If Only

Chapter 19

"Sia. Wake the hell up. We gotta go."

Hannah was yelling in the background while I sought harder to bury myself deeper into the comfort of my bed. I didn't feel like going to college today. With the way I was feeling I knew my day was going to be shitty. Pardon my French. "No no. Na-uh. I'm not letting you sleep in. Get dressed." Hannah yelled closed to my ear. I was yanked out of my bed, landing perfectly on the floor on my poor tushie. I groaned. "No. I don't want to hear another complaint. Yes your weekend was terrible but you got a kiss out of it. Now quick.", Hannah said as she pushed me into my bathroom. Guess there was no way out of this.

~~~

It was done with two classes and I was 100% sure I couldn't take anymore. I hadn't heard a word the teacher said and I felt so claustrophobic in the big classroom, I felt I was going insane. Why was I feeling so weird? Maybe it had something to do with my paranoia about Enzo or Skye's butterfly-inducing kiss. But the thing foremost in my mind was that I had also wanted to kiss Enzo yesterday and that made me sick. As soon as my second class was done, I rushed to find refuge in the library. I always felt calmer there.

My thoughts had to be sorted out. Searching for a quiet and empty seat in the library wasn't difficult but I wanted the place for myself, so I found a corner with an empty table and set my things down. I got out my sketchbook and started doodling again. I really did want to get Cammy and Skye together. But that kiss! It was comparable to chocolate. I couldn't get enough.

But when I was with Skye, we always found drama at our doorstep. It was like we were trouble-magnets. There was the mall incident, the coffee drama, my-friends-are-gay news, the bets, the girlfriend dilemma, our jail-time stint and lastly the kiss which was seen by the creep. Yup, in the last few weeks my life has been so full of drama, I think I had my share for the next five years.

Yeah, Cammy needs some drama. Plus he is real easy on the eyes. It will be probably best if I stayed away from him. Okay so all I had to do now was set 'em up on a date. Would Skye go quietly? What do you think? Hmm, maybe I'd have to come up with a sneakier plan.

I came out of my musings so see the rubbish I had drawn on my page. Instead of a concrete jungle landscape I had started out with, it ended up as a futuristic dress. Ugh! I quickly tore the crap and threw it behind me. I'd pick it up later. Now back to the problem at hand - Enzo. What the hell was he thinking? Did he think sweet talking me would get him some sugar? Yes. Was he going to get it in any case? Yes. Ugh! Eff my life!

"You know you are supposed to maintain silence in this place..." I whipped my head around to the source of the voice. The deep and velvet, very accented voice originated from a tall and kinda cute raven haired guy who was browsing the books behind my table. "I don't think the librarian would like that very much, especially the cursing." What was this guy going on about? Had I cursed out loud? "And littering in the library? What is wrong with you woman!?", he bent to pick up my drawing. "I was going to pick that up." I said defensively, standing up to take it from him. "Yeah that's what they all say."

His grey eyes were fixed on me but they caught sight of my scribbling on the paper. I moved forward to take it from him but he took two steps back. The fvck? "This is..." He began and turned to look at me. I took the paper from him, "None of your business." I wasn't going to get criticism from some snobbish ass.

"Amazing." He said at the same time as me. I looked back at him and he had a small smile on his face. Ok... he was cute. "Sorry I went off at you. It's just that people don't usually bother about respecting this space and its contents. So I do my bit of nagging to help old Miss Maddock." He smiled at me again. I have no idea what the expression was on my face. Annoyance? Was I drooling at the cuteness of the guy in front of me? Was I upset? Was I smiling? I hope I was.

"Kai. My name is Kenneth Adam Irvine. But I'm more comfortable being called Kai. Kenneth is a little too 'I was born in the 1800s' to be cool with. Hey I think I've seen you around these parts. ", he laughed. Ugh! Even his laugh was cute. Not cute Sia. Manly and Beautiful. Can those two words be put together in a sentence? I think I zoned out for a bit 'cause Kai was waving his hand in front of my face. "Hello? Anyone there?"

I know I flushed scarlet because he laughed. "Sia. My name is Sia. My friend's call me Si." I was so happy I only looked embarrassed and didn't sound like a mess. "Si like yes? Italian I mean.", Kia asked me looked genuinely interested in my nickname. "Si like yes in Italian but I'm not Italian." Kia smiled at me again. "Are you British?", I asked hoping that I wouldn't be embarrassed at my horrible guessing capabilities. "Yup. Dad's side. Lived there my whole childhood." I thanked my lucky stars that for once in my life I was right and I hadn't embarrassed myself in-front of this guy. "Okay I'm gonna go. I'll leave you to your drawing. See you around Sia." He turned to leave. But I so didn't want him to go. Would I see him around again? Yeah, if you become a stalker and hang around the library like a creep. No! I don't want to do that. Think fast Sia. He was almost at the end of the isle. "Kaa- aai!" It started off as a yell and ended in a whisper as Kai turned around and gave me an narrowed look. "Sorry.", I whispered as he moved back to me. Kai nodded and very seriously asked, "What is it?"

"Umm...", I just looked at him blankly. What the hell was I supposed to ask him? He laughed. "Si?", he looked at me and moved closer. Was he trying to render me speechless purposely? "Um..."Spit something out stupid!

"Coffee?" I said looking at his grey eyes. They were amazing. Did I just say coffee?

"Are you asking me out?", Kai laughed and folded his arms. It felt like he wanted me to spell it out for him and then he would leave. I just dumbly nodded. "If you cool with i-it, and have no-o plans." Well done Sia. The voices in my head was slow clapping in total mockery. Voices clap? Ugh!! One mystery at a time.

Kia smiled and took my hand. It did weird things to the pit of my stomach. "I would love to." Kia said looking into my eyes as if he could see my soul. Then he bent to place a kiss on the back of my hand. He was so... so... dreamy.

"Are you free now? Or do you wanna catch up later Si?" He asked with my hand still in his. I was amazed I found my voice. "No. I'm free now. Let's go."