Unguarded Love

6-Hey Neighbor

"Wanna work on it at the house tomorrow?" Asa offers and I bite my lower lip, "I can't sorry, how about Thursday?"

He shakes his head, "I have practice, well unless you're cool with coming over later than six."

"I can do that." Anything but miss another week on the ice. 

"Great." He says before smirking, "This is totally not a line but, can I have your number? To keep in touch for the project, of course."

I shake my head, a small smile on my face, "Of course." I say sarcastically. 

We exchange numbers as Professor Graham starts the lesson. 

Once the lecture is done Asa and I head out of the room. 

He holds his hand up to his ear mimicking a telephone, "Call me." He winks before heading off to his next class. 

This guy is something else and I can't seem to wipe the smile off of my face. 

* * * 

Back at the dorms Peyton tells me about how she ran into Phoenix at one of her lecture halls. 

"He isn't even studying anything close to what I am, what the hell was he doing in that building in the first place?" She groans, "And then he had the audacity to ask me if Jada, my new lab partner, was single. Like the nerve."

I laugh as I throw my hair in a bun. 

Tonight I have a shift at the library. Anna - the old woman who owns it - lets me work whenever I am available. Usually I try to come in at least three to four times a week but with all the classes I am taking this year I have barely gotten the chance to make my three times a week. 

"Wow the nerve." I say sarcastically. 

She nods, "Right?" Then she pops a few kettle chips into her mouth. 

"I swear to god if he ruins another one of my labs because he breaks my lab partners heart I'll kill him."

"Sure you will."

"Oh I will, trust me on that." She grumbles. 

Clearly Peyton is not a big Phoenix fan. 

I grab my purse from my nightstand. 

"Have fun and ask Anna if she has the new Dark Heir series."

Peyton has started to get into romance books recently, specifically new adult books. I can't lie I sneak a peak at some of them too. 

"Ok." I tell her as I slip out of the room. 

I ordered an über because I was not about to walk six miles, no thank you.

"Hey hon." Anna says as I walk inside the library. 

She's currently sitting behind the desk scanning books. I give her a wave before heading into the back to clock in. 

"What do you need me to do?" I ask walking back to the front. 

Anna spins around in her chair, her shell earrings clinking as she does so. 

The thing about Anna is she wears a lot and I mean a lot of jewelry. 

 Currently right now she's wear dangly shell earrings, a long neck full of shells and a shell bracelet. Each finger also has different varieties of rings. 

"Digging the shells." I tell her and she smiles, "My Paula made these for me." She points to the earrings. 

"Tell her I love them."