Claudia, Lily, and I grab chairs to sit with the rest of our friends in the cafeteria as Claudia gushes about how Ben has been trying hard to not cuss around her frequently.
She looks happy and that makes me happy, but the one person who does not look happy is Amelia. Her bad-boy fantasies have blown up in the air and have left her confused. Confused about what she's going to do now and honestly I am kind of enjoying watching Amelia squirm.
"Okay spill, Em," Lily orders in a stern voice, and we all look at her. Even Kyle and Ben are giving her their full attention. Regardless of how much they both tease her, they love her and are protective of her.
Amelia fiddles with her napkin for a bit then throw it onto the table and sighs, "He's not what I thought he was."
"What do you mean?" Ben asks, bemused.
"Garret," she says, then sighs, before speaking again. "He's not like I thought he was."
"Details, Em. We don't know chick language." Kyle says as he shoves a spoonful of brownie into his mouth.
I take a bite of my brownie too and sigh in contentment. I love chocolate in any form or shape.
Meanwhile, Amelia lets out a frustrated breath and starts ranting. "I thought he was a bad boy, all cool and way too good for everyone. You know how it is in Wattpad books? 'I hate everyone but my girl' type." Amelia says as she comically tried to mimic a boy's voice which makes everyone snicker. 'But instead, he is a complete gentleman. He even opened the car door for me. He is the kind of boy you take home to meet your parents, not the one you have dirty sex with!" She almost shouts as she ends her rant and we all choke on our food.
Well, now we know why she was holding onto her bad-boy fantasy so tightly.
"But that's a good thing." Claudia starts, "You aim for a man who'll treat you right instead of the one who'll break your heart." And at that comment, Lily turns to glare at me.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" I ask and shove another bite of brownie in my mouth.
"Because you aim for a man who'll treat you right instead of the one who'll break your heart. Roman will break your heart if you get involved with him," she says and I choke on my food.
"Who said that I'm getting involved with him?" I scoff and start fiddling with the food on my tray, as everyone turns their attention to me.
"Oh please, like we haven't seen how you both look at each other." Claudia chirps in between and Kyle starts throwing laser beams at me.
Don't be surprised if I burn into ashes in a few seconds.
"But the important thing is that Roman looks at you in a good way." Amelia interrupts and I mentally groan. Not something I want to talk about right now. "He sometimes looks at you like 'you light up my world' and sometimes 'hi I can't wait to bend you on this table. You got a packaged deal." She whines and I choke on my own saliva as I hear her words and gladly accept the water bottle Ben passes me. I did not need that imagery in my head.
Amelia though doesn't feel an ounce of guilt and continues, "I mean you both have got banging chemistry. It's pretty hot."
"We do not!" I protest. We don't have an ounce of chemistry between us. All we do is bicker, bicker some more and then bicker again. He makes my blood boil. One second I feel like banging his head against the wall and the other second I want to kiss the shit out of him. But chemistry? Nah. There's no chance.
"Like we didn't see you both together last Saturday," Claudia speaks dryly and I visibly groan this time.
"Looked pretty intimate to me. Sharing the juice and the straw I might add. Quietly whispering to each other in between. Letting him rest his head on your shoulder. We know when two people have hots for each other, we ain't no kids, Avery." Lily chimes in and I frantically shake my head.
"I did not even notice all of those things " I protest, weakly. You're a liar, Avery. You did notice everything. Every. Single. Thing.
His every move, every single take of his breath. He combed his hair with his hand 11 times. You shared four cans of Apple juice with him. A very small dimple appears on his right cheek whenever he smiles too hard and he's really affectionate.
Holy shit! I'm turning into the creepy stalker I was accusing him of being last night.
"Well, then it looks like you both are quite comfortable around each other that you don't even notice the little intimate things you do." Ben grins and winks at me and I control the urge to smack him on his head.
"We were talking about Amelia, don't gang up on me. Besides, nothing is going to happen between us, ever." I try to change the topic just as Amelia mutters a 'holy shit, ' from beside me.
I turn my head to look at her, but she's already on the ground, trying to get under the table, stabbing my toe in the process.
My right knee bounces and bangs onto the table and I cuss, "What are you doing, Amelia?"
