I couldn’t take my eyes off of Castiel who grey eyes were laser locked on Nathaniel as he led me towards the front doors; an angry scowl creasing his brow. I could feel Castiel’s gaze flick from Nathaniel to me as I waited while Nathaniel unlocked the main doors; my cheeks felt hot and I knew without needing to look in the reflective glass of the trophy case next to me that my face was bright red. I only hoped that Nathaniel wouldn’t be tipped off to Castiel’s presence from my awkward behaviour; I felt as though I was under a microscope and I fidgeted restlessly as Nathaniel finally got the door unlocked and opened it, letting in a cooling waft of fresh air that quickly chilled my flushed and overheated flesh.
“After you,” Nathaniel said solicitously as he smiled warmly and gestured for me to proceed before him out the door.
I forced myself not to glance back, told myself twice and then a third time not to do anything that would alert Nathaniel to the fact that Castiel had obviously broken into the college; the drink can outside propping open the fire exit door just had to belong to him, and after his hurtful accusation of my having told on him to the Head Mistress there was no way that I was going to do anything to prove his misconception about me was right.
“Why thank you sir.” I grabbed hold of the skirt of my dress and made a curtsey, trying to make Nathaniel laugh, and was relieved when he did so; I had no idea what sort of things he found funny, whereas with Castiel all I had to do was make a caustic remark about something and one side of his mouth would quirk up in amusement, although he always seemed to do his best to hide that fact.
Nathaniel and I exited the college and walked slowly down the street side by side, every now and then our shoulders would bump and the action would cause little shocks to course up and down my arm and through my whole body, leaving me feeling tingly all over. I wondered how Nathaniel felt about me; he’d asked me out, or at least text me and asked me to meet him at college but aside from that I’d not thought that he’d been especially attentive to me compared to the rest of the student body, but maybe he had been paying me more attention than the other students. The fact was I just didn’t know him well enough to tell.
Guess that’s why you’re out on a date with him dummy.
“So, is college open on the weekends?” I looked up at Nathaniel as we walked; I had no idea where he was leading me and he’d not given me any hint as to our destination with the direction we were going in and his facial expression or clothing didn’t give me any clues either.
“No, the principal gave me a spare key so I could finish up a few things; I find the library a soothing place to get all of my student council duties done.”
“Oh,” I said unsure how to continue, “But how did you know I’d come to the library? You didn’t say anything in your message, just to meet you at college.”
Nathaniel stopped for a moment stunned, “Didn’t I? I could have sworn that I did. I guess it’s lucky that you came and found me then.” He laughed and the sun touched his features and made him seem like a Grecian God come down from mount Olympus. I felt my cheeks warm at the thought and Nathaniel gave me a soft smile before tentatively holding out his hand to take hold of mine. His hand was warm and dry and I wondered if he could tell how nervous I was and if he was grossed out by my sweaty palm.
I bet if it was Castiel he would said something about it, made a joke or taken the mickey somehow.
I just didn’t know how to act around Nathaniel; I didn’t understand what he’d found about me that was so interesting and as we sat in the cinema watching a movie that I’d been bugging Marisol to see with me before I moved I tried to figure out the mystery that was Nathaniel Dresden.
Walking out into the evening light, the setting sun making us both blink and screw up our eyes after being in the darkness of the movie theatre, Nathaniel was much more enthusiastic and talkative than before we’d gone in. He chatted confidently about the plot to the film; although to be honest I’d found it a little bit boring in places and silently conceded to Marisol that she’d been right in vetoing going to see it. I somehow managed to inject the right amount of enthusiasm into my responses and Nathaniel once again took hold of my hand and I blushed and smiled shyly at him as he walked me home.
“How did you know to come look in the library for me?” Nathaniel asked suddenly.
I fidgeted for a moment before answering, knowing I was probably about to make a very big mistake, “I didn’t, I just wandered about until I found you.” I settled for vague brevity and hoped that he wouldn’t pursue the conversation further.
“Well how did you get in? I had to unlock the main doors for us to leave.” Nathaniel stopped and I felt myself tensing as I slowed to a halt and removed my hand from his grip; I didn’t want to tell on Castiel, not when he already thought that I had put the blame on him for the damage to the student council office but I couldn’t think of an explanation as to how I’d gotten in the building when the door was locked.
“Um…” My mind was a blank, but it didn’t seem to matter, Nathaniel’s face darkened and he turned back in the direction of the college, leaving me to trot after him as my shoes pinched my toes painfully.
“Nathaniel wait; what are you doing?!” I finally caught up to him as we neared the gates to the college, my feet were burning by this point and I was hobbling slightly. I’d have blisters in the morning for sure.
"Where did you get in?” He asked me bluntly. The warm, caring Nathaniel from earlier that day was gone, replaced by this cold efficient stranger who stared at me with eyes of molten gold.
“The fire exit,” I whispered not wanting to anger him more, not that my words did anything to calm his ire. He stormed off around the corner of the building and I heard a door swing back as he went inside.
Is Castiel still here? I trotted after Nathaniel as quickly as I was able to and as soon as I stepped into the cool and dark interior of the building I slipped my heels off and sighed as my hot, swollen feet touched the cold tiles.
I could hear raised voices coming from nearby and I tip-toed towards it and peeked around the lockers that were hiding me from view so that I could hear more clearly what they were fighting about.
“She chose me!” Nathaniel pushed Castiel roughly who in return shoved him back into the lockers, the sound echoing down the hallway.
“You sure about that Pres?” He sneered as he drew his fist back to smack Nathaniel, who threw both his hands up to block the blow, his hands curled.
“Stop it both of you!” I screamed and bolted forward without much thought to my own safety, putting myself in the middle of them both just as one, or both of them, swung.
I never saw who hit me; I fell to the ground clutching my cheek as they both froze in shock.
Note to self: never get in the middle of two angry guys ever again!
“Ephie” they both spoke at the same time, but I wasn’t in the mood to listen to either of them right now, maybe not ever again, but I took both their proffered hands anyway and slowly got to my feet where I swayed for several seconds before snatching my hands back from both of them and scowling when I realised that Castiel had raised his other hand to gently touch my cheek.
“I’m not some bone for you both to pick over,” I hissed.
I turned and stalked off down the corridor as quickly as I could with my painful feet throbbing with every step and my painful face throbbing with every other step; I was furiously angry and I felt like a complete idiot as well. I scooped up my shoes on the way out and slammed the fire exit door open and trying to ignore the fact that my face was bright red with hurt; emotional as well as physical. I felt embarrassed and wanted to just crawl into my bed and pull the covers up over my head, which is basically what I did once I snuck into the house to avoid Aunt Fort questioning me as to why I was barefoot and had a rapidly darkening bruise under my eye.
