Roommate Badboy - Wicked Academy

8

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As Jason led her out of the library, his voice was low, almost distant. "It's dinner time," he said, his tone matter-of-fact. "You should go eat something." He noticed the pallor on her face, the subtle shift in her expression.

Stella didn't respond immediately, her thoughts swirling too fast to form words. The pull to the library, the force that had kept her there, was gone now, and in its place was a heavy silence, one that seemed to follow her wherever she went.

She had to admit, he was right. She needed to eat, but the thought of sitting through another meal with Ruby made her uneasy. Yet, somehow, she found herself nodding without protest.

As they entered the dining hall, Jason could feel the weight of the moment pressing on him. He gave Stella a quick look, and without a word, they split, each taking their separate path. Jason tagged along with his teammates, who were already seated, greeting him with quick fist bumps. They pulled him into their circle with ease, the usual laughter and playful banter already starting up again. It was a familiar rhythm.

Stella, for her part, moved with quiet ease to join her friends. Ruby greeted her with a warm smile, and Frederick's face lit up when she sat down, his eyes already focused on her. She returned the smile softly, feeling the lightness of the moment as she took a seat beside Frederick.

While Jason forced himself to focus on his friends' conversation, responding with his usual detached charm, his attention kept slipping. His mind was elsewhere, his gaze lingering just a second longer than necessary on Stella as she sat down across the room beside Frederick.

Stella's laughter reached him, light and carefree, and it only added to the discomfort gnawing at him. Her face, light and almost glowing, was a sight Jason hadn't seen in a while. It irritated him more than he wanted to admit.

From where he sat, he watched as Frederick leaned in a little closer, his attention completely fixed on Stella. The way he looked at her, gentle, amused, a little too affectionate, made something inside Jason tighten. He couldn't stand the sight of it, the way Frederick had this effortless way of making her laugh, of drawing her into the conversation without seeming to try. It was as if she was genuinely enjoying his company. Jason couldn't figure out why it bothered him so much, but it did.

He told himself it was because Frederick was an Ember, that it was just some natural aversion to the group. But deep down, Jason knew it wasn't just that.

There was something about the way Frederick treated Stella, the way he had this softness with her, that Jason couldn't ignore. Stella, always so guarded, so closed off around him, was opening up in front of Frederick, laughing freely, her whole demeanor relaxed. It was a side of her Jason had never seen. A side that made him feel like an outsider, like he was missing something that he couldn't reach.

His friends' voices blurred into the background as Jason's focus remained fixed on them, his gaze flicking back to Stella over and over again. Every time he thought he was getting closer to understanding her, she seemed to slip further away. Seeing her with Frederick now felt like another reminder of how little he really knew her.

It made him question his place in her world. How easily she let herself be drawn into Frederick's orbit, her eyes sparkling, her shoulders relaxed in a way he never saw when she was around him. He had never been able to get her to let down her guard like that. And there was something about that, about seeing her this free, that made his chest feel tight.