Been you

The meeting

Chapter Three

**Adrian P.O.V**

“Look dad, this is a very sensitive issue and you know it. I have not found her yet and when I do, I promise not to let her go. Until then, can we focus on mom’s barbeque that she wants to have please?” “Spoken like a true Alpha,” my dad said, his words dripping with pride.

“Well, I learnt from the best, didn’t I?” I replied. He just smiled at me and left me alone at the table. “For what it’s worth Alpha, I think you will find her soon enough,” Avery said from behind me, I didn’t even hear her come in.

“Thank you, Avery,” I told her. “Has Alexi not come back yet? Using my name to cut queues is a habit of his and so I think he should have been done with his registrations like hours ago,” I asked Avery. “Maybe try linking him. I don’t think he knows that you are back yet,” she’s witty, “Good thinking. Thank you once again,” I gave her a smile and she bowed her head in respect before leaving me.

“Lexi, where the hell are you?” I asked him.

“Coming bro. Was just helping a friend with something, I should be there in 30,” came his reply.

“Minutes or seconds?” I asked once again.

“Minutes. I’m about to leave from here,” he replied, sounding a tad bit annoyed. I must have really disrupted something serious.

“Good.. Good.. Where exactly is ‘here’?” I asked, trying to annoy him some more. It seemed to have worked because he blew up, “For the love of God, Adrian I’ll be there in the said time!” he practically screamed before blocking me out.

I laughed at his antics. Maybe he was with a girl, I’d have to ask him about it later.

***

Alexi finally made it to mom’s get-together and I was happy to see him, until I smelt a very faint, yet familiar, scent of citrus and vanilla on him, making my wolf instantly pace. “New cologne bro?” I asked, eyeing him suspiciously. “What? No. I’m not wearing any cologne. If my scent bothers you, I’ll just go take a quick shower,” he responded, feigning hurt.

“You know that’s not what I meant. Quit being a baby,” I said. He laughed at my statement, “I’ll be right back.” After he left, I felt myself missing that citrus and vanilla scent and I released a low growl at that. What the f**k Adrian? Pull yourself together. I chuckled bitterly at myself. I am going insane. Alexi soon returned and I planned on making the rest of tonight a nightmare for him.

“So, Lexi,” I trailed off, giving him a knowing look while wiggling my eyebrows. “Yes Adrian, it was a girl. No, she is not my girlfriend. I just met her today at school and she is human,” he quickly answered my questions about his ‘friend’ that he was helping. I chuckled at his annoyed expression. “You know me so well Lexi,” I mused, “could she be the scent I was smelling on you before?” I asked, suddenly feeling a ping of jealousy for some odd reason.

“Possibly. She did literally bump into me when we met,” he shrugged. “Will I get to meet her?” I asked, another knowing look. “For f**k’s sake Adrian I don’t like her like that. She’s beautiful and has a personality to kill for but she’s not my type!” Okay, I was NOT expecting that. “Will I meet her though?” I asked once again, persistent in knowing.

“Maybe man. I don’t know. Do you want to meet her?” he asked. Did I want to meet her? I don’t know, maybe I did. “Yes. I’d love to meet her, actually.” I answered, clearly taking Alexi by surprise. “Wow. Alright then, you can drop me off at school tomorrow and maybe we might run into her once again?” “I can’t tomorrow, meetings,” I told him, feeling slightly disappointed that I won’t get to meet her sooner.

“Some other time then,” Alexi said, “Of course. But at least tell me her name then?” I asked, feeling rather curious. “Thalia,” came his answer. Thalia. It’s a beautiful name, I love it. “It’s beautiful,” I said, in a daze, only to be brought back by Alexi’s laughter. Frowning, I asked, “What jackass?” “Dude, you should see your face,” he continued laughing.

“Whatever man. Let’s just enjoy the festivities,” and with that, we went and joined everyone else downstairs for mom’s get together.

**Thalia’s P.O.V**

I woke up to my alarm in the morning, groaning as I hit the cancel button and sitting up in bed. It’s only orientation today. I’m sure I can afford to skip it, right? Just to catch up on some much needed rest, I can always ask Riyah or Alexi to show me around before classes start.

As I thought about it, I heard Riyah walk past my bedroom. Or maybe I should just go. I can always rest later. At this, I got up, made my bed and gathered up my toiletries and clean clothes and headed for the bathroom to go take a shower.

