Dylan
“Why are you freaking out?”
“I am not freaking out,” I gritted out, staring at myself in the mirror. I ran my fingers through my hair once again.
“Yes, you are. Chill out, dude,” Gage said as he leaned against the doorway of the bathroom.
“If I remember correctly, you were freaking out about asking Carter out.” I sent him a look. He didn’t say anything, letting me know I was right. I had to sit through him whining about Carter. Well, technically he didn’t whine about her, but he did make a big deal about taking her out for a date just the other day, so he could deal with me.
“But you aren’t asking her out, Dylan. She is helping you with your homework.” Well, it felt almost like a date. We hadn’t done anything but text, and that was only because I kept annoying her so she would reply. I tracked down one of her friends and got her number. She did keep replying, so she had to like me in some way. I wanted to take her out, but Johanna was not the type you could just take to dinner and a movie. She was different and I liked that. Maybe that was what got my attention.
The day I met Johanna was something I wouldn’t forget.
***
Three weeks ago…
Shit! I was late to class! I blamed it on it being a Monday and not on the fact I didn’t set my alarm or that Gage didn’t think about getting me up. I only had ten minutes to get to class, or else my teacher would shut the door on me. While other professors didn’t really care if you were late, seeing as you were the one paying, not them, Mr. Cannon was terrible. If you were not in your seat at exactly 8:00 a.m., you were late and not allowed to come in. Very stupid, if you ask me.
Almost running down the hallway, I silently cursed my alarm, Gage, and the fact that it was Monday of all days. If I had it my way, I would sleep all day and not do a thing.
When I turned the corner, I saw the classroom up ahead and I let out a sigh of relief. I still had five minutes to get inside. Reaching for the door handle, I swung it open only to hear a loud thud and a yelp. Confused, I stepped back and let the door close. My gaze fell to a figure laying on the floor, clenching their head.
“That fucking hurt,” the person said. It was a girl. When she looked up to glare at me, I noticed she was very, very pretty. I stared down at her with wide eyes, not knowing what to say. I literally just smacked her with the door and all I could do was stare down at her like an idiot.
“Are you going to just stand there like an ass or are you going to help me up?” she asked, holding her head with one hand while the other one was up, waiting for me to grab it. I quickly grabbed her outstretched hand and pulled her up. When she got to her feet, she swayed a little making me reach around to steady her.
“You seriously hit me with a door.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t see you there.” I finally said something. Even with this girl glaring daggers at me, I found her gorgeous. She had dark brown hair that was cut to about her shoulders. A pair of black glasses framed her face and instead of blocking her eyes, they seemed to make the brown pop. They didn’t seem like just brown eyes; there were little specks of light hazel in them.
“Are you going to say anything or just stand there like a dumbass?” she asked pulling away from me.
“I-I…” I couldn’t seem to get any words out. I was standing there like an idiot.
“Never mind. You are going to make me late for class.” She huffed. As I stood staring at her, she pushed past me and opened the door to Mr. Cannon’s classroom. I raised an eyebrow at that. She’s in my class? I silently asked. If she was, I should have noticed her before now. The sound of the door slamming in front of me knocked me out my thoughts. Knowing that I only had another minute or so to get inside, I pulled the door open and stepped inside.
As I made my way to my seat, my eyes found the girl I hit with the door immediately. She wasn’t seated too far from my usual spot, but all the seats around her were full, so it wasn’t like I couldn’t sit next to her. There was something in me that was screaming for me to go over to her, but I wasn’t sure what it was. Ignoring the feeling, I took my seat just as the professor walked in.
Throughout the entire class my eyes kept drifting over to the girl. She was hunched over her little side table, her hand moving quickly across her notepad. With her being one row down and about five seats to my left, I could only see her right side.
I didn’t know what it was that made me keep looking in her direction. She didn’t seem like anything special; in fact, she seemed like a shy, nerdy type of girl, someone I definitely didn’t go for usually. Maybe it was because I hit her with the door on accident and I just wanted to make sure she was okay. It was a hard door. That had to be the reason I kept looking at her.
When class finally ended, I stood up searching for her so I could apologize for real this time. But as I looked around, I lost her in the sea of students flooding out the door and into the hallway. Just as I thought; she already left. I spotted her heading for the door, slinging her bag onto her shoulder.
Pushing past people, I quickly made my way to her. People cursed at me as I shoved them, but I didn’t pay them any mind. The girl with the dark hair was the only thing I could think about at the moment.
