Chapter 20

I was power walking to my class. I didn't want to run because it would make me look like a lunatic. A late lunatic.

            I'd overslept.

            I'd forgotten to put my alarm and Princess Tyler had woken up on his own, and left me to sleep.

            He was going to have hell to pay the next time I would see him.

            The one time I actually would have needed him to wake me up, he'd been totally useless.

            I would have texted him obscenities if it hadn't been for the fact that my concentration had to be a hundred percent on power walking to my classroom.

            When I finally got there, the class had already started.

            I tried to come in as inconspicuously as I could, but everyone's head snapped to the back the second I opened the door, and their eyes pretty much stayed on me all the way to my desk.

            I slid in my chair beside Esther feeling really small, while the professor kind of glared at me.

            I gave him a sheepish grin as I took out my notebook from my bag.

            His lectured continued.

            Esther scribbled on a piece of paper, Good morning, Nick-of-Time

            I took the paper out of her hands, and wrote back, Doubly wrong. Because it's not my name and I'm also late.

The corner of her mouth lifted as she fought off a smile, making me smile back in return.

The teacher cleared his throat. My eyes snapped back to him. He was glaring at me again.

I think I'd kind of been staring at Esther with a goofy grin...

Today was really not my day. I was becoming delusional.

Fortunately, Esther hadn't to notice my total lack of mental capacities, so classes went on and I tried not to look her way.

The professor gave us a break in the middle of the class, so some people got out to go to the bathroom or to grab something to eat quickly.

Esther and I stayed seated.

"You're okay?" she asked me softly.

I probably looked like a mess. I felt like a mess. There were very few things I hated more than having to wake up in a hurry, and not being able to do anything properly and just running around in a panic.

"I'm soooo tired. I didn't get my morning coffee," I whined.

"Oh no, poor Mechanic," she crooned, teasingly.

I almost leaned my head against her shoulder. I caught myself right before I'd done it. When had I become so comfortable with Esther that I'd almost done something like this naturally?

I needed to get my head out of my ass. Esther was easily spooked. I should just be grateful she wasn't hugging the wall anymore to sit as far away from me as she could.

Also, I was out of it. I blame the whole ruined morning thing.

"Not bad, you're clearly getting more and more creative," I told her referring to her latest attempt at figuring out my name.

"I'm just trying every idea I can come up with," she chuckled.

"Should I give you a hint?" I asked her, chuckling too. It was a good thing she was in my first class. That way I was already in a better mood regardless of the bad start of my day.

Esther scoffed. "Absolutely not. That would be like admitting defeat."

I grinned, chuckling again. "Adorable."

"Stubborn," she corrected, her cheeks turning a little red, her eyes adverting my gaze.

Ah shit. I'd made her uncomfortable.

Seriously, I needed to shut the fuck up around her today. Something was definitely wrong with my head.

"Did I miss anything important at the beginning of the class," I asked her, trying to be all business.

"He went through our up-coming tests and deadlines, but it's all stuff on the syllabus, so you should be fine."

"Thanks," I replied with a nod.

Class continued shortly after that.

When the lecture was finally over, Esther and I gathered our things slowly. She gave me a smile at one point so I assumed she wasn't mad at me or anything.

I didn't want her to leave just yet. I wanted to spend more time with her. Which was like, a bad idea with the way I seemed to be acting around her today, but when did I ever make good decisions?

"Do you want us to go work on our project? And by work on our project, I mean I lie down beside you and take a nap and you do all the work."

Esther let out a short laugh. "Oh, so that's how you do it. You pretend to be dependable in the beginning, telling me you're not the kind of person that lets the other do all the work, to than just dump all the work on me as time goes on?"

"You've found me out. It was all just a ruse," I played along.

"It's either we both nap or we both work," she said, crossing her arms over her chest.

She was still wearing like ten layers of clothing, but it was cold today, so it actually made sense for once.

"Fine, you can nap too," I joked.

Esther shook her head, rolling her eyes, but still smiling. "How about we both work?"

I let out a disappointed sigh. "Yeah, we can do that too."

We started to walk out of the building, but then I realized something and stopped walking, making Esther halt her steps too. "Wait, I made a binder with everything I planned, but I completely forgot it. I need to get it real quick."

"Where is it?"

"Back at my dorm. Do you want to wait for me at the library? Or you could come with me to pick it up. It's close by,"

She shrugged. "Sure, I'll go with you."

            We started to walk side by side.

