At the End of the Day

1

Chapter 1 // Apollo

"Shit, shit, shit."

I furrow my eyebrows as I stare down at my book and pull one earphone out of my ear as I listen for the distressed voice again. I keep my eyes on the words in front of me, but I'm not taking any of it in.

"Excuse me?"

There's that voice again. So soft.

"Excuse me?"

My eyebrows furrow again and I slowly look up through my lashes, my eyes widening at the sight in front of me. My foot taps nervously as I stare at the pretty girl in front of me. I start from her dark brown curly hair, which frames her perfectly round face. Her long lashes and her deep brown eyes. Her plump lips, which are covered in lipgloss, part slightly as she stares at me with furrowed eyebrows.

Fuck, I must look like a creep.

"Sorry?" I tilt my head.

"Can I sit here? I didn't realise it was still going to be busy at this time of night." She nibbles on her bottom lip as she waits for my answer. All I can give is an awkward nod. "Thanks." She whispers, pulling out the chair and taking a seat.

I watch her pull a load of books out from her bag and I take another minute to admire how cosy she looks in her oversized jumper and joggers. She looks like she gives nice hugs.

"Are you okay?"

"Hmm?" I purse my lips and look at her with wide eyes and I curse myself because I can already feel my face heat.

"You keep staring at me." She pulls on the sleeves of her baby blue hoodie and I instantly feel bad for making her feel uncomfortable. So stupid.

"I'm sorry, you're just very beautiful." I blurt out and before she can reply, I shove my earphones back into my ears and go back to reading my book.

I take a peek at the mystery girl to see her still looking at me like she can't believe what I just said. I can see her exhale before starting on whatever bit of work she's come here to do tonight. My heart is racing and I can't concentrate knowing she's sitting there.

I jump at the feel of someone removing my earphones. It's her. I gulp.

"Yes?"

She tilts her head at me as she leans over the table and puts the earphones in her ears, listening to the music playing — a satisfied smile morphing on to her pretty face.

"Arctic Monkeys." She nods and hands me back the earphones.

"You listen to them?" I tilt my head, and she shrugs her shoulders, resting back on the wooden chair.

"Sometimes. That's my favourite song of theirs, actually."

"I wanna be yours."

"Sorry, I don't do relationships." She jokes and I release a small chuckle, rubbing my hand on the back of my neck. "Do you?" I'm shocked by her question.

I shrug my shoulders.

"I think I'm a bit too antisocial for a relationship." I rasp and I have to look away from her doe brown eyes and the fact she's chewing on the end of her pink pen makes me fucking crazy.

"Relationships are a headache. I swear to myself I'll never be in one, all it causes is heartache and stress." I avert my eyes and tilt my head. "Don't tell me you're a hopeless romantic?" I laugh lightly and shake my head.

"Not really."

"So you're single?"

I nod.

"Same. Obviously." She nods and goes back to writing whatever she was writing. She has really neat handwriting. "Anyways, I won't distract you anymore. You can carry on with your work. Pretend I was never here." She winks and pulls out a blue highlighter from her fluffy pencil case.