Remember

Chapter 7: What I Will Do For An A...

Hello everyone! Here is the next update. Sorry for the delay in posting this, but I just got home from a horse show. Nevertheless I hope that you enjoy. Please read, vote, and comment. Have a great day!

As I got ready for my last class of the day I was exhausted. I was tired of well-wishers and people asking me how I was feeling. I had only missed three days, not three months! As I walked into the Greek and Roman Mythology classroom I allowed myself to relax and enjoy the history around me, images of the gods battling the titans, of King Lyceon and his curse, of the birth of Athena, before finally taking a seat.

As I slid into my seat I stiffened. On the first day of classes our eccentric professor had actually assigned seats, and as my luck would have it I was seated right in between Janus and Noah. Both Olivia and Josh had this class, but they were in a different time slot, so I had no barrier between myself and the two people that I truly did not want to talk to. Yet today neither talked to me.

I saw Noah begin to ask me a question once but Janus threw a look his direction, making him freeze and stop. Despite my misgivings towards Janus, I was thankful for his intervention. I truly did not want to talk anyone right now. As class began and the professor started to lecture on the differences in Greek and Roman mythology Noah and I both leaned forward to start taking notes.

Janus, on the other hand, did the exact opposite. Instead of paying attention to the professor, he was paying attention to me. I could feel his gaze on me, studying me, analyzing me.

I finally got a reprieve as the professor began to explain the midterm project. We were going to be working in pairs, one boy and one girl. We would choose one god and one goddess to research and then dress up as for the department ball. All of his classes would be in attendance and our groups would be assigned by him.

As he started assigning partners I was relatively optimistic, there were over 50 people in the class, there was no way I would be partnered up with Noah or Janus. Yet the numbers began to dwindle and all three of us remained.

"Asteria Miller and-" The professor hesitated for a second, his eyes glazing over as Janus's did the same thing. "Janus Williams."

Something had just happened, but I had no idea what exactly. It seemed as if Janus had just had a telepathic conversation with the professor, as outlandish as it sounded.

Almost as an afterthought and before he announced the next pair the professor added, "Janus, Asteria, see me after class please." I sighed, now what?

I decided to take the initiative. I may not like Janus but that did not mean that I was about to fail this midterm as a result. "When do you want to meet up to start researching?" I asked, my voice was detached and professional.

He raised an eyebrow and smirked at my tone. "I am free most evenings and my last class ends by four each day. Weekends are either hit or miss." I nodded at the onslaught if information, carefully thinking it through. "Don't you think we should decide on our gods first?" He added, challenging me.

I felt my eyes snap towards his, rage blazing in my eyes while humor danced in his. I could feel my pride rising inside of me, or hubris as the Greeks would call it. I was never able to resist a challenge. This time, I was not able to keep my voice devoid of emotions, "I was thinking that we wait until we meet up to research that way we have time to think about the deity that we want to choose."

I saw a smile dance across his face and pride dance through his eyes before he gave a carefree shrug, "Sounds good to me." He said in a manner that made his question sound like a test.

I shook my head in amazement. I would never be able to understand him.

By this time class was ending, Janus and I packed up our things and headed to the front of the room together in silence. When we got to the professor's desk he looked up at us in surprise but quickly gathered his train of thought. "Janus and Asteria, excellent! I will not take up much more of your time. But anyways, I know that I said that you could pick your own deity but I ask that the two of you do your namesakes. The Roman god Janus and the Titaness Asteria." He clasps his hands together and looked towards us expectantly.

Janus and I looked at each other in those split seconds a conversation without words flowed between us. At the end of it, I turned towards the professor. "Consider those our deities then."

He smiled, "Excellent!" He looked back down at his papers and subsequently lost himself within them, forgetting of Janus and I's existence.

Together we both turned and headed out of the classroom. As we did so we made plans to meet at the library Friday evening, better known as tomorrow. Apparently, he needed an excuse to prevent himself from having to go to a local party to 'get the lay of the land'. We fell into an easy conversation, yet every time I felt myself growing comfortable around Janus I forced myself to hear that conversation again in my head.

"You were the one watching her sleep and following her last night!"

"She is mine! Mine and only mine! Just like..."

As much as I wanted to be comfortable around Janus, I knew that I could not. That conversation was proof of that.

I glanced over at the library clock. It read 7:30. I shook my head at my own stupidity. I had actually believed that he would show up at seven to do our project, instead, he left me hanging. I sighed, I guess it was going to be a long night of research all by my lonesome.

As I opened up my notebook to get started I felt the air shift behind me as someone walked towards me but then stopped. I spun around in my seat and was met by a nervous looking Janus. He seemed surprised that I had noticed him. "You're late," I stated as I took in his wet and tousled hair, defined jowl line, the way his black shirt showcased the hard muscles in his chest, contracting and relaxing as he breathed. I snapped myself out of it. I could not let myself think of him that way.

He met my accusing gaze but seemed oblivious to my earlier ogling. "I'm truly sorry. Noah decided that it would be funny to hide the notebook which I had started putting my research into. By the time I found it I was already late so I decided to stop for coffee as an apology. I would have texted you saying that I was going to be late but I didn't have your number. I'm really sorry."

For the first time in a long while, I did not feel as if someone was lying to me, or even slanting the truth. I felt relieved, not to mention the fact that he had brought coffee. "You're forgiven. Just don't do it again." I added threateningly. A grin broke across his face, making his eyes almost glow, showing off the gold flecks throughout them.

We soon got down to researching, following the divide and conquer strategy. Every so often we would show something to one another or share a good source but for the most part, we lapsed into a comfortable silence.

I stretched, glancing over at the clock. My eyes widened in shock as I saw that it was 10:30. Janus followed my gaze, letting out a quiet whistle as he saw the time. "Ready to call it a night?" He asked me.

"We probably should," I replied as I stifled a yawn. "Let me see your phone," I added. He looked confused but handed it over wordlessly. I quickly added my number to his phone and handed it back to him. "I added my number to your phone so we don't have any more issues like today and so we can set up research times," I explained to him.

He nodded and smiled at me. "I'm glad that one of us has a bit of forethought." He joked to me as he quickly texted me and we began to leave the library. We fell into an easy conversation as we walked. A little bit of everything, favorite books, TV shows we watched, the music we listened to. Before either of us knew it we were parting ways at my dorm building. As we split off I could see the conflict in Janus's eyes, there was something that he wanted to say but he was scared to say it.

"Goodnight Janus!" I called to him as I quickly moved away, not giving him time to decide.

"Goodnight Asteria!" He yelled to me. I saw him murmur something under his breath, but I didn't hear a word of it.

By the time I got back to my room thoughts of Janus occupied my mind. It was his face that was ingrained in my mind as I drifted off to sleep, clutching my amulet.