Right Person Too Late

chapter 4

Noah

"When I see your face there's not a thing that I would change. 'Cause you're amazing just the way you are."

Song: Just The Way You Are by Bruno Mars

When I finish my gym session two hours later and walk to the campus cafe to get some breakfast before going back home I hear snippets of people's conversations and realise that they're all talking about that stupid water run. I get to the cafe and it's the same thing in there too, everyone has either come back from it or is about to go, and the cashier was flirting with me asking if I wanted to go with her.

Being the captain of the basketball team has quite a few downsides, one of which is that everyone recognises me wherever I go on campus and always wants to talk about my latest game.

All this makes me curious: how great could this thing be? That everyone in a five-kilometre radius is talking about it. Maybe I could drive over and go on a run past it because it is in the park next to where I usually go on my runs. I'm going to do it this way because I would rather die than get caught by Miles or the other guys after refusing to go for the past two weeks.

* * *

"Why on Earth are you wearing something that revealing Ari? It's like you're asking for it!"

A booming, American accent cuts through the music in my AirPods. I turn around to see a broad-shouldered, sandy hair guy slightly hovering over someone near the bushes. I freeze momentarily, his words registering in my brain, realising that he's probably talking to a girl. I don't want to butt in because it sounds pretty private so I just slow down my jog and pause my music, waiting for the girl's response to figure out whether I should cut in or not. But when I hear her voice my whole body stops.

"I'm sorry, okay? But for your information, it's a water run and I'm not going to do it in a jumpsuit."

It's Arsema.

I instantly march over to the guy and rip him away from her by his collar.

That's when I see who he is, Michael Armani, an American exchange student. Known for being an absolute playboy, always getting into trouble stealing, fighting etc and having his daddy's lawyers save his pasty ass every, single, time. The guy looks like a mixture between Donald Trump and Mitchum Huntzberger from Gilmore Girls. Simply not a pretty combination.

The guy has the nerve to stare daggers at me, with his feet dangling above the ground.

"Oi! Let go of my shirt! It's a classic Ralph Lauren polo and you're creasing it!"

I drop him like the dog shit he is and look down at him in disgust. I can't even form the words to talk to him right now, the fact that he'd even think of talking to a girl like that, forget doing it.

I shake my head at his pathetic attempts to smooth out his polo shirt and turn my attention to Arsema. Who's dressed in a red two-piece, shivering in the cold, biting winter breeze. Whoever's idea it was to host this run in this weather needs to be sat down and talked to, it's madness. And the fact that I bumped into Arsema of all people, again.

I pull off my jacket and drape it around her shoulders when she erupts,

"Look I don't know who you think you are, Noah, but I don't need you defending me or jumping in to be my 'knight in shining armour'!"

That is not the reaction I expected.

Her eyes are glistening with unshed tears and she's shrugged my jacket off her shoulders, trying to keep up the strong act. Her beautiful, dark curls are frizzy and flying around in the wind, her golden brown skin drenched in water, droplets dripping down her...