Emerald Eyes

28 - Force

After our trip to Bilbao, it took a while until I was back to my daily routine. Anna and I had a lot to do for university, especially one of these essays kept us super busy. So instead of going out, we spent ages in the library studying. While I was still dreaming about the Spanish sunshine, I really had to make sure this assignment turned out well, so I tried my best to move the thoughts back inside my brain. Anna and I had been studying for a while on one of these days, it was a Wednesday I believe. We always chose the same table on the upper floor of the library, secluded in a little corner between the book shelves. I was just typing on my laptop, trying to come up with a good conclusion for my essay, when Anna realized that she had forgotten her laptop charger and her battery was running low. She shut her notebook and said to me: "Gosh, I am so dumb. I left my charger back in the dorms. Now my battery's at 10%, I guess that won't last me long enough to finish it up. I think I'll go back to the room and finish up the work there. What do you say, call it a day and come with me?" "Uhm...", I replied, "Actually, I'm really in the topic at the moment. Let me just quickly finish up the conclusion here, I'll catch up with you later, alright?" "Okay.", she smiled, "I get that. See you in a bit!" Then Anna grabbed her stuff and left the library. I went back to my work, and somehow, I found a lot of inspiration. The sentences just kept flowing and sooner than later, I was almost finished with my essay. Suddenly, I was startled by someone who came walking to my table and stopped right next to me. There was this smell, the cologne I wouldn't ever forget. Toby. I looked up from my laptop and directly in his smirking face. "Is this seat taken?", he asked and without even waiting for the answer, he sat down right next to me. Urgh. My first thought was to ignore him, so he would eventually just leave, but knowing Toby, that would just make it worse. So instead I asked: "Couldn't you find any other seat?" "I could. But I wanted this one.", he said.  "Oh come on. Don't you get it? I do not wanna hang out with you.", I replied, putting an extra emphasis on the word "not". "That's a lie.", he said straight up to my face. "No it is not, asshole.", I said, now super annoyed. "It is. If you really didn't care, you would've just gotten up and left. I know you, Line. You can't let go. You still want this.", he stated in his calm voice. I hated his mind games. He was always fucking up my head. He was so good at that, manipulating people in doing stuff they didn't want to do. "He should really have beaten you black and blue in this night club the other day.", I sigh, "Wasn't that enough embarrassment for you?" "Oh you mean that DJ friend of yours? What a loser.", he smirked. Oh gosh, whatever I said, he would always turn it around to his advantage. "Martijn is not a loser.", I said and immediately thought, how childish this must've sounded. "Come on, you really can't believe that this is the true love you've been longing for. Where is he now? Vegas? Miami? He must've fucked so many girls before you. A guy like him would never be loyal. He's got all the possibilities, you don't have any. I know you better than he does, babe.", Toby said triumphantly. Fuck. I took a deep breath, trying to calm down and preventing him from destroying this feeling of hope I always had when thinking of Martijn. Enough was enough. I slammed my laptop shut and scrambled my things together. When I was trying to get up, Toby fiercely grabbed my wrist, forcing me to sit down again.  He was just way too strong. "Babe. I'll care for you, I'll protect you. I'll give you what you deserve. Give me a chance.", he said in his slimy voice. "What if I don't?", I replied, disgusted by his words. "Well if you do not, I'll make your DJ pay for your mistakes. You will understand where you belong eventually.", he whispered, almost silent. Then he let go of my hand and I left as fast as possible. Tears in my eyes.