by Zara Zenia
I was no stranger to throwing parties, of course, but this last one would probably go down in the history books as one of the best the entire school of Sleepy Hollow had ever seen. Not that the rest of the student body had experienced the magnificence that was my girlfriend until the wee hours of the morning like I and my closest friends had.
Thinking about last night, made me realize I was beyond thrilled to be dating Marina. I was crazy about her. I knew that the others were too. There was just something about her that drew us all to her.
I didn’t know if it was even possible because she was already exceptionally beautiful, but it seemed like she had gotten even more vibrantly pretty over winter break. You know how the old saying goes, absence makes the heart grow fonder, and I was definitely basking in the attention I got from her. We all were.
“Bro, it was legendary,” Brian said as he pushed past me in the line to grab a carton of milk from the beverage station.
I felt myself beaming as I exchanged an enormous grin with him. “Thanks, man. I really appreciate that. I love to entertain the masses, as you know.”
Brian cackled. “Don’t I know it.”
He took off in another direction, probably to meet up with Zap, his twin brother. Brian was a witch who loved everything techie. If you needed any hacking done, Brian was definitely the man you would turn to for help.
My ego was boosted and there was an extra bounce in my step as I maneuvered my tray up to the front of the line behind a drone of tired, hungry looking students.
Once it was my turn to step up to the register, I saw that Boris was behind the counter. He was the head chef of the cafeteria.
He was usually chummy with the students, but I in particular got along well with him because we were both from around the same region in Europe, although different countries. He was from Russia, but I respected him because he was a big bear shifter. He had short black hair, a black beard and black eyes.
He had a booming voice and a burly build which scared off some of the newer students but to me, he was the representation of rugged masculinity, something that I obviously strode to achieve myself.
As soon as I looked at him, I involuntarily winced, though, I immediately felt guilty about it. “Whoa, Boris. You’re looking a little rough around the edges.” I cleared my throat and shifted my weight. “No offense.”
Boris rolled his eyes at my verbally brazen reflection on his physical appearance. “None taken.”
He was wearing a face mask and let out a wracking cough underneath it. He definitely looked a little sickly. His eyes were glassy and had dark circles under them that resembled bruises.
His face was a little ashen and drained of color. If not for the face mask and cough, I might have just assumed he was a little fatigued. He was the head chef after all. He had a lot of responsibilities under his control.
“Feeling a little under the weather, eh?” I tried to give him a sympathetic smile.
“That’s one way to put it.” Boris sniffled, giving me a bleary-eyed look.
“I hope you feel better soon,” I said as he rang up the total on my tray of food and charged it to my meal plan account.
“I get no time off here. They want me on my feet all the time. It’s always, Boris do that, Boris get me that.” He waved his arms around animatedly. “It is doubtful that I will recover quickly.” Boris made a sour face in complaint.
Honestly, I felt bad for the guy. I respected him and thought he did a kick-ass job at keeping all the students of Sleepy Hollow well fed, and the food wasn’t half bad either even by school cafeteria standards. It was decent and I didn’t mind eating it, nor did I have a problem with telling Boris the same.
“I’m sure if you just tell them you need a couple of recovery days they would understand.” I tried to commiserate. “You have staff for a reason, might as well use them,” I added with a shrug.
“Why don’t you go to the back offices and tell that to office administration then?” Boris asked in a sardonic and thickly Russian accent.
I chuckled. “Anything for you, buddy.”
I plucked my tray from the counter and spun on a heel, leaving the agitated Boris behind. I scanned the crowded cafeteria room. There were dozens of students scattered around the area, sitting in clusters at tables while they enjoyed their lunch time break and leisure time to catch up with friends.
The low hum of chatter and conversation drifted through my ears as I scoped the place and landed on Marina, spotting her across the room and sitting by herself near the exit doors to the cafeteria itself. Lucky me. I grinned.
She must have felt my gaze on her because she looked up with those gorgeous eyes of hers, which had eyelashes that seemed to go on for days. Her entire face brightened, and she cast me a beautiful smile. She raised her arm to flag me down and wave me over, but I was already well on my way across the room to get to her.
“Hey, you,” she said in a flirty voice as I approached her table.
I set my tray down next to hers, leaned down and kissed her, before I plopped down on the bench close to her.
“How are you?” I asked, pulling her even closer. I worried about her keeping up with the four of us. We didn’t want to hurt her.
She let out a cute sigh and glanced at the ceiling before propping her elbows up on the table and giving me a radiant smile.
“Things are going well. I’m enjoying my classes. I’m enjoying my guys.” She giggled. “If you couldn’t tell from last night.”
She is just too cute, I thought as I popped a French fry into my mouth. “I’m glad.” I squeezed her closer and kissed her neck.
“What about you?” she asked and took a sip of her Sprite.
“I’m good,” I admitted. “Wish I could see you more, but you know. Rugby season.”
She nodded.
“Don’t get me wrong, I love being on the rugby team.”
“Do you think that one day maybe I could come and watch you practice?” she asked, a curious look on her face.
