Chapter 12
We eventually found a parking lot near the building I took most of my courses in and parked. I got out of the car and started to show her around. Predictably by now, Alexa had her cellphone out and was taking pictures of everything that caught her attention. She put her arm through mine casually as we walked and I made no demur. It felt nice to have a pretty girl on my arm, even if she was my aunt.
Not that anyone around us knew that.
I was indeed getting subtle looks from people as we walked around, with me pointing things out to her and laughing as I told her stories about some of the insane things that had happened on campus. I waved to quite a few people who called out to me as we walked by.
"Well, you seem popular," Alexa said lightly as we strolled around. "Especially for a freshman. Your girlfriend here on campus with you?"
I looked down at her. "What girlfriend?"
She now looked back up at me. "Am I to understand you don't have a girl? How the hell is that possible?"
"I dunno," I replied, shrugging. "I've mostly been focusing on my studies, to be honest. Yeah, there's a few girls I've gone out with, but nothing long-term or serious."
"That's hard to believe, you're so handsome," she said, as if it was common knowledge. "Are girls really this frigid around here?"
"It's probably not that," I said, blushing. "And it's not that I'm playing hard to get, either. It's just that, well, none of the girls around are worth spending my time on when I could be acing my studies and other activities."
"So you don't even have a casual partner, a fuck-buddy?" she almost exclaimed loudly, as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing.
She stopped our walk and looked up at me, her eyes serious. "You're not a virgin, are you?"
I almost laughed. "No, I'm not a virgin," I said as I made us resume our walk. "I'm not the most experienced guy out there, but I've been with a my share of girls and they never complained. It was just never serious for me."
"Well, that's good to hear," she said. "At least you're not some big, slobbering virgin."
"I take it your life in Europe was not without its hedonistic trysts?" I inquired.
She smiled. "It's safe to say I've been active, not to mention I'm bisexual," she stated, taking another picture of us as we walked. "So I've always had it easy when it came to finding playmates."
"I'd imagine so, looking the way you do." I added, smiling and giving her arm I was holding a squeeze.
"Oh, that's sweet of you," she said, beaming a smile at me and returning the squeeze. "But seriously, you should at least find a girl who can be a friend with benefits for you, Alex. You're going to explode if you don't."
"Sounds great, but most of the girls I would consider for that role wouldn't go for it and the ones who would I am worried have more diseases than a biological weapons lab. People don't really carry around sexual resumes here."
She giggled and put her cheek to my shoulder for a moment, snuggling me as we walked. The she saw a sign and her eyes lit up. "You have a hedge maze here on campus? Show me, I love hedge mazes!"
Our university did indeed have a hedge maze, thanks to our established and renowned botanical sciences department. We also had a small but decent Japanese garden as well as a Victorian one. I told her we'd see those later but for now, the hedge maze.
The university was proud of it, and rightly so. It was very well-maintained and the walls were thick and lustrous. It was also quite high, the best part of ten feet. Overhead lights were spaced around the maze and turned on after dark to prevent excessive abuse of the dark and remote locale. During the weekdays during class hours, though, traffic was minimal.
In we went and she seemed genuinely thrilled to be walking around. Her camera saw plenty of use as we wandered about. The walkways were carpeted with lush green grass and just wide enough for Alexa and I to walk side-by-side if she pressed a little closer to me. Eventually I just put my arm around her.
"That feels nice," she said softly. "It's nice to have someone you can be comfortable with physically."
"Yeah, it is." I agreed, smiling down at her. We walked around for a bit, determined to get lost. Finally we found the center of the maze, a small open area with a small sculpture at the center, a bronze sphere sitting on top of a tapering stone plinth. It was maybe five feet tall and had a plaque with a Latin inscription. She took a picture of us in front of it, wearing cheesy grins.
"Sedit qui timuit ne non succederet. Do you speak Latin?" she asked, looking at the plaque.
I nodded. "Yeah, it says 'He who feared he would not succeed sat still'. Do you speak it?"
She giggled. "Of course, silly. Latin and Greek, in addition to the languages of the places I've lived. Karen says you're really good with languages too."
"I guess I am and I love learning them and analyzing them," I replied, nodding. "I don't speak anything exotic like Danish, though. I speak Latin, French and a little bit of other languages I've taught myself."
"Mmmm, I love French," she mused as she leaned back against the sculpture and looked up at me. "One of my favourite languages to speak. So pretty and meaningful. Say something to me in French, I want to hear how your voice sounds when you speak it."
I thought for a moment, not happy about being put on the spot but also not the least bit interested in disappointing her. I considered for a moment and smiled at her.
"Tu as de très beaux yeux." I said. I meant it too. That made it easy for the words to come right away. Alexa blushed at my statement for a moment and then smiled at me, her sapphire eyes dancing.
"Tu penses vraiment cela?" she asked.
"Qui ne voudrait pas?" I replied, grinning.
She fanned herself at the compliment, still blushing a little. "More women need to speak French around here, your voice will make their panties drop, for sure."
"I dunno about that." I chuckled.
"I'm serious," she protested, trying to look mildly indignant that I'd dared to disagree with her. "Your accent is not quite Parisian, but it's certainly not bumpkin or provincial. It was lovely to hear, trust me."
"Well now I'm flattered." I said, smiling. "So say something to me in one of the other languages you speak."
She thought about this for a moment and then smiled up at me. "Aš esu labai traukia jus."
I tilted my head. "What did that mean?"