I got in the shower and shampooed my hair. I then put conditioner and continued to leather my body with body wash and almost moaned as I massaged my tense muscles. Once I was done, I rinsed, got out and wrapped a towel around myself. I then proceeded to brush my teeth and wash my face. Once all that was done, I applied lotion and got dressed.

I opted for dark jeans, a white tank top and my white converse. I then went back to my room, dried my hair and put it up in a messy bun. I decided not to wear any make up today and left my room once I was satisfied with my look.

I grabbed my backpack, keys and phone, and headed out of my room only to bump into Riyah. “I’m sorry, I didn’t see you there. Good morning,” I greeted her. “Good morning. It’s quite alright, it was an honest mistake,” she said. She’s so sweet.

As we walked together, I realized that we never really got to talk much last night and so out of curiosity I asked, “So, what are you here to study for?” “Oh, I’m doing coding,” she said with the brightest smile I’d ever seen, “how about you?” “Same here! I hope we’re not a lot so we can be in the same class, so that I at least know one person,” I said.

“I know how you feel,” Riyah chuckled nervously, “I would also like that.” We caught up over breakfast and learned about each other’s backgrounds. Apparently Riyah is Indian, but her parents moved to New York before she was born, which is great because now I have a new friend from the U.S.

After breakfast, as we were leaving for campus, we ran into Alexi driving his car. He stopped right in front us, making Riyah want to cower behind me, “Sayeed, need a ride to campus?” he asked with a knowing smirk. “Raines, I’d like that. Only if my friend here can tag along,” I said, as I gestured to Riyah, who cowered even further behind me.

“I don’t mind at all. Will your friend be able to last until campus though?” he asked once again, that smirk on his face. I turned to see Riyah still hiding behind me, seriously, what is wrong with her? “I’m sure she’ll manage, right?” I asked, looking at Riyah. “Y-yeah, I’ll be just fine. I’ll sit in the back though,” she stuttered.

I ignored that and sat shotgun while Riyah sat at the back. As Alexi continues to drive, I introduced them, “Alexi, this is Riyah, my roommate. Riyah, Alexi,” I said as I pointed at them. Each nodding at each other through the rearview mirror. ”Lovely to make your acquaintance Riyah,” Alexi said, sounding a tad intense. “Likewise,” came Riyah’s response.

Okay, there’s definitely tension between these two, don’t know what it’s about, but I must find out. “So,” I start, “Alexi, I never asked what you’d be studying yesterday?” Alexi just laughs, “Really Thalia? That’s what you want to talk about?” I shrug at his comment. Sighing, he says, “I’m doing coding,” causing Riyah’s eyes to widen. No freaking way!! I unintentionally squeal at that. “We’re also doing coding!” I scream, excited that I at least know two people in coding.

“Wow, that’s great,” Alexi says, “hey, we can study sessions together all three of us!” “That sounds like a plan,” Riyah says from the back, sounding distant. I wonder what happened to her all of a sudden. I shrug it off as Alexi pulls into a parking spot on campus. We get out the car and make our way the hall. “I heard we have a guest speaker coming in today, anyone know who it is?” I ask.

Both Riyah and Alexi just shrug, clearly as confused as I am. “I guess we’ll just have to see?” Riyah says.

As we enter the hall, we found seats in the middle rows. We sat down as more people piled in. I’m assuming everyone here is of the technological science faculty because we’re too many to just be a coding class, and too little to be the entire college.

As we sit, with Riyah and Alexi on both my sides, the dean of students walks in and stands on the podium in the middle of the stage. I took one glance at him, and to my surprise, he looked somewhat similar to Alexi. “Uhhh, Raines?” Alexi saw my confused look and chuckled, “That’s my uncle. He’s the dean around here. I don’t get any special treatment or anything like that, but he’s awesome,” Alexi mused.

“Is he the reason why you came to study at this college?” Riyah asked. “No, actually my dad’s the reason I’m here. He insisted I study here so that my uncle could keep an eye on me,” he gave a nervous chuckle. “You’re a bad boy, aren’t you?” I gave a knowing and he chuckled at that, “let’s just say I have a reputation,” came his reply.