“Sure!” I exclaimed maybe a little too enthusiastically. I glanced around me, but no one had seemed to either notice or care about my animated shout. “That would be great actually. You can come to the games too.”
Her cheeks turned a rosy color and she flickered her gaze down to focus on the slice of pizza on her tray.
“That would be awesome, actually, I’d love to watch you play.”
I loved the femininity of her soft voice. It was a total turn on for me, and I couldn’t stop staring at her even thought I was doing my best not to ogle at her or make her feel uncomfortable.
It was nice being her boyfriend, well, one of them. It wasn’t like I had her all to myself. Even if I wished it, it wasn’t possible. Daniel and I had met her at the same time. I wasn’t really all that jealous of Daniel, we’d dated the same girl before and he was my best friend. And Colin, well, there might be a little jealousy there, maybe, I mean the guy was freaking beautiful, how could I not be? And then there was Tom. He was the one I was most jealous of. Handsome and smart, and rich, couldn’t forget that. And on top of that, he was a wizard. He was probably the most compatible of all of us with Marina, since she’s a witch and that ate at me. Begrudgingly, I was starting to like Tom more, even if he was a little arrogant at times. I knew I could trust him with Marina, and that’s what mattered. Marina was what mattered, so I did my best to keep those little bites of jealousy at bay.
“I’ll let you know when my next practice is and you can totally come,” I said and chuckled darkly, remembering her coming on my tongue as I licked her the night before.
I noticed her cheeks turn that same adorable rosy color and knew she was having similar thoughts. She met my gaze briefly before looking away. I would be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy staring into the depths of her chocolate brown eyes. They were so dark and sensual, leaving me craving more of the mystery that she had to offer.
“You look like you got a little sun the other day,” I said, mentionin
g that her olive skin had an even more coffee complexion to it.
She glanced down at her body. “Oh, yeah.” She looked up at me and chuckled. “I’ve been sitting outside when I can to keep up the little bit of color I got when Mom and I went to Florida over winter break.”
“How’s your mom doing?” I knew it would earn me brownie points to ask her questions and be interested in her family life.
“She’s doing well.” Marina nodded with a charismatic smile.
“You look really pretty today,” I mentioned.
She seemed to be glowing in response to my compliment. “Thanks.”
“You always look pretty though,” I added.
“You look handsome.” She met my gaze and I felt my heart pound.
I felt a tingle and a throbbing sensation on the member between my legs and suddenly wished we were alone in my room instead of in a cafeteria full of students. “I didn’t even try,” I said with a casual shrug.
She laughed. “You are so adorable.”
“I do put a lot of effort into that,” I joked with a playful wink.
It was fun flirting with her. She made me feel good about myself, but more importantly, she made me feel needed and wanted.
Even though she had other boyfriends, I still felt like she gave me the amount of attention I required, and she showered me with affection whenever she could. I couldn’t blame her though. We were all busy as students with activities and classes. Things got in the way, but when we shared little private moments like this, it enhanced my attraction for her.
She leaned back into me and rubbed her flat tummy. “I’m stuffed.”
I eyed her French fries hungrily. “I can polish those off for you if you want.”
She gave me a teasing smile. “Go for it, champ.”
I took her fries and devoured them. I was always famished, because I was always working out or playing rugby. Once we were finished eating, I walked her out of the cafeteria and into the hallway.
“I have to get to class,” she said and pointed over her shoulder.
I stood there, my arms looped around her loosely. She was behaving as if she was reluctant to leave me, as if she enjoyed our time together and wanted to savor it. It made me feel good to know that she wanted our company to last longer.
I wanted to linger in her presence forever. She was so soft and warm and feminine.
“Well, we are alone.” I gave her a naughty grin and glanced over my shoulder down the hallway. “Should we take advantage of it and have a little kiss goodbye?”
She blushed again, turning wonderfully pink in the cheeks. She nibbled on her bottom lip in pondering, a gesture that I found incredibly sexy.
“Just a kiss or……” she trailed off in a sensual whisper.
My heart swelled. “A kiss for now.” I gave her an eager squeeze and hugged her close to my chest.
I leaned down and felt the sizzle of chemistry surging between us as I pressed my lips to hers. I felt a rush of blood go between my legs. Marina parted her lips and exhaled a contented sigh. The sound drove me wild. It was like music to my ears.
As I kissed her, it lit up a flame inside of me as our tongues explored and tickled inside each other’s mouths. She kissed me back with compassion and vigor. I ran my hands through her hair and felt an intense urge to ravage her against the wall, but I knew that wasn’t possible in the middle of the hallway right outside of the cafeteria. Soon, other students would come pouring out of the area and trek to their respective classes.
As we pulled away, her sweet taste lingered on my lips. I looked at her and stroked her cheek, loving that I got to be part of her life.
She gave me a tremendous smile that melted my heart.
“I’ll see you later, okay?” she asked.
“I will be counting down the minutes, baby.” I planted one more kiss on the palm of her hand before she walked away.
I didn’t move a single inch until I saw her disappear behind a corner. Then she was gone, although always and forever in my heart.
