Precious Virtue ✓

Chapter 14: Drunk On My Emotions

Precious Virtue

Chapter XIV: Drunk On My Emotions

[Preston's POV]

I stood in front of the mirror, knees slightly bent and my back straight as I curled the dumbbells upward towards my chest, and then extended my arms back down again, working my biceps. I had my earbuds in, music playing through them to block out the noise of other college students exercising in the athletic centre.

I always came to the athletic centre between classes to work out. It was right on campus, and only a two minute walk from my dorm, so it was pretty convenient. Plus, it helped to relieve some of my stress from school and other things.

When I finished my rep, I put the dumbbells back onto the rack in front of the mirror, and took a drink from my water bottle. I pulled out my earbuds and briefly glanced over to Elijah, who was currently working out his back on the Lat pull down machine a few feet away from me. I couldn't help but watch his upper back muscles flex through his tank top as he pulled the bar down towards his chest. I bit my lip and took another sip of my water, before I made my way over to him just as he was finishing up his workout.

"Wanna go for lunch after this?" I asked. Elijah looked up at me and smiled after sipping his water, brushing away his sweat slicked hair from his face.

"Yeah, for sure. This workout is making me hungry."

After Elijah and I were finished with our workouts, we headed back down to the change rooms where we both took showers to rinse off the sweat, and changed back into our clothes. After that, we grabbed our school bags from the lockers and headed out of the athletic centre.

We walked across campus till we reached the dining hall, and once we grabbed and paid for our food with our student cards, Elijah and I found an empty table in the dining hall and sat down.

"What class do you have next? Was it physics?" Elijah asked while snacking on the sweet potato fries on his plate.

"Yeah, my most dreadful class yet," I groaned. I picked up my chicken ranch wrap and took a bite out of it.

Elijah chuckled, "you say that about every class."

"Well...that's because they're all dreadful," I shrugged, "except for our music class. That one's pretty fun."

"Yeah, except for the fact that our professor hates me," Elijah shook his head, "he's always berating me about my guitar skills. Do I suck that bad?"

"I don't think so. Maybe he just sees a lot of potential in you."

"Doubt it," Elijah sighed, "Music is mostly just a hobby for me anyway. Something that calms me down, so I don't need to be amazing at it to enjoy it."

"But you are amazing at it," I commented, "I've heard you sing and play the guitar. You have immense talent."

Elijah laughed, eating more of his sweet potato fries, and I briefly noticed the subtle blush on his cheeks, "well, at least one of us thinks so."

I smiled softly at him, my gaze lingering on him and his blush before I went back to eating my food. After a little bit of silence between us, Elijah spoke up again.

"By the way...I went ahead and blocked Jordan on all my socials, and blocked his number. It's been a few days and he hasn't contacted me since, so I'm hoping that means he finally took a hint and decided to leave me alone," Elijah explained.

"Really? That's good to hear. From what you told me about him he seems controlling as fuck, and so I'm glad he seems to be leaving you alone now."

"Yeah...I mean, he was okay when we were dating in high-school. I mean, he would get mad whenever I hung out with my friends and always wanted me to hang out with him and only him. He didn't even want me to go to college either, which is one of the reasons why I broke up with him, but his behaviour seemed to have gotten worse once I broke up with him."