Our Safeguard

Chapter 30

Chapter 30

~Jerome~

       I couldn't wait until I was done with this semester. Not because I hated going to class. In fact, I was really enjoying my classes, which was saying something because I typically hated school. I guess it was just nice that I finally found my passion.

       The only reason why I couldn't wait to be done with this semester was because one of my professors decided to assign us a group project that we have two weeks to finish. I was not in the mood to start a group project.

       Group projects in university were especially a pain in the ass. Everyone's schedule was different. We didn't all have the same class schedule, and some of us work a lot more than we might have done in high school. It was going to be a lot harder to meet up.

       We should have at least been told about this assignment a lot earlier so we could have gotten started on it.

       Seriously, I was so tempted to just bang my head on the table over and over again. Or go home and bang Nolan. Either would work.

       But unfortunately, I couldn't go home right away because as soon as we got sorted into our groups, someone in my group asked if we could meet after class to get as much work done as we could. All of the group members, minus myself, agreed to it, so I kind of felt obligated to agree to it.

       I mean, there wasn't any reason why I shouldn't, and I did want to get it done and over with as well. I just told them I had to check in with someone first. 

       When we were dismissed, I exchanged numbers with someone in the group so I could text them if I couldn't make the meeting since they were going to head to the library right away. Once I got into the hallway, I took out my phone and called Nolan. "Hello?" Nolan answered.

       "Hi," I said. "So bad news..."

       "You shouldn't say bad news as soon as I answer. That makes it sound like you're breaking up with me."

       "What? No, I would never break up with over the phone. I wouldn't break up with you at all. I was just going to say that I'm going to get home late because my professor decided to give us a group project that's due in two weeks. My group wants to meet up right now to get as much done as possible."

       "Awe. But no one in my family is home."

       "How is that possible? It's the afternoon. Your parents should be working."

       "Okay, but they can't hear us when we do it in the shower."

       "Well, I am very sorry but it's going to have to wait. Although, I am tempted to tell my group I can't make it."

       "No, don't do that. You should meet with them. I'll just text you if I get lonely or something."

       "You can even send nudes if you want."

       Nolan hung up on me, clearly not wanting to send nudes. Or being flustered that I even brought it up. Man, I just loved flustering him. It was even better in person because I could see him blush intensely and either try to hide his blush or make excuses for it.

       He sent me a text, telling me to stop saying stuff like that, topping it off with an angry emoji. The angry emoji only made me think Nolan was even cuter. 

       I sent a reply, telling him that he was a cutie before I left my current building to head to the library. I soon found my group sitting at one of the tables in the section where we were allowed to talk, so I walked over and sat down at the table. One of my group mates, Lisa, smiled at me. "Great, you were able to make it," she said.

       "I was," I said. "So what have you discussed so far?"

       "Just how stupid this group project is," another member, Sophia, said. "Two weeks? I'd get it if it were projects we worked on by ourselves, but it's a group project. We were all lucky that we were able to meet up right now, but not everyone can under such short notice."

       "You're telling me," Jensen said. "You know what? I say we don't do this and accept that we might not get the best grades."

       "Tempting," I said. Then I would be able to get home to see Nolan and bug him even more.

       "Very tempting," Sophia said. "But this is a prerequisite class. I'd rather not take the chance and fail, especially when we don't know how tough the final will be."

       "Fair enough," Jensen said. He sighed, then took his binder out of his backpack, flipping to the assignment sheet. "Let's see... We were given an animal and an injury or sickness, and have to go into detail about the treatment. If there's a surgery, what we do during the surgery, the scientific side, blah blah blah."

       "That's... I want to say that's simple enough," I said. "But we are first years so maybe not."

       "I think we'll be able to get a bit of it down today," Lisa said. "What did we get?"

       Jensen looked at the assignment sheet. "A dog and grape poisoning. Awe, that's sad. My dog ate a grape once. He's fine now, thankfully. At least I know some of what happens. Possibly. Actually, nope, I forgot everything." He took out his textbook. "Let's just get to work before I cry."

       Thankfully, we were able to get quite a bit of our work done. We did most of our research, so all we had to do next was finish the research, then get started on the presentation portion. So maybe it wasn't that long of a project, but I still wish we had more time to do this. Or at least knew about it before today.

       "I think we can call it a day," Lisa said. 

       "I agree," Sophia said. "I don't want to work on the presentation when I'm out of energy. And I'm hungry."

       I was a bit hungry too, but I didn't want to think about food right now. My recovery had been a bit iffy lately. Some days, I could choose what I wanted to eat as long as it was already prepared for me. Other days, I didn't want to think about food at all.

       Though those days, I would just get Nolan to choose something for me. He always chose well. It helped that he knew me extremely well.

       "Do you all think we can meet after our next class?" Lisa asked. "I think we can finish our project then, and none of us have any classes afterwards."

       "That works for me," Sophia said.

       "Me too," Jensen said.

       "I'll have to see that day," I said. "But I'll most likely be able to." I just didn't making plans far ahead of time just in case Nolan needed me for something. Then again, I could always leave the group meeting if he really needed me.

       Since we were most likely able to meet up after our next class, we agreed to leave it at that. We were lucky to be able to meet after our classes. I hoped all the other groups were able to find some time to meet up.

       "So what are you all going to do now?" Lisa asked.

       "Cry over the project," Jensen said. "Cry that I have to study for the midterm too. Just cry in general."

       "That's a mood," Sophia said.

       "I'm just going to go home and sleep," I said. "Probably." I might convince Nolan to actually get in the shower with me.

       Unfortunately, I wasn't able to convince Nolan to get into the shower with me because he was napping. And he was oh so adorable when he was napping.

       I loved this guy so much.

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i need some drama and angst in here. it's been too light recently >:)