Love is friendship set on fire.
'I did not come here for him.' I say to myself, my hands tightening around the steering wheel as I pull up at one of the parking lots of the university.
This is probably the millionth time I'm trying to convince myself that Leo Matthews had nothing to do my choice of college. This morning.
'I came here because they have an excellent art program and while it's far enough, it's not too far from home.' I say, chewing on my lower lip.
'Okay, so maybe the other two colleges I got accepted into also had great art programs but like I said the distance of this one is just right. Even if Leo featured in the decision, it wasn't more than 2%.'
The lie resounds loudly in the silent car.
'Fine. 10%' I acquiesce, letting my head rest against the wheel in my dejection.
'He's probably all that. He's a junior and I'm a freshman. I'm sure he has all the college girls after him.' I sigh.
Steeling my shoulders, I give myself a quick pep talk.
'I am not doing this anymore. I didn't come here to pine after my brother's best friend. I am a single, beautiful and smart young lady who is going to get out of the car right now and go to her class. It's a big school. I probably won't see him anyway. He's studying business management and I'm doing art. There's no way our paths will cross. I'm safe.'
I wait a few more minutes, gathering as much courage as I can find before I get out of the car and step into the world that is college.
The hallway is teeming with students, chatting amongst themselves or rushing to their lectures and professors doing the same. There's a relaxed but academic air around them. Everyone belongs somewhere.
No one cares whether you're a nerd or a psychopath. Not too much anyway.
Though they probably should care about the latter a little more.
The scene immediately relaxes me and I grin foolishly.
So this is what college feels like.
Someone rams into me from behind, barely stopping to mutter an apology before rushing of.
Feeling emboldened by the collegiate atmosphere, I yell a curse or two after him and smile brightly when the girl next to me beams appreciatively.
College approves of my cursing skills.
'Hi. I'm Kelsey.'
'Brenda.' She replies, shaking my proffered hand.
Her gaze sweeps the hallway. 'I feel your struggle. I've been rammed into three times already and that's just on the walk from the parking lot. It's like they don't see you standing right there in front of them and you're lucky to even get an apology out of them.'
'Instead of sweatshirts, the school should distribute glasses to its students to help them see better.' I grin, already feeling a camaraderie with Brenda.
'I don't know.' She wrinkles her tiny nose. 'I really love those school issued sweatshirts but they should definitely add glasses to the package and for those of us who can see just fine, they can throw in some cool shades.'
I throw my head back slightly as laughter bubbles out of me.
'Though the one who bumped into you was kinda cute. They shouldn't give him glasses. I wouldn't mind him bumping into me everyday as long as I get his phone number.' She says with a conspiratorial smile.
A soft chuckle is ripped out of me. I tried to muffle the sound by covering my mouth.
She giggles.
'You seem nice.' She states.
'You too.'
'Me? Nice? Never. If my mother heard you use those words to describe me, she would swear you aren't talking about her daughter.'
'So you're one of meanies?' I grin.
'Yup. The cold heartless ones.' She giggles. 'Now, declare your love for coffee and I'll forget you ever called me nice and we can go back to being friends.'
'Cappuccinos and lattes are my life.' I declare.
'I'm more of an espresso kind of girl but I do love a good latte so I guess we can keep being friends.' She shrugs.
'I'm an art major.' I say. 'You?'
'Close. Interior design.' She grins. 'We should have a few classes together. You're a freshman right?'
'Yeah. You?'
'Fresh as a bird.' She sings.
'I've got History of Art with Professor Camden. You?' I ask after a quick look at my timetable.
'Ugh. Same thing. Now we have sit through an old man droning on about the Renaissance age. Awesome.' She frowns.
'It may not be that bad.' I cajole.
She shoots me a pointed look.
'Fine. It most likely will.'
***
'Yo Kelsey!' Brenda hollers, fanatically waving at me from the quad.
She's sitted with two guys and one girl at one of the tables. The quad is littered with tables and benches. It's designed that way so we can eat our lunch outside. There's a small food stand by the side where you can buy food if you want.
A smile makes it's way onto my face as I wave back.
With my lunch tray in hand, I make my way over to her.
'Hey.' I say, sitting down opposite her at the table since the other girl is on her right while the two guys are at her left.
'Tom and I were just talking about Professor Camden's class. Damn, that man can teach. He makes history seem so very interesting.'
Yeah, History of Art turned out to be pretty good.
'Hi, I'm Kelsey.' I smile at everyone at the table.
'Shoot.' Brenda winces. 'Sorry. Guys this is Kels, short for Kelsey. Kels meet Tom, Ava and uhm... Damn it, I can't remember your name.'
The last guy gives her an unimpressed look.
'I'm sorry.' She shrugs.
