Chapter 23: 18.𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐦

We are finally here at the restaurant

I thought I might die due embarrassment in the car . Why did he have to read that

"Let's go?" Liam's voice snaps me out . I nod and we start to walk towards the restaurant, "you like Italian restaurants?" He asks , I shake my head "not a big fan, I like the food but only a few"

"Then why did you select this restaurant?" He questions

I sigh , well this is not my choice "Cami selected this . And we all agreed" I look at Liam, he is just looking straight forward, he has been avoiding eye contact with me since we arrived here. Did he feel uncomfortable with what I said? Did I say something wrong

"Hm, what about you? Do you like Italian food?" I ask trying to get his attention

"They are nice . I am not a picky eater "His reply gave me a bit of relief because we brought him here to appreciate his help but if he didn't like the food then it's a waste "what do you wanna eat here?"

I think for a minute and only one answer comes to my mind "pizza!" and that's when he finally looked at me and smiled "pizza?" He confirms and I nod "yes it's the best , it's my companion for celebrations and also for the sad days" I take a pause . I am quite a few steps ahead of him, I turn around and say "oh and ice cream too! I love both of these"

He stops for a minute and chuckles "so pizza and ice cream ? Noted"

We both enter the restaurant and it's filled with people. They seem to be enjoying the food but I can't locate Cami and others , they said they will reserve the table but where. I quickly grab my phone and call her

"Whom are you calling?" Liam asks

"Cami. I can't spot them" I say and he just hums in response. He was being so chatty in the car what happened now

"Hey Stella . Are you here?" Cami calls out

"Oh yes . But where are you guys I can't see you" I reply

"At the first floor, you will see us"

"Okay" I say and hang up the phone

"Let's go, they are on the first floor " Liam nods and follows me upstairs. I look around and see Cami waving at me . I smile and wave at her back and walk towards the table. Cami , Zuri, Max and Julian are present there already. They aren't looking at me but looking at Liam behind me. "Sorry we are late" I say putting my bag aside and sitting beside Zuri

"Wow you actually brought him? Well done" Zuri whispers to me and giggles . Liam greets Cami and Max but Julian? They don't even make eye contact. Liam looks at Zuri and smiles"it's been a while" he says to Zuri

"Yep . How are you doing?" Zuri asks

"As you can see" he replies sitting opposite to me "so you guys scored the top rank?" Liam speaks

"Yes! I couldn't believe it . Thanks for helping us" Cami beams with a huge grin on her face. Among us she seems like the happiest person here.

Soon the waiter brings us the menu . I thought my dressing was really casual for this restaurant but when I entered it I realized that there are many students eating here and their dressing is also casual. Well that's a relief

"Hey! What do you wanna eat?" Zuri nags me showing the menu. I went over the whole menu but couldn't decide what to order . The guys have already placed their orders.

I thought about getting pizza but....

"Hey? Can't decide?" Liam knocks on the table slowly to get my attention. "I can't," I sigh . He takes another menu and goes through it "didn't you say you wanted pizza?" He is almost whispering but I can hear him . The others are talking to each other and don't pay attention to our conversation

"Yeah but I don't wanna eat a whole pizza here" I whisper yell

He nods and keeps the menu down "so can I choose for you?" I think for a moment, well as I can't decide it's better to go with his suggestion. I nod in agreement

By this time Cami and Zuri have also said their order, Liam gives my order

It's obviously gonna take some time for our food to come as the restaurant looks busy right now. Everyone is chatting, Cami and Zuri are talking about the NYX new collection launch and Max is taking some advice from Liam. Julian...well he is just there scrolling through his phone.

"What do you think Stella?" Zuri snaps me out

I look at them "hm i am excited for it" i blur out I don't even know what they were asking me "Right? Even me" Cami giggles as she turns to Zuri and asks "you are gonna go there?"

Zuri nods "yeah my mother is friends with Emily Carter so i am thinking of going to the after party. I heard they are holding a grand celebration"

Oh so they are talking about this! Sometimes I even wish to meet her and tell her how much I am inspired by her . But she's so out of my reach. Will she even look at a amateur fashion Student like me?

Liam is looking at me while listening to Max . He doesn't break eye contact. He raises his eyebrow like he's asking what happened. I Shake my head nothing

"Oh didn't think I would see you here Liam" a voice makes all of us go silent. I looked at Liam and he was smiling just now but now his expression is serious. I could notice his jaw clenched. Liam gets up from his seat "what are you doing here?" That's when I noticed the guy who called Liam

A guy dressed in a formal black suit . The same height as Liam. His one hand in his pocket and the other holding his phone with a smug smile on his face. Liam clearly looks angry with him . Everyone is looking at both of them

Suddenly that guy's eyes land on me , he looks kinda shocked but makes his expression back to neutral and smirks

Okay creepy

Before i could react, Liam stands in front of him blocking his view towards me "you didn't answer me" Liam snaps at the guy "oh I will" that guy tilts his head a little trying to look past Liam

Liam turns towards us "excuse me. You guys can continue"

Liam then whispers something to that guy and walks away and that guy follows him but glances at me again. His gaze is sending Shivers through my spin

"Who was that?" Zuri asks

"Maybe his friend?" Max Guesses

Julian looks at the direction where both of them went and says "I think I saw him somewhere" and Zuri nods "yeah me too but I can't remember"

"Ohh I can only see bromance" Cami giggles. Why is she suddenly behaving like Jasmine?

