Normally, I would have nodded and gotten away as soon as possible, before he tried to ‘flirt’, AKA make fun of me, but something stopped me this time. He seemed… off. Like something was wrong. As much as I disliked the guy, my instincts to ask what was wrong overpowered me, not to mention my curiosity. “Gray? What happened?”
Grayson’s POV:
I raised my eyebrow in her direction. What did she just ask me? Did I hear that correctly?
“Could you say that again?” I said, furrowing my eyebrows. “Did the girl who hates my guts actually ask me what happened? I think I should be the one to ask you that.”
And the sympathy disintegrated immediately upon hearing his words. I crossed my arms, jaw clenching. “I do not ‘hate your guts’. Please, Gray, don’t play stupid, you know exactly why I avoid you. I asked you what happened, you look upset. Care to answer?”
Grayson’s POV:
“Oh, I’m afraid I don’t know,” I said instead, ignoring her question. I tried not to bend, knowing it would make my already-throbbing bruise hurt more. “Why do you avoid me, Violeta?”
I gritted my teeth, turning my head away. This was exactly why I avoided him, he was trying to get me to say it, to open my mouth and say it. He knew how much it would hurt to say, even if I'd mostly gotten over my self-esteem issues– yet he still tried. "I'm not having this conversation with you right now," I said firmly, biting the inside of my cheek. "I just wanted to know what was wrong."
Grayson’s POV:
I frowned as she turned her head away. God, what was the reason for hating me? Did I ever do something to her? I don’t remember. I don’t remember ever doing anything to her to make me look like a bad guy. Sure, I flirt with her, but that shouldn’t give her a reason to hate me, does it?
“I’m fine,” I finally answered, a bright smile on my features. The more I wore it, the easier it was to force it. “Ah, it’s always nice to have a pretty girl worry about you~ But don’t worry, sweetheart, I’m perfectly fine~” I rubbed her head, the smile turning into a grin. “Well, then, bless me with your presence some other time. I have to go~“
And he was off again, poking fun, doing his best to make me snap. Something inside me crumbled, perhaps the last of my resolve to stay positive today. "Goodbye, Gray," I barely managed before turning and slipping away, arms moving to hug my stomach.
Did he really think that little of me, to purposely try and belittle me whenever he got the chance? It was painfully obvious to me how fake his flirting was, after all– why would he flirt with me? In his eyes, I was probably– definitely– little more than the fat girl he could manipulate.
(Poor Gray…)
(yeah…. sorry, Gray. Violeta extends her sincerest apologies)
Grayson’s POV:
I winced and touched my side again the second Violeta walked away. I couldn’t help but catch a pained tone in her voice, but I didn’t know why. Gosh, I didn’t know a lot of things when it came to her, did I?
I shook my head. It would do me no good to think about her when I really needed to do something about the pain in my side. I knew it wasn’t that bad—I only took the hit twice before I managed to escape with the girl, but God did it hurt. What were those kids even wearing underneath those gloves?
I sighed, rubbing a finger through my hair.
“Oh, Gray!” A girl called out to be from behind. I gave a quick role of my eyes before plastering a smile on my features, turning around to greet the girl. “What’s wrong? You look so tired!”
I winked at her.
“Oh, you know, sweetheart~” I have a laugh at that. “I’m a busy man.”
She laughed back, shaking her head before patting me on the shoulder. I bid her goodbye and walked away, finally deciding to get something to eat. Perhaps a sandwich? I couldn’t afford to get something expensive, so a sandwich would do just fine.
(yeah…. sorry, Gray. Violeta extends her sincerest apologies)
(It’s all right. XD Things’ll get better between them once Violeta realizes he isn’t making fun of her.)
(yeah, she'll come around
should we skip?)
(yeah, she'll come around
should we skip?)
(Where to?)
(uhh idk
Next day, I guess?)
(All right. Who wants to start?)
lowers hand
lowers hand
(🤣🤣🤣)
sorry
(I’ll do it. XD)
Eden’s POV:
I woke up the next morning with a headache. I squeezed my eyes shut, groaning as I turned over, throwing my arms around my sleeping boyfriend. I dug further in him, hoping it wasn’t morning and I could still take a few more hours of sleep because God did my head feel like it was about to burst.
It was right when I thought that did my phone begin to ring loudly. I searched for it, my eyes still closed. When I finally located it, I turned off the alarm and signed deeply. Sterling and I finally got tired of our alarm clock that we decided to put up alarms on our phones.
It was the second week of school and I really didn’t want to go. I wanted to lay here wrapped around Sterling, but unfortunately my boyfriend wasn’t going to have it.
(thanks lol)
I was already awake by the time my alarm went off, sipping on a mug of hot chocolate and carefully applying pencil strokes to the canvas paper in front of me. Groaning, I reached over to where my phone was sitting and shut it off; there was no need to rush. I was already dressed and ready for the day, having wolfed down a healthy smoothie and some avocado toast about an hour ago. I had about forty-five minutes to draw as I pleased before I had to go, a luxury I was greatly enjoying.
It was my second week at college already, and boy, was I having fun being a student. The independence? The lack of morons? The intellectual lessons? Yes, I was extremely stressed and rushing to meet deadlines. Yes, everything was ten times harder than it had been in high school. But hey, I had my rosy quarter-zip sweater, a pair of embroidered jean shorts, and of course, my space buns, what could possibly go wrong?
Sterling’s POV:
I groaned and rubbed at my eyes. Was it morning already? It felt like I had just fallen asleep…
“All right, babe… Time to get up,” I yawned, reluctantly pulling out of her arms so I could sit up and stretch.
Eden’s POV:
I shook my head, curling up instead, pulling the blanket over myself. Couldn’t I just stay here on the bed? I didn’t want to go.
“Don’t wanna…” I murmured, biting my lower lip as my head began to throb again.
Gray’s POV:
I didn’t make it a normal thing to be early to college, but it wasn’t like I had a choice. Aria’s (my little sister) school started about thirty minutes before mine did, and I would never let her go to the bus station on her own. She was only twelve, after all.
Anyway, I sat on a bench in the college ground, playing my game. I was almost at the end of this game, and I couldn’t wait to play part 2.
Sterling’s POV:
I gently pulled the covers off of her head and looked down at her softly. “Eden… You’ve gotta go to class,” I murmured, reaching over to ran my hand through her hair. “…Are you feeling okay?”
After I had pieced together a rough sketch of a young woman suspended in mid-air as otherworldly curls of coloured fog formed in ripples around her body, I stood and checked my appearance in the full-body mirror I'd brought from home. Yes, I seemed extremely narcissistic, but it was much more practical than a smaller mirror. And besides, I needed to satisfy myself that I looked okay every morning, or else my self-doubt would catch up to me during class and I'd grow more and more stressed about what other people saw.
I looked pretty okay, so I grabbed hold of my pre-packed bag and headed out, waking my still-sleeping roommate before I left. It was another warm day, and I found the sun warming my skin as I crossed the campus. But the smile dropped right off my face when I saw exactly the person I was trying to avoid– Gray.
Eden’s POV:
I opened my eyes, reaching for Sterling’s hand and pulling it close, kissing it softly.
“Mhm,” I murmured, sighing before sitting up slowly. I ran my fingers through my hair, away from my face before fixing my shirt. “I’m fine…”