wouldn't have slept anyways that night over the stress.
A Connect screen shows the time to be 7:45 P.M, only for the screen to be immediately closed, revealing a door in front of it, with the code 'A49F12' on it.
In front of the door is Rohan, who finds himself to be fifteen minutes too early, forgetting that the room was only one floor down from his own, and so there wasn't much of a point to leave so early. Yet the anticipation was killing him, and he had been waiting hours to go.
He contemplates if he should announce his presence to Erica, or if he should wait instead until the scheduled time, as he wasn't sure if she was busy, and barging in so early could make her feel rushed.
Rohan looks down the hallway, his hands in his jacket's pockets, as he still feels nervous about the evaluation tomorrow, and so it felt impossible to make any clear judgement. As he looks down the hallway however, he realizes how many doors there were, and he realizes how odd it could look for a male to stand outside a female dorm's room for an extended period of time.
In hindsight, he recognizes that he should've just come later at the time they decided on, as now he was forced in an awkward position, where either he would have to try requesting to be let into the room early, or he would have to expose himself for a rather long period of time and risk his meeting to be misinterpreted from witness.
Rohan takes a deep breath, deciding ultimately to take the option that would avoid any more extended anxieties, and so he knocks quietly on the door two times. He then stands and waits for a few moments, expecting her to answer in a few seconds.
However, he waits there for about a minute before realizing that there was a good chance she may not be in the dorm entirely, and when she said she was busy before eight, she might've been out somewhere else and planned to go back only a few minutes before their scheduled meeting.
Rohan holds his hand out to project another Connect screen, and he traverses to his online message history with Erica through the Contact app. He then types the message 'Hello, I arrived slightly earlier than 8:00, I hope that is alright. If you are too busy at the moment, I can come back later at 8 like we first scheduled.' He reads through the message one time to check for mistakes, and once he confirms that the message was fine, he sends it.
He then looks around the hall again, his body slightly shaking, and his foot tapping the floor repeatedly. A few moments later, he receives a message back, evident by the soft sound of the ping, to which he looks back at the screen immediately to read the message.
The message sent back to him read as: 'O sh sry in bath done tho give me m.'
Rohan's eyebrow raises in confusion to the response, as the best he could decipher is that Erica meant to say she was in the bathroom and required time before she was ready. His eyes then widen, as he feels more awkward now for barging in on her while she is cleaning, as now he probably forcefully gave her a sense of urgency.
He contemplates sending back a message to let her give herself the time she needs without interruption, and switching to the plan of just sitting outside for the fifteen minutes, however before he could, he already hears footsteps come from the other side of the door.
The door dissolves open, and on the other side is Erica, who wears a white bathrobe, which was appropriate following her recent activity. Her hair was down and wet as evident by the reflections, meaning she probably didn't have sufficient time to dry it. She had the smell of water and products still fresh on her too, making it seem like she had just finished bathing.
She looks up at Rohan with a smile, and greets "Oh my I didn't think you'd be here already, sorry for keeping you waiting."
Rohan shakes his head, his body shaking more now, as he was now anxious that he had rushed Erica even though it was him who offered her help, so he suggests, "No it's fine, if you want I can wait a bit longer for you to finish everything you need to do. I'm fine out here, it's no problem."
Erica shakes her head, and she steps to the side to give space for entry, assuring "No no please, come in. I was basically done anyways, I've been running all over the place today and just needed to quickly wash myself so I was somewhat presentable. I guess unless you need me in a more formal condition, I can try to dress myself quickly."
Rohan blinks, and shakes his head again, refuting "No it's okay, there's no need, just do what you're comfortable with."
Erica smiles, and she steps back, trying to show again that there was space to enter, and she says, "Okay then, you can come in."
Erica walks deeper in the room, and Rohan sighs before lowering his head, realizing how much on the edge he already was before starting anything. He grabs his arm to try stabilizing himself, and walks into the room, letting the door shut after.
Rohan looks to see Erica walking towards the hallway where the other rooms were, and he asks, "So, are we working in the living room like usual?"
Erica continues walking, and she answers, "Sorry, I kind of set everything up in my roommate's room, can we work there?"