I followed her out the door and as the crowd thinned out, I was able to reach her arm and tug her backwards gently.
“Hey,” I said as I pulled her back to me. What I didn’t expect her to do was shove her elbow back at me, hitting my shoulder hard and jerking away from me. I let out a little grunt from the blow. Damn, she had pointy elbows. When she whirled around to face me, her expression changed from anger to recognition, back to anger.
“Oh, you.”
“You have a hard elbow.” I rubbed my shoulder.
“Then don’t just grab me.” She crossed her arms over her chest. That of course only brought my eyes down to her breasts, because let’s face it, I’m a young man. “Eyes up here.” She waved her hand in my face.
“Sorry,” I mumbled, reaching back to rub my neck.
“What do you want? I have another class to get to.”
“I, um, just wanted to say I am sorry.”
“For what?” she asked, tilting her head to the side with the corner of her lip curling up. She knew what I was saying sorry for, but wanted to hear the words out loud.
“I am sorry for hitting you with the door. I didn’t see you, and I didn’t want to be late.” My hand moved from my neck to rub through my hair. “I hope you are okay.” She didn’t say anything for a minute and just stared at me.
“I’m okay, just a small bump to the head.” She shrugged.
“Okay, that is good. Didn’t want to be the cause of you having a concussion or something.” I chuckled, but when she didn’t, I stopped.
“Could I maybe take you out to make it up to you?” I asked, suddenly not even aware of what I was saying until the words slipped out of my mouth. My eyes widened. I didn’t stop her to ask her out! I had no clue why I did. While she didn’t seem like the type of girl I go for normally, being this close to her, I did notice she was really pretty. She just didn’t hold herself like other girls, almost like she didn’t believe she was pretty.
“No,” she said flatly.
“I can pick you up at…wait, what?” I said, now hearing her words. “No?”
“No.” I blinked, looking at her.
“But—”
“I don’t date, and I especially don’t date guys like you,” she said before turning and starting to walk away.
“Guys like me?” I questioned, going after her not knowing what she meant by that. I wasn’t a bad guy!
“Yes, guys that think they can get whatever girl they want, sleep with them, and then never call them again.”
“I’m not—”
“‘I’m not like that.’ Yeah, right.” She finished the sentence for me.
“Hey! I am not that kind of guy,” I said, offended by her insinuation.
“Okay, fine, you may not be, but I still won’t go out with you.”
“I was just trying to be nice,” I said, grabbing her and pulling her to a stop. Her words actually kind of hurt. It wasn’t because she turned me down; I’d been turned down before. But it was the way she thought she knew me that had me hurt and angry.
“You hit me with the door. I don’t think that was being nice.” She tugged her arm free from my grasp.
“I told you it was an accident. How many times do I have to apologize?”
“You don’t. Now I have to go. I could say it was nice meeting you, but it really wasn’t.” She shot me a smirk before turning and walking away from me. I stood there, floored by her words. Once again I found myself calling out to her.
“You didn’t say what your name was!” I yelled down the hallway, a few lingering students looking at me.
“I didn’t give it!” she yelled over her shoulder. I watched her push through the doors and leave without looking back. I had no clue what just happened, but for some reason a smile appeared on my face. She sure was different than other girls I had come in contact with. Something told me I would be seeing more of her in the future.
Present
To say meeting Johanna was interesting was an understatement. After that day I made sure to run into her during our shared class. I ended up moving seats so I could be beside her, which she hated—she shot sarcastic remarks at me—but now she tolerated it. That was how we ended up on this study date. I asked her to help me, and after a lot of begging and poking her arm, she relented.
It wasn’t that I didn’t know what was going on in the class; well, I wasn’t the greatest at math, but I wasn’t a complete moron on the subject. Anyway, I decided that the only way for her to see me as something other than what she had classified me as on our first meeting, I had to get her to help me study. She was super smart, so this was the best option. Or at least I had thought so at first. Now here I was stressing over it like some teenage girl. Gage’s little comments were not helping me either.
I was supposed to head over to her dorm room in just a few minutes. She decided that meeting there was better than here, saying that I would try something if we were at my place. I was hurt that she thought I would take advantage of her, but I agreed to meet at her place.
The thing about Johanna was she was stubborn as hell and when she made her mind up about you, there was no changing it. It literally took me a whole week just to get her name. It had been three weeks since we first met, and she still hadn’t changed her opinion about me. She still thought of me as some horndog that would sleep with anything that had legs and didn’t care for people’s feelings.
