BURN

Chapter Eleven

CHAPTER ELEVEN

I flipped through the channels aimlessly but nothing worth my attention came up. Jade had left almost an hour ago with Ben for the party. I stood up to make sure the door was actually securely locked for probably the hundredth time. I had not realized just how boring or insecure it would be, to be left alone in that huge apartment. I decided to take a bath and after stripping down, I walked into the bathroom. I smoothed the bathing sponge lathered with soap all over my body enjoying the feel. I tried prolonging the bath but soon enough I found myself stepping out of the bathroom with my white towel tied securely around my body. I shrugged on my pajamas, a warm sweater and pulled some blue cotton socks on. Opening the fridge, my searching gaze fell on the unopened strawberry ice cream jar inside. Jade would probably kill me for taking it but right now I needed a distraction.

I positioned myself on the couch finally settling on watching an ongoing Indian soap opera. It had taken a few scoops when a knock on the door made me stop with the spoon midair. Who could it be possibly? Maybe Jade forgot something or probably it was Danny wanting to give me a tongue lash. Reluctantly I walked towards the door, yanking it open, an unfamiliar face looking at me. He was lean but very much good looking and fit. Judging from the rich amount of fair skin, dark hair curled only at the front, he was obviously of Asian ethnicity. Any girl would without a doubt swoon over him.

“Can I help you?” I questioned realizing he was staring at me.

“Yes. I suppose you don’t know who I am,” he said, attempting a smile.

“Not really,” I said.

“Well that should not be a problem though. Your brother sent me to stay over with you until your roommate comes back from the party. You can never be too careful in campus,” I had to admit his dimpled smile was infectious but not as much as Malcom’s was. I really needed to stop thinking about Malcom every single second.

“It’s really nice of my brother to send one of his goons to watch over me,”

“I’m not one of his goons. I’m actually a friend,”

“Oh, Okay. Come on in,” I opened the door wider.  

He walked in, his wandering eyes taking in the place. I stood awkwardly with my arms strung around me.

“Nice place you have got here,”

“Thanks,” I smiled appreciatively.

“I don’t suppose I have introduced myself, have I?” the guy was clearly a charmer, I had to give him that.

“Not really,”

“I’m Zayn,” he said, his voice a great replica of male musicality.

“Nice name,”

“Don’t flatter me. It’s a very common name around here,” he smiled.

I flushed tagging a few strands of stray hair away from my face into the back of my ear.

“Can I sit now?” he asked.

“Of course. Sorry for making you stand. We really don’t get many visitors around here,” as a matter fact we hardly got any visitors. Danny had seen to that.

“Don’t worry, its fine actually,” he sat down as I joined him on the couch.

“So you are also a third year like Danny?” I questioned in the hope of stirring some conversation between us.

“I’m a second year actually. Business Management. How about you?” he crossed his right leg over the left one.

“Still a freshman. Medical Biotechnology,”

“Sounds pretty tough,’

“Well I have already gotten used to it,”

“Great. Now how about we talk about something else? Something much more interesting,” he proposed.

“What do you have in mind?”

“A couple of things that have nothing to do with classes or anything to do with Maseno,” His gaze was not the kind that put me on edge like Malcom’s. His was different. More like warm and friendly.

We must have talked about random things for hours. Coincidentally enough, we shared the same love for paranormal-romance novels. While L. J Smith was his favorite author, mine was Maggie Shayne. Reading novels was my muse and to be honest, I could read them till morning.

“You should try the Vampire Diaries,” He stated.

“I could just watch the film you know,” I argued.

“We both know that novels provide a much more in-depth understanding of the characters and the story. Movies are just a top of the cream and if you really want to understand, you should read the books. I have them at my house and I could bring them to you next time we see each other,” he offered.

“Wait a minute,” I suddenly stood up, rushing to my room.

Reaching to my neatly arranged book shelf, I took the top most novel on it. Walking back, I pushed it into his lap while sitting on the couch.

“Um...what is this for?” he questioned.

“Prince of Twilight by Maggie Shayne. Well, I figured if I’m going to read the Vampire Diaries novels, then it will only be fair if you read Prince of Twilight,” I smiled.

‘Well, challenge taken,” He smiled.

At around three in the morning we both fell asleep on the couch, my head falling against his shoulder.