LEISURELY STROLLING back to my dorm, a gentle gust of wind wafted James's citrus scent towards me. Lampposts lining the campus sidewalk dimly lit our path ahead as the last bits of daylight lingered in the sky, birds flying and chirping overhead.
"God, enough with the cheesy pickup lines!" I exclaimed, chuckling at another one of James's corny pick-up lines that he saw online. It was kind of our thing.
James and I had grown a lot closer ever since I arrived at Berkeley, walking around campus aimlessly as James constantly spat out cheesy pickup lines that he somehow hasn't run out of yet. It gave me a comforting feeling knowing that I had someone else here apart from Ava.
Ignoring my previous statement, he smiled and looked down at me, a sparkle in his eyes. "Ooh, what about this one?"
He cleared his throat and an eyebrow quirked up, "Do I know you? Because you look a lot like my next girlfriend." My cheeks began to sport the lightest tint of pink as I tried to mask it with an amused chuckle.
"Oh?" He stated with amusement. "Well, clearly that one was not cheesy, because it seems like someone's blushing," teased James, singing the last word of the sentence. I rolled my eyes in response, a smile still inhabiting my lips.
Deciding to spare him a witty comeback, I picked up my pace with James trailing shortly behind. A short, deep chuckle left his lips before he caught up with me once again, flanking my right.
"Aw, come on, Hads. You know I'm just joking," James said playfully with a grin, stepping in front of me.
"You're so cute when you're blushing." His tone was playful and gentle, like he was talking to a toddler. He pinched my cheeks and I scrunched my nose in response, playfully pouting my lips.
The red hue, that already stained my cheeks, darkened as I felt tiny jolts of electricity prickle my cheeks. Oh god, what's happening to me?
"I am not blushing." I swatted his hands away and continued to walk, James right beside me.
"Yes, you were," he taunted.
"Nope," I defended.
"Yup."
"No."
"Nope."
"Yes." I paused for a second, eyes growing wide, and sighed, face beginning to scrunch up. "Dammit," I whispered under my breath.
To my relief, we reached the front of my dorm building. I looked up to James and found that he was already looking down at me with his hazel eyes, a giant goofy grin smothered across his face. Still feeling quite embarrassed, I began to walk to the entrance, about to shout goodbye to James on the way, when he grasped onto my arm.
"Wait, before you go upstairs, I wanted to ask you something." A bubble formed in my chest when we locked eyes, his hazel ones gazing intensely into mine. A sudden, but subtle shift in his eyes, a yearning sparkle, caused the bubble to grow immensely bigger.
"One of my new roommates invited me to dinner with them this Friday, but they sort of left out the fact that their girlfriend was coming along with them. I know he had good intentions, but I have a feeling that I'll probably become the third wheel later in the night," he chuckled. "So I was wondering, do you want to come with us?"
At first, I thought that James wanted me to be there for friendly support, but the shimmer in his eyes and the mysterious, jittery feeling bubbling in my stomach said otherwise.
"Sure," I replied softly with a soft grin. Some of the tension that had built up in his shoulders ceased as he sighed a breath of relief, a smile replacing his stressed state.
"Great. I'll meet you here at 7."
Not realizing that his hand still had a hold on my arm, I looked down for the first time, and he followed my gaze. He cleared his throat as he slowly removed his hand and my skin began to marginally miss the warmth and spark his hand brought. Our eyes found its way back to each other again, causing some adrenaline to pump through my body.
I slowly backed away, eyes still fixed on James, and walked backward. Caught up within the moment and the sunless surroundings, I didn't realize that the steps leading up to the entrance were situated right behind my heel, and with that, I felt myself begin to fall backward.
With a squeal, I braced myself for impact, but it never came. I peeked through one eye and instead of a pair of steps lodged in my back, I was met face to face with intense hazel eyes staring right back at me.
Dangling mid-fall, my body was tightly pressed against James's toned body as his arm was wounded securely around my waist. Our faces were mere inches apart, and I could feel his warm breath against my lips.
"Thanks for catching me, James," I said, barely above a whisper as I was at a loss for words. For some reason, my brain wasn't functioning right, and I didn't know what to do or say next.
"Thanks for being such a catch," winked James and I rolled my eyes, a grin on my lips. He briskly pulled me back to my feet and I pulled down my shirt, for it rose up to my mid-drift when I stumbled backward.
"Well, goodnight then." I briskly yet awkwardly said and spun around on my heel, looking down to make sure I didn't trip over another object.
"Bye, Hads. See you tomorrow," I heard from behind. As I walked through the sliding doors into my dorm complex, I turned around and saw James slowly walking back in the direction of his dorm. As if he had eyes on the back of his head, he turned around and shot me a charming smile, to which I responded by doing the same.
Briefly waiting for the elevator doors to open before stepping inside, my brain began to overwork itself as I got into my head, mentally facepalming at what I had done moments ago. God, I'm so awkward.
I hopped out of the elevator once it reached my floor and pulled out my keys from my shoulder bag. Once I unlocked the door, I made a left to my room, taking a peek into Ava's room to see if she was here. Her room was dark and showed no visible signs of Ava being in her room so I opened the door to my room and flicked the lights on.
As I turned back to move further into the room, Ava jumped out at me and screamed, tackling me to the ground, landing with a loud thud on the cold, hard floor. Eyes bulging, adrenaline pumping, I screamed so loud that probably all of California could've heard my cry for help.
"What the hell, Ava?" I shouted, hand clutching to my chest. "What was that for?"
"Well, for one thing, you haven't been here all day, so I had nothing to do nor did I have anyone to talk to. And second, I heard your keys jingling in the hallway while I was in the living room, so I decided to scare you as payback for leaving me here by myself," she pouted. I sighed as I sat up and arranged myself into a comfortable position on the floor, Ava doing the same.
"But enough about me. I saw you and James down there, what was going on between you two?" Ava sang, wiggling her eyebrows.
"Nothing," I simply responded with, shrugging my shoulders.
"Are you sure that's all that happened? Because it sure looked like you were getting a bit too close if you ask me," Ava suggested. I rolled my eyes and proceeded to move to the edge of my bed, looking down at Ava who was still sat on the floor.
"Really, nothing happened. He just asked me to come with him to a dinner with his new roommate," I insisted. Ava's mouth dropped, but I held up a finger in protest before she could respond. "And I'm only agreed because his new roommate's girlfriend is tagging along, and he doesn't want to be third-wheeling."
Ava still gleamed with excitement, biting her bottom lip. She gave me a mischievous look, like she knew something that I didn't as it was visible that she was using every ounce of her willpower to withhold herself.
"What?" I confusingly asked as I tried to form some type of connection in my head.
"Nothing," sprouted Ava, her lips rolling in with a grin still glued to her face. She abruptly stood up from the floor and pranced away, chirping a "goodnight" on the way out, closing the door behind her.
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A/N: Have a great day or week!
-Karlee ð