'Name's Nick.' He states. 'I gotta go.'
Taking his barely touched lunch, he leaves the table. We all watch him walk away.
'I never really liked him.' Brenda shrugs.
'You forgot his name.' I state.
'Three times already.' Ava chirps in.
'Three?' I gape, a chip midway to my mouth. 'You're kidding.'
'Actually, it's four.' Tom corrects.
'You forgot the guys name four times?' I gape at Brenna.
'I didn't forget.' She colours lightly. 'It just skipped my mind as at the time.'
'So you forgot.' I sum.
'Back off, smartass.' She says but her voice has no bite.
'What do you have after lunch?' She asks.
I check my timetable and relay the information.
'You?' I ask.
'I can't remember. Something boring relating to concepts and stuff.'
'Design concept.' Tom volunteers.
'Yeah, I think that's it.' She shrugs, shoveling food into her mouth.
'You're in interior design?' I ask him.
'He's not. I am.' Ava replies.
'Oh. So what are you studying then?' I frown.
'Art. Just like you.' He grins.
'I didn't notice you in class. I probably wouldn't have seen you in History of Art since its a big class but I didn't see in any of the smaller ones.' I say.
'You wouldn't have.' Brenda sings gleefully.
'I was running late.' He says sheepishly.
'Tell her why.' Her glee skyrockets and from Ava's giggles I can tell she's in on the secret too.
'I was ah... I...' He stutters, blushing.
For some reason, it makes me smile.
'He was late to class because he was propositioning me. And then he propositioned Ava who was standing innocently two steps behind me. It's how we met.' Brenda chuckles.
'You're kidding.' My eyes bulge out. 'He... You... You asked them for... Sex?'
'Not.... Nnnn- yes.' He blushes.
'You can't be serious. You only just met.' I say.
'I'm surprised he hasn't done the same to you yet.' Brenda shrugs, flicking her shoulder length mahogany brown hair.
'I was easing into it. Seeing as my tactic didn't work on you guys, I figured I'd change it up a bit. With a face like that, she has to have guys propositioning her on every corner so I had to bid my time. Thanks for ruining my chances though.' He glares.
'You're welcome.' Brenda beams.
'Thanks.... I think.' I say, glancing unsurely at Ava and Brenda.
Ava shrugs, taking a bite out of her casserole.
'Just to clear up any gray areas, I no longer have a chance with you?' Tom asks, shooting me a cute playful grin but I can tell he's joking.
He is cute. With baby blue eyes and his chestnut brown hair, how can he not be? I'm sure lots of girls take him up on his offer for sex. Just not this girl.
'You player.' I giggle.
I'm so busy smiling at him, I don't notice Brenda's mouth open in a silent "o" or Ava who is practically salivating at something behind me.
'Hate the game, not the player. Besides, I could give you an amazing night or at least, few weeks if you let me.' Tom says, throwing in his smirk.
'Few weeks? That sounds awfully like a commitment. What happened to the player?'
University is awesome. Watch at me flirt.
'With a beautiful girl like you, I'm gonna need a few weeks to teach you the ropes. Sex is an art after all.' He smirks.
My head falls back as a giggle bursts through my lips.
I squint against the glare of the sun as I make out someone standing over me.
The laughter dies on my lip.
'Leo.' I breath shakily.
'Kelsey.' His smooth timbre comes out strained and what I think is recognition lights up his friend's face as if to say; so this is Kelsey.
I immediately sit straight and he comes around to sit between Ava and I on the bench, facing the quad rather than the table like we are.
He's uncomfortably close and my body tingles with awareness. I barely notice the stunned silence that fills the quad or the comments being whispered into ears and the curious looks that sent my way afterwards.
After three years of not seeing him, this is not how I pictured our meeting would be. In my imaginations, he's not half as hot as he is right now. I guess I didn't do him justice.
And in my imaginations, I'm all dressed up in nice clothes with my hair all done up but reality sucks because here I am, in dull gray long sleeved shirt and jeans -thank God I decided not to wear the faded jeans with a splatter of paint that refused to wash out around the ankles- with my hair a little frizzy from the humid air.
Definitely not how I pictured our reunion.
I resist the urge to comb my fingers through my hair and drink him in.
He's more handsome than ever now. He's a lot taller than I remember and his electric blue eyes -I've always loved the eyes- are even bluer. His blonde hair curls slightly, rebelling against the straight style he always tries to comb it into.
'You've grown since I last saw you.' The words are out of my mouth before I can stop myself.
Amusement twinkles in his eyes as he regards me.
'It's been three years since you last saw me, I think I'm allowed to do a little bit of growing in that time.' His voice takes on a teasing edge.
I groan mentally.
Great job, Kelsey.
'Well, you're taller now. Good for you.'
