Conflicted

Chapter 4 - Her

About an hour later, my Psychology class ended. I hadn't been able to focus on anything the professor had said that lesson. I was too busy trying to focus on not staring at the captivatingly gorgeous girl that was next to me the whole time.

I walked out of my class almost in a daze, still thinking about how beautiful her face had been. I went to the café near my dorm room and ordered a tall hazelnut latte, my favourite chill-out drink. It just helps me think more clearly about whatever is on my mind. I got my hot drink and went and sat down at the stone fountain. I sighed and looked out at all the students making their way across the courtyard to their different classes and the café and their dorm rooms. Everything seemed like it was moving in a blur. I just sat there silently sipping my latte and watching life go by slowly.

Until I saw her again.

I met her piercing blue eyes. I didn't mean to – they just attracted me to her. I couldn't not look at her. So mesmerising. I realised I was still staring at her. I tried to look away and make it look like I was never staring in the first place, but it was too obvious. She knew I had been staring.

To my utter disbelief, she started making her way towards me.

Oh my God, I thought. This isn't happening right now.

In my whirlwind of thoughts, I didn't realise that she had been standing in front of me for about 30 seconds.

She cleared her throat before talking. "Hello," she began, in a raspy, yet feminine voice. She sounded as beautiful as she looked.

"Uh, hi?" I answered her, my voice raising into a question. I really was not expecting her to talk to me. Out of all the people she could talk to, she picked me.

Why? I asked myself. It's just me.

"Do you know who I am?" she questioned me.

How could I not? You're gorgeous.

"You sat next to me in Psychology today, didn't you?" I asked her, not wanting it to be blatantly obvious that I was silently gushing over her the entire time.

"Uh, yeah, I did," she replied. "I never caught your name though. I was going to ask you but you rushed out pretty quick after the class."

Oh my God. She was actually going to talk to me. What does this even mean? Oh my God. Why didn't I stay in class longer?

I coughed to clear my extremely dry throat. "It's Phoenix."

"Phoenix what?"

"Phoenix Quinn."

"I love it," she replied, with a smirk on her face and her brilliant blue orbs looking into my own hazel ones.

My heart flipped in excitement. It felt like it was bumping into my ribcage repeatedly at one hundred kilometres an hour. I felt my face start to burn red. I tried to top it, but it was impossible.

I felt it make its way from my neck to my face, the burn only speeding up. Soon, my entire face was flushed a deep red colour.

I broke the eye contact and looked down at my now cold latte, thinking of something intelligible to say to keep the conversation from being anymore awkward than it already was.

"I didn't get yours either," I added.

"Oh, sorry! It's Alyx."

With a cheeky grin on my face, I added, "Alyx what?"

She laughed a laugh that sounded like it would come from a gorgeous Greek goddess.

"Alyx Olsen,"

"Oh..." I awkwardly said. "Cool."

I had literally no conversational skills whatsoever, and it doesn't help that I am British and I used to get bullied for pronouncing words differently, so I just stared at my cup again until Alyx spoke up.

"What's your phone number?"

"Huh?"

I was so shocked she had asked me that so early into conversation. I barely knew this girl and she was asking for my phone number.

"I said, can I have your phone number? We should totally catch up again; I think we'd have a lot in common, Phoenix."

She smiled a genuine smile and I couldn't get over how beautiful she was. Even her teeth were perfect and pearly white. Beautiful doesn't even begin to cover the depth of her beauty. It seemed to be infinite.

"Oh! Um, sure!" I grabbed a blue pen from my pocket and searched for a spare piece of paper in my bag. It started to feel awkward, and so I started to blush that same deep scarlet red again, and as I could feel the burn make its way to my face, Alyx tapped on my shoulder.

"Hey, just write on my hand," she suggested. "I'll put it in my phone later."

I clicked the pen on and softly grabbed her hand to write on. As soon as I touched it, it felt like a million volts of electricity ran through my veins, hotter than the sun.

It was in that moment that I felt my heart belonged to her, and I fell in love with Alyx.

I scribbled the number on the back of her hand, and she nodded a 'thank you' and smiled that amazing smile at me.

"I'll text you later," she grinned. "Catch ya, Phoenix." With that, she turned and walked away to her next lesson.

As she walked away, I couldn't help but smile and do that giggle that a twelve year old does when they first talk to their crush.

There was no denying it.

I was in love with Alyx Olsen.