Chapter two

You say it best, when you say nothing at all

 – Ronan Keating

I scribbled down more notes and highlighted paragraph upon paragraph of important information for yet another class and couldn’t help the yawn that fought itself up my throat. I could understand that law was interesting in its own way... when you actually wanted to study it. I stared around the windowless lecture hall and watched the numerous amounts of students paying apt attention to the lecturer and couldn’t help but wonder how different Ella’s art classes would be.

I always knew I’d have to study law to follow after my parents. I’d been told time after time for as long as I could remember by both my mom and dad, and because of that I didn’t really know what else I would have wanted to study, if I wanted to study at all. I stretched carefully in my seat while the lecturer’s monotonous voice droned on and imagined how amazing it would be to not study, even for a year, and instead go travelling around the world.

That was never going to happen for me...

I stared back at the whiteboard and felt my eyes start to slide shut. He was only reading from the textbook anyway, right? It couldn’t hurt to leave early and revise the chapter later on. I’d already read through the chapter yesterday and I couldn’t concentrate at all this morning.

Thankful that I was sitting at the back of the lecture hall, I packed up my books and stationary before quietly leaving class and breathing fresh air again. The air-conditioning in the hall was beginning to feel too recycled and getting out seemed to be exactly what I needed. I decided to take the long way back to the dorm and instead began to walk around the different halls, sometimes peering into the slightly open doors and listening in to the different classes. It was intriguing to hear such different lessons to mine and made me feel even more deflated somehow that I had a few more years of monotonous teachers.

As I strolled along the sterile hallways a familiar sound caught my attention. I stopped in my tracks and craned my neck to the side to try to figure where it was coming from. The sound of perfect harmonising with deep and high tones had my feet quickly following it almost like I was a snake and the singing was a snake charmer.

I ended up outside a grey door that was left slightly ajar and I couldn’t myself as I peered inside. My eyes widened and my breath became lodged somewhere between my lungs and throat when I spotted The Lyricals singing in the campus studio. I had to admit that seeing them this close made them ridiculously more good looking.

“Great job guys, let’s try it one more time okay?” An older man announced into a microphone to them.

“Sure, no problem” Came their mixed replies.

I relaxed my stance a little while I listened to them sing again and lazily glanced around the studio. The panel in front of me had so many switches, buttons and levers that I had no idea how in the world any one was supposed to understand what they all meant for! When I glanced back up, the lead singer was already looking directly at me as he sang and my eyes widened as I tripped backwards.

“Oh crap” I stuttered to myself. Backing farther away I quickly sped down the corridor just when I heard the sound of a door being pushed quickly open.

“Hey wait!”

Panic seized me and squeezed my stomach. It was him! The lead singer! Why the hell was he following me for? Because I disturbed their practice? I could hear his echoing footsteps as he followed after me and just when I thought he was going to catch up I turned right into another hallway and managed to squeeze between two vending machines.

He ran right past me and stopped when he couldn’t hear me running anymore. “Hello?! I’m not angry! I just- I just want to know who you are!”

I pursed my lips and shuffled further back between the vending machines. I felt so ridiculous, I had no idea why I was even hiding in the first place! I wasn’t doing anything wrong, per se. I had no idea what I’d do if he strolled past and managed to see me lodged between a soda and candy vending machine... so I was just hoping that he didn’t have to witness this, or anyone else for that matter.

His sigh was loud enough for me to hear and he quickly walked past... thankfully not seeing me looking like an idiot. After waiting a few more minutes and hearing his footsteps fade away I squeezed myself out and finally was able to breathe easier. I couldn’t help laugh at myself, what in the world came over me to resort to hiding from a guy who seemed legitimately nice. With a swift glance around to make sure no cameras had been a spectator to my random bout of panic I quickly set off for my dorm without stopping to listen into any more classes.

 “You did what?!” Ella laughed when she finally came from her last art class and I told her all about my embarrassing close encounter. The light tinkling her laughter was contagious and I found myself laughing alongside with her.

“I don’t know why I did it!” I laughed, “It was my first instinct! I’m just glad no one had to witness it!”

Ella fell over backwards in another fit of giggles and a small part in the back of my mind wanted to tell her that the paint in her hair was going to smear on her bed sheets. Ella had returned back to the dorm covered in a rainbow of paint covering her hands, arms, face, hair and clothes as well as her shoes.

After Ella regained her breath she wiped the tears from her eyes and took a calming breath before trying to place a ‘serious’ face on and cleared her throat. “So... your first instinct to a cute guy chasing after you is to run and hide between vending machines?”

Her stare was hard not to laugh at; especially when the corners of her lips were twitching from trying not to smile. So I fixed my own face into a relatively calm look and replied with an earnest, “But, of course”

The next course of laughter left us completely breathless and lying down across our own beds, watching the ceiling as the clouds outside flew across the sun to make everything change from dark to sunny in a matter of seconds.

“That would make such an adorable romance novel, you know” Ella randomly said. “The amazingly gorgeous guy chases after the shy and beautiful girl and she hides from him because she’s too scared of her own feelings for him” She sighed contently.

“My ‘feelings for him’? Ella, I’ve not even met the guy!” I chuckled.

She turned to face me, the dried paint scrunching her hair underneath her. “And whose fault is that?!”

