Dania {18+}

Chapter 26

"You gonna have fun memorizing all this?" Orion whispered over to me, his chin perched atop his elbow.

I rolled my eyes but otherwise ignored him. He didn't bug me like this when Tess was here. I wondered why that was. Maybe he didn't like her. Or maybe he did. I looked at him with a small smile and reached my hand back to feel the soft petals of the rose tucked into my braid.

He squinted his eyes at me, "what's that look for, Rapunzel?"

"Oh, nothing," I hummed. Diverting my attention back to the lecturer.

"Actually, why are you still here? We figured out that the person after me was Sylv's father, didn't we? I'm safe now, right?"

He sat up at my words and leaned back into his chair with his arms crossed.

"Reyn and I were discussing things. And while kidnapping is right up Mr. Marciano's alley, the whole creating an Instagram account and sending cryptic messages? It's a little out of his MO. Sylv agreed, too. Just to be safe, I'm gonna stick around for a little while longer." He lowly spoke while keeping his head faced forward as if he were following the professor's every word.

Now that he mentioned it, it didn't really make sense for the illusive man to engage in fear-mongering tactics. And all for what? To get his son to come back home? Targeting me instead of someone directly associated with Sylv was enough of a power move. It showed that Mr. Marciano could mess around not only with Sylv's life, but the people around him, too. It meant that he was watching him closely enough to know who his best friend was dating. Sending messages was unnecessary work on his part. Having me on edge would only be an inconvenience to him.

Amethyst being accidentally taken along with me just made him rush to the house faster, even though that was just an accident. There was no point to be sending me ominous messages on Instagram. It was too juvenile.

The messages had to be from someone else. The timing must have been nothing more than a coincidence.

La1n9ams... The username flitted through my mind. What could that possibly mean? Did it even have any significance?

19. 1.9. 1/9... That was my birthday, January 9th. This person had to have known me pretty well to know my birthday. That couldn't be a coincidence with everything else that this person seemed to know.

Lanams. If the numbers had a meaning, I doubted this string of letters would go meaningless.

"Oreo, the 1 and 9 in the username, it could be my birthday. January 9th. I'm not so sure about the letters, though." I whispered.

Orion already took his phone out to text Reyn the information. My phone buzzed a few seconds later.

R: How do I not even know your birthday...

I guess it's just never come up...

When's yours?

R: I still just--

R: Mine is September 19th

They're so far away :,(

R: They'll be here before you know it, baby

R: By the way, I'll be home early today

Really? Yay. I'll see you then.

R: Bye, love

After class ended, Orion, Tess, and I sat in the coffee shop. I picked at the peeling fabric of the little booth we sat in.

I told Tess that Orion lived in Reyn's apartment complex which was how I met him and why he takes me home all the time. Tess, being the social butterfly she is, had no problems letting Oreo into our little duo.