The Academy 2

11

Nicola's POV

Ryder playfully offered me his arm, which I gladly took. He escorted me towards a table. Ryder then picked up two flutes of champagne and offered me one. I sipped it as I viewed the ornate interior. Everything was grand and screamed expensive from the gold plated windows to the frescos above.

"So, dude." Ryder's surfer dude voice rang out. "What's up? How you enjoyin Vienna?"

"It's nice. Ali and I went sightseeing a little. Have you been here before?"

"Me? Nah, bruh. Furthest I've been in east Europe is Prague. Wait, which is further east? Prague or Austria? Point is I've never been." He shrugged. "Ahh, look at who the wave dragged in." He pointed at the McAllisters entering.

They greeted everyone they passed and faked smiles. At least I know Alicia was faking one. She subtly searched the room for me. Once our eyes locked, she showed a real smile. It was only momentary because someone had entered into a conversation with her.

"Ha! Look at you makin her all soft and mushy." I lightly pushed Ryder's shoulder. "Can't believe this is the first time we're speaking and stuff. You're dope, dude!"

"Ya, it's weird. I didn't have any classes with you, so we never got a chance to actually speak. I know Zara wasn't looking out for my best interest... I'm confused because I thought her parents 'approved' of you."

"Approve?" He chuckled. "Gods no. They are sort of warming up to the idea, but I'm not their first pick. They're even still trying to pick suitors for Z! Like how disrespectful, dude." He huffed.

"How'd you and Zara meet?" I inquired.

"Ah! That's really funny really." He ran a hand along his man bun. "You know Shawn?" I nodded. "Ya so we play hockey together. I had lost a competition to him... he only scored one more goal, but it was so close! Anyways, since I lost I had to cleanup after. I was putting away the goals because there was a private practice right after and that was..."

"Zara?"

"You guessed it! Gold sticker for you, brah! So I totally made a fool of myself. I was so distracted by her that I wiped out on the ice. I woke up to stars and an angelic face. She was peering over me with annoyance and that was when I knew I was in love." I gave him a really face. "Ha Ha! Fine! I kept coming to practice everyday and offered to be on cleanup duty so that I could find excuses to talk to her. She kept blowing me off and threatened that if I don't stop stalking her then she'd hire a hitman to kill me. But, I didn't care. I was smitten, especially since she was playing hard to get. That was 2 years ago, though." He drank the rest of his drink.

"And I know you two finally got together recently. Why don't her parents like you?"

"Because I'm too unrefined or some shit. They also say I have feminine hair." I laughed as he pointed at his bun. "Totally should've made a manbraid to give her dad a heart attack. They're also not a fan that I'm a ginger."

"Why? Because you don't have a soul?" I smirked into my glass.

"That must be it!" He snapped his fingers and laughed with me.

We were chit chatting until a business partner of Ryder's family approached him. He wanted to talk about private matters, resulting in Ryder excusing himself. I suddenly felt awkward as I was standing by myself. I sipped the champagne and tried not to look out of place. I wasn't lonely for long, though.

"You really are an angel." I turned with a smile.

"And you don't look too bad yourself." Alicia smiled at that.