Bad Baby

2

I found myself sitting at the back of the Experimental Psychology lecture class, watching as the rest of the seats filled with bubbling groups of students, all seeming to have their friends with them.

At the front a few professors were setting up a power point presentation at the podium.

"Hey, Darling."

My attention darted up at the familiar voice only to find the guy from yesterday standing by my seat with a girl. This wasn't the same girl I'd seen hanging out of the car.

"Hi," I offered them a tight lipped smile.

"D'you mind if we join you?" Jacob asked politely, yet sat down next to me before I had had a chance to reply.

The girl sat down on his other side and leaned over to give me a smile, "I'm Bunny, good to meet you."

"I'm Isis", I returned the smile, understanding now that my plan of being socially isolated here wouldn't work, "nice to meet you."

Her brows raised a bit, "you were named after a terrorist organisation?"

"I'm named after the Egyptian Goddess Isis," I explained, ignoring how Jacob's curious gaze burned into the side of my face. He was way too hot and attractive to be as adorable and sweet as he came off as.

Bunny was chewing gum, seeming very interested in me, "right, makes sense. Are you Egyptian, or something?"

I took out my laptop so I could start taking notes as soon as the lecture would start.

"I'm half Egyptian," I told her, realising it was audible from my tone that I wasn't much of a talker and wasn't feeling this, "my mum is."

"That's seriously cool, you're so pretty," she seemed really nice, not minding my tone at all.

"Thank you," I sent her a quick smile before directing my attention to the front of the lecture hall.

"Jakey told me a lot about you. You're like really smart, right?" She seemed genuinely interested as she continued, leaning closer to me while Jacob sat awkwardly between us.

"I mean, I can count to ten," I shrugged, and he chuckled. Our eyes met and the darkness of them took me a back for a second, stunned at how intense they were and how beautiful they looked when he smiled. It seemed to take Bunny a moment to get the joke, since she let out a laugh a few seconds later.

"Sorry, I'm too hungover to process anything right now," she explained her late reaction and I then watched as she began applying lipstick, "you're eating lunch with us, Isis. You're interesting as hell."

My brows furrowed in confusion and I looked at Jacob to just find him smiling gently at me, almost shyly.

"I am?" I hesitantly wondered, on some level not minding at all how upfront I found her.

Bunny looked back at me from the small pink mirror in her hand, "of course you are, doll. The Busy Bean, you do know that place, right?"

"Yes," I nodded, opening up my Google Docs for my notes.

"Great," she sent me one last bright smile.

It seemed like the lecture hall was pretty full by now and, since the doors had closed, I was pretty sure the professor of this course would come up to the podium in no time.

I turned towards my laptop as Bunny started pulling out her devices as well.

Suddenly a notification popped up. I had received a Facebook message from my mother. I opened it up and read it.

From: Mandisa Darling: Hey sweetpea! We miss you so much! How is everything? Are you already done with your first classes of the day?x

"Is that your sister?" I heard Jacob's deep voice closer than I had expected, and I very ungracefully jumped a little. A part of me really liked that he smelt of a soothing mixture of a bit of cigarette smoke and a pinch of a rather delicious aftershave.

I composed myself and gave him a small smile, "no, that's my mum. I'm sure she'd appreciate you saying that, though."

He grinned after a second of his eyes searching my features, before he concentrated on our messages. It felt a little weird to then type a reply, knowing Jacob was reading it from beside me, but at the same time I didn't mind. I received only good vibes from him and decided he would be no threat.

To: Mandisa Darling: Everything's fine, mum. The first lecture is about to start soon. Say hi to dad and Fritters from me! X

"Fritters? Is that your sister, then?" Jacob sounded very amused. With a small giggle I closed the Facebook tab and returned to my empty Google Docs document.

"That's my hamster's name," I told him, sitting so that I was able to see his gorgeous features.

Jacob looked like a man, but somehow seemed innocent enough to come off as a little boy. There really was something extremely endearing about him.

"Cool name," he nodded, still studying my features closely, "I like your eyes a lot."

I managed a small smile, a confused and quiet laugh leaving my lips, "thanks."

I had grey eyes and often received comments that they looked like some sort of cat eyes. I wouldn't personally say they were my best asset, but if he liked them...

"Are you wearing contacts?" He then asked, seeming very intent on knowing. I probably should have felt slightly intruded upon, but this man fascinated me and I couldn't help but go along with his fast tempo-d thoughts.

"Yes," I admitted, "glasses would piss me off at lectures if they'd keep on sliding down when I'm trying to take notes."

"Are your eyes naturally like that? Grey?"

"Yes."

"That's amazing," he breathed out, seeming so taken by my eyes it was almost flattering, "what's your mum like?"

I definitely hadn't been expecting that question, and the slight confusion most likely showed on my face.

"My mum?"

Jacob chuckled, giving me a small nod, "yeah. Or whoever you were just sending Facebook messages to."

I collected myself, trying not to think too much into the fact that a very handsome and good looking man was talking to me this way.

"Right," I found myself giggling like a little girl. He was so endearing it had my thoughts running wild.

"She's really great. A hippy, in a really cute way," I told him, enjoying how genuinely interested he was in me.

Before Jacob could say anything, the lecture began. I quickly turned to face the front, fingers on the keyboard in preparation of writing notes.

Along with a few witty jokes, the middle aged and kind professor began teaching us his speciality.

While typing down my notes - which basically meant almost every word that came out of his mouth - I couldn't help but be bothered by Jacob's leg bouncing up and down.