"He's coming here, he's coming here. He told me that he kinda liked me and he would like to spend more time with me. I didn't think he was serious, but he is. He's coming here with all of his friends. Please hide me." Amelia pleads as she frantically tries to get under the table.
"EM! GET OUT OF THERE. IT'S EMBARRASSING AS FUCK!" Claudia whispers yell at her and Amelia sticks her head out and glares at her.
"Oh please. You don't have to hide from a sexy gentleman, who makes you blush and creams your panties with his sweet words. Let. Me. Hide. In. Peace." She scoffs at her and gets back inside the table and I laugh out loud in shock. Garret has no idea whom he's dealing with. His life is going to turn into mayhem.
A light tap on my shoulder distracts me and his cologne instantly fills my senses. He squats down and whispers 'hii' in my ear. My whole body shudders.
Before we even know, four chairs are being shoved in the empty spaces between our chairs. Roman takes a seat between me and Ben, while Garret seats himself between me and Amelia on my right. John and Logan seat themselves between Claudia and Lily and we all look at them with open mouths at which Roman shrugs.
"What? Garrett wanted to have lunch with Amelia and we weren't going to eat without him. So bear with us guys." He speaks innocently and shoves a French fry in his mouth.
Garret beside me, crouches down and looks under the table, and asks, "What are you doing there?"
"Oh... Ahh... I-I lost my earring. I was trying to find that." Amelia stutters and me, Claudia and Lily look at each other with wide eyes.
"Do you want me to help you?" Garret asks and all three of us giggle. Yep, totally a nice man.
"No-no! I think I lost it somewhere else. I've already searched, it's not here." She laughs nervously as she gets out from the table.
"Careful please. Don't want you banging that pretty head on the table," Garret mutters and a red-faced Amelia emerges from under the table.
I suppress my urge to laugh and slap Roman's hand away as he tries to take a bite of my brownie.
I really want him to stop eating my food but I don't want him to stop either. Somehow, sharing food with him sounds so intimate. The kind of intimacy I crave but I know I can never have.
He playfully scowls at me, making me laugh, just as my phone starts ringing.
I frown at the unknown number but pick up anyway, just as everyone else on the table starts talking to each other.
"Hello," I speak on the phone and wait for the person to speak but don't hear anything on the receiving end.
I try again. "Hellooooo" but I don't hear anything again.
Roman beside me munches on his food and asks, "Who is it?"
"I don't know. No one's speaking." I reply and say hello for the third time, but nothing again. Hmm, might be a wrong number or something.
I end the call, just as Roman tries to sneak a bite from my brownie, again!
This man!
I kick his shin under the table and make him wince at the pain.
"Ouch, what was that for?" He scowls at me, and I laugh.
"For stealing my food, for kissing me on the head last night, and on the shoulder the day before." I accuse him and sneak his french fries.
"You're kinda strong." He leans down and rubs his leg up and down and I smirk.
"Aw, you got hurt by a big bad girl?"
His eyes soften as he looks directly into my eyes and mutters quietly, "Big bad girls don't just survive, angel. They live their life without any hesitation."
My throat dries up as I mentally go through the memories of last night. I was so confused last night when I saw him in my room. The way we've been interacting for the past couple of weeks I felt like I was being overpowered. I hate it when I don't have any control over the situation and last night it felt like it was slipping away through my fingers.
When I saw him in the room, on my bed, it felt like we were falling into a deeper level and it left me frenzied. I was afraid that if I didn't push him away I wouldn't be able to stop myself from falling for him, so I tried to warn him away. I thought it would scare him. I mean an eighteen-year-old should be out partying, enjoying their life, and not talk about life and surviving right?
I thought he would get the point that it's not gonna be easy with me, that I have issues that are not going anywhere any time soon. Any normal boy would get the hint and scurry away. But Alas, not Roman James. I have a feeling he's not going to go away any time soon.
"And to be bad, I would have to corrupt you." He winks at me and my next words die in my throat. What does he even mean he would corrupt me? The image of what Amelia said before enters my mind again and I mentally slap myself to myself out of the funk.
Jesus, I need help.
I look at him with wide eyes just as Logan speaks loudly.
