Chapter 92 Chapter 2: Anna

Chapter 92 Chapter 2: Anna
Anna:

The thing about fake dating a popular academic god is all the attention drawn to you. Imagine walking in the halls and just getting these stares that make you feel uncomfortable yet as the center of attention.

“This is weird.” Nixie replies behind me, smiling. “But I freaking love it.”

“How can someone like this?” Elva asks, frowning. We are walking through the halls to go see Adrian practice. According to my schedule, this is our second meeting. The first time was us grabbing an ice-cream together in which everyone stared and stared until they got bored. Now, the second time is me cheering him up in his practice. They have a big game next week against the academy of the east so they are pulling in all the hard work.

“You mean the attention?” Nixie asks, grinning. She even waves to a particular throng of students and I keep in my laughter. That’s always Nixie, so spontaneous and free. I am just very glad that she has found someone who loves her. She and Ivan might be complete opposites, but they say opposites attract, right? 

“Yes. Isn’t it weird? Everyone’s eyes on us, it is like they are going to know the exact moment we slip. It feels creepy; I honestly did not think that coming to the academy was going to cast us out like this. If anything, I planned on laying my head low until we graduated.” She purses her lips.

“We graduate in two years, Elvs. Look around, let’s enjoy the popularity while it lasts. Did you forget how freaking popular you were when you just started dating Alex?” Nixie counters and at the moment of Alex’s name, Elva blushes deep red.

I am so freaking happy for both of them, any time I think about it. I am really glad they found the love of their lives, but sometimes I wonder about mine, and no. This is not some bitchy jealousy brewing inside of me, it’s kind of bitterness, I want what they have too. Those secret stares, date nights, talking about everything and nothing at once.

My thoughts are interrupted when we step into the courtyard. The whole place is dusty with the football team practising; some are doing push-ups, while some are trying to kick the ball. A lot of girls are cheering them on and I force myself not to roll my eyes. They are students like us, for crying out loud.

My breath stills when I see Adrian talking to the team coach, his back is shown in display, his jersey tied around his waist. I watch him silently from a distance, without saying anything.

“That’s some eye candy over there.” Nixie smiles, mischief evident in her eyes.

“Shush! Can’t you see she is trying to concentrate?” Elva says, smacking her elbows lightly.

Adrian turns and catches sight of us, there’s a way in which his eyes lighten that just makes me freeze in time. 

‘Calm down, Anna, you are probably over thinking things again. He’s not into you, he is just trying to give his ex-girlfriend a taste of her own medicine. He calls you Anne, for pete’s sake!’ My inner self screams at me and I pull at the hem of my sweater.

I watch as he shouts something to the team. They nod their head and he begins walking over to me with a tiny smile.

“We have to leave right now.” Nixie elbows Elva, they both giggle in a very weird way and leave me on the spot. Of course, out of everyone to leave, my best-friends think it’s perfectly alright to desert me just like that.

“Hey, you.” Adrian says when he reaches me, his voice is hot and deep, emphasis on the hot. “What’s up, Anne?”

I frown, does this guy not take other people’s names seriously?

“I know, I know!” He raises his hand and laughs. “I was just kidding with you, Anna.”

However, I don’t hear what he says because I am too busy staring at his full displayed chest, those hardened muscles and solid rock abs. My hands reach to touch them, to feel the hardness, but then I stop myself.

Adrian obviously catches me watching him and he smirks, and I blush red in return. Damn it.

“You can do it,” he says and without warning, he takes my hand and guides me towards his chest. Those abs are really hard. We stare into each other's eyes as I feel his chest. This moment feels intimate, even though probably all the students (Nixie and Elva included) are staring, also this moment feels really sexy, I am feeling my nipples start to harden.

He breaks eye contact, before looking back. I follow his gaze and see Gina staring at us with disapproval in her eyes. I wonder how all of this must feel for her, when she broke up with Adrian, she must’ve thought he would always remain a sucker for her; it must really hurt seeing the look on her face right now.

“Why don’t we take this somewhere else, away from people?” He leans in, his breath fanning against my ear. It makes my pulse race so fucking fast. I know this is only faking, but the way he says it makes it feel so real.

