MY BEST ADDICTION

Chapter 32

He pulled my face closer to his since there was no restriction from my end. I closed my eyes in anticipation of what was to come but after waiting for a while in vain, I opened one eye to find him staring at me. I flushed at the proximity of our faces and felt the need to hide.
“I…I…I need to go”, I stuttered embarrassed and he chuckled at my reaction letting go of my face.
He unlocked the door and I rushed to get out. I hurried to enter the building but before I could enter, he honked making me stop.
“Let’s talk later, love”, he teased making me flush even more. I literally ran into my room confusing Ezra.
“I guess you and Seth are back together?”, she asked smirking at me.
“Was it that obvious?”, I questioned realizing how open I was when Seth was involved.
“Yeah, it was written all over your face that something was wrong between you two, but you’re glowing now”, she elaborated and I flushed in embarrassment.
“Did you ask him about the other day though?”, she asked and I furrowed my brow in confusion.
“The other day? Which day are you referring to?”
“The day we saw them at the restaurant. Don’t tell me you forgot about that”, she questioned abandoning what she was doing.
“It’s not that I forgot, I thought about it and decided to let it go since it might not be as we saw. I didn’t want to end up creating misunderstandings between us. The point is I trust him enough to not hurt me in that manner”, I explained.
“I’m not asking you to mistrust him, all I want is for you not to get hurt because of him”.
“I know and I’m grateful for that. Don’t worry I’ll let you know if I need help with anything”, I ended and hugged her smiling.
“What am I going to do with you?”, she sighed and continued with her work. Even though I said all those to assure her, I knew deep down that I felt scared and insecure. It’s not as though I had no reason to be sceptical, everyone who knew exactly the kind of person he was before we got together would be think the same of him. Despite all that, I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt since I chose him.
Time flew by faster than we anticipated and just like that exams had befallen us leaving us stressed.
“Let’s visit the Nest after exams is over”, Ezra requested after our studies at the library.
“The Nest?”, Bryan asked and I giggled. She playfully glared at me when she realized why I did that.
“Yeah the Nest. It’s a bar we visited a while back to relax”, I explained looking away from him suddenly feeling self-conscious.
“Wow you two have already visited a bar? I guess I have to up my game then”, he teased playfully making me smile.
“You can join us when we visit the Nest after exams if you want to”, Ezra invited and he nodded in response.
“Let me call Haven to reserve a room for us”, I chipped in.
“You’re the best”, she squealed hugging me. I shook my head in disbelief at her behaviour and turned to see a surprised Bryan.
“You get used to it after a while”, I said patting his back.
“I can’t wait to see you dance again”, she added and he turned to me in shock.
“You dance?”, he asked and I smiled awkwardly at him. We continued chatting until we arrived at our dorm and bid him goodnight.
I heard a knock on the door after settling in and opened it to find a delivery man holding a bag.
“I didn’t order for anything”, I said before he could utter a word.
“Who is it?”, Ezra questioned coming to the door.
“It’s a package. Did you order for something?”, I quizzed and she shook her head.
“Well it was addressed to this building and this room so I just have to give it”, he said giving the bag to me and turned away from us.
We looked at the retreating figure in silence until he left our field of view before we retreated to the room. I unpacked the bag to find food and a note inside. I read it and beamed realizing who it was from. I called him and he immediately answered as if expecting my call.
“Hey”, I greeted.
“Have you eaten yet?”, he asked instead.
“I’m about to, just wanted to thank you”, I answered hoping to hear his voice again but he hummed in response. We remained silent for a while until I heard a throat clear behind me.
“Let’s talk la…”, I started to say but was interrupted.
“Love, I miss you”, he said making me speechless.
“I miss you”, I said suddenly wishing I could meet him. We hadn’t met since we were both busy with our endeavours, I had exams coming up and he didn’t want to distract me from my studies. I moved away from Ezra and made sure she was out of earshot from what I wanted to say.
“Should we meet after your exams?”, he asked before I could even say what I wanted as if reading my thoughts. In as much as I wanted to meet him, I had to decline.
“I wish we could but I’ve already made plans with my friends after the exams”, I apologized.
“Okay then, you need to relax and have fun with your friends. Let’s get in touch later, now go and eat before it gets late”, he said trying to sound okay but I could feel that he was trying his best to hide from me. I sighed and shrugged it off.
We bid goodnight to each other before hanging up.
“Finally, we are done with the semester”, Ezra exaggeratedly sighed and started jumping around trying to pull Bryan and I into her shenanigans. We giggled at her behaviour and pulled her to Bryan’s car. She bolted straight to our room to get ready just as soon as we got to the dorms. I dressed casually to Ezra’s dismay but paid no attention to her and tried not to be swayed by her.
“We are letting loose tonight”, she yelled as we left the dorm waiting for Bryan to show up. Luckily for him, he followed Ezra’s advice and did not bring his car since she had warned him. We ordered for a ride and arrived at the Nest in about thirty minutes. We entered and were welcomed by the familiar booming and dancing atmosphere of the Nest.
“You finally came. I thought you girls weren’t coming anymore”, we heard and turned to see Haven approaching us.
“Yeah yeah, as if you wouldn’t call to harass us if we bailed on you”, I replied rolling my eyes at her. She lightly hit me and looked away from me to greet the others.
“Well hello there, who is this handsome friend of yours? Penny, why didn’t you tell me about him?”, she asked her attention completely diverted.
‘I wonder who can calm her hormones down’, I thought shaking my head at her antics.
“I’m Bryan and who might you be?”, he addressed her. I pulled Ezra with me leaving them alone.
“I thought…”, she started to say but I interrupted her.
“Well it’s his loss, he didn’t take advantage of his chances and lost her. It’s their business how they deal with it but for now let’s get find our room, I’m tired already”, I interjected.
I opened the door and was surprised.
“What are you guys doing here?”, I questioned staring at Seth and Marcus who looked like they had waited for a long time. I walked in Ezra trailing behind me grinning widely and I realized that she knew about them. She greeted them and sat by Marcus while I sat opposite them. I looked around trying to decipher what was familiar about the room we were in.
“This is your private room. I had it remodeled for easier access and space after you left in case you wanted to return, if not the others could also use it”, I heard and turned to see the two finally here.
I hummed and nodded in response.
“By the way, why didn’t you tell me you had a friend like him when you mentioned your friends earlier?”, she asked and stilled. I looked at Seth’s face and sighed in relief when he looked unbothered, but felt a heavy stare sent my way. I raised my brow in his direction but he looked away from me. I smirked lightly at his discomfort and shook my head. Seth raised his brow in my direction but I averted my gaze not wanting to disclose anything to him.
“Don’t blame only me, Ezra knows him too”, I pouted at her trying to get myself out of her claws.
“Well you can keep him in exchange for your forgiveness. I think that’s fair to both of us, right?”, I finished and she grinned widely at me.
“Are you finally revealing your claws, Penny? I can’t believe you decided to sell me off”, he joked and we all laughed heartedly, except for the one who kept glaring at me the whole time. I looked in his direction to find him sulking and I giggled. The door opened and a lot of drinks were brought in causing me look in Haven’s direction. Sensing my stare, she looked at me, motioned towards Ezra and shrugged. My phone buzzed and I checked to find a message from Seth. He asked why I was sitting away from him and I smiled at the message. I placed the phone back into my bag and paid attention to the people around me. After some rounds of drinks, the lights went out causing us to wonder what was wrong. The lights came back on only for us to see dancers on the stage preparing to entertain us.