The Soul Thief

Chapter 15

"Do you have a minute to talk?" Enzo asked as I unlocked my dorm room door.

I groaned internally. As reluctant as I was to speak to anyone now that the cat was out of the metaphorical bag on my lack of humanity it was going to have to happen at some point.

Stepping back I gestured with an arm for him to go in first and he moved to sit on the edge of my bed.

With a groan I dropped onto the bed beside him and flopped back so I lay, looking up at the underside of my window sill. "Do you think they could start grading drama differently and base it on what happens outside of class?"

He chuckled, tilting his head to face me. "One, we don't take drama here. And two, I'm pretty sure that they'd do whatever you wanted trouble."

I pulled a face. "What is that supposed to mean?" I asked.

Enzo chuckled, lying down next to me and turning to look at me. "I don't know if you've noticed but everyone in this school is either fascinated by you, terrified or both."

I thought about that for a moment and realised he wasn't far off. "Which camp do you fall into?"

My breath felt a little like it was getting caught in my chest, and I was suddenly acutely aware of how close he was to me.

"Me?" He whispered, "I mean, I'd like to kiss you, but I'm a little concerned you might punch me."

My pulse hiccupped and I willed my voice to stay steady. My emotions were all over the place right now and I wasn't completely sure whether this was the best idea. It felt like a good way to ruin a friendship when I wasn't even sure if I was fully attracted to him. Where had this come from? "Is there any particular reason why I shouldn't punch you?" I replied, leaning back slightly and stalling for time.

Enzo smiled slowly before he replied. "You could give kissing me a try first. I've gotten excellent reviews from multiple sources." His eyes darting to my lips as he spoke.

I made a face and gave him a shove to propel him backward, careful not to let my hand linger on his chest too long in case that gave him the wrong idea. "How romantic." I replied sarcastically, rolling to sit up and put some more distance between us. "Consider working on your sales pitch hun."

Enzo sat up too, and I caught the flash of hurt in his expression before he replied. "If you want romance, I can do romance." He shrugged, "I just didn't want to scare you off."

"Scare me off? Up until about three seconds ago I had no idea you thought of me like that!" I laughed awkwardly.

He scrubbed a hand through his hair. "I was trying to take it slow. Nancy said-"

"You've been talking to Nancy about me?"

There was panic in his eyes as he realised he was fucking this up and scrambled for the right thing to say.

"It doesn't matter," I waved my hand dismissively, "Look I've got a lot going on right now and this really isn't the best time for me to start anything with anyone. I really like you, but my head and this school and everything. It's just too much right now."

My voice rose in pitch as I tried to work out how I had gone from afraid to discuss my surprise heritage to this.

Enzo shook his head and looked guilty, "You're right. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have sprung this on you right now.

"You think?" I laughed weakly.

"I like you Erica, a lot and I hope you'll give me a chance whenever you're ready, but for now I'm here as a friend."

"Knock knock?" Nancy said from the doorway, shooting me an awkward smile.

How much of that had she seen an overheard? "Hey, come in." I said weakly.