I have already met this guy and now today he appears again. Good way to get on my nerves

"What are you doing here Jeff?" I ask him as we walk away from the table to somewhere else for a talk where others can't notice or hear us

"Same thing as you, eating" he shrugged

I scoff. Him eating here? He has a whole group of chefs from different countries so he could have his meals from all around the world and now he is giving me this excuse "don't try to fool me. You? Here? To eat?"

"Yeah can't I?"

"Be honest Jeff. You said someone is watching me, were you indicating it's you?" My voice is stern waiting for his reply "sorry but I am straight i don't follow guys , but I can follow girls" he chuckles and looks over my shoulder where the others are sitting "especially blondes"

My jaw tightens and my hand grabs his collar pushing him to the wall "don't even think about it" I apply more force but he isn't resisting at all and keeps smiling. He has been looking at Stella since he noticed her

"Oh, it seems like I found your weakness" he smirks

"DON'T FUCK WITH ME" My hand is already on his neck and he laughs and suddenly stops and jerks my hand away . He fixes his collar and says "just because I don't react you think you can fight me?"

"I am warning you Jeff to stay away from her . This is between us . She's off limits"

He chuckles "she is off limits to me and to you too" his last words come out as a whisper "you know who she is right?" I don't reply to him . He opens his mouth when he realizes "ah so you do? Yet you want her?"

"None of your concern"

"Oh it isn't. But it's your and your family's concern" he pats my shoulders "Does she know?" My jaw tightens, he knows so much about this "how do you know all this?" I ask

"Oh come on. She was the highlight of that party. You remember it right? You should remember that's when you saw her for the first time" he mocks and smirks

He knows everything and he's not gonna shut up about it. If I could describe him in one word it would be a dog . Always sniffing around

"Stay out of it" I warn him

He raises his hands "I will, don't worry. But I am just warning you as a friend or let's say a frenemy. Associating with her" he looks at Stella , she's talking about something with her friends and laughs. Jeff turns towards me and continues his sentence "will bring you a lot of harm. Be careful my friend" his tone is serious.

He is not joking

"What did you mean when you said I was being watched? If it's not you then who?"

He takes a deep breath "for now i don't know. But you are safe but your people aren't" I frown at his words . He told me to be careful now he's telling me I am safe but not my people?

Who? My family or her

He looks at his watch and says "oh look at that i gotta go now"

"Say everything clearly Jeff"

I keep his hands in his pocket"everything comes with a price . I already told you so much" he says and walks down the stairs and waves a bye , he stops and turn around "you know where to seek help"

This guy!

I go back to the table, the food has arrived and everyone is eating. I sit and notice that Stella hasn't touched her food yet "you didn't like it?" I ask her

She noticed me "no I was waiting for you"

Oh

Oh

She was waiting for me?

I couldn't help but smile "Is this ravioli?" She questions looking at the dish . I nod , I ordered the same dish for both of us "have you tried it?"

"Never it's my first time" she denies and picks up her fork and takes a bite of it as I wait for her reaction. Her eyes suddenly widened as she stares at me

Is it good or bad?

"It's so good!" She places her hand on her mouth as she speaks. Okay that's a relief. And she continues to eat "thank you. You should also eat" I nod and take a bite myself

Well it is good

After we finish eating . Everyone bids us goodbye and they leave. Stella and I are standing outside the restaurant, Why are we suddenly in an awkward silence

"I will drop you back" I offer and she accepts

We both walked towards the car and I made her sit inside and close the door as I was about to sit. I realised something. I bent down towards the car window "wait for me I will be right back"

She looked confused but she nods

I quickly run inside the restaurant and ask the receptionist "Excuse me. Do you also make home deliveries?"

She looks up from the computer and answers "yes sir we do" . I notice a small notepad kept on the desk . I take it and scribble down the dorm 's address and Stella's number

"Then could you deliver a pizza and a tiramisu to this address in an hour?" I say passing the address to her

She takes it and makes the bill "anything else?" I took out my wallet to pay , before forwarding her the card "could you make it with two pizzas and two tiramisu?" She nods and takes the card .

After the payment , I rush towards the car l, Stella is sitting reading her book again, seeing me enter she closes it and looks away "You can continue reading. I won't say anything"

She gives me a side eye and I laugh. I wear my seatbelt and start driving towards her dorm .

The ride is silent before Stella speaks again "Liam?"

I am looking at the road but glance at her for a moment "yes?"

She hesitates for a moment "hm... what's this?" She asks, pointing in front at the dashboard. My grip tightened around the steering when I realized what she was talking about. She didn't notice it until now. Why so suddenly?

"Nothing, just a charm"

"It's pretty, can I see it?" I look at her for a moment. It's a bad idea but her looking at that charms so invested i can't deny "yeah you can" my voice might have never sounded so scared

She picks up the charm and looks at it admiring it . It's a small charm two pink pearls and a small star joined together with a silver chain, I hope she doesn't notice

"You know i had a necklace with the same pink pearls" shit

"Oh.. really? You know pink pearls are common" I cover up but it's stupid. They are not common, they are really rare and expensive.

Stella doesn't pay much attention to that and keeps her attention to the charm.

Please don't recognise it

After a while she keeps the charm back , when we arrive at her dorm . She gets down "thanks for the ride bye" she smiles

"Bye freckles"

Her smile drops but she smiles back and walks away. I take a deep breath and lean against the seat , I pick up the charm "you might have put me into great trouble"

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Author's Note

Okay if someone could understand the meaning of the charm then -😭🫶🏻

And i forgot to say this in the last chapter. A while ago a reader requested for a scene where Liam catches Stella reading smut and that's why I wrote that chapter. So you gotta thank that reader for this 🤭

Jeff is an element in this story , I wanna know your opinions on him

Remember to vote!

-have a nice day and take care of yourself