C2 Chapter 2

I was a stone's throw away from turning a corner when I heard footsteps catching up behind me. No, please don't approach me. Pleasedon'tpleasedon'tpleasedon't.

"Charlotte! Wait up!" A deep male voice spoke up.

Then, he grabbed my forearm and I was forced to stop and turn around. Dreadfully. Gosh, this is way embarrassing. When I finally did, he spoke up again. This time a bit lower, "I knew it was you."

Currently standing right in front of me is a guy with dark brownish hair and tanned olive skin. He's tall with his height of at least 5ft 8" compared to my 5ft 4". His body is lean and athletically built with broad shoulders. That's what playing basketball does, I guess.

Going with it anyway, despite my obvious blush, I said, "Hi, Tom. Fancy meeting you here."

"Yeah, me and the boys are just playing a game." He said with a friendly smile. Dang, he's so hawt when he smiles.

Tom took a step closer and reached his hand out. He was about to say something when one of his "boys" called out to him.

His hand hung just a few inches from my face and instead of withdrawing it, to my surprise, he reached around to my left ear and tucked a stray strand of hair behind it. His fingers grazed the shell of my ear, making me feel hot all over again. "It was nice to talk to you after such a long time. I have a feeling we'll be seeing a lot of each other." And with that, he smirked and jogged back to where he came from.

***

Standing in the long-ass line, I was sweating profusely. Just why do I have to be late? I hated being late. It made me flustered and sweaty. I'm currently standing in line to buy my set of textbooks on the first day of college. Yup, I'm late on the first day of school. An entire hour late.

I got the time mixed up and ended up missing the first half of the first class. Blame it on my eyes, I must be going blind. Whatever, I have to hurry up here if I don't want to be late for my next class. Thankfully, I already got Megs to save me a seat.

Handing over the money when my turn was finally up, I hurriedly grabbed the huge stack of books and saying my thanks, I was out of there faster than you can say textbooks. But as luck would have it, I was a klutz.

I am already on my way of speed walking out the foyer to get to my next class when a book slipped from my punny fingers and caused the entire stack in my arms to fall to the floor.

Abruptly stopping, I heaved a long sigh and started stooping down to collect my accounting textbook. But another hand with a darker skin tone beat me to it and I ended up grabbing that hand instead.

I yelped and quickly pulled my hand away.

"In a hurry, are we?" The owner of the hand said. Sighing, as I realised who it was, I looked up to none other than Tom.

"Yeah, I'm late," I said deadpanned.

"Hmm, Miss Goody-Two-Shoes, late? Never thought that'd happen." He replied as we worked to gather up all 5 bulky books. He handed it over as I stood up and thanked him.

"So, you go to this college too, huh?" I asked.

His eyes twinkled as he said, "yea".

"Look, I'm really late so I gotta go, thanks for helping," I said turning to go. But he walked with me saying, "yeah, I'll walk you to your class."

"So, how come you're late and on the first day no less?" He asked with a smug look on his face.

"Sometimes people can be late, you know," I said vaguely.

"Right," was all he said.

When we reached the first floor, I said, "ok, this is it. Thanks for the company." Mumbling softly, I added, "though I didn't even need it in the first place. "

But I noticed a smirk on his face anyway, as he nodded and took a step back into the shadows as I walked in. I could feel his stare on my back where a warm feeling lingered.