Rohan lets out a soft breath, and he tightens his grip on his arm. He then responds, "Very well," and follows Erica into her roommate's room, ready to help her with whatever club work she has.
Rohan enters the room to see that on the bed were a bunch of random tubes of a metallic sheet, and there is also a printer, which was a small box that has a feeding hole along with a projector.
Rohan looks around the magnificent room, remembering how much luxury Maria has, as the bed was far larger than anything he had, and there was a long desk with a hovering chair made of a leathery material.
He then views directly ahead of himself to see a large window to the beautiful night sky, with the infinite stars shining above among the distant planets. He stares with captivation at the window for a few moments, as he had lately found fantication with the night sky, and the city beyond.
For a moment, his shaking stops.
He blinks to remember what he was there for, and looks down at Erica, who had plopped herself on the bed, and was opening multiple Connect screens showing different poster designs.
Rohan walks towards Erica, and as he does, the shaking slowly begins again, however far less intense, and less noticeable, especially with him holding his arm. He asks, "So uh, what do you need help with again?"
Erica turns to Rohan with a frown, and she complains, "One of my friends is running her own art club, but the issue is nobody is joining because nobody really knows about it, since she isn't really too big on marketing. So when I told her that she should look into it, she asked me if I could do it for her. So uh...yeah...I was given a folder of different art pieces done by people in the club, so I need to advertise this I guess."
Rohan tilts his head to the side, thinking over the problem, as it was another case of her having to do someone else's work. It had become a trend that could be dangerous, but if he was able to help relieve the stress from her, then at least she could have more time for her own work.
He straightens his neck, realizing that this project could take some time, yet they were in Maria's bedroom. He asks her just for clarification, "I see, just to make sure though, when is your roommate supposed to come back? It's already late and I don't want to cause any issues with her needing to rest here or anything, since this is her room after all-."
Erica reclines herself on the bed, taking a more leisurely posture as she seems to be exhausted, and she assures, "Don't worry, she's out partying on one of the other buildings, honestly I don't think she's going to come back here to sleep. Usually on the weekends when she goes to those parties she comes back in the morning or afternoon, so I have this dorm to myself. So yeah, we have time, but that's considerate of you."
Rohan nods his head, relieved to hear that he wouldn't have to run into another mess with her, as he already had enough to worry about. He follows up with, "I see, well okay. So anyways, you need help figuring out how to advertise the club?"
Erica nods her head twice, and she says, "Yeah, so I was thinking about choosing the best art, printing them on posters, and asking the professors if I could put it around any of the classrooms. Maybe some people will see them and be interested in joining, I don't know. That makes sense, right?"
Rohan hums to himself for a few moments, and he puts his hand under his chin as he thinks. However, by letting go of his arm, his shaking becomes slightly more visible, just enough for Erica to detect.
He answers, "Well, I mean, the idea makes some sense in concept, trying to get people to see the club by putting posters around places they may be. However...that method would be more tedious as you'd need physical copies of the posters, then permission to position them in places you'd need to make sure are the best places to utilize the posters, do that, and hope that the posters are enough to grab the attention of others but furthermore make them want to join. Do you understand the issue?"
Erica frowns, and she collapses on the bed, causing the tubes and printer to bounce lightly. She replies, "Yeah, I know, it's going to take some time, but if it works then it works."
Rohan tilts his head to his sides before refuting, "But the issue is, for all the work you'd put in, it may not work so effectively in the end anyways. Instead, I propose a more digital method that would cut down severely on the production process and also boost efficiency of attracting. The possibilities of students coming across the poster in a classroom is dependent on an immense amount of variables, such as majors, classes they take, friends they have, attention or lack of in the classroom, and time they have to roam the room and get the finer details of the posters. However, there are certain sites that are near guaranteed for any students to run into, regardless of major, classes, and most other variables. Now, unless the club isn't already registered officially, it should be up on the SAT app, but from what I've learned from my time here observing the students and their conversations, most students seem to spend a large chunk of time on social media and other online sites. My proposition is instead of putting physical posters up in classrooms, you put digital posters up on different sites that students may view. The more who post too, the better."