Somebody please stop me. Stop me right now before I say anything permanently mortifying.
I bend my head and pretend to be focused on my food so that he doesn't see the extent of my blush. For once, I'm grateful for the long thick curtain I call hair.
'If it makes you feel better, you've grown. A lot since I last saw you.' The emotion in his voice has my head whipping up faster than the speed of light but his face doesn't give anything away.
He's looking at something over my shoulder, like he can't bare to look at me.
A shudder runs down my spine.
'Thanks. I think.' I say and nibble on my lip.
We then fall into an awkward silence and I finally notice the rest of my table-mates gaping to Leo.
Can they be any more obvious?
I quickly shovel some food into my mouth to buy me time to think of something smart to say but it doesn't help much because the first words out of my mouth as soon as I swallow are;
'Why are you here anyway?'
'Not to be rude or anything.' I quickly add.
He smiles, finally meeting my gaze. 'Gavin asked me to check on you. Make sure you were settling in just fine.'
Right. So he's here because my big brother asked the boy I've had a crush on since high school to look out for his baby sister.
I am so going to kill Gavin.
'Everything is good.' I say.
'I'm fine.' I continue.
Shut up.
'Settling in is just great.'
Please shut up!
'I'm fine. I'm good.'
Somebody please stop me.
'Okay. Perfect. Dandy. No problems here. I'm good.' I ramble on.
I wince, shoveling more food into my mouth to prevent more rambling.
I'm such an idiot. What happened to the calm and collected girl who was flirting with Tom ninety seconds ago?
'Got it.' Leo smiles. My heart flips in my chest.
Shoving more food into my mouth, I glance at Tom to see what he thinks of my rambling disaster.
The fork collides with my two front teeth and some of the food slides off.
Great, now I'm a rambling, babbling, clumsy disaster.
Wincing, I clean up the mess with my napkin.
'You have a little...' Tom trails off, gesturing to the left side of his mouth.
With shrug, he reaches over to help me clean it off with his finger. I lean into him so he gets a better access. He cleans it and proceeds to lick his finger.
I roll my eyes but smile anyway. I feel Leo stiffen beside me but there's nothing I can do about that.
'Tastes... Spicy.' He declares, using his napkin to wipe off the smudge on my chin.
'Thanks.' I grin, throwing him a smile.
When I glance at Leo, he's shooting sparks out if his eyes. If looks could kill, I'd be mourning Tom by now.
'Introduce me to your friends.' Leo grits, his voice taking on that protective tone he and my brother always use whenever they think a guy is interested in me. Leo is even worse than my actual brother when it comes to being protective.
I roll my eyes at his tone so he knows fully well what I think of it.
'Guys this is Leo Matthews. Leo, Ava, Brenda and Tom.' I quickly introduce them.
Brenda manages a shaky wave while Ava stops drooling long enough to shoot him a dreamy smile. But it doesn't matter anyway because his attention is solely on Tom.
It's like he's trying to glare him into nonexistence.
He doesn't even like me so what's his deal? If he cut the big brother crap for just a moment, he'd realize that Tom's a player but he's also a good guy and that he didn't mean anything by helping me wipe the smudge.
'Back off, Leo.' I snap, letting the irritation seep into my voice.
His surprised gaze turns to me.
'You're not my brother and I'm a big girl now.' I hiss.
'Trust me, I know.' He breathes after a long hard look at me.
Before I can even start analysing his statement and much less ask him what he meant by it, he stands up and leaves. Stopping just long enough to shoot me his infuriating playboy smirk. That just so happens to be dreamy.
'See you around, Panda.' He calls out, reverting to my unfortunate childhood nickname.
I release an angry huff of breath and glare at his retreating figure.
He did that on purpose because I said I'm a big girl.
How does he manage to get under my skin so easily?
'Wow.' Ava sighs dreamily.
'Damn, he's hot.' Brenda rests her chin in her hands.
'Whatever.' Tom grunts.
'Is murdering your brother's best friend illegal in this state?' I ask, glaring at his retreating figure.
'It is when he's that hot.' Ava promptly replies.
'I'm with Ava on this one.' Brenda states.
'Great. So I'm not getting any accomplices from the the two of you. Tom, how do you feel about committing murder? I'm thinking we drown him?' I flash him a bright smile.
Readers:
What's your favourite season/weather?
I like the rain and snow but I also love summer.
Author's Note:
I recently got a bad review on my previous book; Must Haunt The Playboy and I'm trying to improve my writing so please comment on anything or any part of this story that you think could do with some improvement. Any and all comments are welcome.
Anyway, I'll be updating this book weekly, every Fridays. If it doesn't work for you just let me know and I'll check with the majority.
I hope you enjoyed the first installment.
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