Oblivious To Him

Chapter 16 - Stay Away

My footsteps blended into the sounds of chaos as I tried to navigate my way through the hoard of students. There were only a couple of minutes left before class would start and I was amazed how little these kids cared about getting to their respective places before the late bell chimed.

I lifted my hand to make sure that my bun was intact and adjusted my top. It took everything in me to not just turn around and go home.

Today was the day I was going to confront Austin and get this whole stupid, confusing mess over with.

I had spent the last week talking over every single detail with my friends about how I was going to approach him, ask him, and rip the question off like a Band-Aid.

We talked about what I was going to wear, how I was going to smile and how not to fidget or look away. They had pretty much coached me through the entire thing so thoroughly and frequently that I could do it in my sleep.

What they didn't help me plan for was how my confidence would pop like a bubble the minute I saw him.

There he was, looking even better than I remembered, sitting down and leaning forward in his seat. He was whispering something into one of his groupie's ears and the blush that rose to her cheeks told me everything I needed to know.

I could feel all of the practice and preparation go out the window as my anxiety took over.

Sure Tess can do a pretty good impression of a guy when she needed too, but she could never imitate his looks. He and I are on completely different levels that I felt like an idiot for even thinking that he was the goofy, nerdy guy I have been talking to all this time.

I took a seat on the opposite side of the room from him and began to dig my way through my bag, looking for my phone.

I felt the seat dip beside me and so I looked down at the floor and a little to my left. I saw the suspicious black converse and felt my heart rate pick up. They looked so much like Guys, down to the little scuff marks on the front near the toes.

"Hey," said that deep velvety voice that unfortunately made my toes tingle.

I looked up and nodded in greeting before I returned to my hunt for my phone. I silently cursed myself as I came to the conclusion that I had left it at home.

"What are you looking for?" Austin questioned as I double and tripled checked my bag.

"I'm looking for my phone but I think I left it at home," I zipped up my bag and let it fall to the floor with a thunk.

Plan B was to email Guy during class and see if Austin's phone lit up.

"That sucks. I don't think I could go a whole day of school without mine," he admitted.

I lightly kicked my bag so that it wasn't resting on my feet before I sat back in my chair trying to force myself to relax. He was just a boy. I needed to calm down and complete my mission.

I looked towards Austin and tried to settle my nerves as I connected with his warm, honey brown eyes.

My question was on the tip of my tongue when I glanced past his head and saw that Drew was glaring daggers at us. His jet black hair was falling over his eyes, giving him a dark and hooded appearance. He looked so annoyed and angry about something that for a moment I forgot was I was about to do.

Austin noticed my glance and looked back towards his friend and rolled his eyes, "He doesn't know how to act like a normal human being, does he? Just ignore him. He's just angry at me for something."

Turning back to me he lowered his voice and continued, "Let's just say he is invested in my personal affairs right now when he knows he shouldn't be."

I glanced over towards Drew again but he thankfully wasn't shooting daggers at us anymore. He was back to scrolling through something on his phone with a slight scowl.

I opened my mouth to speak but someone tapped my back to get my attention. I turned around and was greeted by Sarah's smile and a brown sugar scent, "You're back! Where have you been? I thought you might have dropped this class and chose to leave us behind. Isn't that right Austin?"

"I'll admit, I was wondering the same thing myself. What kept you away from this amazing class for an entire week?" he said sarcastically, leaning back in his chair and letting one of his arms rest behind me on the back of my seat.

I could feel his body heat radiate off of him. Tempted to lean back further into my chair I spoke before I could try, "I was away on business," I joked, trying to get comfortable with all the attention they were both giving me.

Austin let out a deep chuckle, "Yeah right. Where were you really?"

I was about to explain my situation when the girl from before sat down in the row in front of us. The way she studied me, made me feel like a bug under the microscope. I could tell right away that this girl considered me a threat since I was able to steal Austin's attention away from her.

I decided to ignore the conversation she just rekindled with him and focused fully on Sarah instead.

"What did I miss while I was gone?" I asked.

She let out an annoyed huff of air and sighed, "Nothing but horrible improve exercises and a poetry reading. It was mortifying."

I could only imagine how bad it had been because the look on Sarah's face said that it must have been living hell. The bell rang and Mrs. Dervis appeared from offstage and clapped her hand to get out attention. I felt Austin's eyes on me while she talked about what we were going to be doing in class. It was really distracting and before I knew it, we were halfway through class.

I could feel my cheeks fighting a blush so I asked to be excused to get a drink of water.

I wasn't thirsty but there was no way in hell I was going to stick around and be forced to make animal noises. The very thought of doing that in front of Austin was mortifying so I slipped out the door and made my way towards the water fountain.

I was in no rush to return to the room so I strolled along the hallway at snail speed. I knew I was avoided what I had to do but I was a wimp when it came to stuff like this.

I heard some one's footsteps behind me and the next thing I knew, I was staring into a black t-shirt covered chest.

Drew had blocked my path and shoved his hands into his pockets, "You need to stay away from Austin," he whispered angrily at me.

I scrunched up my eyebrows, "Why?"

Drew took another step forward so that he was invading my personal space, "Just stay away from him. He only going to dump your ass in two weeks anyway so someone like you, shouldn't waste your time on someone like him," he shot me a final warning look before stepping to the side and walking past me without another word.