Erica sits up after the idea, and her eyes widen with surprise to the idea, as it didn't come to mind before. She nods her head, and remarks "That's actually a really good idea! I had no idea you were elight online, that's cool. I guess I still learn new things about you everyday, well that's a much better idea than mine. So, how do we get started? Also, you can sit on the bed too, you seem shaky, relax. You can remove your shoes as well, she'd probably get upset from all the dirt all on her bed."
Rohan blinks twice, and he asks for clarification, "Wait, you sure? It's fine to take them off? And sorry if I seem shaky, I uh-, it's nothing about this. Just some other stuff, but I can stand."
Erica sighs, and she says, "Roh."
Rohan tilts his head in confusion, and asks, "Huh?"
Erica responds, "Roh, come on. If I say you can do something you can do it, don't worry so much."
Rohan sighs, wondering how much his anxiety was bleeding out, and he complies. He clicks his shoes together from the side, which then causes them to seem to flash a bright light before appearing to vanish entirely, leaving him with his feet now exposed and his shoes put in storage. He sits on the bed, keeping his feet on the floor however to make sure not to get it on the bed.
Erica smirks, and she lunges at Rohan silently before grabbing him by slipping her arms under his, and then throwing herself and him backwards onto the bed, throwing him farther up the bed so he could sit more comfortably to look at the bed and work on it.
Rohan's eyes widen, and he yells out, "Wait Erica-!," but it is too late, and he collapses on the bed, his feet having fallen on the bed.
Rohan lies on Erica for a few moments, as Erica still holds him down, breathing heavily as if the move took a toll. Between breaths, she says, "See...that wasn't...so hard...right?"
Rohan stares blankly at the ceiling, as at first he was in complete fear from the grab, but after everything stopped, he suddenly felt an odd comfort. His body stops shaking, and his mind goes blank, but he doesn't make any move to get out of the hold, even though he easily could if he wanted to.
Erica throws Rohan off her, and she sits on the bed on her knees. She then says, "Well okay, now as we were saying, how do we do this?"
Rohan blinks twice, and he sits up, crossing his legs. He looks at Erica, and blinks again to try remembering where he was. He then nods and says, "Oh yeah, uh, yeah. So basically, we, uh, yeah, oh the social media thing. So to make this work really well, we want to create a chain of sorts, where other people post an advertisement themselves, since the more people who post, the more they will see. If we can get people with higher popularity to post, that will aid us even more greatly, so if you have friends or friends of friends who fit that description, you should try to get them to post. There are a few good social media apps we should use, but before we start, we need to actually create a singular advertisement. I see that you planned to have a variety of posters, but I think to simplify things, we should decide on a single message with text and a piece of art, and have that used as the one poster for the club. So uh, yeah, what are the options?"
Erica smiles, and she reactivates all her Connect screens, showing a wide array of different digital paintings, such as fantasy paintings of mages and warriors with over dramatic suits, and realistic paintings of the sun or trees.
Over the next few hours, the two go through different paintings to choose from, until they finally land on a beautiful art piece that was almost too perfect, a painting of the front of the school, and the blue supersun above it.
A perfect representation of the college's art club.
Next, they work on a perfect caption to go along with it, as it couldn't be too long or they'd lose the attention of students, but it had to be long enough to give important details. They make countless drafts, typing and deleting, typing and deleting, trying to refine and perfect.
Over the hours of work, the positioning of the two on the bed changes constantly, as Erica moves the tubes and printer off the bed after no longer needing them, and then rolls around the bed while Rohan searches for the perfect sitting posture.
What was once a space full of holographic screens of art paintings opens up to a more clear space, as they slowly hone in on the final product, and thus need less and less references.
Finally, Rohan finishes typing one more draft, and he looks up at Erica. He then reads out loud, "'Aspiring and Ace Artists join the SAT Art Club -- Learn more here,' and the last word is a link to the official page. Is that good?"
Erica turns on her side to face Rohan, and she responds, "Yeah, that's perfect! What next?"
Rohan nods, and he answers, "Well, now that we have the post, we begin sharing it. I'm sending it to you now, and you should forward it to everyone in the club, and anyone else who could."
Erica nods her head, and she asks, "Well, uh, could you then maybe-?"