"This table is really short for all of us to sit together. You guys can sit with us at our table tomorrow. It will give us more space."
Kyle frowns, "No thanks, we're good here. You guys can go back to your own table."
"I don't think that will happen any time soon. Garret likes Amelia, and it looks like your friend likes him too" John snickers and Ben glares at him, just as Kristen walks by us.
She doesn't stop but definitely comments on a family dinner going on.
"Well isn't sitting with us messing with your bad boy reputation, Roman?" Kyle taunts Roman, making him frown.
God, no. I have a feeling this is not going to end positively.
We all look at Roman as he leans forward and looks at Kyle.
"Tell me one thing, Kyle. Who told you that I am a bad boy?" He raises his eyebrows and Kyle frowns.
"What do you mean?"
"What gave you the hint that I am a bad boy? Have you seen me done anything bad? Have you ever seen me bullying a kid? Or giving a girl false hopes and then breaking her heart? Have you ever even seen me with a girlfriend? Heck, have you ever seen me flirting with someone? Have you ever seen me being mean to someone for no reason at all? Tell me." Roman presses and looks at everyone.
"How can you even imply that I am bad? I hate it when people do that, make them something they're not. Not once I've given someone a reason to call me that. You should keep your assumptions to yourself. I've been more than patient with you because of Angel. It's good to see you're protective of her but I won't let you talk shit to me." And with that, he stands up, grabs his plate, and heads off in the opposite direction at his usual table.
My heart hurts for him. Don't we all do that? Live like what others expect us to be rather than what we really want to be. We allow people to define who we are and we're left trying to please their expectations.
"Don't tell anyone I was being polite to you, I'm supposed to be the mean cheerleader. You know, fake it till you make it." Kristen's words from my first-day ring in my head. We all become prey to social pressure without even noticing it and before we even realize we lose our real selves while living like someone we're not.
And isn't that what I was doing back in Sea Crest? Living through others' expectations? Being something I was not? Trying to get into the popular crowd because I know it would've pleased Ana. Going to a senior's party because that would've pleased my friends and my crush?
And now that I've got the chance to live life the way I want to, I'm wasting it. I'm holding on to the past and blaming what happened to me instead of just letting it go and move on. Wasn't that what Roman was trying to tell me last night?
"Life can either make you or break you, angel. But the choice is yours. Always yours."
"Hey, Avery." Someone calls me, jolting me out of my thoughts. I look up and find John looking at me with a playful look in his eyes.
I raise an eyebrow at him and his face breaks into a mischievous grin.
"Since you're single, I am single. Want to go out on a date with me?" He asks, feigning innocence, making me laugh quietly.
But before I can even reply, he is grabbed by the back of his collar and dragged away from me.
"What about the bro-code dude?" Roman growls and John winks at me as he lets Roman drag him away making me laugh out loud while Kyle slams his plate on the table and storms out of the cafeteria leaving our mouths hanging.
"What the fuck just happened," Ben mutters, just as the bell rings signaling the end of the lunch.
Same Ben, same. What the fuck just happened?
*****
I close my math textbook and stretch out on my chair and let out a groan. It's 10 p.m. I've been literally studying for three hours straight now.
What a record Avery!
I get up from the chair and flop on the bed, ready to call it a night just as my phone beside me rings. Huh? Who's calling right now?
I pick up the phone, check the number, and sigh. It's the same number from the morning.
I sit on the edge of my bed and pick up the phone.
"Hello?" I speak. I wait for someone to speak on the other end but no one speaks.
"Helloooo?" I try, again but nothing.
Just as I am about the end the call I hear a faint whisper, "hii"
My brow scrunches in confusion as I ask, "who's this?"
But my world crashes down as I hear what the person says next.
"Evie, it's Ana."
*****
Geez, a long chapter and so much happened in this chapter. What are your thoughts about Garret and Amelia's feelings for each other and Kyle's obvious disliking towards Roman? But the most important... Y'all remember Anastasia? :p
TEASER ~ A TENDER MOMENT BETWEEN ROMAN AND AVERY
Also, I need a ship name for Roman and Avery lmao.
Vote if you liked this chapter and comment to let me know your thoughts.
Have a great day.
Happy reading.
Kiara <3