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Damn. I should have offered her my earbuds. She likes to drown the noise out with music. But it’s too late. The prof has just entered, and with a quick scan of the room, he begins.
I doubt his less than cursory glance was searching for me, and has more to do with the little dot sitting beside me. I wonder if the prof recognised her under my huge hoodie.
“Nice to see everyone could make it today,” the prof says with a scathing bite. Bit fucking rich coming from him when he’s been absent, but I guess that confirms he knows Malia is sitting beside me.
Forcing my limbs to uncoil and relax, I stretch out my long legs under the seat in front of me and zone out. It wouldn’t do to let the feckless bad-boy persona slide. With nothing else to do, I drop one hand into Malia’s lap and smile when she doesn’t push me away.
She frantically takes notes throughout the whole lecture as though she can make up for lost time just by writing. Her pace feels almost feverish, and I realise that she’s trying to distract herself from wanting to flee the room. The only time she looks up is to glance longingly at the door. It’s like she’s ready to bolt at a moment’s notice, but I’m not quite sure what her trigger will be. Nonetheless, whenever she seems particularly agitated, I gently squeeze her leg and it seems to settle her nerves.
“We've got a little time to kill before our seminar. Do you want to grab a drink?”
“Erm…” she chews on her lower lip and I can’t drag my eyes away from the action.
“We can go over a study schedule or something,” I offer.
And I see it. The wavering. She’s on the fence, and if I can just think of something to say to cement it, she’ll come with me and I can spend the next hour disarming her and working on being a friend. At least. I’m not going to give up on the idea of something more. I’ve not been able to get her out of my head since the moment we met, and the obsession just grew tenfold once we kissed.
“Watch out!” Someone calls, knocking into Malia and sending her crashing toward me. I catch her easily and right her on her feet but it’s too late.
“Fucking watch it!” I snarl at the idiot who’s just slammed into her.
“Sorry,” the culprit mutters dismissively without a backwards glance.
That’s not fucking good enough.
I reach out and grab his arm, whirling him around to face me. Whatever protest he was about to unleash dies open his lips when he takes in the size of me.
“Shit, sorry, dude.”
“It’s not me you should be apologising to!” I grind out. “You almost flattened her. You’re twice her size!”
“Jeez, I said I was sorry!” The guy snaps and I see red.
My hands curl into fists and I pull my arm back ready to punch this guy’s lights out but before my blow can land, a delicate hand wraps around my fist, causing me to pause.
“Don’t. Please,” Malia begs, eyes wide.
“Get the fuck outta here!” I growl at the guy. He’s obviously not as stupid as he looks because he takes off like someone lit a fire under his ass. Good.
“Are you okay?” I transfer my attention to Malia and, with great effort, unfurl my fists.
“I’m fine. What was that about?”
“The guy could have hurt you.”
She shrugs. “I’ve had worse.”
“Well, I’m not about to let anyone hurt you from now on.”
“Why?” She blinks.
“Why? Because we’re friends.”
“I thought I was just tutoring you.”
“Nah, little dot, you’re stuck with me now.” I grin at her and she freezes. “Malia?”
“I’m sorry, I have to go!” She races off and is out of sight before I can even blink.
“We need to talk,” the prof says from somewhere over my shoulder. I sigh. Great, just as I was getting somewhere with her, he had to show up and frighten her off.
