Divine Contract

English

Despite only getting a few hours of sleep last night, Lillian had decided that she wasn’t going to let her sleepiness ruin the first class of the semester.  She was taking five classes this semester but today, she only had one course and it was on her favorite subject so she’d made sure to pack her bag, checking twice to make sure that she had everything she needed, before leaving with ample time to stop at the student café for a sponsored breakfast before moseying on over to the lecture hall.

    The class had maybe forty seats in it and maybe half of them were filled when she stepped into the room.  She’d been headed toward the front row to get a good seat that would be centered right in front of the teacher when she heard somebody call her name.  Glancing back, she saw Wes in the back, waving his hand at her.  Smiling nervously, she gave a small wave, nervously glancing at the seat she’d selected.  “Come on, Lil!” he called from where he was stationed in the back of the room, this playful expression on his face.

    With a small sigh, she relented to his request, making her way back toward him.  “Hi,” she muttered, taking the seat next to him and pulling her notebook from her bag.

    “Whoa,” he said, glancing at her pen case.  “So prepared.”

    Lillian noticed that he hadn’t brought anything with him.  “Do you need a piece of paper?” she offered, wondering how he was going to take notes.

    He chuckled, shaking his head.  “Have you seen the syllabus for this course?  Its mixed mode so all the tests are online.  The only reason I’m here right now is because the professor is a stickler for attendance and made that twenty percent of our grade.”

    Pushing her hair behind her ear, she shook her head.  “I didn’t know that, actually.  I haven’t had time to go onto a computer yet.”

    Wes pursed his lips.  “You don’t have a laptop?”

    She shook her head no and he grinned.  “I do.  You could always come over and borrow mine if you need to,” he offered, nudging her with his elbow.

    Lillian glanced up at Wes who seemed to be leaning kind of close, this warm smile on his face.  He seemed like a genuinely good guy and something about him made her want to trust him.  Giving a small, shy smile back she nodded her head.  “Thanks, Wes.”

    Taking her pen from her hand, he scribbled his number down in her notebook, muttering back, “Any time, Lil.”  Nobody had ever referred to Lillian that way before but she kind of liked it and, smiling, she just kept thinking that maybe she’d become good friends with Wes.

    The lecture was long and Lillian had taken pages and pages of notes and references all while Wes nodded off beside her.  He certainly wasn’t diligent and when she bumped him at the end of the class, he offered to walk her back to her dorm since they were both headed the same direction.  She’d accepted as she gathered her things and was surprised with Wes started talking about football.  He was a pretty big guy but she hadn’t realized he was on the team and so was Seth apparently.  “You should come out Friday night.  It’s our first home game this year.”

    “That sounds nice,” she said.  “I’ve never been to one.”

    “A Lion’s game?”

    She smiles softly.  “A football game.”

    His brow furrowed.  “Oh.  Seriously?”  She nodded, gripping her book bag straps and glancing about at the other students.  The campus had a number of students mingling about, laughing together in small groups.  She was thinking it was a good day when she heard Wes shout, “Hey, Lucius!”

    Immediately she felt her face heat up, eyes immediately moving toward the dark eyed man across the way.  He had a bag over his shoulder and there was a girl smiling up at him, her hand touching his arm in a very friendly way.  His dark eyes moved from the girl beside him to Lillian who quickly glanced over at Wes.  She wanted to keep walking but she wasn’t sure if that would be rude since Wes had offered to walk her to her dorm.

    “Wes,” Lucius said as he came upon them.  His eyes moved to Lillian and he smirked.  “Stalker.”

    She sighed at the newfound nickname, glancing longingly toward her dorm.  It was right there. They were literally in the home stretch of the walk.  “Stalker?” Wes asked.  “I know you don’t pay attention Luc but her name is Lil.”

    “Lil?” Lucius parroted back, his dark gaze burning into the side of her face.  She dropped her gaze to her feet, wondering if simply ignoring him would make him go away.  Every time she spoke to the guy things only seemed to get worse for her.

    “Yeah, Lil just told me she’s never been to a football game so I’m making sure she comes to watch me play on Friday,” Wes supplied helpfully.

    Lucius made a noise, like a deep rumble in his chest and Lillian felt goosebumps rush up her arms, her eyes flickering nervously over to him.  He had a look of clear annoyance on his face and she wondered why he insisted on glaring at her so intently.  What did she ever do to him?  She narrowed her eyes at him, confused by his behavior, and the girl beside Lucius gripped his arm in her hands, tugging his attention back to her.  “We’re going to be late,” she said sweetly, smiling up at him.  As soon as his eyes flickered back to Lillian, she noticed that the girl beside him had put on a sour face.  Not a fan of confrontation, Lillian dropped her gaze to the ground again as Wes said his goodbyes to Lucius and felt almost relieved when Wes threw his arm over her shoulder, steering her back toward her dorm.  Feeling his eyes on her, she glanced back over her shoulder to find him looking over his shoulder, eyes narrowed as he was tugged away by another female.  Forcing her eyes forward, she wondered why he was so angry all the time.