Okay, yes, that may have some truth to it, but I didn’t get my jollies by hurting girls, using them for one night then not calling them. Girls knew when they got involved with me that I didn’t do much in terms of relationships. Gage and I had always been that way. We didn’t string girls along, and we let them know right up front, but that of course never stopped them. It was just something we had done for ourselves. Both of us knew what happened when you loved someone so much: it could break you.
That of course changed because he was now with Carter. I wasn’t angry; in fact, I was glad they were together. She finally got him to feel something, and he needed someone like her in his life. Someone to balance out his moods and personality. Ever since seeing them together, I’d wanted what they had. I wanted to have someone. Maybe now was the time to stop playing around so much and try a relationship for once. See where it went. That was quite possibly why I was drawn to Johanna.
The three weeks I had known her I found out she was the opposite of me. She was shy but when she wants to be she was sarcastic, rude, snarky. She definitely didn’t take crap though. Not from me or anyone. She was kind of nerdy, meaning she did well in her classes, was smart, and had glasses, although I thought they suited her well. I didn’t know much else about like where she was from, why she came to Colombia for college, her hobbies, anything like that. I was hoping today I could maybe ask her about that stuff.
I still had no idea why I was drawn to her so much. I thought it was because she wasn’t like the usual girls. Most girls here on campus I had run into, they just fell at my feet, not being conceited or anything, but they did and the same went for Gage. They only cared to sleep with us, and in some ways, they only saw us as sex on a stick. Even when I would be rude to them, they would take it and not say anything. Johanna called me out on my bullshit. She didn’t put up with it like the others, and it was honestly a breath of fresh air.
“What time will you be back?” Gage asked, interrupting my thoughts. “I have a fight tonight at six.”
“I will be back before then. It is one now, and it won’t take us long to study.”
“If you are going to be late, just text me. I won’t blueball you.” He smirked at me, and I glared back.
“Stop it.” I wasn’t going to do anything like that with Johanna. She didn’t seem like the type, and I wanted to prove to her I wasn’t into her for her body.
“You better go before she thinks you stood her up.” Glancing at the clock, I noticed I should have left by now. Her dorm was across campus.
Cursing under my breath, I pushed past him into my room to grab my things. I needed to bring my math textbook with me, a notebook, something to write with, and my calculator. I threw all of it in my backpack before grabbing my wallet, keys, and phone.
“I’ll see you later,” I called to Gage who was now sitting on the couch, texting Carter probably. He yelled something back, but I didn’t hear it as I slammed the door shut and quickly made my way out of the building.
The walk to Johanna’s went by quickly and before I knew it, I was standing in front of the door with the number she texted me. I was nervous for some reason. I took a deep breath before bringing my hand up and rapping on her door three times. Rocking back and forth on my heels, I waited for her to open the door.
When she opened it, a smile broke out on my face. I was still nervous, but seeing her in front of me, I relaxed a little.
“Hey.” I noticed she was wearing a pair of sweats along with a t-shirt that had Namastay In Bed on the front. I bit back a grin at that. She clearly didn’t get dressed up for me, while I spent the last ten minutes worrying about my hair. Who was the real girl here? I noticed her eyes were trailing up and down my body, which just made me smirk at her.
“Going to let me in?” I asked.
“Uh, yeah, sure.” Seeing her blush made me smirk wider. When she stepped to the side, I slipped past her into her dorm room. I glanced around taking the place in. It was slightly smaller than mine or even Carter’s, but that was only because we were in the newer building on campus. I liked her place, though; it felt homey which was something you didn’t really get in a dorm room. Looking around, you could tell the place was lived in. It wasn’t super clean, but you could make out random things left on the floor or the counter.
“My roommate is out for the day,” she said moving more into the living room. I followed after her and noticed she already had her school work out on her coffee table.
“I like your place by the way,” I commented as I stood awkwardly in her living room.
“Thanks. Cammie, my roommate, and I thought it would be nice making this place feel more like home since we are here most of the time. Have a seat.” She gestured to the couch she was sitting on. She had the same couch layout we did, a large couch right in the middle and two separate chairs on either side.
I took a seat next to her but made sure there was some room between us. I pulled out my stuff and set it beside hers before rubbing my hands.
“Ready to study?” I asked, glancing at her. She nodded, not saying anything. “Hey, you okay?” She seemed unusually quiet.