            No one was saying anything. I was suddenly feeling warm for no reason.

"So, how's your semester going so far?" I asked her, desperate to break the silence.

"Well, I think. It's a lot of work, but I was ready for it. I feel a little out of place sometimes," she admitted the last part softly.

"Because of the no phone thing?" I ventured.

"In part, yes. And other things."

"Not living on campus," I tried.

There were a lot of odd things about her, I was so curious about.

"Yeah, that too... how's your semester?" she asked me, clearly trying to take the attention away from her. As much as I was dying to learn more about her, I also understood her boundaries.

"I still have no idea what I'm doing honestly," I confessed.

"Do you want to change major?"

I took a deep breath before answering this. "I haven't really let myself think about it seriously. I love art. I love what it represents for me, but I also feel like I'm turning it into something... I don't know... like some kind of chore instead of an escapism because I've turned it into something I need to study. I heard this once, turn your favourite thing into your hobby and your second favourite thing into your job, so you never hate your favourite thing."

"Are you beginning to hate art?" Esther asked, guessing where I was going with that thought.

"Not yet, but I'm scared I might," I told her seriously. I found less joy in art lately. And it scared me. "Wow, this got serious super fast," I said and laughed, trying to break the tension.

"Sorry," Esther said sheepishly.

I shook my hands. "Wait, no, no, this is all my fault."

"I asked the question," Esther said, while I held the door open for her as we walked inside my dorm building.

"I'm the weirdo who answered like this."

"Don't say that. You're not weird for being honest about your feelings."

"I'm weird for turning you into my shrink. You're going to need to charge me," I snorted.

Esther smiled back at me. "It's fine, it's my way to pay for all the food you've bought for me."

"You really have no idea how expensive my shrink is. I should be feeding you for the next year."

When we turned a corner, a girl with hair too blond to be true was waiting by the door of my room.

"Oh, hey Van!" I called out.

"Hey Nik," she replied, turning to face me.

I frowned. "Where's Tyler?"

She rolled her eyes automatically. "In class. He forgot his phone. And his computer charger. And he doesn't have time to come back here."

"What a dumbass. You should have called me."

"I'm the only number he remembers by heart, so it's easier to coordinate like this." She suddenly turned her attention to Esther. "Hi, I'm so sorry, we're super rude, I'm Vanessa, his best friend's girlfriend."
             "Hi, I'm Esther," she said beside me in her Minnie-Mouse voice. It was weird to suddenly see her revert back to earlier-Esther.

She was really uneasy around people she didn't know.

It made me grateful to not be in that category anymore.

"My husband's mistress," I corrected.

Vanessa pushed me. "You're the mistress. I was here first."

"He loves me more," I said, taking out my keys and unlocking the door to my room for us.

"He loves Blake more," she pointed out.

"True," I admitted, nodding. "Well, we're just here to grab stuff for our project, so tell Cinderella I love him and I'll be waiting for him tonight so he can keep me warm."

Van made a grimace at me. "Just for that I won't be sending him back to you tonight."

I pressed a hand to my heart, grabbing my binder, while Vanessa got Tyler's stuff. "I weep."

We got out just as fast as we'd gotten in, and I locked up behind me.

"Goodbye Esther," Vanessa said, looking at her with those calculating eyes of her I saw sometimes.

I wished I was wrong and just seeing things.

"Goodbye," Esther replied softly.

"What? No goodbye for me?" I teased my friend.

She flipped me off. "Fuck off, Nikki."

"Kiss my ass, Goldilocks," I shot back automatically, and regretted it just as fast. I always tried to censure myself around Esther.

Luckily, when I looked back at her beside me, she wasn't appalled. She actually had a small amused smile on her lips.

I almost let out a sigh of relief. And once again questioned my sanity.

What was going on with me today?

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Hey, hey, hey! <3

Sorry, I wanted to upload this story earlier, but yeah, you know me! XD Thanks for your patience, as always.

Our sweet Nik is so clueless. ;P Things are getting fun. hehehe

Also, one of the reasons why I'm slow with uploading is because I'm still debating whether or not I make things awful or super awful for Esther yet. 0_0 And like, right now I can still change things. But soon I won't be able to. So I really need to figure this out. XD

Anyway! I hope you had fun reading this chapter. There might be a few mistakes. I re-read it a little too fast. It's 1:30AM and I need to go to sleep very very soon. XD Please excuse the mistakes. :')

Alright. Leaving now! Hopefully I shall see you guys soon!