12
As James reached the door for Axels lecture hall, she realised she was nervous. This is ridiculous, I have nothing to be nervous about. He's just a Professor like any other..... just way hotter. Crap, I'm screwed. She took a deep breath, and walked in with her head down, hoping to not be noticed. What she wasn't expecting, was Axel to be standing near the door greeting his students as they came in.
"Hello James. It's good to see you again."
James whipped her head up in surprise and choked a little on the words trying to come out of her mouth.
"H....h.....hello Prof Toma. It's good to see you too. I hope you had a good day." Jesus, shut up James! Stop rambling and go and find a seat. James blushed and rushed past him to find a seat near to the front. She was hoping nobody had noticed her stumbling and blushing. She would never live it down. Thankfully it seemed the hall was pretty empty. She had decided to arrive a little early to get herself used to being around Axel again. She knew that she would have to get over this little attraction if she was going to make it through the term with him. She had this course twice a week and it was absolutely needed if she was going to finish her thesis and get her doctorate.
James heard laughing coming from the doorway and turned to see who had made Axel laugh like that. Not because she was jealous or anything, just curious. That was her story and she was sticking to it.
She was shocked to see her gentle giant of a friend smiling at Axel with a mischievous twinkle in his eye. They were acting way too friendly to not know each other. Does Silas know Axel? Shit, is he Academy? God, I hope not. This could be so bad. James was now having a mini panic attack when Silas turned and made eye contact. He smiled his huge warm smile and called out to her.
"Mikro poulaki (little bird)! I hope you saved me a seat." Silas smiled warmly at her and James turned to make eye contact with Axel. He was looking at her with curiosity and what almost seemed like jealousy. But that wasn't possible. There was no way Axel could actually be jealous of Silas knowing her. This vivid imagination thing is going to get me in serious trouble one day. James cursed under her breath and kept telling herself to stop reading into things. She needed to start socialising more. Her ability to read people used to be a lot better.
Silas turned to say something to Axel, which he seemed to ignore, and then made his way down to her. James couldn't break eye contact with Axel and was a little wary as to how the guys knew each other. As Silas sat, she turned and gave him a smile.
"Pos eisai file mou (how are you my friend)?" James couldn't help but smile when Silas lit up. He loved it when she spoke in his mother tongue. She knew that he missed some things from home. After knowing North and Silas for some time she had made it seem like she was learning Greek and needed their help.
She had actually felt guilty about them not knowing she understood when they talked to each other. She couldn't keep going with them having private conversations in front of her. Especially when they started to talk about their intimate time with Sang. That had gotten awkward quickly and it was too much work to try not to blush at what they were saying.
Sang had asked James if she could take some time to help her learn a little of the language. She hadn't asked North because she wanted it to be a surprise for both him and Silas. James had let her know that she was happy to help as soon as Sang was ready.
"Eimai poly mikro pouli. Chairomai pou se vlepo (I am well little bird. Happy to see you)." Silas said with affection. He had a soft spot for the mysterious bird they had met last year. He knew there was something going on with her that she wouldn't share with his family. But he was hoping that keeping her close would help her finally trust them enough to open up. He knew James was a sweet girl with some dark secrets. He thought of her as the little sister he never had.
James smiled at Silas and started to unload her backpack, that was filled with all of the materials she had already started to gather. James knew that she was a little OCD when it came to over-preparing for most things, but she had gone above and beyond for this course. She had binders filled with data, spreadsheets, diagrams and outlines done for a few different topics she wanted to explore for her thesis. Silas watched in awe at the shear amount of material James was piling up. He started to chuckle and looked over at her raising his eyebrow in question.
"What? So I may be a little excited. It never hurts to be prepared." James defended. Silas let out his loud brawny laugh. He just shook his head and gestured to her mountain of paperwork and said, "Prepared? This seems a little more than prepared. Oh, mikro poulaki (little bird), you are never boring, that's for sure." He continued to chuckle softly as James blushed red. She looked around, hoping no one was paying attention to them. But this was one wish she should have known was pointless.
Everyone in class was watching them, most trying not to laugh along with her burly giant. She turned to see if she was lucky enough to have Axel miss this embarrassing moment. But no dice, he was staring right at them. Again looking a little surprised and even .. upset? About their little conversation. She frowned and tilted her head to the side in question. Axel blinked and seemed to realise that James was watching him. He coughed and turned away to finish greeting his students as they entered. Okay, that was weird. Right? James figured she would never really understand the male brain, so she should just stop trying.
She turned back to Silas, determined to try and figure out how he and Axel knew each other. If Axel was Academy, she would have to re-think how she interacted with the guys she had met that day. There was no way she could ever get close to any one from The Academy. They would see through the act she put on for everyone else.
If they looked into her identity deep enough, they would realise it was a fake and her and Max's cover could be blown. Great, another thing to try and figure out. I really don't need this right now.
"So, how do you know Prof Toma? You guys seem pretty friendly." She tried to blank her face and smile innocently. Hoping Silas wouldn't catch on to her anxiety behind the question.
"Who Axel? Oh, our families have been close for years now. They're like extended family." Silas said absent mindedly. He had his head down looking through his bag or else he would have caught the look of devastation on James' face. But Axel caught it. He had made his way down to his podium and was trying to watch the interaction between his friend and the girl he had quickly become enamoured with.