“Yeah, I’m good.” Before I could even question her, she was leaning forward to grab her textbook. “Let’s get started.” Her tone let me know the conversation wasn’t going any further. Respecting her wishes, I nodded and grabbed my stuff as well.
For the next twenty or so minutes Anna helped me through our study sheet for our upcoming test in calculus. At first, I wasn’t really paying attention, my eyes drifting to her, but after a few minutes I actually listened. The way she explained it was simple and easy, way better than the professor by far. While she explained it to me, I could see her quietness easing away. She was now in her element, that was for sure. She must have been uncomfortable around me at first, but now she wasn’t.
With only twenty minutes under our belts, we got a good section of it done before we took a small break.
“Do you want some water?” Anna offered, getting up off the couch.
“That would be great.” While she got the water, I finished what I was writing before setting it down on the table. My mind was on overdrive, but surprisingly, I was having a good time. Sure, we were only doing homework, and math at that, but it wasn’t terrible. I was just comfortable around Johanna, and that was a first for me.
It was silent for a few minutes as we both drank our waters, not really knowing what to say to one another. I decided to start.
“So you like math, huh?” I asked stupidly. After the words left my mouth, I wanted to slap myself for the idiotic question. She chuckled at me but shook her head.
“Not really, no.”
“But you are so good at it,” I said, surprised.
“That is thanks to a lot of studying and hard work. I am not the greatest with math, honestly. Now science, that is my forte.”
“What kind of science? Astronomy, biology, anatomy?”
“Anatomy. I want to be a nurse.” My eyebrows raised at that.
“That is great.”
“Both my parents are doctors, so it is kind of bred into me to do something in the medical field.”
“Why do you sound like you don’t want to do that?” I asked. I must have struck a chord because her head snapped in my direction and her eyes widened.
“W-what? I want to be a nurse,” she said defensively, but the way she said it was like she was trying to convince herself of that. Because we didn’t know each other that well, I didn’t want to dip into something that wasn’t my business.
“It is okay. You don’t have to try and convince me.” I held up my hand while leaning back into the couch. She was silent for a minute before she sighed.
“It isn’t that I don’t want to be a nurse, because I do. I want to help people and try to make a difference, even if it is small. It is just…” Anna trailed off. I watched her as she tried to put what she was feeling into words.
“It is just a lot of pressure, you know? My parents expect nothing less than perfect. All throughout high school I was pushed to get straight As, to be valedictorian, be at the very top of my class. That is all my parents really cared about. Not once did they ask me if I wanted to join any sports, clubs, anything besides focusing on getting into a great college to be a nurse. Actually, they wanted me to be a doctor like them, a neonatologist like my mom.” At my confused look, she dumbed it down. “A doctor that works on babies that have problems. Or be like my dad, a cardiologist. That is just too much of someone’s life in my hands for me.”
Wow, she came from a high-class family. I could see all the pressure she got from her parents wanting her to be perfect and follow in their footsteps.
“Pressure from parents is not the greatest,” I commented softly.
“What do your parents do?” Talking about my parents was a sore subject for me. No one but Gage knew what went on with my parents.
“My dad is the mayor of New York.” I sat there waiting for her to do something. I expected her to yell, ask a bunch of questions, or start acting all nice.
“Oh, I never knew. That must be kind of difficult.” Anna didn’t do anything I thought she would. No questions, no suddenly being so nice, no yelling even. Instead, she was calm about it all and said the one thing no one else had. Blinking, I slowly registered her words.
“Uh, yeah, it is pretty rough.”
“Why aren’t you more talked about? I mean, being the mayor’s son must mean you get photographed a lot and have to be seen at his convention, right?” I didn’t really want to have this conversation, but talking with Johanna, I didn’t feel pressured to say anything I was uncomfortable with, or that I was at risk of being judged. She wasn’t that kind of person it seemed. I found myself talking about my parents, something I never did.
“According to everyone I am not my father’s son.”
“What do you mean?” she asked, leaning forward a little and actually looking concerned.
“Before I was born, my father wasn’t anyone big. He hadn’t made a name for himself just yet, but he was on his way. He was slowly moving up in the spotlight. He met my mom at some little convention, and apparently, they fell in love. They were together for a little while before my mom got pregnant with me. Just as she did, he suddenly became famous. People recognized him, and what he did in the eye of the public was critical. He was going for city council and hopefully would be mayor one day.
“One day his publicist told him that if he wanted to be someone big, he had to get rid of his baggage, aka my mother and me. I was only one when my ‘father’ basically wrote us off. He made my mother sign a contract saying she wouldn’t tell anyone she had a kid with him, and in return he would pay her every month. So he moved us into a house and we never heard a word from him since, unless you count the monthly cash in my mother’s bank account.”