I rolled my eyes at her cheeky smile and rolled over to my stomach, reached down for a textbook and open it at the chapter from today while smiling. “I have no idea what you’re talking about”

After a few hours of studying what I’d skipped out of earlier today in classes I shut the thick book with a loud clap and set it aside while massaging my temples. “It’s already the first day and my head hurts” I complained.

I looked up and saw Ella sitting with her back against the wall balancing a large sketchbook over her knees while her hand quickly zoomed back and forth over the page. Her eyes glanced up and she grinned, setting her pencil down. “Law harder than you first thought?” She asked.

I shrugged noncommittally. “It’s never been easy for me, it’s just something that I have to do. What you are drawing?” Ella bit her lower lip before swinging the sketchbook around and showing me her drawing. My eyebrows shot right up and I couldn’t help gasp. She had drawn me while I was studying and the likeness was amazing! “Ella that’s amazing! And you really skipped over my flaws” I laughed.

From looking nervous she suddenly beamed at me. “You don’t mind? I tend to just draw what inspires me and my teacher says to go for it. Plus you must be crazy, Angelina, you have no flaws that I can see! I draw what I see and that is how you look”

“Well, it’s beautiful, thank you”

She winked and threw the sketch aside onto her pillow, yawning and stretching out like a cat. “Want to head down to the uni bar? I’m starving”

I could tell that going to the uni bar would end up being a tradition for us, but it didn’t really seem to matter. Everyone else, just like when we first arrived here, seemed to be gathered all around in the bar and the open mic was just as popular as ever. Due to so many people milling around in the enclosed area it was always warm, a cosy warm though, and every once in a while I had the unlucky chance of sniffing body odour.

“Ooh, I hope The Lyricals will be back again!” Ella gushed. We scrambled over to the same table in the back corner along with our drinks and food. The atmosphere in here was my favourite. It was nothing but relaxed and all everyone did was laugh and smile. It turned out that there were quite a few of very talented singers and Ella had easily pointed out the ones who would be studying media or something of the like.

While I was in the middle of stuffing my face with potato wedges the crowd gave a loud hoot to the next attempt at karaoke. Ella suddenly started clapping loudly and smacking me on the shoulder in excitement, making me choke on a potato wedge. “Angelina! It’s The Lyricals! Oh wow, the brunette is so dreamy!”

By the sound of it, they had already turned out be some sort of campus celebrity and I rolled my eyes.  It was a good thing I ran from the lead singer, he was probably stuck up and one of those guys who loved being surrounded by girls. He was probably even a player. The sound of scraping stools was amplified through the microphone feedback and I still didn’t turn around. I could hear them clearing their throats and soon a wonderful mixture of voices filled the uni bar.

“It’s amazing how you can speak right to my hear, without saying a word you light up the dark, try as I may I could never explain, what I hear when you don’t say a thing”

Oh, but he had a voice to die for.

I sat with my back to the wall sneaking side glances at the group but making sure I didn’t look directly at the lead singer. I wasn’t sure why I was acting so strange, but for some reason... some strange niggling feeling deep inside felt as though he was singing this song for me. Maybe I was becoming a little conceited... I’m not sure, but what were the chances he’d sing something like this after what happened in the hallway?

“The smile on your face, the look in your eye, the touch of your hand lets me know that you need me” They continued to sing.

The song overall was overwhelming. I’d always loved that song and inside I felt all fluttery and strange. But he’s not singing to you anyway! Came a voice in the back of my head. Of course, I already knew that. It must just be the light beer getting to me, I never was good with alcohol anyway.

With the final hum together the bar exploded with applause and I took that moment to leave just in case we so happened to bump into each other. “I’ll catch you later, Ella. I want to get ahead for tomorrow’s classes”

“Alright, I’ll probably stay here. The atmosphere is great tonight and it’ll really help with my inspiration!” With that being said, she whipped out her sketch book from her bag under the table and began lightly sketching shapes here and there.

I smiled at her ever-happy enthusiasm and quickly walked out with my head down and blushing slightly from the song.

[Eric’s POV]

I fought my way through the applauding crowd and thumping slaps to the back to make my way over to the back table. I know I saw her sitting there earlier, even if it was a glimpse, and I wasn’t sure why but I just wanted to introduce myself. I just wanted to know her name.

From the moment I first saw her I was captivated by her, be it her angelic looks or just the way her eyes seemed to pierce straight through me, but I just needed to get to know her. The boys seemed to think I was crazy, that I was acting like a girl... but I couldn’t care less. It felt like one of those moments where you catch each other’s eyes and feel that ‘zing’.

But obviously it only seemed to be one sided, considering the lengths that she was willing to go through to avoid me. I remembered the way my chest thumped painfully when I saw her peeking through the gap of the studio door and the yells from the guys that followed me when I rushed outside to find her. Only to realise that she had magically disappeared into thin air.

Maybe she was just a figment of my imagination? After all, no one else seemed to spot the beautiful woman I kept on seeing everywhere.

I pushed past more people and finally ended up at the back corner table only to see another woman sketching quickly in her book and taking up the entire table. Disappointment filled me like lead and I turned back towards the bar. Maybe I was seeing things?

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A/N

I’m taking it slow because I don’t want this story to be all ‘he sees her, she sees him, boom bang pow they are in love, the end’ And get your heads out of the gutter ‘boom bang pow’ doesn’t mean THAT ;P

Give the story a little time :D

Nix <3