‘This is for the re-write of your test and nothing else. You can’t afford another C negative.”

“Okay.” I nod my head slowly. Adrian grabs my hand and soon we’re out of the courtyard. We go to his room where it is much quieter, it’s a pretty decent place for a junior who is about to graduate next year. It’s also quite large for a room two people are meant to be sharing.

There are posters of history legends whom I recognize, a few textbooks on his desk about modern and ancient history. Seems like I met my history nerd.

Then it dawns on me that we are in Adrian’s room. Like his room, and there’s nobody here except us. It makes my stomach clench.

“Don’t worry.” Adrian appears from the bathroom, his hair wet. He has already changed into a cardigan and his jersey is now lying sprawled on his bed. “I thought you might be uncomfortable with the way people were staring, so I brought you here. Trust me, I have nothing else in mind, so if you’re worried about....” He trails off, the tips of his ears brightening. Weird, who knew Adrian could get flustered?

“I wasn’t thinking about anything else.” I quickly wave my hand, trying to flag down the awkwardness between us. Actually, it’s really thoughtful of what he considered, my stomach does some weird flip again.

‘Cut it out, Anna. This really has got to stop.’

He sits on the edge of his bed, running his hands through his hair. “Okay, don’t blame me for this but I am kind of a bad conversationalist.”

I stare at him in shock. “No freaking way, you’re Adrian.” I say but he raises his brows, as if it doesn’t mean anything. “Everyone loves you. People say you keep the vibes going at all cost.”

“Do they now?” he raises a brow. “Have you been hearing about me everywhere? Seems like someone’s starting to get interested in Adrian Thorne.” He sings in a weird way that has me laughing out loud.

“Don’t kid yourself.” I say, gesturing at the bed. He scoots over for me and I sit down. Never in my entire life will I have imagined being in this close proximity with Adrian Thorne, my worst enemy, but to be honest? It doesn’t feel too bad, he smells nice, like really nice and now different thoughts are starting to rush into my head, such as the fact that I am really close and might end up doing something stupid such as kissing him.

“I am serious; I prefer not engaging in conversations because it gets to a point that I won’t know what to say. No one knows this.” He admits, staring at the floor.

“Not even Gina?” I hold my breath.

“Not even Gina.” He puffs out a breath. “Sometimes, I felt like I couldn’t really tell her everything going on in my personal life and then it’s weird because love isn’t supposed to be like that, there are meant to be no secrets kept between each other. I am guessing that’s one of the reasons she dumped me.”

I sigh, shifting closer, just to give him that warmth he needs right now. I grab his hand and squeeze it gently, he looks at me in awe and I roll my eyes. “Don’t let it get to your head.”

He laughs, “Roger that, ma’am.” That smoky, deep voice returns and it dawns on me, yet again, that we are still holding hands. There’s some sort of warmth that bubbles inside of me just by holding his hand. I know it’s weird but it just makes me feel safe.

We just sit there, talking about a bunch of things, even while holding hands. From our favourite professors in the school to movies, to music, to childhood memories, we spend much time talking about history, the impact in our lives, disagreeing with the students who don’t take it seriously (considering the history nerd that we are)

Slowly, his voice starts to trail off. I feel the moment his head rests against my shoulder, his breath warm against the side of my neck.

He has fallen asleep. 

I still, unsure of what to do. I turn my head slightly just enough to look at him. In sleep, everything about him softens, his jaw unclenches, his lashes, thick and dark fans across his cheeks. There’s a tiny scar near his eyebrow that can only be observed closely. I want to reach out and trace it, to also ask where it came from.

He looks peaceful. Safe....and oddly beautiful.

I just sit there for some moment, just watching him sleep. After a while, I shift gently, guiding him away from my shoulder. Adrian stirs lightly, a sleepy sound emitting out of him.

Carefully, I help him lie on the bed, I reach for the soft duvet folded at the end of the mattress and pull it over him, tucking it around his shoulders.

Then I turn to leave the room, there’s this sort of happiness that I can’t quite explain, it bubbles through me as I leave the room.

