Chapter 5
CHAPTER FIVE
PERFECT BY ONE DIRECTION
I went to bed early last night just so I could walk leisurely to class this morning.
I’m not late. I’m actually early, for once in my life.
I sit at my desk and pull at the sleeves of my sweater.
I’m practically drowning in the material, but it’s warm.
I tend to get cold easily, especially in these classrooms that feel more like a hospital than a learning environment.
I look over the notes in my hands, not worried at all about this final.
I know I’ve got it covered, but there’s no harm in one last look.
I see Vans walk past, my eyes still looking down at the paper in my hands.
I know Bellamy is behind me now. He seems to always choose the desk behind me.
We have never had assigned seats. There are always plenty of empty desks around the room.
Despite all of that, he still chooses this specific chair every.single.day.
“How’d you sleep, Hart?” He tugs on a strand of my hair, starting to wrap it around his finger like he’s done in the past.
I take my hair, and pull it over my shoulder, making it harder for him to touch.
My mind wanders to the list he now has in his possession, and I feel embarrassment burn through me and the heat that flushes my cheeks.
Luckily he can’t see me. I’ll never admit it to him, but that list hasn’t left my head since the moment he walked out of my apartment.
My mind reels over what he’s thinking about that damn list.
“It would have been better if you would have given me my list back,” I tell him, keeping my head down.
“Oh yeah, about that... I was thinking about the ferry boat date first. That’s a good first date, isn’t it? You got it from Grey’s Anatomy, didn’t you?” I clench my jaw.
Don’t get angry, he’s joking around. It’s just a joke.
“Bellamy, you might have lost your mind if you think I’m going on a date with you. It’s not happening.”
He taps his pencil vigorously behind me.
“Why not?” He asks.
“You don’t get to know that. All you get to know is that the answer is no, and there’s no point in asking again because the answer won’t change,” I tell him.
The rest of the class has slowly filed in, and our professor is now standing at the front of the class, holding a stack of finals.
“At least let me plead my case. Just once, and if you say no again then that’s fine, I’ll leave it alone,” He whispers now, not wanting to draw attention.
“Fine, just shut up,” I catch his smirk before I turn back around. It would be very hard to miss at this point.
The tests come out, and my mind leaves Bellamy and turns to equations, and math.
Every question feels like a breeze, my mind faltering on only a few, but coming right out of it.
I work hard, and diligently for what feels like ever, but when I look up, It’s only been about 45 minutes.
I check, and then double check and I’m the first one up, and out of my chair, turning my test in to Professor Gallen, and he doesn’t question it.
I walk out of the class, my bag on my shoulder.
I make my way down the hall, and outside, the sun hitting me as I walk down the steps of the science building.
“Kamryn!”
I clench my jaw, my eyes rolling automatically as I hear his voice calling after me. I turn slowly and face the tall football player.
“Don’t look so happy to see me,” He jokes, slowing his jog down as he meets me in the grass.
“Why are you out here? You should be taking your final.”
“Yeah, I finished before you did… I was waiting for you to be done so I could follow you out here,” He probably bombed it if he finished before I did.
“And how do you think you did?” I ask.
“Wonderful thanks to you, hey about what you said in class… Pleading my case, and all that…”
I cross my arms over my chest as I stare at the persistent but incredibly adorable quarterback in front of me, “Go ahead, but don’t expect a different outcome.”
“See here’s the thing. I’ve only got about three weeks until summer session starts.
Which means I’ve got three weeks to pack a lot of fun in, and that’s what this would be.
Kind of like, we date for a few weeks, and there are no strings attached, and that’s all it is…
You’re an attractive woman, and we get along well, or at least I think we have these past few months of tutoring…
I don’t see why there’s a problem,” He makes the offer sound incredibly tempting, all I can do is shake my head, a soft smile on my lips.
I can’t.
“Bellamy, you’re a nester.”
He narrows his eyes, “A what?”
“A nester. You date for a long time. You go out with people to find a girlfriend. You’re super romantic and all mushy and I don’t do that. I don’t date. I hookup. I don’t want to hurt you or-”
“You don’t think I’m capable of casual?” I can’t tell if he’s actually offended, but I do know he sounds like he might be.
“You have proven that you aren’t. You dated that one girl for the first two years you were here, and then you started dating Leah over the summer, and you two broke up, and ever since… Well, you’ve been single but I have serious doubts that you have hooked up… Have you?”
“Once,” He shrugs his broad shoulders. “But that’s not even a good point. Because I said there were no strings attached and I meant it. We wouldn’t even really be dating. We’d be like… Fake dating.”
I narrow my eyes, the idea sounding better and better which only annoys me. So I just need to turn him off of the idea of me, that way he’ll change his mind. There’s no way any of this would end well.
“My body count is 23, give or take a few people,” I know most men would turn their nose up to that number.
Bellamy looks completely unphased though, “More experience. More fun. Do you really think the amount of people you’ve slept with bothers me?”
What in the feminist bullshit is this? As if he wasn’t already hot. Now he’s respectful too?
“It would bother most.”
“Well, I’m a different breed,” He tries to market himself to me, but I keep trying to give him a major ick.
“I’ll always like my vibrator more than I’ll like you.”
“Honestly I like your vibrator more than I like me, and I like me a lot.”
I work hard to hold my laughter in, knowing it would make it incredibly hard to drive this point through.
“I have a crazy ex that might kill you.”
“I’d love to see him try,” He sounds incredibly serious now, and the thought of Dylan against Bellamy is almost laughable when I think about it.
“I murdered someone once,” I lie.
“And you didn’t call me for help hiding the body?”
I’m officially out of ideas. I guess I have to let him down hard.
“I leave in two weeks to go back home to my parents... There’s no time.”
“I can make a lot of things happen in two weeks for you. Hell, give me ten minutes and I could make something happen for you,” He shamelessly hits on me, and my jaw drops.
His smirk grows into a smile, and I hold the smile appearing on my face too, “You’re making it so much harder to say no...”
He keeps smiling.
“But I’m still not going to do it. No. Not happening,” I turn away. “You’re cute Bell, and sweet too, but I never made that list so it could be done... I made it as a joke, more for personal use.”
The smile never fades from his face despite the rejection I’m spoon feeding him right now. He shoves his hand in his pocket, his eyes locked on me.
“Alright, if that’s what you want,” He agrees, I’m not sure why I’m shocked by his response. “I guess... Well, I guess this is my last time seeing you before you leave then.”
I stand still, wondering how he’s accepting defeat so easily, wishing he wouldn’t for some reason.
“I guess so,” I agree.
“Alright then, safe travels. I hope I get to see you on the field next year, Ryn. You should try to join summer sessions,” He holds an arm out, and I lean in.
He envelopes me in a tight hug. I half hug him back, still questioning why he’s given up so easily. I look at him, my brows furrowed.
“What?” He asks me, and I shake my head, my eyes trailing to my feet instead of his face.
“Nothing. Have a good summer and good luck at summer sessions,” The words taste bitter in my mouth as I speak them.
I walk away, leaving him in the quad as I walk back to my apartment.
What the hell just happened?