Earnshaw Heights

Chapter Four

"I still can't get over this place," Normani expressed her excitement to Niall between spoonfuls of soup. "Our room is amazing. The beds are huge and my comforter is like, the single comfiest thing in the world. Lauren brought string lights to hang up around the room and there's a skylight in the ceiling. Everything is made of this beautiful oak and oh my gosh the view. After dinner we have to go explore down by the lake because just wow. I love it here so damn much."

"Please calm down, Mani, before you have a spazz attack," Niall joked, shoving her shoulder with his. "Besides, we both know the real reason you're loving your room so much."

Mani froze in the middle of bringing her next spoonful to her mouth, side-eyeing Niall. "And what exactly is that supposed to mean?" a fierceness evident in her voice.

"Please, it was as if nothing else existed around you when you were talking to Lauren," Niall explained with a hint of aggravation. "I probably could've started bleeding out on the floor and you wouldn't have even glanced away from her."

Mani shoved him so hard that he nearly flipped backwards off of the bench. "That's such bullshit. I was meeting the girl that I'm going to be living with for this whole thing, and I wanted to make a good impression! That's all." Mani looked pointedly at Niall. "Besides, you were practically drooling over your roommate, so you don't even get talk to me about this."

"Yeah, that's because Tori is totally bangable. And if the way that I look at Tori is the same way that you look at Lauren then..." Niall's voice trailed off. He raised an eyebrow as he focused on cutting the chicken that was on his plate.

Mani's jaw dropped open in complete disbelief of what he was implying. Normani had never, never looked at a girl that way before. Well, truthfully, she had never really looked at anyone that way before. Her parents had always kept her schedule filled with school and extracurriculars and magical practices. Normani felt her face becoming flushed at the thought that she might actually have a crush on Lauren. The witch was gorgeous, there was no denying that. Her thick hair and deep-set, piercing green eyes were immediately captivating. Her raspy voice and her full lips that formed either a brilliant smile or a sultry smirk made Mani weak at the knees when she thought about them...so maybe it really wasn't all the running she had blamed earlier. Her smooth, pale skin that was only interrupted by the mysterious scar, which somehow made her even more attractive, made Mani's hands ache to touch her again - to feel the electrifying jolt that simply touching Lauren's hand had caused.

Mani focused back on the world around her, feeling lightheaded again. She met Niall's eye, and he simply shook his head at her. "You've got it bad, girl," he said, and she could still hear the hint of annoyance in his tone. She tried to hold his eyes, searching for an explanation as to why he kept seeming so upset with her. She had formulated an idea of what was going on, but had kept it to herself to avoid coming across as vain. But she was at a point where she couldn't take it anymore.

"Are you jealous or something?" Mani blurted out nervously, wondering what response from him would be worse. Her nails were digging into the wooden bench beneath her.

"No, oh my god, Mani," Niall practically spat at her, causing Mani to flinch away from him, evidently hurt. Their tones had begun to draw attention from the students nearby, and Niall leaned in closer to whisper. "I just do not understand how you don't care who Lauren is at all! You get assigned a room with her, and you just walk straight up to her and shake her hand like it's nothing."

Mani felt her skin warming, feeling confused and angry at the fact that she had absolutely no idea what Niall was talking about. Niall obviously picked up on her thoughts, something he had always been rather good at with people - especially Mani, from the first moment they met. "Mani, you can't be serious." Niall leaned closer to her, examining her face for hints that she was joking. "You've never heard of the Jaureguis," he stated rather than asked, her genuine confusion evident in her expression.