Athena's Enigma

7 - Washing My Doubt Away

Just as Logan promised, he picked me up from my home and drove me to the campus the next day. To say that the car ride was awkward would be an understatement. The radio was the only sound besides the engine. I explored his thoughts to keep myself busy and to flex my ability.

I had woken up that morning with a minor headache and I knew that I needed to get used to holding up my mental block if I wanted to not feel so drained when I awoke. I figured that I could use my talent and overtime it would grow stronger, like a muscle when working out.

After shuffling around through the random thoughts in Logan’s mind, I came across one that caught my interest. I wanted to voice my thoughts about his thoughts but I didn’t for obvious reasons. When Logan pulled into the campus parking lot, he shut off the engine and stared at me for a moment. Unsure of what to say, he gave me a tiny smirk and then got out of the car to help me with my door.

We walked onto campus neither of us speaking nor touching. I could imagine that we looked more like strangers than people who were supposed to be dating. We exchanged small words before Logan led me to my class. Outside the classroom door, he pulled me aside and shoved his hands in his pockets.

He avoided eye contact. I fiddled with the strap on my messenger bag hearing his thoughts loud and clear. It was the same thought from inside his car and it mirrored my own. ‘How the hell are we going to pull this off?’

“Listen,” Logan spoke finally. “Don’t advertise our relationship.” I nodded. “If someone asks if you are single then you can tell them no but don’t go in your class determined to let everyone know you have a boyfriend. It seems kind of suspicious if you know what I mean.”

“Yeah,” I muttered watching other students enter the classroom and glance over at us. “I’ll see you after class?”

Logan shifted awkwardly in place before nodding his agreement. I walked passed him into my class but not before giving him a wave and a reassuring smile. I wished I had the power to project my thoughts onto others. I would have told him: Don’t worry. We can do this with no problem. Even though I didn’t exactly feel that way myself.

Class proved to be a small distraction to my problem. No one spoke to me making the advertising rule a piece of cake to follow. As if I would have told random people about my love life anyway no matter how unreal it was. I was good at keeping secrets; my entire life was the perfect example of that.

After class, Logan and I were to meet out by the tables where I met his friends yesterday. Suddenly my nerves kicked in as I thought of putting our relationship façade into action. We might have done it once before but that was for a minimum of five minutes. Now I had to actually make his friends believe that I had known this guy for three months.

I decided to escape the pressure by buying myself some time and going to the bathroom. I walked down the hall into the nearest girls’ restroom. It was empty and I promptly entered a stall to empty my nervous bladder.

While in the stall, the door opened and a group of girls entered. I stayed silent but their voices echoed inside the hollow room.

“God, he is just so hot and cute and adorable,” a very shrill and nasally voice claimed. ‘I just want to sink my teeth into that hunk of man meat!’

Another voice sighed. “Too bad you will never date a guy like that.” ‘Even if you are so pretty that I could just gouge your eyes out with spoons.’

“A guy like that doesn’t date,” a familiar voice argued. ‘If he was the dating type he would be my boyfriend before he was yours, that’s for sure.’