Sinking lower into my seat, I wished the minutes of the class to please, please pass by.
Which, to their credit, they definitely did. Very, very slowly.
My eyes stayed locked on the clock, antsily tapping my foot with each soft tick tock that quietly peppered the lecture.
I held my store bought coffee tight in my hand, sipping it as I tried desperately to stay away. While I'd always been an early riser, advanced theories of the mind so early would put anyone to sleep.
Around me, the other students scribbled away diligently at their notes. By the time I realized I should actually be paying attention to the lecture, the class was already being concluded. I shook my head, hoping the professor would put the notes online. Some days, it was impossible to sit in a giant hall in a sea of students and pay attention.
As the rustling of papers being stuffed into backpacks filled the spacious lecture room, I stood up, slinging my bag over my shoulder and leaving. My entire body was numb from sitting in the seat for so long.
I'd made a terrible mistake in signing up for a two and a half hour lecture first thing in the morning. Fortunately, the glazed over eyes of the other students around me made me feel a little less alone in my terrible decision making skills.
I walked through the halls of the campus towards the bookstore, enjoying the warmth of the early afternoon sun on my shoulders. All too soon, I was back inside the chilly walls of the store, waving to the cashier who was preparing to leave for his own classes.
Tiredly, I slid onto the uncomfortable stool behind the clerk counter, digging through the drawers for the novel I'd hidden last week.
Because it was slow in the store, I was the only cashier. Somewhere, my manager hid, probably hitting on all the girls who wandered the small aisles. I didn’t mind keeping myself occupied, I didn’t mind the quiet or the calm. I was perfectly content to sit alone and read and daydream my shift away. Because we weren’t busy, the shifts weren’t very long. Most of the workers brought their homework and to concentrate on.
We were a small campus with small stores and a small staff, it was part of the reason I'd chosen this college.
As I triumphantly retrieved my book, slapping it down on the counter, a man leaned over, blond hair falling into his eyes.
"Is that one good?" He asked, golden eyes that I'd so fondly swooned over earlier this morning meeting my shocked gaze.
Chapter Two
"Eli." I gasped, lips parting and gaping like a struggling goldfish.
He paused, brow creasing just a bit as he cleared his throat, placing a bio textbook in front of me.
"Ah, yep." The blond Adonis murmured, casting a glance at my nametag, "Nice to meet you...Thomas."
I blinked, glancing down at the tag before back at him with a nervous and too shrill giggle, "Not Thomas, Jade." I murmured shyly.
After a moment’s pause, I quickly added, "it's always been Jade, never Thomas."
He arched an eyebrow, shifting his feet as he pushed the book a bit closer to me.
"We're neighbors." I said quickly, "I've heard your name around."
I was just digging my hole deeper and deeper and deeper, soon I would never even see the sky. I grasped at his book, trying to look as casual as possible as I accidentally flicked it off the counter.
Quickly, I bent down to grab it, clearing my throat as I ran it clumsily under the scanner.
"Sixty five." I mumbled timidly, gesturing towards the credit card scanner as he ran his debit card.
After a few more moments of uncomfortable silence and the beep of our slow machine as it processed the transaction, I found myself spilling words again.
"Lucy and I heard your party last night." I said lightly, hoping to score us an invite for the next one, "Lucy, my roommate."
Eli's yellow tinted eyes narrowed on my for a moment, "You heard it?"
I shrugged, nodding, "You have an interesting taste in music." I teased playfully, smiling at him, desperately hoping to ease the strange tension that was suddenly between us. I’d really freaked him out now.
The blond man shrugged, lips pursing into a tense line. He snatched his book from me as he crammed his card back in his wallet, turning to walk away from me just like that.
"Uh..." I watched his sexy back retreat away, just as the card machine finished processing once more, "Eli!" I called after him in confusion, "You forgot your receipt!"
With a frown, I tugged the receipt free of the machine, listening as the front door of the bookstore slammed shut after him.
Was he that pissed that I'd heard his lame music? Or maybe he was upset that I'd insulted it.
"Jade..." I sighed to myself, "You have got to learn some manners."
I flopped down onto the stool, cramming Eli’s receipt into my pocket as I began flipping through my novel once more.