First day
1433 Words
ROSALIE’s POV
“Lucian?”
“Where were you?” Lucian asked, one brow raised, with the same protective expression he had earlier today, except this time he looked a lot more annoyed.
“Right here.” I deadpanned.
Luncian frowned, clearly not pleased by my response. “You shouldn’t disappear without letting either me or my brothers know. Who knows the number of things that could have happened.”
Oh, absolutely not! I can’t go out alone, and now I have to get permission to use the bathroom? Heck, the quadruplet insisting on tagging along with me to the party was the reason why it seemed I had made a threatening impression amongst the ladies present tonight, and this was all their fault!
And thinking about it now, I didn’t realize when my thoughts started spilling out loud. “So what? Next time I need to come rush over to let you guys know that I need to use the f*****g restroom? I can take care of myself!” I snapped.
Lucian looked taken aback by my outburst, and I immediately froze, wondering if I’d gone too far. Before I could talk further, Lucian beat me to it by clearing his throat and turning his back on me.
“Come on, we are leaving,” he grunted, stepping aside so I could go first. I walked without another word down the stairs, fished out my phone from my purse, and texted Blair to let her know I was leaving already.
When we arrived at the parking lot, Adrain, Theodore, and Felix were already waiting by their various cars. I suppose Lucian must have informed them he had found me. Adrian gave a nod of acknowledgment before entering his car, and the rest of his brothers followed suit.
“Ride with me,” Lucian said as he pulled the passenger door open and rounded the car to get to the passenger seat. Honestly, I was still so annoyed by their overprotective behavior that the thought of walking back home crossed my mind, but I knew well enough that the idea was insanely unrealistic and risky, especially at night. So I slid into the car, and when Lucian began driving, my eyes remained glued to the window, refusing to look anywhere else.
Thankfully, Lucian didn’t speak further, and the rest of the ride continued in silence. That silence followed through the rest of the night, even after we returned to the apartment and all retreated to our bedrooms.
***
It’s been two days since the freshman party, and when I woke up, the deafening silence of the apartment was the first thing I noticed. And when I went to the kitchen to make breakfast, as I’d expected, the boys weren’t home. They hadn’t been for two days, or even if they had, they must have returned home really late and left again really early because I hadn’t even seen any of them since the night we returned from the party.
Guilt pooled in my stomach. Were they only trying to help, or had my outburst angered them, causing them to avoid me? It didn’t feel right knowing I might be the reason they were avoiding staying at their own house while I was crashing there.
“Gosh,” I shook my head like it’d help keep that thought away and began my breakfast. Today was my first lecture day, and I needed to leave quickly if I didn’t want to be late for my first class. Luckily, Blair was also in the nursing department, so I wouldn’t be completely alone with this.
I quickly washed my plate, grabbed my backpack, and hurried out of the apartment.
The campus was already buzzing with activity. Freshmen hurried between buildings with maps in their hands, seniors walked around like they owned the place, and student organizations lined the sidewalks with colorful booths trying to recruit new members.
It all felt… normal.
A strange contrast to the emotional whirlwind my life had become over the past few weeks.
“Rosalie!”
I turned at the familiar voice just as Blair came jogging toward me, two coffees balanced precariously in her hands.
“I got you one!” she beamed.
“You are literally my favorite person.”
“I know.” She handed me the cup with a dramatic hair flip.
We continued walking toward the nursing building together.
“So…” Blair nudged my shoulder.
“How’s married life with your four biker husbands?”
I nearly spat out my coffee.
“Oh, my God.”
“What?”
“They’re not my husbands.”
“Roommates then.”
“Barely.”
She wiggled her eyebrows.
“So… any shirtless sightings since Mr. Blowjob?”
Heat instantly crawled up my neck. Now I regretted mentioning what I saw to her at the freshman party.
“Blair!”
“What?” she laughed. “I’m asking as a concerned best friend.”
“Nope, you just want gossip.”
“Fine, you caught me. So answer me.” She grinned.
“I’m not answering that.”
The grin on her face only widened.
“You blushed. That’s basically an answer.”
I groaned.
“Can we please talk about literally anything else?”
“Fine.” She shrugged innocently.
A whole three seconds passed.
“…Which one do you think is the hottest?”
I stared at her.
“You lasted exactly three seconds.”
“I tried.”
I couldn’t help laughing again.
Our conversation was interrupted when we entered the lecture hall.
Rows of seats were already filling up with students chatting excitedly before class. Blair immediately spotted two empty seats halfway down the room.
“Come on.”
We settled into our seats just as the lecturer walked in.
The room quickly quieted.
“Welcome, everyone, to your first anatomy lecture…”
I opened my notebook and focused as the lesson began.
For the next hour, I let myself drown in the lectures. Keeping aside thoughts of Levi, the quadruplets, and the apartment situation. By the time class ended, my brain already felt overloaded.
“I swear,” Blair groaned as we stepped into the hallway, “if this is only day one, we’re finished.”
“We’ll survive.”
“I admire your optimism.”
We had barely taken a few more steps when I felt a strange sensation. Like someone was watching me. I frowned and instinctively looked over my shoulder.
Nothing.
Just students moving between classes. Maybe I was imagining it.
“Rosalie?”
“Hm?”
“You okay?”
“Yeah…”
I smiled reassuringly at Blair, though the uneasy feeling lingered in the pit of my stomach. I couldn’t shake the feeling that the warning those girls gave me upstairs at the party. They wouldn’t go as far as stalking me, right?
When I returned to the apartment, it looked exactly as I left it. No sign of the men or a hint that they had stopped by. I dropped my stuff in my bedroom and took a shower to freshen up. By the time I returned to the living room, the guilt in my stomach seemed to have worsened.
I picked up my phone and scrolled through my phonebook, staring at all four of their contact lists. Should I really call them? Would that be strange? I mean, what would I even say?
‘Hi, just checking in. I wanted to know if you or your brothers would be coming home tonight.’
No— that would sound weird.
“f**k it, I’m calling them!” I muttered and clicked on the dial button of Felix’s contact before I could second-guess it. Unfortunately, the call went straight to voicemail. Deciding not to give up just yet, I called the others, but when all four went straight to voicemail, I started to feel worry creeping in.
What if they had been involved in a biker accident just like my brother and were actually… dead… but I just didn’t know?
No! That couldn’t happen. I shivered in fear. I was probably overthinking it all; maybe they were occupied by their biker business— whatever it is they did since my brother had been part of their club; I didn’t know a thing about it.
Or what if they all collectively decided to block my number, taking back their promise to take care of me since I apparently could “take care of myself”?
That was a less dark thought, but still no!
Gosh, I should stop thinking about them!
- Writer
