"There is pleasure in the pathless woods,

There is rapture in the lonely shore,

There is society where none intrudes,

By the deep sea, and music in its roar;

I love not man the less, but nature more."

--Lord George Gordon Byron.
_______________________________________

My host was still sound asleep, when I rolled in after a run. Glancing at the wall clock, I sighed, and threw a cushion her way.

"Up."

"Huh?", she muttered sluggishly after a slight jerk, and fisted her tiny hands in front of her eyes, to prevent the prying light. It almost felt like a sin to shake her from her peaceful slumber, and I surely would've relented, had I not been a bosom friend of blasphemy.

"Get your biology assignment done, while I have a bath."

"E-excuse me?", she stuttered, forcing her lids apart in a perplexed stare down.

"You heard me. Since my disappearence kept you from work yesterday, it's only fair, I make it up to you."

"And you've got yours covered?", she questioned with an undertone of amazement.

I nodded in confirmation. "I've wouldn't have asked otherwise, Evie. I can be many things, but never a hypocrite."

The girl in question, swayed her head up and down in a courteous manner, before timidly asking,

"You woke me up for studying?"

"So it seems."

"At five in the morning?"

"Um, yeah?", I drawled, trying to find the grounds of her inquisition.

"Thank you.", she breathed out, her face full of emotions, before she kicked the blanket aside, and pulled me in an embrace.

Wait, what?

Startled, I touched her forehead with the back of my palm, afraid she'd caught a flu or something.

The action earned a giggle out of her.

"Didn't expect this, uh?", she winked playfully at me, before adding, "What you did just now, has made me realise that no one's ever done such a thing for me, and I've had quite a few people surrounding me for years. They would pat my back at every tantrum and clap their hands despite my failures, and that's putting it mildly."

I smiled sadly at her, before pulling her in for another hug, and ruffling her hair.

"Now, now, enough with the theatrics. Let's get to- wait, are you, dear god, are you drenched?"

I rolled my eyes. About time, she noticed.

"Yeah, went for a run."

"And came back like this? How long have you been out?"

"An hour.", I replied casually, looking for a change of clothes.

"Bullshit. No one looks like that after just an hour of workout.", she glared pointedly at me, and I sighed.

"Fine, it might have been a while longer. Not that it matters. You need to study, and I'll help you in a few minutes."

"It's fucking five in the morning, Hera, and you've already been up and about for a few hours. Are you even human?"

"Shut up.", I muttered, and threw a towel over my shoulder, before heading towards the bathroom.

"Wait!", Evie shouted, and my head fell heavy in submission.

The Wilkinson siblings will do that to you.

"What now?"

"You're sweating."

"Why madame, I'm glad you noticed. Now, unless you like your company, a reeky mess, I'll have to take your leave. Au revoir."

"I might not be the greatest at Science, but I do know, not to step into a shower, right after a hefty exercise."

She did have a point. How could I have been so careless? Walking back to my friend, I gave her an appreciative pat on the back.

"Good job, my darling. You aren't a lost cause after all."

She shoved my hand from her shoulder, and flipped viciously through the pages of our animal morphology book. Having nothing better to do, I grabbed an extra copy, and gave another read to the already memorised text.

"Hey Hera?"

I hummed, still engrossed in the book.

"Did you know that most men have three to five erections a night during the rapid eye movement phase of sleep?"

I choked on my own spit.

"Where would you read that, Hon? Surely not in the prescribed textbook."

"Of Course not.", she waved her hand dismissively. "Those good for nothing idiots, don't put a single interesting thing on the pages. It's just that I read something about that thing being the hardest male appendage, and I just, you know, couldn't understand how...why?"

"So you surfed the net.", I stated, trying not to wince in the process.

"I had to! This has to be the craziest shit I've ever read."

"She's such a virgin!", my alter ego chuckled, as I sympathised with the poor girl.

Though I've never been on face level, with the dreaded organ, I've read a fair share of books to know how it works. However Evie, bless her soul, seemed new to the subject, if her giddy expression at the minute discovery was any giveaway. And coming from a girl as beautiful and outgoing as Evangeline, the carnal ignorance seemed like a breath of fresh air.

"A note on coelenterates. Now.", I firmly asserted. As inevitable as the loss of her innocence was, I wasn't going to act as a fucking catalyst.

"You are no fun.", she huffed annoyedly, before returning to the assigned task, and allowing me the opportunity to finally have the much needed bath.

***

"Okay then, I'll see you in English.", waving at Evangeline in farewell, I made my way to my Mathematics class, only to be halted mid-way by the subject of my recent distress.

"Ethan."

"Hera.", he uttered my name in a voice, almost as beautiful as his face. The face which barely held any mark of abuse, much to my disappointment.

Couldn't say the same about my knuckles, though.

"Evie informed me of the exsanguination. Did she lie?", I shot the question his way, without thinking twice.

"No, she didn't.", he shook his head in denial.

"Then why aren't you sporting a filthy bruise?", I muttered in annoyance, before reaching forward and poking his nose with my first two fingers. Twice.

He didn't even flinch. "Trying to send me to an early grave, uh, Hera? So unlike your name, my pretty little goddess."

"Not by choice. We could totally avoid each other and be on our merry ways."

"I would rather chose the cemetery."

My brow shot up at his persistence, and lips curved into an involuntary smirk.

"Don't tempt me, Mate. Red is a glorious colour on you and I wouldn't mind covering you up in it, if you hold me back from my lecture."

"Lethal.", Ethan whispered with a half smile, before shaking his head, and reaching for my arm.

"That's me.", I hissed, taking a precautionary step back. "And you haven't seen the first thing yet."

"Not that I wouldn't love to, but what I need now, is an urgent heart-to-heart with the girl whom I first met as my room-mate.", Ethan urged anxiously.

I stole a discreet glance at my wrist-watch, and surely enough, the bloody imbecile had managed to rob me of any chance with Mr. Black's Calculous. Also, I didn't need any bad blood between us, seeing he'd helped me once, and we had mutual friends who didn't deserve to be a part of a cold war.

Pretending to take pity on him, I voiced my proposition,

"I'll listen to whatever you've got to say."

"You will?", his eyes narrowed infinitesimally in skepticism.

"Sure. But I think you must know something before we get to that."

"Why, of course."

"I'm getting a new room-mate."

"I believe I didn't hear you properly.", I heard Ethan utter in disbelief, but I'd already left him behind.

"I'm sure you did. Now follow me."