Chapter Seven
Elijah
I lay back on my bed with my hands behind my head and my legs crossed. I had another free afternoon, and I didn’t feel like doing anything. Logan was busy with Dana, so I was on my own. I was starting to get used to it, though.
It had been a few days already since I last saw Sophia, and I wanted to see her again. First, because I wanted to apologize. I didn’t know smoke bothered her that badly, and if I had…well, old me would have been a bastard and done it anyway, but when I saw her coughing, her face red and twisted in discomfort, her eyes misty, I’d felt a stirring of guilt.
Still, I couldn’t help but think she was hot, looking especially fierce when she glared and argued with me.
So…in the end, what am I going to do?
I had been thinking over and over what I was supposed to do about our online relationship. I’d tried to talk to her like I did online, but I’d forgotten she hated my face. Even when I tried to be reasonable, she could only act disgusted with me.
It bothered me. But, there was nothing I could do about it.
“Fuck,” I grumbled to myself, pushing to sit up, leaning back on my arms.
What would it take to change her image of me? Was it even possible?
“It fucking has to be,” I growled into the empty room.
When it was online, it was so much easier to talk to her. Even in a live chat, and not just leaving messages for each other, I had time to formulate a response to her, so even when she wanted to talk about what she thought were our mutual interests, it was easy enough to do some quick research before sending a response. That way, I could keep my image as the best match for her with little effort. But I wanted to find some way to get her to talk to me properly in real life. I already knew there was another side to her besides her snappy anger; I just needed to get her to let her guard down.
That right there lay my current dilemma.
With a huff, I got off the bed. I moved to my desk, where I had my laptop closed. I sat down, stretched my fingers out, and pulled the lid open, then turned the computer on.
After the incident in her room, I hadn't chatted much with Sophia online. She hadn't mentioned what happened that day to me, though, so I didn’t know whether or not to feel relieved. Sometimes, when she had something that bothered her, she’d tell Student X all about it, because she didn’t have anyone else to talk to.
I felt a bit guilty about that, too. I knew she and Dana were friends, and thanks to Logan, their relationship had changed a lot. I was vaguely sure, without Logan’s influence, she wouldn’t have had him call me to their room to hack Sophia’s computer. Then again, it was more like Logan invited us, and Dana didn’t say no.
After Sophia left us all in that room, Logan had broken out into a laugh, ecstatic to have made Sophia uncomfortable, and I’d wanted to punch him in the face, hard. I’d left not long after Sophia had, and I’d just barely stopped myself from running after her. Even if I had, the confrontation wouldn’t have gone nicely.
I…am starting to feel something for her, aren’t I? I thought with a sigh. Besides just seeing her as someone attractive and irritating, I was starting to care what she thought of me. Which was a bad thing, because she didn’t think anything particularly nice about me.
Well, the real me anyway.
The moment I had the site open, I pulled up my messages. I ignored everything else and read Sophia’s. She had sent three messages at three different times, with the first two being longer as she told me about her day. The last one had been sent about thirty minutes ago, and she was asking about how my day was. I tugged on my lip, thinking before I replied.
Not much to do today. I had a class early morning, but the professor couldn’t make it, so we only stuck around class for an hour to do some work he left for us. I don’t have any other classes today, so I’m resting.
I hesitated for a while before sending the message. She couldn’t figure anything from just that vague info. I’d looked, and I was positive she didn’t share today’s class with me, at least, and she might not have heard of it.
Oh. I’ve been busy since this morning, and I just got some time to myself. I’m at the dorm about to start on some assignments. My roommate is out, so lucky me!
I winced at the indirect mention of Dana.
That’s good to hear, I replied. So, are you free right now?
Sure, what do you need? she asked immediately.
I took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. Then typed again.
I was wondering…do you still want to meet up in person?
We’d been chatting for nearly three weeks. It didn’t feel like enough, but she’d warmed up to me considerably online, and I thought it was time to take it to a new level. I didn’t know how her reaction would be once she knew it was me. I wasn’t even sure yet if I was going to pretend it was a coincidence on my end or not. Telling her the truth would work against me…but it might be worse if she just found it out on her own later.
Coming up with a decision wasn’t simple. After a long moment, she finally replied.
Are you interested?
I am. I was thinking we know each other enough already; I want to meet you.
Okay! When and where?
Her reply was immediate and eager, as expected. I thought of when I would next have free time. I had an upcoming game in the next few days, which also meant last minute practice. I was only free for the afternoon because I had practice the last three days. I’d been a bit preoccupied recently so I wasn’t even sure when the game would be seeing as the season was back on. I only got through hockey practice because I was so used to the game I did it on autopilot, though I wasn’t at my best form then, it was enough to pass.
