Chapter 37
HAILEY
"So, how's your baby grumpy?"
I pretended not to listen to Victoria. I opened my book instead. I was about to start reading when Megan shut the book close.
"What the hell?" I glared at them as they twisted their lips at me. "He's in his class."
"We saw him earlier, and he looked like he just hit the jackpot. Later, Lee," Megan mimicked Percie's voice.
"Then what else do you wanna know?" I suddenly remembered what we did last night. After that eventful moments, he went to his room to change, and so did. When he came back, I already changed to PJs. We had dinner together in serenity. "Hey." Megan nudged me. "We're waiting here."
"Omg." Victoria covered her mouth instantly, staring at me with wide eyes. "You finally slept with him," she whispered.
I looked around to make sure that no one listened. "We did not."
"You're lying." Victoria did not buy my words. It was shown all over her face.
"I don't buy it. Look at her." Megan pointed at my face. "She's all dreamy, flushed, and your pupils are dilated."
I rolled my eyes. "Think whatever you like."
"Ah, they did it once. That's why she can still walk straight."
"What the hell are you talking about?" I narrowed my eyes at them, but I was so damn nervous. My heart was beating fast.
"Yeah, agreed." They high-fived together.
"He's a good guy if he got so easy on our not-virgin-anymore-friend."
I shushed them. "Lower your voice down."
"Why? What's wrong if you don't wanna just hump on someone to throw away your virginity. I'm not against those who preserve them for their future husband than just banging around, and when they get pregnant, they will throw their babies to the adoption center."
"She now gets the point." Victoria elbowed Megan.
"Leave me alone. How's Lexie, by the way?"
Megan pressed her lips together to hide her smile. "But you already met his grandma."
"We just visited her in the hospital. That's all."
"But it's a big deal to your baby grumpy that his grandma likes you."
"Why do you keep him calling baby grumpy?" I asked.
"Because he's cute when looks all grumpy."
"More likely, he's hot in all angles," Victoria answered Megan. "Don't get jealous. Just telling the truth."
I didn't know if I should get jealous or be grateful that I had a boyfriend like Percie.
Finally, our professor entered. I opened my book again when the gushes and murmurs started. I searched for the source of gushing until my gaze landed on the one and only Remy Larkin.
Megan and Victoria kept on elbowing me from side to side as Remy was a few steps closer to us.
The rain incident came flashing back at me. All of a sudden, I felt someone just threw a bucket of cold water at me when I realized what he was doing.
"Is this seat taken?" he asked politely.
"Find your seat, Mr. Larkin. We don't have all the time in the world," our professor said from the front seat.
"Found one, sir. Thank you," Remy replied.
"Okay, then. Let's start with page fifteen in your book."
"Glad to see you're okay," he said in a low voice.
I ignored him, even if his presence was not too hard to ignore. He was making the room suddenly small.
"You can't ignore me all semester, Hailey." That got my attention.
"You're not serious." I glared at him.
"Deadly."
I stared at him in disbelief.
"I dropped this subject last year."
"Then why now? To show me that you could be my nightmare all this semester?"
He looked taken aback. "Of course not. How can I convince you that I don't have hidden agenda here? I just wanna be your friend."
"Why me? There are students here who would die to be in your wings."
"I wanna pick the right friends this time."
"Or you wanna pick me because of Percie."
"It always comes down to him, isn't it? Do you even know him well?"
"I know well enough that I trust him more than you." I picked up my thing and changed my seat to an empty one beside Victoria.
***
I searched for Percie after my class. He texted to meet him in the coffee shop.
He was already with Lexie when I arrived. He had not seen me yet when I wrapped my arms around behind him.
"Hey." I kissed his cheek.
"Wew. It's disgusting how sweet you two are. I wanna gag right now."
"Hey, Lexie." I occupied the seat beside Percie. "Hey, you okay?" I asked him when he seemed silent.
"He knew," Lexie said.
"About what?" I asked in confusion.
"Remy is your classmate now."