After my father wrote us off, my mother went in the deep end. She drank a lot and would occasionally yell at me for looking so much like my father. She never really cared for me. It wasn’t until sixth grade that I met Gage and finally had someone to relate to. With his own mother in the deep end like mine, we became best friends in no time. Gage’s grandmother became the mother figure I wanted and needed in my life. Without Gage and her, I wasn’t sure I would be here right now. I of course didn’t say any of this to Johanna. That was a little too personal to share right away.
“What an ass.” Anna’s voice brought me back. I raised my eyebrows. “What? He is.” I couldn’t help but smile at her. She was definitely something different.
“Okay, fine, your parent situation is worse than mine,” Anna said a minute later.
“How about we are equal in that department?” I suggested.
“Fine.” She grinned at me. It was one of the few times she had ever done that. Normally she was scowling or glaring daggers at me when I talked and annoyed her. Her pearly whites flashed at me and I felt myself return her grin. I could watch her smile all day long.
For the next hour we talked. We never stayed on one subject too long, and as time went on, I learned a little bit more about her. Like she liked to play guitar and sing. When I tried to get her to play and sing for me, she just punched me in the arm. I told her a little bit about Gage and some stories of us together. I even mentioned Carter, which she kind of went a little wide-eyed at, asking if I really knew her. She of course knew who Carter was and her family, no big surprise there.
It wasn’t until my phone binged with a text did our conversation come to an end. Seeing Gage asking if I was coming by to carpool with him to his fight, did I realize the time—5:15 p.m. I had been here at Johanna’s for about five hours already. Man, did time go by fast. I was enjoying getting to know Anna, and listening to her talk was something I could see myself getting used to hearing every day.
“I’m sorry, but I have to go,” I said, and I hoped my tone didn’t show that I was disappointed in leaving. If Gage hadn’t texted me, we would have talked for even longer until one of us noticed how late it was.
“That is okay. My roommate should be back any minute, and I promised I’d go eat with her and some friends,” Johanna said, quickly standing up and gathering her stuff on the counter. Mentally I was cursing at Gage for texting me, but I promised I’d go to his fight with him and I never missed one. In another way I was glad he did text me because being with Anna was very comfortable. I could feel myself getting too close too soon already, and I was not sure if that was a good thing or not.
I shoved all of my stuff in my backpack before standing up. It was silent once again as I stood there awkwardly. Should I hug her goodnight? Kiss her on the cheek? Say thank you for the good time? What should I do in situations like this!
“I…um, thank you for studying with me and helping me out with those questions,” I said lamely.
“You are welcome. I am glad you got it down for the test.” She sent me a small smile.
“You are a good teacher,” I said softly, looking down at her. The desire to kiss her was growing by the second, and I could even feel myself leaning in toward her. My eyes were glued to hers, and I noticed she was taking a small step toward me as well. It was like a string was between us, pulling us together.
Right as we started to bend our heads together, the front door opened. At the sound Johanna jumped back like she was caught doing something she wasn’t supposed to. I stood there dazed until a voice spoke.
“What do we have here?” a girl asked, teasingly.
“Nothing, he was just leaving,” Anna said, grabbing my arm and turning me around. I barely got a glance at her roommate before she was pulling me to the door.
“But—” I started to say but she cut me off.
“Thanks for the study session, Dylan,” Anna said, quickly opening the front door and shoving me out.
“You’re welcome. Do you want to do another session sometime?” I found myself asking before she shut the door on me. She looked over her shoulder behind her before meeting my eyes. It was like she was internally battling herself. I waited to be rejected as she parted her lips.
“Sure, I’d like that.” A smile appeared on her pretty face. Feeling almost giddy, I grinned back.
“I’ll text you later?”
“Yeah.” Her roommate was starting to talk behind her, and Johanna said something over her shoulder before turning back to me. “Have a good night, Dylan.”
“Goodnight, Johanna,” I said, enjoying the way her face turned a light red at my words. Mumbling something, she quickly closed the door. I didn’t even care she shut the door in my face. My smile grew larger. Whether she knew it or not, she liked me. Today just showed she was not uncomfortable around me anymore and maybe even liked me as a friend.
Smiling like an idiot, I shoved my hands in my front pockets before striding away from the door down the hallway. I might be starting to crush on Johanna already.