Like the Red Rose blooms in the Oxford Garden

Chapter 12: And there you'll stand, ten feet tall

"This is amazing." Gastón looked Nina straight into her eyes after he closed the computer.

"You think so?" She looked at him suspiciously.

After a year and a half, she had finally finished the first draft of the... well, she guessed it could be called a novel. Her book. Gastón had been bugging her since she had first mentioned it, to let him read it. She had finally folded, but only after the first version was finished.

"Yes," Gastón nodded, "The story is amazing, and the way you wrote made it feel like you were in the story. Even for someone like me, who probably is not the target audience. It's a masterpiece."

"Don't be ridiculous," Nina shook her head, "It is far from that."

"I am being serious," Gastón continued, "Finish and polish it up and you could send it to publishers."

"Absolutely not!" Nina pulled her laptop away from Gastón's reach, "That, if something, is ridiculous."

"Then why did you write it?" Gastón raised an eyebrow at her.

"I don't know," Nina shook her head. She didn't know why she found herself laughing, but something about his questioning expression made her do it. "I told you, it was just a silly little project. Something with soul searching. It was not written to be published."

"Nina, I love you," Gastón took her hands into his, "You have a magical ability to enchant people with your words. I know you know that, and this is no different. Are you not going to let the world experience that?"

"I don't know," Nina shook her head after blushing. Why did he make that sound so easy? "It's not even ready, so it's impossible to know how it'll turn out."

"What would Dr. Adamsom say about this?" After suffering multiple anxiety attacks during the first term of her sophomore year, Nina had started to see one of Oxford's student welfare psychologists. It had been a huge help. She should have done it much sooner, but she hadn't even known that those existed until Gastón had told her that he saw a counselor himself occasionally.

"Probably that I keep letting my fear stand in the way of what I really want to do, so I keep convincing myself that I don't want to do it at all," Nina shrugged. "But I haven't mentioned this to him."

"You should, and you should believe him and me," Gastón squeezed her hand, "I can drop this for now, until your done with the last draft anyway...because you better believe I won't let you undermine yourself. We'll come back to this then."

"What if I decide that it's never ready to see the light of day?" Nina tilted her head, "I don't have much nerve as you very well know?"

"I would like to disagree," Gastón brought his face closer to hers, "There aren't a lot of things I haven't seen from you at this point."

"You sure about that?" Nina felt herself blush as his hand started sliding on her thigh. She knew that he was about to use some more underhanded methods to make her agree with him... not that she would be opposed to it.

"I'm sure..."

Gastón's phone started suddenly ringing on the coffee table. His face turned annoyed.

"Who is it?" Nina asked as Gastón reached for it.

"I don't know," Gastón shook his head, "Unknown number."

"Well, you should get it," Nina got up from the couch, "I'll go and check if we have anything eatable at the fridge for dinner."

"Gastón Perida," Gastón answered the phone as Nina started walking toward the kitchen, "Who is this... Hola!"

Nina wasn't trying to eavesdrop, she truly wasn't, but the apartment wasn't that big. So Gastón knew the caller? Even when it was from an unknown number... someone who spoke Spanish.