The Golden Rule

Must Not Believe

It was one thing not to be able to stop herself from speaking to him again. But noticing how good he smelled and how gorgeous he looked sitting across her was another thing.

Focus Mia! She scolded herself as she bent down her head to study. Stop ogling Robby. Just stop!

But her mind wouldn't listen and her thoughts kept on wandering back to the guy seated across her.

She gritted her teeth. If she was to pass her exam today, she needed to seriously focus on her reading.

Stop it, Mia. Focus!

Robby looked up and looked at her curiously, his mouth curled in amusement. " Everything alright?"

Did she just said that out loud? Mia's eyes widened as she locked eyes with him.

" Yeah, " she bent her head and quickly averted her eyes to her book.

Get a grip. She scolded herself silently. Today is not the time to be so conscious of Robby.

" Here, " Robby leaned forward again, closer this time that Mia could feel their heads almost touching. 

His hand reached for the bottom page of her book and marked the footnotes with his blue highlighter. She was about to protest when he took her book from her, his eyes skimming through the pages while his hand worked on highlighting specific sentences. Mia watched in silence as he finished the first two pages and continued to the next page. His forehead was creased in concentration and Mia forced herself to look away. 

Stop it! A voice in her head suddenly snapped. What the hell are you doing?

But before she could reason with herself, Robby handed her the book. " I've marked the points that I remembered Martinez used in his exams. "

" Thank you, " she breathed as she flipped through the pages. " You didn't have to-"

" I wanted to, " Robby cut in before she can finish her sentence.

Mia looked up, startled at the tone of his voice.

He was staring at her with an odd expression that Mia couldn't read. He was not smiling nor frowning. His face was void of any emotion but she could feel the intensity in his eyes as he looked at her.

Panic started to build up in her stomach. She could feel her face growing hot. She could hear her heart hammering against her chest. She swore Robby could hear it from across the table.

" Mia, " Robby said softly as he leaned forward.

She couldn't find her voice; she felt something was stuck in her throat. She didn't move. She couldn't move even if she wanted to. She was paralyzed as she stared at those laser blue eyes that were holding her captive for the last two minutes. 

She held her breath.

" Would you like to go..." Robby said softly and then his voice trailed off.

Go where?  Mia swallowed, not trusting herself to speak at that moment.

Robby cleared his throat. 

" I-I mean, do you think..." he trailed off again.

Robby looked away and Mia heard him cursing under his breath. 

He quickly sat up, raking his hair with his hand.

" I-I need to go, " he said in a gruff voice. 

He quickly slammed his book shut and started collecting all of his things scattered on the table.

Mia blinked. What?