I Blame Wattpad for My High Expectations of Men

Chapter 28 - I'll see you around, Ace.

It sucks trying to avoid someone whose best friend is dating your best friend, and also happens to hang out at the same places you hang out at.

        And if that hadn't been enough at the time, even when I had tried to drain out my thoughts through my school work, I still ended up finding Ace studying at the library as well. It seemed like everywhere I wanted to go, Ace was already there, too. And there's no telling what would have happened had I not ended up talking to Dylan the entire time a bunch of us were at the beach, the evening after my talk with Kelsey and Hayden. I was just glad that Dylan was one hell of a funny guy, otherwise I would've been bored out of my damn mind.

        But then, that following morning, I had remembered that Ace and I shared not one but two classes that week. And much to my dismay, Kelsey had been excused from the first one that day due to an important rehearsal, leaving me to struggle all on my own. Even the walk to the English department building was a dread, and the closer I had gotten to my actual class, the more dreadful it became.

        That is, until I was stopped by a familiar face that I hadn't seen around in a while.

~Flashback Continued~

~Monday, November 21, 2016~

"Hey, Lola," he greets me with the same smile that was plastered on his face the day I had spilled my coffee on us. Lucky for him, I didn't have time to get coffee this morning, so at least that won't be a potential hazard today.

"Hey, Ryan. How's it going?" I greet him back with a smile myself.

"Not much. How about yourself?" 

"Pretty good," except for the fact that I've been avoiding the person that seems to hate your guts with a passion, but other than that, I'm doing just dandy.

        'Dandy?' Really?

        Yes, really.

"You have any classes at the moment?" I ask Ryan now that I've noticed that he has no backpack or books with him.

"Nah, my first one isn't 'til 10:00 a.m. I was just heading up to talk to one of my professors about a recent grade I got, but I saw you and figured I'd say hi. Speaking of which, we never got around to that coffee date."

        Ignoring all the red signs in my head as I remember Ace's words about him looking out for me when it came to Ryan, I still agree to the date. Ryan seems like a cool dude and possibly, just maybe, he can temporarily get my mind off of Ace for a while.

        However, just as I'm about to ask Ryan when we should meet up, he looks behind me and the expression on his face morphs into one that I've never seen on anyone before. He looks back at me, and his demeanor has completely changed as well. Before, he seemed calm and collected. Now, he just looks like he's in a hurry to get the hell up out of here.

"Hey, I'm going to be late for my meeting but the next time I see you, we have to schedule that date. Okay?"

"Um, okay?" I ask, confused, but he doesn't say anything else and just takes off in the opposite direction that he came from.

        Well, that was weird...but not as weird as going to turn around to head for class only to bump into a hard ass chest, one belonging to the same person that I was doing everything I could to avoid.

        And instead of making small talk like a normal person would, I just brush past him and head straight for class.

"Lola!" He calls out for me and when he does it again and I still don't answer back, I hear his footsteps increasingly thumping against the floor until he's got a delicate hold of my wrist, sending an instant round of heat inside me from head to toe. "Lola, what the hell? You've been avoiding me all day yesterday, and now I see you making plans for a coffee date with the one guy I warned you to be careful around. What's going on?"