Nathan
I didn't want to be here. Every fibre of my being was screaming at me to leave.
Well, actually, that wasn't quite true. My heart was screaming for me to stay, but every other part of me just wanted to get as far away as possible.
I hated Ronan and his big idea. I knew Cole would be here. I just knew it. Why wouldn't he listen to me?!
The moment I entered into the lecture theatre I could sense him in the room. And before long, I caught his scent. That was the thing about mates. You became highly attuned to their scent meaning you could pick it out easily among a group of people, and from a distance too.
God he smelled good. Like the forest just after a heavy downpour.
I forced myself to breathe through my mouth to not be drawn in by it any further.
I needed to look at the silver lining here. Ronan had said that if Cole got involved, I could pass the project onto someone else. And it's not like I wanted to do this in the first place. Why would I want to have to make conversations with these humans? At least now I wouldn't have to do it.
Assuming Cole would sign up of course. But I already knew without a doubt that he would.
Thankfully Cole was sat at the back so I managed to get through my 5 minute talk without having to look anywhere near him. I just focused on the front couple of rows.
Once I had finished, the class started to file out, and myself and James waited at the front to see if anyone wanted to sign up.
A chubby kid with spiky brown hair walked over to me.
"Hi, I'd like to volunteer," he said, grinning at me.
Why was he grinning like that? Anyone would think I was offering free candy or something.
"Sure," I said, trying not to show my obvious displeasure at being here. "What's your name?"
"Charlie," he said, that idiotic grin still on his face.
"Ok Charlie, can you fill in this form for me?" I asked, handing him a form on a clipboard.
The college had helped us design the form. It asked for some contact details, some medical info, and about their experience with woodland ecology.
As I watched him fill in the form I heard someone shout my name.
I instinctively looked up and saw that girl that Cole was with at the party. I couldn't help but see Cole who was sat next to her, looking extremely uncomfortable, like he wanted to climb into his bag.
I felt a scowl come onto my face as my protective side kicked in. Why was he cowering like that? Had someone done something to him?
"LOOK NATHAN, COLE'S HERE TOO!" she cried out, pointing with both her hands towards Cole's head, that I swear was now actually in his bag.
On hearing his name, he tentatively pulled his face up to look at me, and gave me a quick wave.
Ah, I think I understood now. His face seemed quite flushed. He was clearly embarrassed by something.
I felt my muscles untense, now I knew he wasn't in any kind of pain.
I looked across at James and handed him a couple of forms. "Go, and see if they want to sign up," I said.
James just stood there grinning at me. "I think she wants to see you Nathan."
"Just go!" I ordered with a slight growl. I didn't need to raise my voice, my glare did the job for me.
James rolled his eyes at me, but quickly scurried over to them.
"So when are you looking for us to start?" came a voice from next to me. I almost forgot that the chubby kid was still there.
"We were thinking in two weeks," I replied.
"Ok, and what sort of hours are we looking at?" he asked.
My god, this kid was full of questions.
I tried my best not to glare, and answered. "We were just thinking about weekends really. Nothing is finalised yet. It depends on how much work needs doing."
"Ok, sure," he replied. "So do you think....
"NATHAN ARE YOU TRYING TO IGNORE ME?!" came the voice, alarmingly close now.
I looked up to see the girl now storming towards me, dragging a rather anxious looking Cole by the wrist.
I frowned at the sight of her hand around his wrist.
She stopped in front of me. "Seriously, am I invisible or something?" she asked.
"Certainly not invisible," I mumbled, my eyes still focussed on her hand. Why wasn't she letting him go?
"So, we're here to volunteer. What do you need us to do? The other guy said something about a form but I was too busy being annoyed at you to..."
I couldn't take it any longer and stepped forward and pulled her hand off Cole's wrist.
She stopped mid flow and stared at me open mouthed.
"You were hurting him," I said, watching Cole rub his wrist which had red marks on.
"He's right Natalie," Cole said, shooting me a grateful look.
I quickly looked away, but already his cute face had imprinted itself on my retinas.
"Sorry," Natalie said to Cole then turned her attention back to me. "Anyway, what do we need to do to sign up?"
"You need to fill in these," I said, handing them both a clipboard.
"Here's mine filled in," came a voice from behind me. I turned round to see the chubby kid again. Had he not gone already?