Rohan sighs with self disappointment, defeatedly stating "I don't have any followers on any social media accounts I have. To be honest, I hide my account, and only use it to access any information I may need, but I don't use social media usually at all."
Erica frowns, and she says, "Okay, that's fine."
Rohan nods his head, and he says, "Well...okay there, sent. You should have the post now."
Erica projects a Connect screen to her message history with Rohan, only to see an image sent to her a few seconds ago. The image was a poster of sorts, with the main image being the painting of the school under the sun, and text on the bottom of the caption Rohan had read, with the 'here' in the message being highlighted to differentiate it as a link.
Erica smiles softly, and she says, "I love it so much, thank you! This is perfect!"
Rohan smiles, and he says, "Thanks, I think we did well. I hope this works, and the club gets more traction."
Erica nods and closes her Connect screen, and she says, "I'm sure it will. I'll send this to my friends in the morning, they're all probably asleep or partying so they'll ignore my message."
Rohan looks at the screen before turning back to Erica, and asks, "Well, is there anything else you need?"
Erica thinks for a few moments, and she answers, "I don't have any work."
Rohan nods his head, and he closes his Connect screen before saying, "Well okay, I can get going then if there's nothing else. I hope I was helpful."
Erica holds her hand out to Rohan as if trying to hold him back, and she yells out "Wait! Do you have anything you need to do?"
Rohan tilts his head, and then shakes it, answering "No, I finished all my work, but if there's nothing to do here, then I should let you on your own."
Erica bargains, "Well, you asked if there's anything I need, what if I uh, need to talk to you?"
Rohan sighs, and he says, "We took longer than needed for the poster anyways, and I'm not really social, so conversing with me won't yield much results."
Erica shakes her head, and she insists, "Well that's coming from you, I personally think you're fun to talk to. Come on, we don't have anything tomorrow anyways, I'm sure it's fine if we stay up a bit later right?"
Rohan closes his eyes, and lets out a breath. As he does, he shivers, as the comment reminds him of what he does have tomorrow. Something he hoped not to think about that night, but it just couldn't stay off his mind forever.
Erica notices the shiver, and she asks with concern in her tone, "Did I...say something wrong? Are you okay?"
Rohan opens his eyes and nods, explaining "It's fine, it's just, I have something tomorrow. It's a bit later in the day, but I have my last tryouts for air hockey. As you know I've had a few tryouts before, but tomorrow is the one that matters, and it's the one that decides whether I get into the top division with my friend or not. And well...I haven't been playing well at all these past two tryouts. It's almost comical how horrible I am. I don't remember how to do anything...it's clear I won't even get a team."
Erica frowns, and she looks down for a few moments, now understanding what had been haunting Rohan the whole time. She sighs and says, "I'm sure you're better than you credit yourself for."
Rohan shakes his head, and he says, "No, usually I credit myself appropriately, such as the fact that I know I'm adequate with my classes. But I'm certain that I am as bad as I say, I've missed all my shots, I'm too slow because I'm too scared of messing up turns. I'm still practically a novice with the gear, my friend has tried to drag me along but he can't do it forever. I don't even understand why...I thought I've been playing this sport all my life...why am I so bad at it?"
Erica tilts her head, and she asks, "Well...when did you start playing in that case?"
Rohan sighs deeply, and just as he said to Sriya, he tells her "My memory tells me fourteen, but it makes no sense. I couldn't have started that late, I was so much better in my first year, I know I was skilled from the backing of years of training before. I don't know why I can't remember any time before...but even if I did start at fourteen...even at that I should be better ...."
Erica sighs, and she scoots herself towards Rohan before thinking more. She then offers, "Well...that is odd…hmm...I wonder...I feel like this isn't the first time you've had trouble remembering things."
Rohan tilts his head in confusion, and asks for clarification: "What do you mean?"
Erica shrugs her shoulders, and she recalls "I remember on our first day in class together, when you were asked for an interesting fact about yourself, you kind of paused. Maybe it was my fault for taking your attention and you froze, but you seemed so confused back then. I was a bit worried. Maybe this is too personal, but do you remember things like your first school, or friends you had when you were really young?"
