Chapter Five — A Little Too Familiar
1126 Words
I spent most of the night thinking about Damien.
Not because I liked him.
Absolutely not.
I was simply trying to understand him.
One minute, he acted like I was the most irritating person on campus.
The next, he was buying me coffee, remembering little things about me, and telling me who I should stay away from.
It made no sense.
And I hated things that didn’t make sense.
By morning, I’d decided to stop thinking about it.
I walked into the lecture hall with Maya beside me.
“Why are you so quiet?” she asked.
“I’m tired.”
“You’ve been quiet since yesterday.”
“I have nothing to say.”
She gave me a suspicious look.
“Is this about Damien?”
I sighed.
“Why are you obsessed with him?”
“I’m not the one who keeps bringing him up.”
“I literally haven’t said his name.”
“You didn’t have to.”
I shook my head.
“You’re impossible.”
“Thank you.”
We sat down just as the lecturer entered.
I opened my notebook and tried to concentrate.
Ten minutes later, I felt someone tap my desk.
I looked behind me.
Damien.
He held out a pen.
“You forgot yours.”
I looked down at my desk.
My pen was right there.
“I didn’t forget anything.”
He glanced at the pen in my hand.
“Then why have you been trying to write with a broken one?”
I looked at my pen.
The tip was completely damaged.
I hadn’t even noticed.
I stared at him.
“How did you notice that?”
He shrugged.
“You’ve been clicking it for five minutes.”
I looked away.
“Whatever.”
He smiled slightly.
“Good morning to you too.”
I ignored him.
But for the rest of the lecture, I couldn’t stop wondering how he noticed something that small.
After class, Maya left for another lecture.
I stayed behind to organize my notes.
When I finally walked outside, I nearly bumped into someone.
“Sorry.”
I looked up.
Ethan.
“Hey.”
He smiled.
“Amara, right?”
“Yes.”
“I’ve seen you around.”
“I’ve seen you too.”
“Good. I was starting to think I was invisible.”
I laughed.
“You’re definitely not invisible.”
He smiled.
“That’s good to know.”
We started walking toward the cafeteria together.
He was easy to talk to.
No arguments.
No attitude.
No mysterious behavior.
Just normal conversation.
“So you’re in the project with Damien?” he asked.
I groaned.
“Unfortunately.”
He laughed.
“Good luck.”
“Thank you. I’ll need it.”
We reached the cafeteria.
“I was going to get something to eat,” he said. “You?”
“Same.”
“Mind if I join you?”
I shrugged.
“Sure.”
We found a table and sat down.
For the first time in days, I actually relaxed.
Ethan was telling me a funny story about one of our classmates when someone pulled out the chair opposite me.
I looked up.
Damien.
I frowned.
“What are you doing?”
“Eating.”
“There are other tables.”
“I know.”
He placed his food down.
Ethan looked at him.
“Hey.”
Damien nodded.
“Ethan.”
The way he said his name was almost too calm.
I looked between them.
“Do you two know each other?”
“Everyone knows Ethan,” Damien said.
Ethan laughed.
“I didn’t know I was that popular.”
Damien didn’t laugh.
Instead, he looked at me.
“You missed the meeting.”
“What meeting?”
“Our project meeting.”
“We said four o’clock.”
He checked his phone.
“It’s four fifteen.”
I stared at him.
“You came to find me because I’m fifteen minutes late?”
“I came to tell you we’re meeting at four thirty instead.”
“Oh.”
I took another bite of my food.
“Okay.”
He nodded.
Then his eyes moved to Ethan.
“You’re busy?”
Ethan smiled.
“Just having lunch.”
Damien looked back at me.
“You’ll be at the library at four thirty?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
He stood up.
Then he looked at Ethan once more.
“See you.”
Ethan nodded.
Damien walked away.
I watched him leave.
Ethan raised an eyebrow.
“Interesting.”
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Tell me.”
He smiled.
“Your project partner seems protective.”
I almost choked on my drink.
“Damien?”
“Yes.”
“He’s not protective.”
“He definitely looked like it.”
“He looks at everyone like that.”
Ethan laughed.
“I don’t think so.”
I rolled my eyes.
“Forget him.”
“Gladly.”
We continued eating.
But when I glanced toward the cafeteria entrance, Damien was standing there.
Looking directly at us.
The moment our eyes met, he turned and walked away.
My stomach twisted strangely.
I didn’t understand him.
And I wasn’t sure I wanted to.
At four thirty, I arrived at the library.
Damien was already waiting.
“You’re late.”
“By two minutes.”
“Still late.”
I sat down.
“You’re obsessed with time.”
“I’m obsessed with getting good grades.”
“Same thing.”
He pushed a sheet of paper toward me.
“I finished the introduction.”
I looked at it.
It was good.
Really good.
I hated admitting that.
“This is actually impressive.”
He raised an eyebrow.
“Actually?”
“Don’t get excited.”
“I won’t.”
We worked quietly for a while.
Then he suddenly said, “You like vanilla.”
I looked up.
“What?”
“Your coffee yesterday.”
I stared at him.
“You remembered?”
He shrugged.
“You told me once.”
“When?”
“I don’t remember.”
I narrowed my eyes.
“You remember something I said once, but you don’t remember when I said it?”
He smiled.
“Maybe I remember things about you.”
I didn’t know what to say.
So I looked back at my laptop.
“That’s weird.”
“Probably.”
I glanced at him again.
He was already watching me.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Then stop staring.”
He looked away.
For once, he didn’t argue.
And somehow, that made it worse.
Because Damien Carter was beginning to feel less like my enemy.
And that scared me more than I wanted to admit.
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