And then the next day Elijah meets Christian at his record shop. But only because Christian was complaining about the smell of kebabs from the food truck across the road and Elijah was hungry anyways.
Between a 'Vintage Finds' and 'Adult toys - Dvds - Poppers - Pills', Elijah finds 'Vinyl Tap: Buy - Sell - Trade'. He pushes through the yellow door. Something vaguely punk is playing overhead and dust motes cling to the sun coming through the windows. Beyond the overfilled stacks of records, hand-written discount signs and clutter of memorabilia, he spots Christian Marshal at the counter.
His head is bent down over his phone, chin propped on his wrist, fringe falling forward over his eyes. For no good reason, Elijah feels his heart speed up.
Hours later, after kebabs and an ensuing duel with their wooden skewers, after a tour of the shop that shouldn't have left Elijah in peals of laughter but somehow did, after Christian shouldn't have let Elijah go on and on about his course and his anxieties about his upcoming summer nursery placement but he did, Elijah is almost late to his last lecture of the day.
Before he leaves, though, he finally remembers to tell Christian they can't go out again.
But when he turns back around and opens his mouth, what comes out is: "When can I see you again?"
"The problem is that he's too pretty," Elijah tells Pieter the next morning.
Pieter snorts. "You're too pretty."
Elijah groans in frustration. "Not like he is, though. Have you even seen his eyelashes?"
"Can't say as I was paying attention." Pieter thrusts his laptop into his rucksack. "And I thought you weren't seeing him again."
"And his hair?" Elijah gestures to his own. "It's that kind of messy that has to take him forever to get just right every morning."
"Well, Nick took forever and a day to get his quiff up," Pieter points out.
"Yeah, but, Nick, like, isn't pretty," Elijah argues. Sure, Nick liked to look good, to the point of vanity sometimes. But this is different. "Like, maybe Christian can't help his eyes or his eyelashes or his cheekbones. It's not like they're his fault. But his hair? That's intentional."
"And that's a problem because—?"
"I'm supposed to be the pretty one in a relationship." Elijah stabs his spoon into his yogurt in frustration. He knows he's a little too tall, a little too broad, jaw a little too strong. He doesn't dislike how he looks, but it's just better if he's with someone taller, broader, more rugged-looking then him.
Christian isn't any of those things.
"Since when are you Sleeping Beauty's evil stepmother?" Pieter asks, earning himself a glare that he cheerily ignores. "And also since when are you in a relationship? I thought you were meant to be cancelling your date."
"How do you know I didn't?"
"Because Leigh-Anne said you made her go through your whole wardrobe to find a shirt to wear."
Elijah glares around the flat before he remembers that she's already left for campus. "Don't you guys have anything better to do than to gossip about me?"
"Don't you have anything better to do than to lead on my friend?"
"I'm not leading him on," Elijah argues. "Just, we're going for Indian tonight. Cancelling now would just be rude."
Elijah steals Christian's Tandoori chicken and then, in the fight for the last samosa, he accidentally kicks him under the table. Christian retaliates by trapping his Chelsea boot-clad foot between his own beat-up Vans. They're making a scene and getting looks from the other diners, but Elijah doesn't even care. He's too busy trying to ignore the way his stomach swoops at the sparkle in Christian's blue eyes.