Love-Love || OLD DRAFT

three - one

Being a supervillain and having to attend lectures is the stupidest thing ever. Who even came up with the idea of college? College sucks. It drains your brain power and leaves your soul dead.

Like now, for example. The professor was going on about fossils and the only thing remotely interesting was that if I ever found fossils, I might be able to control them. Wait, that was actually pretty useful information.

Making a mental note to visit the state museum one of these days, I stuffed my things into my bag and sneaked out of the back door twenty minutes before the class was scheduled to be over.

The college was bustling with students and I walked down the corridors broodingly because I had an image to maintain. Even without being Gravel, Ridge had to be a doesn't-give-any-fucks name among the students. It kept the friends away, because friends were nosy and I didn't want nosy in my line of business.

I scrolled through my phone looking for any new news on Super Storm. He was supposed to inaugurate some building at the heart of the city sometime this week, meaning I had to go make an entrance there.

In other news, the reward on my head just went up. The police chief made a huge speech yesterday, after the heist, that all forces have been employed to capture Gravel. Lol. The only way to defeat me would be to build the city on the clouds. And even then -

"Ridge!"

I stopped on my tracks and turned around. A guy in tennis shorts jogged up to me with a broad smile plastered to his face.

"You don't remember me, do you?" He came to a halt in front of me and swung his racket over his shoulder.

"Uh... am I supposed to?" I replied, taken aback by this strange encounter.

The stranger chuckled. "I suppose not. You were pretty hammered last night."

I deadpanned. "Did I - did we -"

He laughed. It was a beautiful laugh. "Dude you're obsessed with - no, we did not hook up last night, because, apparently, you only hook up with straight guys."

"That doesn't sound right," I frowned.

He shrugged. "Aspen, by the way. I'm a little disappointed you don't remember." He took a step back and tossed his racket from one hand to the other. "Do you - uh, do you have a class now? I'm going for a game; you can join if you want."

I stared at him. He had a bright face and a strong, athletic build. And his hair - it was ridiculously similar to Super Storm's.

"I'm not really into tennis," I replied.

"Tennis is fun," he said, walking away but I knew he was expecting me to follow. "It's a gentleman's game, they say."

"I think that's cricket," I said, making no move to follow him.

Aspen paused and threw me a curious look over his shoulder. "Someone knows their GK," he smiled. "Come on, Ridge, I'll try to not brutally murder you." With that, he skipped off towards the tennis courts.

I hesitated for a moment. Roux was not going to meet the dealer in another twenty minutes or so, so I still had a lot of time in my hands to kill before I met her.

I shrugged to myself and walked after Aspen. After all, I was never one to say no to some good ol' fashioned competition.

I dropped my bag by the benches, took off my jacket and walked into the court. There weren't many people around. Two girls were playing in the other court, and a few students sat in the bleachers, busy amongst themselves.

Out of the blue, a guy standing next to the net threw a racket towards me.

"Nice reflexes," he said as I caught it with one hand.

I shrugged and turned to Aspen who took his place on the other side of the net.

"Do you know how to play?" he said, grinning.

I rolled my eyes, signalled to the other boy to throw me a ball. He did as asked and I served first.

Aspen was clearly a regular player. And he was good. He knew the techniques of the sport, handled the ball like he could feel its movement, not just see it. My reflexes, on the contrary, could only take me so far.

"You're good," I said as I missed for the fourth time. Aspen hadn't lost a point even once.

"You're not too bad yourself," he said as he got ready to serve. "Played before?"

The ball shot over the net and I hit it back towards him. "Not really."

The ball fell to the ground and rolled off as Aspen froze in his spot. "You're telling me this is the first time you've played tennis?"

"First time I've held a racket, yeah," I answered.

His eyes widened. He took a few steps towards me, closer to the net between us. "You're kidding, right? You're way too good for a first-timer."

If only I could tell him hitting balls thrown at me was no different from dodging Super Storm's air punches or the random trucks he tended to throw my way. "Thanks, I guess."

"You should definitely play tennis," he cried like an excited child. "Properly, I mean. You clearly have potential, trust me."

"I guess you're a proper tennis player," I replied.

He rubbed the back of his neck. "I play, yeah. Tennis and other stuff."

I raised a brow. "Other stuff?"

He smiled sheepishly. "Uh, badminton, javelin throw, discus throw, and stuff."

"You play tennis and throw javelin?" I chuckled. "That's an odd combination."

"Not really, they both involve -" he paused midsentence. "Never mind," he said instead, letting out a laugh.

I stared at him. I vaguely remembered talking to him last night, but I couldn't recall what I might've said.

"Hey, listen," I said, "about last night. I - I'm sorry I don't remember. And I guess, I'm sorry if I might've said something I shouldn't have."

"Nah, you were fine." He swung his racket through the air, smiling. "Though, I'm finding this sober Ridge a lot quieter. Not very talkative are you?"

"Haven't got much to say, I guess," I shrugged.

He pointed his racket at me. "I doubt that."

"What's your major," I asked instead, not liking where the conversation was heading.

He tilted his head to the side. "Fine arts," he said softly.

"Dude, are you human or what!" I cried. I couldn't help it. "You play like ten different games and paint?!"

"Now that sounds more like the Ridge I met last night," he laughed. "But yes," he nodded shyly. "Currently I'm trying my hand at sculpting. It's harder than I thought."

I can help you with sculpting, I wanted to say but didn't. "That's pretty cool," I said.

"Geology seems pretty cool too," he said, then added, "No I'm not stalking you. You told me that last night."

I couldn't help but smile. He was cute.

"Yes, I guess -" I was cut off by my phone vibrating in my pocket. Since no one ever called me to ask how my day went, I knew it was something urgent. "Uh, Aspen could you excuse me for a moment?" I said, pulling out my phone. I saw him nod as I rushed towards the locker room.

Checking once that the room was empty, I looked down at my phone. On a map of the city, a single red dot was blaring for my attention, and I knew it only meant one thing.

Garnet was in trouble.

...

A/n

First off, THANK YOU so much for giving this book a chance. It really means the world to me and I'll try not to disappoint you guys too much heh.

Secondly, I'll probably update twice a week. Will come up with a proper update schedule next time, but yeah. Just wanted to let y'all know.

Thank you so much and do lemme know what you think about this story so far. Eeeek!! *facepalm*