Chapter 27 Blue feelings
Just as she was walking out, her head still under the impression of what she just heard, headed back to her dorm, she noticed a familiar face. That cocky walk, that overly self-confident grin, that sleek hair which no wind could even touch. There was only one person like that in the entire place. Hell, in the entire world.
“Hey there, gorgeous,” Raphael greeted her, as he approached her.
She noticed that there was a small group of guys huddled around in a circle, some of them sitting on a little bench. Obviously, they were just hanging out there and Raphael came up to say, hi. What the hell was he trying to do? She couldn’t figure him out and it was driving her crazy.
She really disliked him. It wasn’t only the warning she had received in the school bathroom. It was him. He was a jock and had all the worst traits assigned to one. She wouldn’t be caught dead spending time with him, even if her life depended on it.
“Oh, it’s you,” she rolled her eyes.
“Ouch,” he pressed his hand on his chest, which she could tell was chiseled as hell, “that hurt. Why the hateful welcome, when I’m being so nice and just wanted to say hi?”
“I seriously don’t get you,” she got so close to him, then blew hot air right into his face, like a bull about to go on a rampage.
“I’m mysterious like that, I know,” he chuckled.
She wasn’t sure if the guys he was with could hear them, not that it mattered, really. The last thing she wanted to do right now was to argue with him. She just wanted to get out of there.
“Do you always have to be like that?” she asked, not having any more strength to be
rude.
“Like what?” he answered and she could see confusion in his eyes.
Could it really be that he wasn’t aware of how annoying he was? Or, was it that he always got what he wanted just because of that handsome face, so it never mattered what he said, because no one really listened?
“Like… this,” she replied, gesturing at him with her hands. “I have no idea what you want, and honestly, I have no time, or desire to waste time, on finding out.”
“Whoa, whoa,” he said, pulling them a little to the side.
She was sure that from where they’d just been standing, his friends could hear that. Now, they had moved a little further away from them and she figured, it was because he didn’t want them to hear any more of their conversation, not that she planned on staying here with him much longer.
“Why do you always have this angry vibe towards me?” he asked, and to her complete and utter surprise, he sounded genuinely sincere.
He eyed her with a puppy-dog look. She hated it. He was just playing her. She could sense it. There was probably a bet or something going on with his jock friends, about him getting her to bed or something equally distasteful. Why else would he even be talking to her?
“You are everything I dislike,” she told him, plainly and unapologetically.
“What do you mean?”
He obviously needed more clarification and she was willing to give him some.
“You walk around this place like you own it,” she started, gleefully, “I mean, seriously. Do you think you’re that important, in the grand scale of things? Well, you’re not and the fact that you’re acting like you are, doesn’t change that fact. Also, you should talk to your on and off girlfriend and finally decide what you want, and just keep me out of it. Because, every time we talk, she gives me shit and I’m sure she’ll find out about this, and more shit will be coming my way.”
She was breathing heavily, because she blurted all this out in less than ten seconds, making sure not to forget anything.
“Is that all?” he asked, with a smile on his face.
At first, she thought he was making fun of her. He looked like he couldn’t care less about what she had just said and this pissed her off. But then, she realized that the smile
on his face was genuine. He was simply smiling. It wasn’t a smirk.
“You’re a jackass, pure and simple,” she rounded it up.
“I admit,” he scratched his head as he spoke, “you’re right. I can be a jackass.”
“Well,” she was taken aback by this sudden and easy confirmation, “I’m glad we agree then.”
“But, I can also be just a regular guy,” he added.
“You?” she burst out into loud laughter. “I doubt that.”
“Let me show you,” he suggested, as if he just thought of this idea and it was paramount that she agreed to it.
“How?” she wondered, eyeing him suspiciously, as if this was a trap. She thought everything was a trap nowadays.
“Let me buy you one of those horrible cafeteria coffees and take a walk with me.”
“A walk?” she repeated.
“Yeah, we can even go to the Bunker, I can get you in.”
“I appreciate the offer but I’m already in,” she told him.
He frowned, as if he disapproved of the idea.
“Who got you in?” he wondered.
“Um, am I allowed to say?”
“Why wouldn’t you be?”
She figured it probably wasn’t a secret, since everyone there saw her with Hendrik, but Raphael was asking it so sternly, that she actually thought she might get punished for saying who it was.
“It was Hendrik,” she finally said it, without any hesitation.
“Hendrik?” he repeated his name and Izabella just nodded.
“That wasn’t…” he started, then bit his lip.
She wondered why he’d do that. What was it he wanted to say?
“Wasn’t what?” she asked, curiously.
“Never mind,” he waved his hand dismissively. “What matters is that you’re in.”
“Really?”
“Of course,” he nodded. “So, that’s a yes on the coffee?”
“No,” she quickly shook her head. “I never said that.”
“So, what are you saying?” he wondered.
“I haven’t really said anything yet.”
“That means there’s still a possibility of you saying yes.”
“There’s an equal possibility of me saying no,” she quickly added, but it was obvious that they were both having fun.
Right now, he wasn’t his usual jackass self and he was almost cute. Almost.