Octavia (Completed - 2018 Watty's Longlist)

Chapter Twenty - Edmund

The freezing cold air slaps me in the face the moment I open my front door and rush to my car, immediately turning the heat on high. I rub my hands together to try to keep them warm. As you can see, I'm still not accustomed to this weather. California was so much different in winter. A tap on my car window startles me. Octavia stands outside my car window, giving me a little wave that I don't return back due to my slow recovery from a heart attack. I open the door, the heat washing out of my car immediately and I miss it's warmth.
"You gave me a heart attack." I accuse and Octavia rolls her eyes.
"I'm sorry." She apologises. "I forgot how fragile you were." She smiles up at me and I thoughtlessly pull her towards me and kiss her forehead.
"Good morning." I smile, my warm breath turning into fog in front of me.
"Good morning." She replies. "Mind if I ride with you today?" She asks but she already knows the answer. "Not at all." The moment the words escape my mouth she is sat beside me with her seat belt on faster than should be possible. I reverse out of the driveway and Octavia snuggles up to me, sighing contently.
"You're really warm." She admits and even though her coldness effected me, I try not to show it because then she'll move away. And I don't want that.
"I'm not bothering you, am I?" She asks, concerned, her topaz eyes glancing up at me. It was like she could read my thoughts. I shake my head, focusing my attention back on the road for they are very icy this morning. "As long as you are warm." I tell her.
The moment we arrived at school many things seemed different. One; we were arriving at school together. Two; we were together together. And third, every single eye was on us. Unphased by this fact, Octavia got out of the car as usual and met me around my side at a normal, human pace. It looked odd to me because she had acted herself all weekend with me. But with me being the more awkward and shyer one of us, I couldn't move a muscle. I was too anxious to get out the car and face all the curious eyes.
Octavia opened my door and leaned against the frame casually. "They are curious about us." She admitted. "Obviously they've put two and two together." She pauses, her eyes focusing towards the entrance where Mia and Crystal are stood and sighs, chuckling to herself. "Crystal is incredibly jealous and will probably be bombarding you with many questions at lunch." I groan and tilt my head back in exhaustion. "Come on." She places her icy hand on my cheek. "Ignore them." She smiles encouragingly, showing her pearly white teeth. I grudgingly lift up my backpack and throw it over my shoulder, trying my hardest to block out all the stares we get as Octavia and I make the most longest walk to my locker. When we finally reach my locker she looks at me optimistically.
"It wasn't that bad, right?" She chirps. I roll my eyes and begin placing textbooks that I won't need for my first two classes in my locker. "Easy for you to say. I don't do well with spotlights and attention." I cringe at the thought. She chuckles darkly. "It's what you get when you're dating Octavia Spencer." I scoff, becoming angry at her words. Octavia stands before me, her eyes now curious. "What?" "You act like this is all normal for you." Her eyebrows crease but she looks at me and shrugs. "It is normal for me." I stare at her, angry but still confused. I don't understand how she can be so calm about all of this. But then there is a part of me that realises this has probably been going on for decades and it is actually the norm for her. The thought makes me even more angrier. Her cold hand wraps around mine, pulling me along with her. I instantly forget why I was angry. "I think you should sit with your friends at lunch today." She tells me, changing the subject. I crease my eyebrows in confusion, a small ounce of disappointment seeping through. "Why?" I question. A small smile creeps onto her lips. "I feel like I'm taking you away from your friends. . . and I can tell that they are annoyed at me for stealing you from them." She explains, humorous. I shake my head. "You didn't steal me. I willingly followed. Besides, I prefer sitting with you."
"Of course you would say that." She lightly chuckles. "But all I'm saying is that you should spend more time with your friends. And I'll be listening in." She pauses. "I'll be there in a way." I look into her eyes and she stares back, decided. "Fine." I sigh, there was no room for argument. "It's going to be a very long fourty minutes." "You'll get over it lover boy." She laughs. "Lover boy?" I challenge, coming to a stop once we were far enough away from peering eyes. Her eyes are light, humorous but she seems sure of herself. "Yes." She confirms confidently, backing away from my challenging stare.
I use slow, exaggerated steps towards her. "I have a strong affect on you." She backs herself all the way to a wall and I see her confidence fall a little.
"Is that so?" I question, cocking my head to the side, placing both of my hands on either side of her face. "Are you saying I don't affect you at all?" She shakes her head beneath me and I raise my eyebrows. Calling her bluff, I lean down with exaggerated slowness and kiss the base of her throat. I feel her freeze into stone and her throat constricts under my lips. After moments passed and her breathing controlled I pulled back to see her glaring at me darkly. I smirk triumphantly and that's when her expression changed. She looked at me, innocent with a hint of darkness. She placed her small, white hands on my chest, leaning in to me. I could already feel my traitor blush creep onto my cheeks and my heart began to beat rapidly. Octavia leans up to kiss me, but just as I was going to bow my head lower to meet her half way she abruptly pulled back. "You'll never know." She whispers, laughing as she walks ahead of me. Embarrassed, I shamefully catch up to her. "That's not fair." I state, the warmth on my cheeks still evident. She laughs, leaning up to kiss my heated cheeks. "I didn't think there were rules." She cheekily grinned. Even though she never admitted it, I could tell that I affected her by the way her body froze beneath me.