"Why exactly, did you choose to take this class?" Grey raised a coy eyebrow at me, leaning back nonchalantly in his chair as students filed into the lecture hall. Professor Turner wasn't here yet, so the room was loud with a constant rumble of chatter.
"Because I'm pre-med, Grey. It's a requirement," I replied in a rather irritated tone as I flipped open my binder, turning to the last page of notes I'd taken.
"So, I should probably copy off of you for the tests, then?" He smirked deviously, a twinkle apparent in his eyes.
"I didn't realize you were even going to take the tests, seeing as you're only enrolled here to try to get me to join the dark side," I retorted, tapping my pen anxiously against my notebook paper. I wanted Turner to get here already, anything to get Grey to stop talking. He was annoying. Annoyingly charming. I mentally slapped myself for that last bit. He wasn't charming. Just annoying.
"Star Wars reference, really? I didn't take you for a geek, Greene," Grey chuckled, his smirk growing into that crooked smile.
"I'd really wish you'd stop making assumptions about me. You didn't take me for a sorority girl either. Or someone who could keep up with your superhuman pace when you run," I sighed in relief as Turner strode cheerfully through the doors, practically skipping over to her desk and laptop. Seriously. How was this lady so happy?
"Hello, my lovely students. No partying this weekend, I'm assuming?" Turner boomed and the class groaned audibly, earning a chuckle from her, which I'm sure she full-heartedly believed was in her favor. "That is what I like to hear. I hope you all realize that by not partying, you are setting yourself up for a better career in the future, and a more successful college career as well. Focusing on your studies- now that's a party in of itself, am I right?"
Another incomprehensible groan from the class, which the delusional Professor Turner translated as unanimous agreement.
I shivered as I felt a breath fan the side of my neck, the squeak of a chair rolling ever closer to mine. "You're full of surprises, mea bellator," Grey breathed softly against my ear, chills racing down my spine. I hated it when he did that. It's like he would whisper in my ear just to see what sort of reaction my body had to his proximity. It was annoying. How was I supposed to suppress the slightest bit of feelings I had for Grey if I couldn't even suppress my body's reaction to him?
Turner cleared her throat, my eyelids shooting open before I had even realized they'd begun to close. Grey leaned back in his seat, proud of himself for disrupting class yet again. Turner was never going to be able to finish a lesson with Grey here. Not only did almost every female find him especially entertaining, but it seemed some of the guys did too. All in all, Grey had probably attracted 75% of the class's attention by merely existing.
"Am I interrupting something, Grey?" Turner folded her arms sternly, making a point to say 'Grey' instead of 'Mr. Grey', as that had resulted in a not so pleasant experience the last time.
"You always are, Melody, but it's fine, I don't mind," Grey shot her a smirk and a wink, mirroring her and folding his arms across his chest. I covered my eyes with my hand, wondering why I had to sit next to him and associate myself with him. I guess I understood that he's following me to some of my classes to protect me from the demons that I haven't learned to fight off yet, but still. Did his presence have to be so... noticeable?
"That's Dr. Turner to you," Turner retorted with a defiant upwards tilt of her chin, as if standing up to a misbehaving student would earn her some street cred. Poor lady- she had no chance against a guy like Grey. If only she knew she was facing off with a Fallen Angel, maybe she'd pick her battles more wisely.
"Oh, right. Keep forgetting I can only call you Melody during 'office hours'," Grey's playful wink and seductive tone insinuated more than poor Turner saw coming. Her face flushed bright red, an angry scowl creasing her forehead. The class all gasped in shock at the insinuation, and poor Turner looked like she were about to burst.
"Out," Turner demanded as if it were the only word she was able to make out. I'd never seen her so furious, but by the look on Grey's face, I could tell he'd gotten the reaction he'd wanted. He flashed me a crooked grin and winked, before collecting his bag and sauntering out of the classroom. When the door slammed shut behind him, I sucked in a breath, finally able to think straight again. I really felt bad for Turner. Grey seemed to think making her angry was a fun game, but making insinuations like that could lead to rumors, accusations, and eventually, being fired. It wasn't really fair to her that Grey liked to toy with her pride and her job.
But still. The smallest, tiniest part of me found Grey funny. The smallest, tiniest part of me wished I had the courage to stand alongside him, to walk out with him as I had a short while ago. Unfortunately, I really needed these notes.
After class ended, I grabbed my things and walked outside, the brisk chill of winter's pending arrival flushing my cheeks. I shivered at the drop in temperature and the sudden feeling of an arm stretched across my shoulders. I looked up and scowled.
