A/N: I hope you all enjoy it!

Cody's Pov:

"Hey Nia", A male voice called out making me snap my head up at the approaching students.

I saw her turning away, looking behind her to see a guy coming up to her. He stood tall yet lean, wearing jeans, sneakers, and a hoodie. A brush in his hand, waves in his hair, his skin dark like wet tree bark, and a sparkling white smile on his face.

My stomach was knotted with unease as I quickly and quietly made my way over to them. I leaned against the wall putting in my earbuds with no music playing.

My eyes locked with his brown eyes for a moment. I looked away, pretending to not be interested at all in him, or why he was near my Nia.

"Alan. What are you doing here?", Nia asked him, surprise clear in her voice, I couldn't tell if it was a welcome surprise or not.

"I got a new job close by and remembered that you wanted to go here so I came to see you", He explained as he wrapped his arms around her waist pulling him in for a tight hug.

His lips brushed against her ear as he said, "I missed you, Ma."

She hugged him back before leaning away from him, "It's nice to see you. I have to get to class"

Nia tried to walk away but he tightened his hold on her waist, "Hold up, I got a new phone. Let me get your number so that we can catch up"

I bit my inner cheek before I rushed forward, making a show of stumbling against them, breaking them apart.

"What the hell man?" The guy, Alan spat at me.

"Are you ok?" Nia asked me as I tried to regain my balance, shifting my body slightly away from her.

"Sorry", I spat out the word, changing the sound of my voice so that Nia wouldn't know that I had just done that.

With that, I rushed to class and Nia threw another sorry over her shoulder before following my lead. I ripped off my own hoodie, stuffing it in my bag before putting on an earbud in an attempt to look like I've always been in the classroom.

I didn't have to wait long for Nia to sit next to me and ask, "you good?"

Digging into my bag I pulled out the books I needed, not looking at her, "I'm fine. What about you?"

"Cody. I'm not stupid", She stated, and my body tensed, "what's up?"

I started at my book as I told a partial truth, "I wanted to help you get to class. That's all. That guy was slowing you down"

Nia reached out cupping my chin to make me face her. I closed my eyes as my body relaxed a little.

"I'm sorry for flaking on you lately", she said softly, "are you free after class to hang out with me?"

My eyes slowly opened to take in her beautiful face and bewitching brown eyes. I briefly wondered if I was ever going to get used to the way she makes me feel.

"I.. yes", I told her with a wide smile.

The class went by slowly and I kept stealing glances at Nia. Admiring the way her eyebrows knitted together as she read the PowerPoint on the board.

And how quickly her hand moved while writing notes resulting in sloppy handwriting. The way she bit the corner of her lower lip while double-checking her notes.

I could stare at her for the rest of my life and never get bored. Yet when she'd randomly meet my eyes, and catch me staring I looked away as fast as possible.

What if my staring pushes me from the good weird to the creepy weird? I don't want her to think I am creepy.

But I felt so helpless to keep my eyes off of her for too long. Somehow I was able to pay attention and take notes as well.

Yet there was this nagging at the back of my head replaying the way she and Alan hugged and the sweet tone she spoke to him in.

Was that the same sweet tone she used on me, on our other mates? What would she even say if I blurted out that she's mine in the hall instead of cowardly breaking them apart with my body?

"Cody", Nia whispered my name next to my ear, her warm breath fanning against my skin.

I blushed at the closeness and scowled as I realized that it wasn't nearly close enough. I turned to face her, resisting the urge to grab her and pull her into me as Alan did.

"Where is your head at? I called you three times. Class is over. Do you have another class because I don't.", Nia told me with a slight tilt of her head, her ponytail swaying to one side.

"No other classes. What do you want to do?", I asked her as I turned away to start packing up my things.

"Could we study together?" Nia said, her voice a little strained and the words rushed out.

I stood up, tossing my backpack on my shoulder as I asked, "your place or mine?"

"Yours", Nia grinned at me, warming my heart with the sight.

My face felt hotter as I imagined that she was saying that one word for a different reason. I shook my head reminding myself of patience before I started to lead the way.

"So how was your morning?" I asked to distract myself from asking her who Alan is to her personally.

Her eyes brighten as she started to recount the events of this morning that she shared with Auden. The happiness on her face as she spoke gave me warmth and hope that maybe she'd be open to all of us together.

We arrived at my place before I knew it, as I was too caught up in Nia to fully take in my surroundings or register time passing. I unlocked the door and lead her to the small living room/dining/ tv room.

"So do you want to go over stuff for the upcoming test first or quiz each other with today's notes?", I asked as I sat on the couch, giving her options.  

A/N: Thank you for reading. Please leave a comment! Remember if you want to read ahead and support me consider checking out my patreon!