Something Red

Part Three

"Get your hands off her, dumbass. For goodness sake."

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"Hi?"

"Your beauty is astonishing! Your hair is the most dazzlingly shade of red I have ever seen and it compliments your eyes perfectly. Where have you been all my life?"

"Is he for real, right now?" I glance at Dylan, totally weirded out by his declaration.

"Don't you think you're laying it on a bit too thick, Leo?" Dylan laughs at the face I make, the cookies suddenly don't taste as good as before.

"I'm just being honest. You can't deny the fact that she's gorgeous. I'm just saying it how it is." Leo winked at me before returning back to wherever the hell he popped out of. It was a battle to suppress the cringe that was begging to make an appearance on my face.

"Moving on... yeah okay, Scar. This is Paige Archer. Her major is Psychology and she's really sweet, you're gonna love her. Trust me." He says slinging his arm around the shoulders of a petite girl with violet hair in a cute bob cut.

She turns red immediately and when her shy huge grey nearly translucent eyes meet mine from across the booth I know. I know she has a crush the size of Texas on Dylan Cooper. I wonder if he knows or even notices.

"H...hi, it's n...nice to...me...meet y...ou." I barely make out her stutter but I make sense of it and I nod. She is so fucking adorable, I almost want to put her in my pocket.

"Get your hands off her, dumbass. For goodness sake." I turn to see a very attractive guy with similar grey eyes to Paige's and long dark brown hair in a low ponytail glaring at Dylan from across the booth.

"Chill man, she's your cousin? Not your girlfriend and besides, Paige doesn't mind at all. Right, Paigey?" Dylan literally coos at her and the poor girl can't resist his charms so she just nods quickly avoiding the dirty look her hot cousin is giving her.

"Whatever." Hot cousin dude mutters, going back to tapping on his phone as Thera and Leo talk over him, with him pitching in from time to time half-heartedly.

"That's Oscar Archer. He's a dick but he's also our friend. We just have to like him and it's probably all because of Paige is his cousin tbh. He's doing a Law and Ethics major, probably why he acts like he has a stick up his ass most of the time. Figures."

Dylan is a trouble maker I can tell already and it seems to be the usual here because no one really tries to defend Oscar or tell Dylan off. It's like an inside thing, I'm just looking in from the outside.
I just nod, glancing around the booth at the other occupants that haven't been introduced yet when my eyes fall on a stunning Adonis with dark hair and amazing bone structure just tapping away on his phone, not giving a fuck about anything happening in the booth. Okay, he's insanely hot but that's not why I'm staring. Everyone other guy I've met so far is unbelievably good looking but there's something different with this guy and I don't know what.

"Scarlet, that's Keith Lupine. Even though we're not allowed to bring pets to school he somehow manages to bring Rex his dog with him all the time."

It takes me a while to realise he wasn't referring to who I was staring at. He meant the guy who had the piercing eyes and tribal tattoos on his face with the dog which I just happened to notice as well, panting as it leaned up on the table. Rex licked Keith's face but he only laughed, ruffling his fur. Wow. That was hot for some reason I can't understand because I'm pretty sure I'm more of a cat person.

"Yo!" Keith waves at me, flashing his pointy canines at me.

"My major is Animal Health Care, I'll probably be a Vet someday. Family business."

"Oh, that's...cool." I finish lamely, turning my stare from his razor teeth to 'Mr. Broody, Apathetic and I'm too good to be here.' that's now staring out the window with his amazing jaw clenched.

"Then there's Sean Barker. Majoring in Culinary Art, which is no surprise if you know him well enough. He cooks amazing sushi and pasta and noodles and oml. He's just a really good chef in the making." I shake my head at Dylan's antics when I finally manage to tear my eyes away from the Greek god sitting at the end of the booth.

"Nice to meet you, Scarlet. Feel free to order something from me anytime." Sean says with a smile, his cheeks rising. He's chubby and cute in this welcoming way, I find it hard to not nod at him with a slight smile.

"Where's Bran? I haven't seen him all day, even over the weekend." Dylan squints at Keith and Sean but they shrug at him good naturedly.

"Oh, Bran's okay. He's just out doing some botanical research for this project he has. You know how he gets about his researches, flowers and insects."

Keith laughs, nudging Sean who chuckles back, everyone joins in clearly getting the joke but I notice that a certain someone still doesn't turn or join in the conversation.

I wait for Dylan to introduce him but he never does. I eat my cookies in silence watching the only other person in the booth who I can relate with as everyone else interacts with one another. Dylan and the others are friendly enough, involving me when they can. I appreciate it, it's nice of them but I find myself wondering about that stranger looking out from within while I'm trying to look in from without.

I decide to name him since I don't know his name. I call him Nars in my head. It just fits. Narcissus. I don't care if that's too presumptuous but it makes me feel like I know him like I know the others.

He leaves before everyone else, he doesn't say anything. He just gets up gracefully, for a brief moment he watches them and they acknowledge him by glancing at him, then he just leaves and they let him go. They understand something I don't. They do know him. I really don't but I can pretend I do and that his name is Nars for now.

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