Chapter 143: |25| Fedelini-1

|25| - "You don't have to tell me I'm a hypocrite." - If we were in England, the students would have abandoned the lecture theatre by now. The exam had been scheduled to start at three o'clock, but by twenty-past three, the teacher still hadn't arrived. Desks abandoned, groups of classmates huddled together, laughing and joking around. I had to admire the Italians for that. Not only for their willingness to hang around to find out whether this exam would go ahead or not, but for their chilled-out attitude leading up to it. Maybe January exams didn't hold as much importance for them, or perhaps they felt confident. Either way, it stressed me out further. The professor arrived just before half-past, and students returned to their desks, the noise level dropping. She handed out the papers, shouted something to the room about us having an hour to complete it, and then she retreated to a corner where she pulled out a book. Stunned at the quick turnaround, I lowered my eyes to the paper in front of me, reading the first question three times before I understood it. And even when I understood the words, I couldn't fully work out what the question needed me to answer. That set the mood for the remainder of the exam. I'd had tough exams at school, and even some at university where I'd felt like it was bound to bring my average down, but I'd never come out of an exam hall convinced that I'd failed. It wasn't purely insecurities, either. It was the fact I couldn't understand half of the questions. How could I give the right answers if I didn't know what it was asking me? As I began the walk home, I text Jasmine and warned her that the exam had gone badly and so I was in need of an extra-large pizza. It took less than half an hour to get back to my flat, but when I arrived, two pizzas sat on the living room table, a bottle of wine breathing between them. ❄ My second and third exams were only marginally better, but I left the room feeling like I at least stood a small chance of passing. When I returned home after my final exam, I was yet to switch off. My head revisited the questions, doubting the answers I'd submitted and mentally calculating how many might have been correct so I could estimate whether I'd passed. A vase of flowers stood proudly on the dining table, distracting me from my torment over exam questions, and I took a moment to inhale their fragrant scent. "Sean sending you flowers now?" I called out to Jasmine, hooking my bag over the back of a chair. "Not from Sean." The familiar deep voice sent a jolt through my body as I spun around, wondering if my distress at being separated from Nathan was now causing me to imagine him. But he was there, leaning casually in the doorway that I'd just walked through. His arms folded, wearing his jeans low on his hips along with a baggy hoodie, Nathan resembled exactly the type of guy I'd avoid if walking home alone after a late lecture. Tall. Muscular. Intimidating if I didn't know better. "What are you doing here?" "Nice to see you, too, Bella." I smiled and closed the distance between us, reaching up to peck him on the lips. The fabric of his hoodie felt soft against my fingers, his aftershave intoxicating, driving me to deepen the kiss and press my body closer. When it sunk in that he was here for real, unexpected and yet at the same time comfortably familiar, my hands roamed lower, sweeping under his top and over his abs. He flinched, prompting me to lean back and raise a questioning eyebrow at him. "Your hands are freezing," he said by way of explanation. "You still haven't told me why you're here." Nathan sank down into the sofa and pulled me onto his lap. "You've been unhappy about your exams and I wanted to cheer you up." My stomach fluttered at his words, unable to ignore how different this felt compared to before Christmas when I'd struggled to capture Nathan's attention at all. Back then, Nathan choosing to surprise me would have been incomprehensible. A mere fantasy. "I thought if I told you earlier, then you might not have been able to focus on your last exams," he continued. "And I wanted to see the smile on your face, too." I grinned and pressed my mouth to his again for another heated kiss. "Consider me cheered up, focused and very smiley, then." "Mission accomplished." And he carried me into the bedroom. ❄ Barely a week earlier, Abbie had been asking about when Nathan planned to visit. Little had I known that he'd be joining our prosecco-drinking session in the very near future. What I had known, however, was that Abbie would talk his ear off about anything and everything, whilst Ant battled to get a word in edgeways. It had been a while since I'd last introduced Nathan to someone for the first time. That feeling of pride at how well he handled the situation—as well as how much everyone seemed to immediately fall for him—felt almost foreign. He lived up to his reputation of the life and soul of the party, making Abbie laugh, challenging Ant's questionable views, easing Sean out of his shell and even softening Meg's hard exterior. I alternated my drinks between prosecco and water, having learnt my lesson the hard way, but Nathan knocked back the alcohol without issue, it seemingly having no effect on him. When Meg excused herself for a cigarette, I noticed Nathan's eyes drift after her and couldn't help wondering if he craved one himself. "Tempted?" Jasmine asked him, managing to pull it off as a light-hearted comment as she flashed a teasing smile in his direction. It genuinely seemed like she could read my mind sometimes. Or maybe my body language spoke volumes without me realising.