Once I figured out a time, I sent the message to her. I got another one back, and smiled, felling a little anxious. Still, my bad mood from before got a bit better, and I put my computer off, then got back on my bed and closed my eyes for a proper rest.
As expected, things got a bit busy in the next few days. There was a lot riding on the game, and our opponents wouldn’t be weak.
On the day of the game, we both still had to sit through a class in the morning. If it had been in the way, we would have been allowed to skip, but since it wasn’t, we just met up afterward and headed toward the field. We could see people heading for the stands as we went to the changing rooms.
“Hey, do you think we’ll win this time?” Logan asked.
I slapped him in the back, hard enough to make him stumble a little, and he glared at me.
“What kind of attitude is that?” I said, grinning at him. “Keep thinking we’ll win and we’re going to win.”
“Yeah, yeah,” he muttered.
“You ready to go?”
“Hang on. Let me see if Dana’s gonna make it out today. She said she’d make it to the stands for the game…”
I arched an eyebrow at him but left him to his business. He and Dana were a thing now, even though he hadn't said it expressively, but he’d never been so infatuated with a girl for this long. I picked up my cell, but before I could do more than unlock the screen, they called for us. Something had me preoccupied, though. I looked at the time and date on my cell’s screen before putting it aside and heading out to the field with the others.
It wasn’t until we were about to start when it occurred to me.
Shit!
“Dude!”
I felt a hard slap on my back that, especially with my inattention, sent me stumbling. I turned back to see Logan grinning at me, probably happy that he got back at me for earlier. I could hardly care about that, though, and whatever look was on my face, he got clued into it.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, frowning. “Did you forget something?”
“I did, actually,” I said grimly. “Logan, I’m sure that I asked Sophia to meet me today.”
How the hell could I have forgotten? In between classes and getting ready for the game, I’d barely logged into the site to message Sophia. If I’d remembered while we were still in the locker room and I had my cell in hand, I could have sent her a message not to bother because I’d be busy.
“What the hell do you mean, you asked Sophia to meet you? She doesn’t like you, right? Why would she agree to that?”
Logan didn’t get it. Come to think of it, since I got the information; I hadn't let him know what I put it to use for. I looked around at the other guys, then tugged him a bit further back. We were still warming up before we needed to go out and play. We had maybe a couple of minutes, and I wanted to try and run back to send that message.
Only, there wouldn’t be enough time, and I was in the starting line-up.
“Do you remember that time you called me over to Sophia and Dana’s room to hack her computer?”
He arched his eyebrows. “Yeah. You found something about a dating site right?”
I gave him a look and waited for him to connect the dots himself. In a few seconds, his eyes widened, and his jaw dropped open.
“Dude!” he hissed, getting close to the others wouldn’t hear. “Don’t tell me you joined a dating site just to mess with Sophia.”
I glanced at the others to be sure they weren’t paying attention to us, then lowered my voice.
“That’s exactly what I did.”
“Damn. I didn’t think you did anything with it. I kept waiting, and nothing happened.”
I rolled my eyes. “You didn’t notice because you’ve been so preoccupied with Dana, but I’ve been chatting with her frequently on the site.”
“And?” he asked, wiggling his eyebrows, a smile playing on his mouth. “Do you have her eating off the palm of your hands already? You know, you’ve got a lot of charm so it should have been easy.”
I rolled my eyes and ignored his question. “I have a problem right now. I asked her to meet up, and I think I might have given her the same time as the game. Now I can't go, and I can't even tell her!”
Logan winced. “Yeah. No way would the coach let you off the field right now; we’re about to start. If you even try, you’ll probably get into trouble for it later.”
I flattened my lips. I knew that much, which was why I hadn't just charged off the moment I realized it. I looked toward the locker rooms, still tempted to try, but right then, the coach called out to us.
“All right, team! Get your butts over here!”
I winced, and Logan gave me a consoling pat on the shoulder.
“It should be fine this way, though, right?” he said as we walked slowly to the others. “You wanted to prank her, right? Getting her to fall for you then standing her up, was kinda shitty. Doesn’t matter, because she would curse you out if you did go.”
Logan was probably right, and I knew that, but it still bothered me. There was nothing I could do. I joined the others, barely hearing a word when the coach, then the team captain each said something. Then, we went out to the field. In the mood I was in, things could go two ways; I’d play good to work out my frustration, or I’d do badly because I was preoccupied.
Either way, I doubted the Sophia issue would be out of my mind. I’d have to think up a way to make things up to her later.