"Grey? What are you doing?" I frowned, shrugging his arm off my shoulders. Grey merely smirked and placed his arm back where it was. Whenever I saw Grey interacting with literally anyone else, he seemed like a wild animal, like you'd be safer trying to pet a lion than touching him. But with me, it seemed personal space was negligible. Yet another thing that annoyed me about Grey. I just had to keep reminding myself of that, and then maybe, these feelings would disappear.
"Oh relax, Greene. I saw the way you watched me as I walked out. You wanted to come. And a small part of you wanted them-" he eyed the crowd swarming around us as the remainder of the lecture hall filed out through the doors, "-to look at you the same way they look at me."
I frowned, noting that A- he was kind of right, and B- that everyone was looking at us. At me. At Grey. Then back at me.
I felt conflicted. Everything inside of me told me to shove him away and disassociate myself with him. I didn't need him or his reputation. It was my goodie-two-shoes reputation that had landed me a full ride here, and a spot in the honors program. But another part of me, a darker part of me that I hadn't realized existed until now, wanted to bask in the attention, wanted to flash them a smirk and make them all wonder who I was, make them all wonder what I was doing with Grey.
This was so not good.
This conflict- this darkness inside of me- it wasn't here before, or at least, I didn't think it was. I never liked the attention. I never broke rules. But now, there was something alluring that hadn't been there before.
A slow smirk grew on Grey's lips as he realized that I was hesitating- that I was debating letting him lead me down a path I had never thought about going down.
"You know-" he hummed softly, raising an eyebrow ever so slightly and gazing at me from underneath his thick lashes, "-you can always experiment with Heaven and Hell, see which fits best. You don't have to commit. But you should know what you're giving up when you pledge your soul."
I thought about what he said. He wasn't wrong. But he was most likely manipulating me to try to convince me to pledge my soul to Hell.
Riel was going to be furious.
But, then again, I was curious. And if I spent the entire day with Grey, he'd surely do tons of things that pissed me off. That would help me get rid of these feelings, for sure. And I needed that. I needed to not feel anything towards Grey. I needed to go back to being my emotionless self.
"Fine. Show me what it's like to be Hell's Angel," I narrowed my eyes slightly, the smirk on his pale lips widening into a grin.
My heart pounded in my chest, fully aware that I was making a bad decision, but also fully aware that I kind of enjoyed it. Grey stretched his arm nonchalantly across my shoulder, leading me down the stairs of the Chemistry building and towards the parking lot. Surprisingly, I didn't feel like I wanted to push his arm off of me. Surprisingly, I sort of enjoyed it. God- why couldn't he smell bad or something so I could want to get away from him?
People were staring. I felt their eyes on me, on Grey, and on me again. It was sort of empowering, in a strange way. People were nervous around Grey, and reasonably so, but seeing that I wasn't- it made me feel sort of powerful. Grey was like the personification of an adrenaline rush.
"Just because I'm experimenting with Hell today doesn't mean you need to touch me, Grey," I mumbled under my breath, just loud enough for him to hear. I shivered when I felt his nose against the side of my head, his breath fanning my neck.
"I don't need to, Greene, I want to," he whispered, goosebumps erupting across the surface of my skin. God- what was he doing to me?
Yesterday I had all but hated him- hell, this morning I had all but hated him. And here I was, enjoying how it felt to have his arm around my shoulders and his breath against my neck. I could feel him corrupting me. And I hated that I enjoyed it. The entire purpose of today was to convince myself to hate him again, and here I was, not even a minute in, savoring the experience of Grey touching me. Awesome.
He lead me over to his sleek black Camaro, opening the passenger door for me. I scowled slightly, unsure of what he was doing. "Where are we going?" I asked, my heart still audibly pounding in my chest.
"Relax, Greene. Just enjoy the ride," Grey smirked confidently as I got into the passenger seat. There were so many conflicting emotions inside of me. I felt sick to my stomach with anxiety. I never did anything remotely rebellious, anything remotely bad. I was concerned that Grey was going to try to turn me into an awful person today, someone I wouldn't recognize tomorrow. But I was also thrilled. It felt like, just by agreeing to spend the day experimenting with Hell, I had unleashed some wild animal inside of me that craved danger, that craved the unknown.
Grey got into the driver's seat, turning to me and furrowing his brows slightly. Then, he did something I never thought I would ever see Grey do.
He reached over, gently tilting my chin up to face him. "Greene, I can hear your heart pounding from here. Relax. We're going to have fun. I won't let anything happen to you," he said softly. I held back a gasp of surprise when I recognized the emotion laden in his unearthly blue eyes- genuine, unfiltered concern. It didn't fade away, even as he realized I'd seen it.
Grey was concerned about me. Did that mean Grey actually cared about me?