Counterfactual

06 | oneiric

CHAPTER SIX

ONEIRIC

( — of or relating to dreams. )

•• ━━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━━ ••

          ROWAN KNOWS HE SHOULD STAY AWAY FROM HER. The tiny voice in the back of his head, which might belong to what some would call his conscience or even his superego, tells him she's bad news; Rowan has no idea why he feels so drawn to the girl—and, God, he really hates spending so much time with college students especially while not being one himself—but there's something incredibly alluring about her and everything she does.

          He doesn't dare talk about it to anyone, mostly because he knows he's the only person in Nova Scotia he can blindly trust. It's not like he can simply walk up to someone and tell them there's a college girl who's seriously messing with his head because, even though she's a junior, she's still in college and their maturity levels might be completely different.

          Besides, they haven't said two words to each other and all he knows about her is her name—which he's not even sure it's her real first name or if it's a mere nickname. She never gives him the time of day, choosing to keep to herself, and Rowan would prefer to keep things that way. She doesn't really hang out with Micah's group, meaning she was sitting at their table as a mere coincidence and not through affiliation, but, then again, he wants to think he's not paying her nearly as much attention as he fears he might be.

          God, he really is getting old, isn't he?

          Isla has apparently decided against trying to make things between them relatively normal again, but Rowan isn't really shocked. After what he did—yelling at her in front of all those people, some of which could have been her friends, and giving her what, at the time, seemed like a well-deserved call out speech—he's not expecting her to come running back to him or to wait for him with open arms if he ever decides to go after her.

          Spoiler alert: he isn't going after her, not even in a million years. It was good while it lasted, with her having helped him prepare for the interview with her father, which ended up warranting him his most recent job, but that was about it. They owed nothing to each other back then and they sure as hell owe nothing to one another now, so maybe it's best if things remain this way.

          He wouldn't go as far as saying she hates him, even if it would be perfectly understandable if she did—let's face it, like Micah said and his sister thought, Rowan is an absolute nightmare to work and deal with—and she certainly doesn't care about him nearly enough to be able to hate him. It doesn't bother him as much as he thought he would and he's been managing just fine without her, doing his research and flipping through the draft of the manuscript Gabriel gave him so he'd know exactly what to write.

          Though he's thankful for all they've done for him, both Gabriel and Isla, in her own way of thinking she's giving him a helping hand, he thinks he can take it from here. He just has to stay as far away from them as he possibly can, as he feels his sanity slowly disintegrate whenever he steps through the black iron gates leading to the campus of Crowcrest University.

          Today, however, isn't one of those days—not even by a long shot.

          Rowan has made his way inside the massive library, sneezing whenever he walks past a particularly dusty shelf and being hissed at to shut up by students who are trying to focus. After a long while of searching—over three minutes—for a vacant table, he has set his fictional tent and gotten to work.