"I thought it might be... I mean, I was wondering if maybe you might want to go out with me sometime?" Andrew asked, his voice unsteady.

Kell slowed his approach as he overheard what was being said. So, Andrew wasn't going to gush to Parker  about his project, he was asking him out.

"I don't think so," Parker said, flatly.

Andrew looked taken aback. "Or maybe we could just get to know each other first?"

"Sorry. I've told you, you're not my type."

"What is your type?" Andrew asked. "I could become your type..."

"That's not possible," Parker replied, looking completely unsympathetic to Andrew's feelings.

"Why not?"

Parker looked at him, his blue eyes as cold as glaciers. "You’ve got no talent."

Andrew's mouth opened and closed, like a fish gasping for breath. He looked shattered. "I-I..." He couldn't summon anything else to say, so he turned and quickly walked away, his head down. He rushed by Kell, who was stunned at the brutal rejection. Parker turned to leave.

"Hey," Kell said, walking after him. "Hey!"

Parker stopped. "You're not going to ask me out too, are you?"

"Why did you have to be such a dick?" Kell said, angrily. "That was really unnecessary, what you said to him. Did you have to be so mean?"

"I was being honest," Parker said. "Anyway, this isn't the first time he's tried that. He doesn't know how to take 'no' for an answer."

"Well... still. What's your problem, anyway?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Your critique. You gave positive feedback to everyone else in the class, except me. Why was mine the only one you tore apart?"

"I didn't realize you cared so much about my opinion, Kell."

"I don't. You've just always been a bit of… well, a bit of a prick to me, and I want to know why that is."

Parker frowned. "I don't see it that way at all."

Kell was shocked. "You don't think you've been a prick?"

"No, I don't think so."

"You constantly single me out. You always have, ever since the first class we had together. And you've always been short with me whenever I've tried to talk to you."

"Maybe I'm short with everyone," Parker suggested.

Kell stared at him. Parker was tall and trim, with an athletically slender build. He looked like he did gymnastics, or something like that. Kell wouldn't have been surprised if he was a skilled gymnast or martial artist. The guy was probably good at everything he did. And he was always well dressed, with impeccable style. He was practically Mr. Perfect. Mr. Perfectly Infuriating.

"Okay, I'll give you that," Kell said. "But I'm tired of you gouging the hell out of every one of my projects. Why do you do that?"

Parker eyed him, his expression unchanging. "I would've thought it'd be obvious."

Obvious? What the hell was he talking about?

"Um, no?" Kell said.

Parker gave him a look. "Well, that's too bad, then. I have to get going. I'll see you in class tomorrow."

"Hey, wait—" Kell said, but Parker was already out the door. He stared after him, the door shutting behind him. Kell gritted his teeth. "What the heck?" He'd been left even more annoyed than he had been before. Obvious?! What was so obvious about any of this? "Dammit," he muttered to himself, and turned for the other exit at the opposite end of the hall.

He found Jessie in the campus cafe and plonked himself down in the seat across from her. She looked up from her cell phone as she munched on a burger, and Kell stole a French fry from her tray and stuffed it into his mouth.

"What is up with that guy?" he asked, stealing another fry.

"Who?"

"Parker. I went and talked to him."

"Really?" She looked surprised. "About what?"

"I wanted to know why he's always such an ass about my work. It's always me, specifically. You've noticed that, right?"

"Uh-huh. What'd he say?"

"I thought it would be obvious," Kell said, imitating Parker's voice. "What the heck is that supposed to mean? And I overheard Andrew asking him out."

Jessie raised an eyebrow. "No way?"

"Yeah, and you know what he said to him? Basically that he only likes talented people. Man, what an ass."

"Poor Andrew," Jessie said. She finished her burger and pulled out her sketch book. She liked to do quick sketches of people sitting around the cafe during her breaks. She pulled out a ballpoint pen and clicked it against her chin. "Maybe it's because Parker thinks you're talented."

"What?"

"Maybe you're the only one he's super critical about because he thinks you're talented? I mean, you are."

Kell felt his heart do a flip, much to his surprise. The idea of Parker noticing his work... of actually acknowledging that he liked it.  Kell had never considered that before, because Parker had never once paid him a compliment on it. It'd always just been harsh criticism.

Or, had he...?

This isn't your best work. That was what he'd said, wasn't it? So, Parker thought that there were other projects he'd done better? Was he actually paying attention to them and not just putting them down?

"He's never said a single nice thing to me," Kell said, and stole another fry from Jessie's tray. She slapped his hand.

"Alright, that's enough, fry thief."

He smiled apologetically. "I'm gonna grab some food."

The cafeteria bustled with people, and he wound through people holding trays of food, bottles of soda and cups of coffee to get to the line for burgers. His mind was occupied with what Jessie had just said. Had Parker actually been critiquing him hard because he liked his work? But why the hell didn't he do that anyone else in the class? There were plenty of other really skilled artists, and yet all of them got fair criticisms from Parker. The guy was never so harsh to everyone else. Kell couldn't wrap his head around it. If he liked people's work, he wouldn't just tear it pieces every time, he'd give it fair criticism, and that included compliments.

I'm only attracted to people with talent.

Parker's voice echoed in Kell's mind, and he felt his face grow hot. He shook his head, trying to clear the weird thoughts away. Parker thinking he was attractive? No, that'd be really weird, even though he was pretty cute...

Kell grimaced. Oh, god. How could he even think something like that about Parker 'Jerkface' Leipold? The guy was an ass. A guy like that would probably be a terrible boyfriend. Not that he really had any actual experience knowing what made a boyfriend good or bad, but he could imagine Parker being a nightmare. The guy'd probably criticize his kissing technique. "Too much tongue. You've kissed better, before."

He snorted to himself. And sex? Could he imagine doing it with a guy like that? It'd probably be horribly rough and hard, more like a beating than anything else. Not romantic at all. Shit, he imagined Parker would probably be into hardcore BDSM, or something, with a heavy serving of S.

All sorts of graphic images popped into Kell's mind at that moment, and he felt his face grow hot and his cock twitch.

Wait, wait, wait, he thought. No, that's not supposed to happen. Why am I getting turned on by this?

"Are you ready or not?"

Kell snapped out of his thoughts. The girl manning the cash register stared at him, smacking away at a piece of gum. "What's your order?" she said, annoyed.

"Oh, sorry. I'll have a cheeseburger and fries, please."

He paid for his meal and stepped aside to wait for it to be ready, his thoughts returning to Parker. The guy was an ass, end of story. Had it been middle or high school, Parker would’ve probably been the guy who'd 'accidentally' spilled paint all over his work. Or stole his clothes from the locker during PE. Or any of the bullshit Kell'd had to deal with back then. He could just tell—he was one of those rich kids who'd always had an easy time in life, and probably would have an easy life until he died. Parker was probably working already, too. He'd overheard him talking about some design job for a family friend's company. Of course.

Nah, there was no way Parker thought anything good about him. And there was no way that Kell would ever like him.