Falling For The Playboy

EVA

There were a few significant days in my life.

The day I got dropped off at the orphanage, the day I met Omar -I hadn’t taken note of the date, but I wasn’t going to forget it either and the day I got adopted. It was on the sixteenth of September.

Today was one of those days and as I sat among the others, waiting to board the plane, I knew that there were definitely going to be more.

Laura nudged my knee. “Tell me you’re not excited. ”

“I’m not excited. ” It was a lie of course and she knew it.

“Liar. ” She smirked, turning her eyes back to her phone.

Laura, Abi and I sat together, busying ourselves on our phones until it was time to get on the plane. And I was pretty excited to get on that plane. A tiny part of me was scared too, but my excitement won out.

Spread around the lobby, were Ivacy High students, each one dressed impeccably. Abi and Laura had on fitted jeans but while Laura was wearing a T-Shirt on top hers, Abi wore a cami and a black jacket over it. And then there was me, wishing I could shrink inside my black hoodie, joggers and sneakers. My choice of clothing was starting to get pathetic, really.

I took in a deep breath, sitting up in my chair as I watched everyone idly. My mind briefly wandered to the events of the past two weeks.

My drivers test went surprisingly well, maybe that was due to Mrs Lawson’s presence in the passenger seat and her soothing voice as she went through the process of it all with me. From there, we had gone straight to get my drivers license and that, too, had gone smoothly.

Of course it went smoothly. It was Mrs Lawson. She had super powers.

I’d made good on my promise to study throughout the week. Locked myself in my room, hid my phone somewhere far -not that I would have been tempted to get it anyway, seeing as I didn’t talk to a lot of people- picked out the subjects we had on Monday and I dove into reading. And that was how it went for the remainder of the week. The next day, I’d read the subjects we had on Tuesday and then Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. When the days for the tests finally came, all I did was revise before it was time to write.

With how easy the questions had been, I had high expectations for my test results.

Somehow, I’d managed to avoid Axel for the past two weeks. At first it had been easy to pretend I didn’t see his texts, but then when he continued his relentless texting the next day, it became hard to ignore him. Especially since I wanted to open the messages badly. But if I thought ignoring his texts was hard, seeing him was unbearable.

He felt guilty. I saw it in his eyes whenever mine met his, along with a bunch of other emotions I didn’t want to name. He hadn’t come to me ever since and I was thankful that he hadn’t. I dreaded having to hurt his feelings by walking away from him. Axel wasn’t like most guys. He wore his emotions on his face freely for everyone to see. Which was why I had no problem reading him. People like him were prone to getting hurt easily.

Almost as if I summoned him with my thoughts, my eyes landed on him and my pulse leapt. His face was carefully hidden behind the cap of the black hoodie he wore, paired with black ripped jeans. He was slouched on his seat, with his head low and his hands shoved into the pocket of his hoodie. And for once, he wasn’t surrounded by girls.

Movement from below caught my eyes and I saw that his right leg was going at it again. He was unsettled. My palm itched with the urge to walk over and stop the movement. Slowly, as if feeling my eyes on him -which was impossible- his head lifted and he stared right at me.

I turned away sharply, cursing myself for not doing so sooner. Looking away, however, didn’t stop me from feeling the heat of his gaze. I unlocked my phone, pretending to get busy on it. I just wanted to focus on something other than the sensation of his eyes on me.

I almost cried out in relief when Laura spoke. I had never truly been greatly for her loquaciousness until this moment.

“Seriously. Does Dexter do anything with his life? ”

I didn’t even have to look to find Dexter; he was wherever Zoe was. And right now, he had his hand over the back of her chair, staring at her phone as she tapped away on it. I tried to keep the disgust I was feeling from showing on my face.

“He’s always attached to her like a fucking leach. ” Laura spat, watching them with disdain. “Am I the only one that thinks clingy guys are a huge turn off? ”

“You’re not. ” I answered before I could stop myself.

She immediately turned to me, as though she’d needed someone on her side. “Right? How does Zoe even cope? ”Content property of NôvelDra/ma.Org.

“Seeing as she’s never made a single complaint, I’d say she copes very well. ” Abi piped in, casually bringing the straw to her mouth as she took a sip of her ribenna.

“Please. ” Laura rolled her eyes, never one to back down. “Zoe wouldn’t want anyone to know that she’s uncomfortable with him. She hates his clingy ass just as much as we do. ”

“Zoe doesn’t care what anyone thinks. So why would she be with him if she doesn’t have feelings for him? ”

“I’ve asked myself that several times. ”

Abi cocked her head. “See? ”

“No, I don’t see. ” Laura shook her head. “It still doesn’t make sense. ”

Everyone knew Dexter was undeserving of Zoe. I mean, he was rich and good looking, but that was where it ended -at least to me. I felt like Zoe didn’t know who he actually was and he kept that part of himself carefully hidden because she wouldn’t be with him otherwise. I was pretty sure everyone knew the pair was odd, but no one would dare say anything for fear of Zoe.

In less than five minutes, an announcement came for us to board the plane and after getting our boarding passes checked, we walked down the short hallway that led to the plane, with Mr Utoh in front and Mrs Philomena behind us.

With directions, we stowed our luggages into the overhead bins. Laura had trouble fitting her luggage in because she had packed quite a lot. Henri, who had been passing, stopped when he saw her cursing and struggling.

“Let me help. ” He didn’t wait for her to reply before he grabbed her bag, his muscles rippling under his shirt as he shoved it into the overhead bin effortlessly. I swear I could see hearts in Laura’s eyes.

“Thank you. ” She said breathlessly and he winked, strolling to the back of the plane with his duffel bag over his shoulder. Laura stared after him until it became impossible to see him anymore amidst bodies.

“Are you going to sit anytime soon, Laura? “Abi mocked.