4
Marina
I walked into the dorm room after a long day of classes, but I found myself enjoying them a lot more this time around rather than last semester’s classes.
I didn’t feel as if my courses were as grueling as last semester’s were, and I had the sneaking suspicion that the reason for my relaxed mental demeanor was because I was already used to the school. The variable of adaptation was already there, in turn helping me to plow through my classes with ease.
I didn’t feel as overwhelmed and out of my element. Things were familiar and it was easier for me to switch into a natural routine and rhythm.
I walked into my shared dorm room and hung my book bag on the hook next to my dresser and glanced at Laurie who was sitting at her desk and doing her homework on her laptop.
“Hey,” I said. “What are you up to?”
Laurie appeared lost in thought and deep in concentration. Her eyes were narrowed and focused on the screen. It took her several seconds to realize that I was even attempting to talk to her.
“Oh hey!” She gave me a bright, fresh smile and then rolled her eyes. “Sorry. I’m just all over the place trying to do this paper…”
“Maybe I can help?” I suggested and sat down at my desk that was pushed directly up against hers.
Laurie and I both were interested in pursuing careers as Cryptobotanists, so we shared not only mutual interests in common as dorm mates, but we also shared a lot of the same class studies and structures.
“I don’t know.” Laurie frowned and exhaled a frustrated puff of air, still staring at her screen as if somehow, she wished she could pull the answers and information directly from the screen itself.
She groaned and pushed her laptop closed. “Or, I could just take a break and gossip with you.” She turned to face me with an eager grin.
I chuckled. “I wish I had some gossip to dish out. I didn’t mean to distract you though…”
Laurie waved her hand dismissively through the air. “Oh, don’t worry about that. You aren’t distracting me. I needed to take a break anyway. I feel like my eyes are going to disintegrate from staring at this screen so long.”
She let out a soft chortle and glanced at me with a chagrinned expression.
“If you’re sure…”
“I’m sure.” She nodded assertively.
The thing about Laurie was, she was always diligent about her schoolwork. I admired her work ethic. She was born with that type of upbringing, that you always put one-hundred percent effort into everything you did. Growing up on a farm, I supposed you had to have that kind of attitude.
The other thing about Laurie was, she had to put in extra energy and really study hard and she still wasn’t at the top of her class like I was.
She always made comments that she wished she could be as smart as me. I always tried to downplay my own experiences to make her feel better. Sometimes, it worked, sometimes she was crestfallen. I didn’t want to go down that path with her now.
“I haven’t felt very stressed out this semester, thankfully,” I admitted.
“Me either.” Laurie shook her head and glanced at her laptop. “Well, until this moment that is.”
We both laughed.
“At least we haven’t run into Carlotta yet,” I mentioned.
Laurie made a sour face. “Yuck. Don’t say her name. She might appear.”
I laughed again. “Yeah. No kidding.”
I was referring to Carlotta Ogden, who last semester we regretfully realized was a Hunter who infiltrated the school and murdered a student and then tried to murder me. We had set a trap for her and her accomplice Jacob at the town pizza parlor, but she managed to escape through the kitchen at the last minute. We hadn’t seen her since, and I hoped that she would be too afraid to return to the school and try her luck again.
I still had the gnawing fear in the back of my mind that she would eventually come back to complete her unfinished business. Hu
nters hated the supernatural, and Carlotta was one of the worst ones I had ever come across. The malice in her eyes was sharp and unforgiving and haunted my nightmares. She’d especially had a loathing for vampires, which we’d discovered when she’d shown up to a private party and got into a confrontation with Vlad. And while Vlad wasn’t a vampire, Daniel was, and it made me worry about losing him to a vengeful Carlotta.
“Try not to worry about something that hasn’t happened yet.”
I glanced at Laurie who had cut through my thoughts. She was giving me an empathetic smile.
“You’re right.” I nodded. “It’s silly for me to let her ruin my day without even being here.”
“Exactly.” Laurie crossed her legs and gave me a satisfied smile.
“I will just have to take comfort in the fact that she hasn’t made an appearance around school yet and I’ll just try to be alert and prepared for the unknown.”
Laurie gave me an accepting shrug. “That’s all we can do, really.”
I scratched the top of my head and gave her a perplexed glance as I suddenly remembered something that I’d noticed recently. An increasing number of the students and faculty over the last couple of days had been seen wearing protective face masks.
“Have you heard anything about a flu going around?”
Laurie frowned and seemed to ponder as if she was trying to remember.
“I haven’t heard anything. Have you?”
“No, it’s just, I’ve seen a few students and teachers walking around with masks on their faces as if they have some kind of virus or trying to avoid one.”
“Oh.” Laurie seemed a little anxious at my revelation. “Well I guess we need to be careful then.”
“Yeah.” I cast her a casual shrug. “I’m sure it’s nothing, really. Probably just a little bug that a handful of people caught, and they’re probably just using the face masks as a precaution.”
“That seems like a likely scenario,” Laurie agreed with a nod. “They have to be careful. Besides, we’re in cramped spaces and tight quarters packed in with all kinds of other people. There are bound to be little viruses going around. Plus, it’s flu season anyway.”