23. Wren
Ifall into a pattern pretty easily: class, study, extras, meeting with Dimitri, dinners with the boys, sleep, repeat, and if I’m lucky, I get to sneak a few shots in here and there as I go.
Classes aren’t hard exactly, but they are a lot, and with all the catching up I’m also doing, I spend more time in the library than almost anywhere else.
Dimitri has us in a meeting once a week for now to ensure I don’t drown myself in work. It feels silly to go in just to check in so often, but I can’t deny that it’s also kind of nice just to know someone cares.
Not that he cares, or anything like that, just more that he cares like I’m his student; he wants me to succeed… It’s a normal amount of caring.
I think.
No, I need to stop thinking about him because now all I can think about is the way his lips would feel on mine, and yeah, talk about off-limits.
It would be easier to get over this silly little crush if I didn’t have to see him so often, but he insists, and each time I tell myself I’m not going to keep it up, well, it only lasts until I’m sitting opposite him in his office.
I wish Jordan were around to tell me if I was being silly, seeing things that aren’t really there, just in hopes of being special.
Then again, maybe I don’t. If he were here, I doubt I would have an issue with too many guys; he’d happily scare them all away.
Though I’m not sure anyone could scare Gloves away...
Ugh, that one is a problem.
Gloves is almost always there when I go to the library or joins me soon after, and on the rare occasion he isn’t, I feel it like a pit in my stomach. How can I feel like this for a man whose name I still don’t know? I haven’t the foggiest idea, but who says it’s rational? Certainly not me.
I’m not too proud to admit I hadn’t even noticed he wasn’t studying most of the time.
Sometimes he came with a book, other times with his phone; sometimes he had what I assumed was a sketchpad, though I never dared to peek.
I know how hard it can be to share your work with others, and I’m not sure I’m ready to show him mine should he ask.
Julez is almost always just there too, if I’m being honest.
After class, in the dorm, at lunch…
He bought me a camera. After one measly conversation, he took it upon himself not only to do what he could to fix my problem but also to take no credit for it. Which seemed so unlike him; he’s usually so loud and proud.
Titus still hates me, only speaking in German around me, and I let him, pretending as if I don’t understand him. For the most part, he doesn’t even say anything worth hiding, with the exception of Thursday night, that is. I attended cello practice for the first time, and he was there too.
He’d had a few choice words to say then.
To be fair, I had no idea he was going to be there; it’s not like I picked it to spite him. He’s certain that’s why, though, and since I wasn’t supposed to understand him, I couldn’t exactly tell him how stupid that sounded.
Well, I could have, but I didn’t.
I got the feeling that fighting with Titus is like fighting ?a wall; nobody wins, and you feel stupid afterward.
I’ve spent enough time feeling stupid to last me a lifetime. Now I pick my battles.
Today, though, instead of having something with him, Gloves sits with nothing, and I feel the weight of his gaze as he watches me move around the table and into the chair opposite him.
There is a coffee waiting for me, though, along with a cupcake from the looks of it. I can’t help but smile. Ever since he first brought me that coffee and sub, he’s been bringing something for me ?every time.
It’s silly, and I told him it wasn’t necessary, but he ignored me, and I can’t bring myself to even pretend I’m upset about it.
“It’s a brown butter vanilla cupcake with dulce de leche buttercream.”
Damn, that sounds fancy, and I’m not sure what browned butter is, but my mouth waters looking at it.
“What’s your name, mystery snack man?” I ask before I can chicken out, again.
I’d wanted to ask so many times but hadn’t been able to bring myself to, not when we were existing together so perfectly. I didn’t want to ruin this thing we have, even if I’m not sure what it is.
“Felix,” he says, leaning forward to rest his elbow on the table, cradling his chin in his gloved palm as he continues watching me.
“And what are you doing here, Felix?” I force the words out, even though I want to shove them back in the moment they leave my mouth.
That sounded mean.
“I mean—”
“I like the library.” That seems obvious, and it pushes me to ask for more.
“The library itself wasn’t what I meant. The library is huge, though, so why here?” I point to the table we’re both at and feel my face begin to heat.
He doesn’t answer, instead staring at me until I feel the urge to fidget, and then he does something that steals the air from my lungs.
He smiles, and oh my god.
I’d thought he was hot before, his little smirks and the mischievous shine in his eyes, but this…
He’s devastatingly handsome like this, and if I thought he was crazy for sitting with me before, now I’m sure he is.
“Maybe I like your company.”
I bark a laugh before I can stop myself and quickly smack a hand to my mouth to cut it off because this is a library, and that was not library volume.
His brows pull together, and I apologize.
“Sorry, but nobody ever likes my company.”
“I don’t know how that’s possible. I think you're pretty good company.” He doesn’t blink, instead holding my gaze as if daring me to argue. “Maybe you’ve had the wrong company.”
He’s intense, that’s for sure, but I can’t say I don’t like him, and not just because he brings me yummy treats. No, I liked his company even when it was just him sitting silently with me. Something about him is comforting, but I want to know more.
“Maybe,” I agree with a shrug as I start pulling things from my bag, needing a reason to look anywhere that isn’t him.
Felix… His name is fitting, sexy, and dark, and I have about a million questions, from his glove to that girl's reaction to him the other day in the quad, but I swallow them down.
He enjoys my company, and I’d like to keep it that way because even if I shouldn’t, I enjoy his too; it sure beats being alone.
I feel his eyes, and I glance up through my lashes to find him smiling at me. My stomach ties itself in a knot, and I bite down on my lower lip before quickly getting back to work.
For the first time in a while, I can think of better things to do than study, but that’s not what I’m here for, and as nice as he might be, I doubt that’s what he’s got in mind either.
“Eat it while it’s fresh,” he says, nudging my cupcake toward me. I nod before grabbing it, my face surely on fire for my less-than-appropriate thoughts as I quickly take a bite.
Oh my god.
I groan, licking some stray icing from my lips as I slow down and savor the flavor.
He leans ever closer, looking from the cupcake to me. I should be embarrassed, but honestly, it’s probably the best dessert I’ve ever had, and that’s saying something because I thought this coffee was good.
“Do you like it?”
I hold a hand in front of my mouth as I continue to chew. “It’s so good.”
My words seem to make him happy as his smile once again returns, and he sits back looking satisfied.
“I’m glad you like it, Eternity.”
There’s that nickname again.
I put that in the file to ask him about, eventually. Looks like it’s a million and one things now.