He knew Silas loved his bird and that there was nothing romantic between him and James, but it didn't seem to stop him from feeling jealous of the familiarity between the two. Jealous of the smile James gave him and jealous that they seemed to have a closeness Axel wanted with her.
He caught the seemingly innocent conversation happening between them but was shocked to see the look of utter devastation cross James face. He was confused as to what Silas could have said to put such a sad look on her face. James looked up and gave Axel a look he never wanted to see again. It was a mix of sadness and apology. Like she was saying sorry and goodbye at the same time. Axel frowned and shook his head at her. Trying to convey that he wasn't going to accept that look or what she could mean by it. She just shook her head back and before she looked down, Axel could have sworn he saw almost heartbreak in her eyes. I don't know what you're thinking gorgeous, but its not gonna fly.
Axel started to panic a little inside. He had to be wrong. She couldn't be feeling what he thought she was. She wouldn't just ignore the connection between them. He wouldn't let it happen. A sense of determination flowed through him. His team were one of the best and he knew they wouldn't give up without a fight.
Silas sat beside James, totally oblivious to the turmoil she was feeling. He had pretty much just confirmed who Axel and the guys were. She was devastated. She knew she had to step back, but it hurt more than she thought it would. Oh well, I knew I would have to make sacrifices to be who I am today. I just didn't think it would hurt as much as it does. I gotta get my head on straight. I can't let these guys distract me from what I am here to do. It doesn't matter what I'm feeling now. They wouldn't want me around if they knew the real me anyways. For some reason that thought hurt James even more. She shook herself and boosted herself up in her seat. I've just got to get through this year, then Max and I can move on. They'll forget all about me. James took a deep breath and put an indifferent look on her face. Ready to put her all into getting her degree, but not letting herself get pulled into a pair of deep brown eyes.
James respect for Axel went up as she listened to him lecture. He was passionate and charismatic. He had everyones attention hooked as he went through the different aspects of Marine Biology and the doctorate program. By the end of the first lecture, James was almost sorry that this elective was only one semester long. She could listen Axel talk for hours. She shook herself out of her daze and looked around. It seemed that everyone was just as enraptured with him as she was. The little pangs of jealousy hit as she took note of all the wistful looks the females were giving him. She knew she had no right to feel them, but she couldn't seem to turn it off. She packed up her stuff and made some small talk with Silas, before she said bye and made her way out.
As James walked down the hall, she realised she had left her laptop behind. She was way too distracted by Axel's lecture and her conversation with Silas to grab her bag. She sighed heavily hoping that the door had been left open and no one had grabbed it on their way out. It was new and had nothing on it yet, but it would be a pain to get a new one and have to install all the firewalls again.
She turned and made her way back to the classroom, again distracted by her mental list of all the things she had to get done that night. Just as she turned into the hall she looked up and was completely shocked by what she was seeing. There was Axel with some skank sitting in his lap, kissing him like she was trying to swallow him whole. She was so lost in her own mind she didn't catch Axel throwing the girl off his lap with a fierce growl. He was just about to put this idiot in her place when he looked up and lost all ability to breath, let alone yell. There was James, staring at him, looking like someone had just ripped her heart out and stomped on it. FUCK! No, no, no, no, no, no. This can't be happening. Not now, not after what I saw in her eyes in class. Axel started to panic. How was he going to fix this? He held his hand out and stepped toward her. That seemed to snap James out of her daze and she turned to run.
"James! Wait! No don't go, I can explain!" He was yelling after her trying to get around the girl who was now sitting on her ass scowling at him. She reached up and grabbed him as he tried to get passed.
"Where are you going? We weren't done yet!"
Axel tried to shake her off gently, he may have been livid with her, but he didn't want to actually hurt her.
"Look, Miss..."
"It's Kim, Kim Maloney. Come on Axel, you don't want to have anything to do with that freak. She's a total loser. She has no friends and is a total loner. I am way better than her, in every way." As she said this she stood and ran her hand down Axels chest to his groin. Just as she was getting a handful, he grabbed her hand and pushed it away.
"It's Professor Toma and I made myself very clear Miss Maloney. I have absolutely no interest in you. Now please leave my classroom and only return if you want to learn. There is no other reason for you to be here. You can see me in my office during office hours and only if you have a legitimate reason to seek me out. Now leave!"
"You're going to regret this. Who do you think the dean is going to believe when I tell her that you were harassing an unsuspecting student after class? You're new here, so you may not understand how it works around here, but I am not someone you want to mess with." She glared at Axel. Who the hell did he think he was? No one turned her down, no one.
Axel squared his shoulders and fixed his shirt sleeves. "Well it's a good thing I have cameras set up in this hall, so the Dean won't have to make a choice in who to believe. The evidence will be right there for her to see." He glared back icily and stood tall.
Kim stuttered and screeched "You can't do that. You have no right to record me without my consent!"
"I have every right, and if you take another look at your course description, you'll see that all students that agreed to participate in this lecture were also agreeing to have all lectures recorded for future reference. Now that we have that cleared up, I will again ask you to leave and to act in a more appropriate manner the next time you enter my classroom. Goodbye, Miss Maloney." Axel gestured toward the door and stepped away to let her pass. She huffed in frustration, stomped her foot and ran out.
Axel stumbled toward his chair and slumped down with his head in his hands. How the fuck am I going to fix this?