"Hey, Charlie, are you volunteering too?" Cole asked him, and I watched as I saw Cole smile for the first time today. It was a really big beaming smile as well. And it was directed at the chubby kid. I didn't like it.
"Any excuse to hang out with you more," he replied with a wink.
I must have visibly flinched at that as I saw Natalie's head snap in my direction.
I quickly busied myself by looking at the form Charlie had filled in.
"Oh my god, do you ever stop?" Cole asked, but his tone was friendly with not a hint of genuine annoyance.
I was annoyed.
"I'll stop as soon as you tell me to, babe."
I could feel my grip on the clipboard getting tighter.
"Stop it Charlie," Natalie snapped, and for the first time I was pleased that she was here. "Keep it in your pants for once will you."
"Why is it too much for you to handle?" he asked, switching his attention to Natalie.
I heard a snort of laughter and saw Cole smirking at Natalie, who was starting to look just as annoyed as me.
I felt some of the tension leave my body now he'd left my Cole alone. It seemed that this kid would hit on anybody. I never understood humans.
"Here you go," Cole said, snapping me out of my thoughts.
He handed me his filled out form, and I quickly scanned over it, before realising my mistake, then quickly let go of it, like it was burning my fingers.
Cole's hand shot out to try to catch it at the same time I made a grab for it, and our hands collided sending a wave of warmth up my body. I froze, and I saw Cole do the same, as the clipboard clattered to the floor.
I slowly lifted my eyes to Cole and he was staring at me, with confusion written across his features. I tried to look away but I couldn't. I could still feel the warmth in my body, and it was taking everything I had, not to reach out and touch him again.
"Here," came a voice, and the clipboard was shoved towards me, snapping me out of my trance.
"Thanks," I mumbled to Natalie, before looking back down at the clipboard that had caused the issue in the first place.
Because there in front of me was all of Cole's information. His address, his phone number, even his last name. Huh, Dawson. Cole Dawson. I wanted to say it out loud. To hear it roll off my tongue.
"So what happens next?" Natalie asked, handing me her clipboard.
"Erm, well we're looking to start in about two weeks so we'll send you some more details closer to the time."
"Great!" Natalie said. "Is there anything you wanted to ask, Cole?"
I looked over at Cole and he was staring down at his feet, still looking a little flustered from earlier.
"Erm....well...er...no....erm...maybe....yes......erm......let me think......errr......what if.....err.....let me think.......erm...."
"Oh for heaven sake, have you got a contact number or something he can have so when he does finally think of his question he can get in touch?" Natalie asked.
I saw Cole start to blush heavily out of the corner of my eye.
"I...errr," I started, my hand automatically touching the outside of my pocket where my mobile phone was hiding.
"There you go, Cole, give him your phone then he can put his number in."
Before I could say anything more a phone was snatched out of Cole's hand and thrust into mine by Natalie.
It was warm and I couldn't help but enjoy the feeling of it in the palm of my hand. Before I could overthink anything, I put my number in the contacts on his phone. As I was handing it over, I quickly snatched it back.
"You only use that number for questions about the project. Nothing else. You got that?"
"Sure," Cole mumbled, when I placed the phone back in his hand.
I felt bad for snapping at him like that, but it needed to be done.
"Right, bye Nathan," Natalie said, then she grabbed Cole by his wrist and started dragging him off again.
I took a step towards them, but stopped myself from going after them. Why did she have to do that? He wasn't some dog that needed dragging around.
I watched them all the way to the door of the lecture theatre, at which point Cole glanced back at me. His eyes met mine then a second later I saw him wrench his hand free from Natalie's grip, making the corners of my mouth tug slightly upwards. Cole looked back again and I saw him smile before he disappeared out of the door.
As soon as he was gone I felt an ache in my chest so bad I instinctively reached up to try to rub it away.
"Are you ok?" came a voice from next to me. I looked round to see that damn chubby kid still stood there.
"Yes," I snapped back, "was there something else you needed to know?"
"Oh no," he said, shaking his head with that stupid grin on his face, "I think I have all the information I need," and with that he walked away.
Well that was weird.
I walked over to James. "Are we good to go? I need to get out of here."
"Sure, how many did you get?" he asked, gesturing towards the forms I had in my hand.
"Three. How about you?"
"Four," he replied.
I gave a small shrug. "Sounds like enough to me."
"Super, let's get out of here then," he said.
I can honestly say, I had never wanted to get out of a place so much in my life