A Song of Remembrance ( Redamancy Book 1: Under Reconstruction)

Chapter 6:

Rowan's POV:

The word stupidity didn't do enough justice in describing how much of a scatterbrain I was.

I glanced toward the pearl grey sky with a shake of my head, flexing my fingers and urging my shoulders to let go of the lingering tension. I counted to three in my head before backtracking to one. With a breath, I inhaled the petrichor scent of the earth before exhaling the chaos of my thoughts. 

I hadn't hit him.

I held on to the small but significant truth, as I willed the rivers of adrenaline coursing through me to a calm. Although I knew no harm had been done, my body had yet to catch up. My hands still trembled, preventing me from keeping a steady hold on my bag, while my heartbeat stampeded against my ribcage.

Perhaps if I'd tried really hard, I could have been able to rid my memory of the interaction that had just happened. Yet as much peace that would have brought me, I found myself not wanting to forget entirely. 

I couldn't believe I'd almost hit someone...an inhumanly gorgeous someone at that. 

Although that was definitely beside the point.

With a frown, I leaned off of the wall I had stopped at, having regained my breath after taking a moment away from the eyes that still floated around in my mind. It was clear in his expression that he hadn't believed I was completely okay. The last thing I needed was to prove him right.

"Get it together, Rowan," I murmured silently, pushing my hair from my face as I stood straight. I took a step at the same time that the sky broke, pregnant clouds giving way as rain began to shower the ground.

Crap.

I eyed the plaza I still had to cross in order to get to the science building. I knew that any hopes of waiting out the rain and still making it to class on time would be in vain. I would have to run for it.

Ducking my head, and wishing I'd brought a jacket, I stepped out into the humidity. I shivered as the wet droplets landed on my clothes, urging me to walk faster. But unlike the rain, my thoughts weren't so easily run from.

 It was terrifying to think of how easy it could have been for something to go wrong. For me, to have hit him. I winced as I played the encounter back in my head, my footsteps leading me in the direction of the lecture halls ahead. Gosh, I needed to be more aware. I took a deep breath, my chest expanding but still not freed from the foreboding pressure of shame. My eyes roamed, taking in the orange mosaics of leaves on the trees and the earthy scent of fall that lingered in the air.

Yet, my attempt at a distraction was useless. Not when my mind only wanted to focus on one thing.

He'd been something else. Well-mannered, humorous, and blessed in the looks department.

Like really blessed.

Undeniably thick dark hair, flawless bronzed skin, and a sculpted jaw....yes, he definitely checked the boxes when it came to all things physical. His t-shirt had fit snuggly against broad shoulders, that were accentuated by a well-structured face. Yet what had been so attractive about him hadn't been purely superficial either.

There was something about him...something that had been intense in the same way it was calming. 

Maybe it had been his easy-going nature, which had tugged his suggestive lips into the most perfect grin, that was making me feel so strange. Or maybe it was the way that, paradoxically, he had seemed more concerned for me than he had for himself. I wasn't sure what it was. But what I did know was that the encounter would forever be engraved in my mind.