William was seated on the floor, legs crossed, face resting on his palm. Fifteen teenagers were with him, everyone sitting on a circle, and Amber was one of them. And God Did William want to walk away.
How did he get into position, anyway? Well, after being pissed off at his ex, William wanted to walk away from the party. His best friend didn’t allow that, so he was dragged to a game. Against his will.
And now they were playing truth or dare like idiots.
Amber avoided William's gaze as she interacted with the other people in the group. She hadn't been asked, yet, but they had just started not that long ago, so it wasn't too worrying.
The last person who'd gone, a jock-looking guy in dark jeans and a tight, black tshirt, chuckled when he finished his turn. He glanced around the circle a couple I fines before his eyes landed on William. He smirked and leaned back mom his hands as he asked, "Okay, dude—" Someone coughed "William" to correct him, and he shot them a glare before continuing, "—William… Truth or dare?"
William quirked an eyebrow, right about ready to shoot the guy a glare before he corrected himself and spoke his name. He looked at the teenager with a blank expression before heaving a sigh.
“… dare,” he finally responded, boredom lacing his tone. Why was he even here, he didn’t know. There were better things to do, but William knew he’d never hear the end of it from his best friend if he ended up leaving.
The guy smirked and leaned forward, resting his arms on his knees and using then to prop him up. "I dare you… to kiss the girl you find most attractive in the room."
Amber rolled her eyes. Really? What were they, high schoolers? Surely there was a better dare that he could think of.
William nearly snorted as most girls started gasping or exclaiming quietly, talking amongst each other in hushed whispers.
“Of course,” William rolled his eyes, trying to fight off an offensive comment. “Without permission, I suppose?”
The guy shrugged and looked around at the girls. "They look like they've given their permission well enough. Right, girls?"
All of the girls — except Amber, of course — nodded and/or grinned excitedly. What was it with them that made them want to miss William?
William sighed loudly, his eyes sweeping over the girls before he stood up, shaking his head. He was going to regret this if it took a turn to the worst, but William had a feeling this girl wasn’t irresponsible.
He slowly walked into the direction where Amber and another girl sat. The other girl had her brown eyes wide, her mouth open agape. Her blonde curls fell neatly on her back, her face caked with makeup. William knelt down in front of Amber, ignoring the other girl, lifted her face up slowly, and pressed a surprisingly soft kiss on her cheek.
Letting go of her, William stood up and sat back on his seat, ignoring the intense silence that had followed.
“You, with the hat,” William’s shifted to a teenager in a black shirt. “Truth or dare?”
Amber froze as soon as William walked over to her. What was he doing? Why was he kneeling down?
Now he was lifting her chin? Oh, no… Nonononono. He picked her? Of all the gorgeous girls in the room, he'd decided that she was the most attractive?
His lips pressed to her cheek, and she immediately felt her face heat up. The kiss was soft, gentle… Not at a what she'd been expecting. And at least he hadn't kissed her on the lips. That would have been really awkward… After all, they were living together.
But, gosh, were his lips soft… And he'd been incredible gentle when he did it…
Had she mentioned yet that his lips were really soft?
William dragged his best friend out of the party after the next round. He’d avoided Amber’s gaze, mostly because… well, he didn’t really know himself.
Through the whole ride, Ash had been driving him insane. After dropping him off (or rather, kicking him out of his car), William entered his dorm, took off his shoes and fell back on the couch.
He hoped Amber didn’t get the wrong idea. He was not harboring any feelings for her. He just found her the most modest out of the girls in there, and he picked her based on that. Nothing more and nothing less.
Amber stayed at the party foe a while longer, though that feeling was burned into her mind for the rest of the evening. Once she couldn't take it any longer, she drove back to the dorm.
She parked near the building before making her way up to the door and opening it. A quick look around the room while she was taking her shoes off and hanging her purse up showed William in the couch. With a small sigh, and stuck her hands in the front pockets of her high-waisted skinny jeans and mad whew way over.
"What was that?" she wondered, narrowing her eyes at him.
William opened his eyes to look at Amber—her face twisted in confusion, and she looked rather amusing trying to appear offended.
“What was what?” William quirked an eyebrow, not sitting up from his spot on the couch. “I’m afraid you’ll have to be more specific.”
Amber pursed her lips and sighed through her nose. She rolled her eyes to the other side of the room, keeping her gaze there for a moment before letting it fall back on William.
“You know what I’m talking about,” she started, her voice matter-of-fact. “At the party. When we were playing the game.”
William finally pulled himself up, taking a seat rather than being sprawled on the couch.
"What I did spoke the truth," he replied nonchalantly, pulling himself to his feet to get a glass of water. "Did it offend you?"
Amber shifted her arms so that they were crossed over her chest instead of having her hands in her pockets. She gave William a curious look, somewhat confused about what he meant.
The truth? The truth about what…?
“Offend me? No, not really. I’m just confused,” she explained as she watched him carefully.
William poured himself a glass, drinking it before rinsing it and putting it away.
"Then I suppose we don't have a problem," he answered without looking back at her. "I'm going back to my room. Unless you really need me, don't disturb me."
“Whatever…” Amber muttered, making her way into the kitchen to grab a small snack. She glanced around and eventually just settled on eating an apple. “Go do whatever it is you want to do.”
First day of class. To say William was not looking forward to it would be an understatement. He dreaded going to class, but at least he had music every day.
Which was, of course, his second class of the day. His first class went by quickly—Algebra, which he admittedly liked a lot. Even if it frustrated him sometimes.
William walked into his music class and sat down, setting his violin case to his side, waiting for the first assignment.
Amber sat down in her second class with a sigh. The morning had been hectic. For her, at least. She didn’t know about William, but she had been trying to remember everything that she’d need for her classes that day.
Thankfully, all she needed for this class was her voice and her fingers. It was music, and she focused on singing and piano. She loved the way a piano sounded, and she really enjoyed singing. It was like music just flowed though her…
The teacher stepped to the front of the classroom and smiled at her students. She introduced herself as Ms. Brightly and explained what they would be doing this semester.
“Your goal for this week is to pair up and create a song together,” Brightly explained, folding her hands together. “Covers are expected, but it’ll be better if you mixed songs in, like a mashup of different songs. Instrument apps aren’t allowed. I’ll be putting up the groups on the projector. Whoever your partner is, meet up with them and start working.”
The second she was done, she turned on the projector, William’s eyes searching for his name. He found it at the bottom of the list. He wanted to slam his head on a wall.
It was Amber.
Amber glanced up at the screen and searched for her name on the list. When she found it, she blinked before looking around the room.
William was in this class? How had she not known that? And how had she not managed to see him when she walked in?
William stayed seated in his position, throwing his head back with a sigh. Fantastic. Just great. It was enough that they were sharing a dorm. Now he had to work with her, too?
He closed his eyes, cursing at his terrible luck.