I studied Percie. His jaw clenched, staring outside the window. "What's the deal between you and him? I know it's before you met me."
He placed a cup in front of me. "I don't wanna talk about it. Your too sugary coffee." He then kissed me on my cheek.
"We eventually have to talk about it." I met his sad eyes.
"Promise. When I'm ready."
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"Deal."
"So, it's true then?" Lexie asked.
"Unfortunately, yes. How did he even know I was sick?"
"Mother-"
Hey." Lexie held his hand. "Calm down, bad boy."
I felt that their conflict had gone too far, now that I've encountered Remy twice in such a short time.
"If he wanted to be in my class, then so be it. It's not like I have to mingle with him. I already changed my seat since he chose to sit next to me."
"Fucking Larkin." He growled.
"I'm so not impressed with you cursing every word you said."
"Sorry, sweetheart. He's just doing a pretty bang-up job in getting into my skin."
"I'm here for you. Just don't give him a chance to get into you again."
"You." He pointed at me. "Never give him a chance to get into me."
"Loud and clear, boss."
He smirked at me.
"Oh boy. I'm leaving." Lexie rose from her seat. "See you both later. Please, don't make out here. Wait until you get to your apartment. This place is pretty convoluting and disgusting already." "What is she talking about?" I asked out of curiosity.
"A lot of things happened in this coffee shop, and you don't need to know the details."
"Let's go home."
"Already?"
"Do you have another plan?"
"Damn right I have."
We ended up at the lake house. As soon as the door shut behind us, I was already pressed against the wall as he attacked me with a searing kiss.
"Wait."
"What?" he asked me. He looked annoyed.
"Why are we here? I mean, I am not complaining, but how long are we gonna stay here?"
"I'll send you to your parents tomorrow. I told them I wanna spend some time with you. Your dad, well, he gave me a long speech before he agreed, but your mom has no problem other than reminding me to finish college first blah and blah." I laughed. "Oh, my god. My parents are so embarrassing."
"I wish I have parents like yours, Hailey." I wished I knew how to fulfill it. I was just grateful that despite how his parents treated him, he still ended up being a good person.
"I don't have things."
"Taken care of."
"You didn't-"
"No. I went with Lexie to buy things for you."
"What? Sometimes I wanna get jealous of how close you two are."
He chuckled. "May I remind you again that she's into girls. I just thought I don't wanna spend a long time shopping after your class when I could do it with Lexie. Instead, we could spend more time here together."
"Whatever. But you didn't have to, you know."
"You made it pretty clear yesterday not to touch your laundry and stuff."
"I guess I should take it back."
"Can I kiss you now?"
I pressed my lips to him before he could talk more. We did a lot of talking already.
We ended up cuddling on the couch. I started unbuttoning his shirt. I wanted to touch what was beneath his shirt. I expanded the palm of my hand on his chest. He was not bulky or thin, but he had enough muscles in the right places. His abs constricted every time I traveled my fingers to places I longed to feel against my skin.
"Do you work out?"
"I used to."
"Why'd you stop?"
"I didn't. I just go down the apartment building. There's a small gym, and I go whenever I have time."
"Do you play balls?"
He looked down on me. "You wanna know, or you already knew."
I shook my head. "I knew nothing about your past, aside from Emma, and you being a bully when you were a kid."
"I used to play in high school, but I didn't make it because of misconduct."
I giggled. "What did you do?"
"I punched my coach."
My eyes widened in shock, amused at the same time. "Why?"
"He thought I was late because I was making out with "
"Emma."
"Yeah."
I wrinkled my nose. "Ew. Gross."
"Yeah. Emma only stayed in our house during our senior, but she sometimes had sleepovers. Only a few people knew about our real relationship before the accident. If you see Emma with me for the first time, you can tell that she's a clingy girlfriend."All content © N/.ôvel/Dr/ama.Org.
"Am I gonna be clingy?" I watched closely how he would react.
His lips spread into a wide grin. "I'd love that because right now, I am a damn possessive boyfriend." Suddenly, I was lifted and placed on top of him as he kissed me hungrily.