The Dean started speaking, “Buongiorno, I’m Dean Raines and welcome all of you, to Roma Tre University,” as he continued with his speech, I zoned out. Only to return back to my sense when I heard a name, “..Adrian Raines,” and everyone cheered and clapped. I looked to Alexi again, “Seriously? Another Raines?” I asked, dumbfounded, not even bothering to look up.

“What can I say, we’re famous around here,” Alexi shrugged. Riyah just scoffed. “I definitely see that,” she said.

I just laughed at them as I was tuning out what was happening on stage. That was until I heard his voice. A deep melodious voice, that had my insides churning into knots. It felt as if the air around me electrified, and heat engulfed me at that very moment. My sense became heightened and I could hear Alexi chuckle lowly at other girls’ reactions to this Adrian Raines. I heard Riyah release a whistle from beside me, and I had to look up and see what the fuss was about. My breath hitched at the sight.

He looked exactly like Alexi, but with raven black hair that makes me want to run my fingers through it, he appeared to be slightly taller than him as well, olive skin, forest green eyes that I could get lost in, high cheek bones, a perfectly chiseled nose and strong jawline with a light stubble. He wore light grey dress pants and a white button up shirt that hugged his torso so much, you could almost make out the defined abs underneath it.

He looked more like a Greek god than human. His eyes seemed to be searching for something, until they landed on me and I swear I saw a hint of surprise in his features, that disappeared as quick as it came. He then gave Alexi a quick nod and began speaking once again. “How is he related to you?” I asked Alexi, feeling somewhat curious about this Greek god in front us.

“He is my older brother. He didn’t even tell me he’d be here today. I am so mad at him for this,” Alexi said, sounding slightly irritated at the last part of his statement. “Good looks seem to run in the family huh,” came Riyah’s voice as both Alexi and I chuckled. “I’ll say,” came my response in a daze.

“Raines Corp will be giving out internships to 5 lucky students in every class of your Faculty. Of course, the pick will be determined by how well you guys perform, so the internship will only be starting next quarter. So good luck everyone, remember to have fun and not just work too much and cut off all social activity, college is a time to make friends and some of you might be lucky enough to meet your soulmates here,” as he said the last part, he looked pointedly at me causing shivers to go down my spine.

His voice is deep and melodious, I could listen to it all day long, I thought to myself. I guess I had zoned out a little while because the next thing I heard was Alexi telling me we need to leave and when I looked around, there few people left in the hall, all heading towards the exit.

“Daydreaming?” Riyah asked with a knowing look. “I’ll say,” Alexi practically sang next to me. “Oh stop it you two. What could I possibly daydream about?” came my not so convincing response. They just laughed at me knowingly and I blushed. As we turned the corner, I ran into a solid chest once again, are all the men here made of stone?

“Adrian,” Alexi sang his name, and continued to say, “I am SO upset with you! Why didn’t you tell me you’d be here today?” It was then that I realized that the solid chest I ran into this time, was Adrian’s. I quickly stepped back, not daring to make eye contact as he apologized, and Alexi introduced him to Riyah. “…and this is Thalia,” came Alexi’s voice once again.

I saw Adrian reaching out his hand for a shake as he said, “Hello Thalia. My brother won’t shut up about you. It’s nice to finally meet you.” OMG this guy will be the death of me!! I shakily stuck my hand out to shake his. When our hands touched, it was like a light zap of electricity went through them and left behind a feeling of delicious sparks.

I didn’t trust my voice at that moment and so I opted to just nod my head. After lingering with our hands together for a moment, Adrian let go of my hand and I almost whined at the loss of those sparks as Adrian seemed to notice and chuckle at my behavior. Can the earth just open up and swallow me whole.

“It’s lovely to meet you Miss Sayeed,” he said, with the most dashing smile, I could melt just by looking at it. I nodded once again, still not trusting my voice. If I carry on like this, I will never be able to hold a conversation with this man and I desperately want to engage in one.

“I have to get to the office Lexi, see you at home?” Adrian said, “Of course, bye,” came Alexi’s response. Adrian then turned to Riyah and myself, “Miss Somani, Miss Sayeed, it’s been a pleasure, but I must leave now. Please excuse me,” he said with a pained look. “Bye,” came Riyah’s response. I nodded once again and I could swear I saw a disappointed look on Adrian’s face before he left.