Rohan puts his hand under his chin, and he leans back contemplatively, trying to answer the question. He first tries to remember his first school, however, the only school he could remember was his last before going off to university. Not one other school came to mind. Even though it was the school he went to when he was 14, he couldn't remember anything before. It was even harder trying to remember old friends he had, as he still had no memories of knowing Shuraj even when Shuraj was sure that they were old childhood friends.
He takes a deep breath and sighs in defeat before answering, "I can't remember anything...nothing before I...was fourteen. I don't know...I don't know what's wrong with me."
Erica frowns, and she scoots even closer to Rohan until she is right in front of him. She looks down at his hands to see that they are shaking intensely, as it is clear Rohan is in pain. She takes her own hands and cups Rohan's before raising them up, and holding onto Rohan's hands to comfort him.
Rohan looks at Erica with wide eyes, as his hands stop shaking, but he is clearly still scared and confused.
Erica says, "Well...I don't know, but I know some people can suffer memory loss from a young age for many reasons. Maybe it's all the work you give yourself or something, but I don't know. I don't think there's anything wrong with you though regardless, I think you're more than fine how you are."
Rohan lets out a soft breath, and he says in a depressed tone, "I can't even remember people who claim to have been friends with me before...I can't remember how to play my favorite sport...I can't remember anything. I don't even know why I care so much about getting into the team...I mean it's my favorite sport but I don't care about it that much now, and I'd rather spend that time for class. I don't know...maybe I just want to go since one of my friends is. But is that really a good reason to try devoting myself so much to something like this, something I'm clearly incapable of?"
Erica's eyes begin to shimmer as though she had tears, as this is the first time she truly heard Rohan speak about his own pains, and she didn't realize just how much he had to bear on his own when he was so open to help her with the smallest jobs.
She looks into Rohan's eyes, and takes a deep breath. She says softly, "I don't know...I think if you really feel this much about being in the team, then there's a good reason to care about getting in. I've never really been big into sports, but I know it's a hard commitment, and I know it can be challenging especially with the other work you give yourself; including other people's. You've done so much for me...and it's only been a few months since the year started...not just for class but you've been the only person I can feel I can rely on to help me. Everyone always asks me to help them and for whatever reason they think I'm good at handling it but...I'm scared that some day I'll forget to do a project for a friend and they'll feel betrayed, like I don't care about them anymore. I hope you don't feel that way about me...I hope you don't feel a burden to help me because you can't say no. I don't want you to feel forced to help me, but as selfish as it sounds, I don't want to lose you either. I guess that reminds me, I have a present for you. I decided earlier today that I wanted to give you something to show my appreciation for you. It would help if you could close your eyes so I can give it to you as a surprise, and also since it's a bit embarrassing. Is that fine with you?"
Rohan nods his head slowly, and he takes a deep breath before closing his eyes, his mind now on what Erica had just told him. He feels Erica let go of his hands, presumably to fetch for the gift, whatever it was.
He was never one to love receiving presents, as he never got anything for his birthday, and he grew to not desire anything. However, it seemed this was something Erica wanted to do, and so it wouldn't be fair to deny her of her attempt to give back, even though he personally found satisfaction merely from working with her, and it was his own paycheck for helping her.
Erica stays in front of Rohan, who has his eyes closed, waiting for the present. She breathes softly, contemplating one more time if she wants to commit. She stares at Rohan's face, and comes to an answer.
Erica slowly brings her face towards Rohan's while slowly moving her arms around his body. As her face slowly guides itself to his, she closes her eyes, and her arms slowly move towards his back.
Her soft lips touch his, and she wraps her arms around him in an embrace. She holds her lips against his for several seconds before pulling away, and unwrapping her arms around him. She slowly reels back from his face, and as she does, she opens her eyes right as Rohan does too.
The two stare at one another in silence, their eyes shimmering, as they look at one another closely while sitting on the bed, Rohan in his jacket, and Erica in her bathrobe. The white moon hovers between them far behind the window, surrounded by infinite glowing lights in the black night sky.
Rohan had been there for Erica whenever she asked, something she never had, someone who cared.
Erica just wanted to be that same something for him.