\--

Adrian:

“That’s it for today’s class, everyone. I hope you all will be ready for next week's test.” Half of the class grumbles, but Professor Marrs keeps her signature straight face. “It covers a quarter of your total grade.”

“Very funny, Professor Marrs.” Someone yells from the class, she ignores it, walks over to her desk and starts arranging her stuff. The electric bell goes off and there’s a whooping of excited chatter from everyone in the classroom.

Finally, I have been staring at the clock on the wall for a very long time now. My leg twitching against the floor. To be honest, I didn’t really pay attention in history class which is weird because I always pay attention even when Gina broke up with me, I still attended the history class that day.

However, I think my lack of attention is caused by someone in particular. Anna. She is all I could think about last night; I’ve never had that type of conversation with anybody in my life before, even Gina. The words just came, I found myself talking in detail about many things that weren’t history and the way she paid attention, it just made me want to keep talking.

She has this sense of humour that not most people understand, there’s a certain way in which she looks at people, like she is trying to read them and let’s not forget the fact that she is so fucking beautiful.

Her smile, her voice, her face, her body.

It’s starting to mess with my head. Fuck.

“Adrian?” Someone calls me from the umpteenth time, snapping me out of my thoughts. Gina is standing in front of me, irritation evident in her eyes; she must have been calling my name a lot. Now, everyone has already left the class, including Professor Marrs, looks like it is just Gina and I. 

I am the only one still seating down.

She goes on her knees, staring into my eyes. “Why her?” Her hands rest lightly on my knee. “She’s nothing but a freshman, she’s plain...she doesn’t know you like I did. She doesn’t belong with you, you’re too good for her.”

My breath stills, and anger starts pounding through every corner of my body. I find her hand and remove it from my knee, before standing. “You don’t know her, you don’t have any right to talk about her like that and if I find you causing any trouble with her, I won’t take it lightly with you.”

Gina blinks, clearly taken aback and stunned. I don’t even look back to hear her next words, I am already walking out of the classroom and into the dining hall and order two paper cups of coffee. I know that by this time Anna is supposed to be wrapping up her maths class, so I stand not far from her class, leaning against the wall while I wait for her, backpack slung over my shoulders, cups of coffee on one hand.

After fifteen minutes, they start coming out. It’s hard to recognize her because of the students but then I see her walking with two girls, her brows furrowed and she’s deep in conversation with them, until one of them (the one with the champagne blonde hair) points at me. Slowly, she gazes up, blinking in surprise.

I cheekily smile.

She whispers something to her friend before coming over to join me. 

“What’s going on?” She smiles, that warm bright smile is enough to make me smile too. “What’s that?” her gaze is directed to the paper cups.

“Ah, I finished class early so I thought about grabbing us both drinks. Yesterday, you mentioned you like matcha cream latte?” I extend the paper cup to her and the look of surprise on her face is unmatched.

“You remembered.” She says it as though I wasn’t meant to remember. “Thank you.”

She whips her hair to wave at her friends who are still standing there. “That’s Nixie with the bright smile and that’s Elva. We are roommates and best-friends, we are connected in diverse ways, sort of like in-laws.”

They wave at us and I wave back.

“I’ll catch you guys later, okay?” She says to them and they nod. She turns towards me and we start walking down the hall.

“Are you sure they won’t be pissed that you bailed?” I ask, folding my arms.

“I don’t think so. They’ll probably go meet their boyfriends.” She smiles, taking a sip from her matcha cream latte. She closes her eyes, devouring the taste. “Thank you again for this.”

“It’s no problem at all.” I say, taking a sip from my black coffee. Since the game is next week, I have to take a cut in sugar for a while.

“I don’t know, but it is kind of weird dating someone older than me.”

“Excuse me?” I pretend to be offended, furrowing my brows. “I am not old.”

“Yeah, right.” She rolls her eyes. “What are you, like twenty-two?”

“Fuck, I’m going to be nineteen in a couple of months.” 

“I know, I know. I was just messing with you.” She throws back her head and laughs. Somehow, this feels like something normal between us, me waiting for her to be done with her classes while paper cups of coffee, her teasing me endlessly. I never had any of this with Gina, not even once.

Maybe I was looking at it all wrongly, maybe all I need is beside me right now.