Romance: The College Bad Boy: A Young Adult Romance

by Veronica Cross

  In other circumstances I probably would have loved being pulled close to his body but this wasn’t one of them.

  With some force that I have no explanation about he somehow pulled me towards him without even touching me and whispered in my ear.

  “Quiet.”

  My body was so close to his, I could almost feel his heartbeat. He was breathing right into my ear and I could feel his breath on my skin. I stopped calling for a nurse. I looked into his eyes as he was looking into mine and I felt the butterflies fly all through my stomach. He was mesmerizing and that moment that I couldn’t explain to myself at all was even better. I should have been scared but that emotion was way down the list.

  I was scared, I was excited, I had no idea what was happening and I had a million more questions on my mind but it was okay, because I could feel his body so close to mine it made me feel somehow safe. It made me feel like I already knew him. I imagined that with what he was able to do he could have done something terrible to me to make me shut up - but he didn’t. He pulled me close instead of pushing me away.

  “You can’t tell anyone.” he said as he took a step back from me and looked into my eyes.

  “Like anyone would even believe me” I was trying to be a cocky but it was also true. Nobody would believe that I saw a guy lift a cup with his own mind. Would you believe it if anyone told you?

  “True…” his voice was so smooth. I could probably listen to it all day long, and night. “...but seriously, please don’t.” he was almost begging me while giving me those puppy dog eyes, damn, he was so cute.

  “Okay, let’s make a deal” I said and I walked up to him again. “I won’t tell anyone if you promise to explain everything to me later.” I was finally so close to knowing what was going on. I could feel some weird energy between us, he was so close to me, I really wanted to kiss him and in a way I felt like he wanted to kiss me too. Maybe it was my imagination but something was definitely going on.

  “Deal.” he agreed.

  Chapter 5

  I knew I was not going on a date but I put some effort into actually doing my make-up properly. Lipstick, eyeshadow, mascara, all of it. I think I actually looked pretty good that day considering I was tired and I was too nervous to sleep that night.

  Troy had sent me a message to meet him in his lab and I had, of course, agreed. It was time for me to finally find out what on Earth had been going on. I was excited to figure out the truth but I was also excited about spending time with him. I didn’t know him well but the fact that he was always in my head was enough for me to know that I was completely into him.

  “Take some pepper spray,” Amelie joked while finishing up with straightening my hair. I usually had slightly curly brown hair and when I straightened it, I looked like a completely different person.

  “Not funny, he’s not dangerous” I knew she was joking but I was sometimes sick of those jokes. He was a normal person, not some science weirdo. How did I know that? I didn’t. That’s just what I wanted to believe.

  “Just call me if there is anything, ok?” she said and looked at me like my mom does sometimes. By this you could tell that I rarely went on dates and when I did it was so weird for everybody that they acted like I was five years old.

  This was obviously not a date, but when I told my friends about it, that is how they saw it and I was really sick of trying to explain things so I just went with it.

  When I got to the lab I was surprised to find out that maybe it was in fact a date. The door was slightly opened so I just entered. What I saw inside surprised me - he had prepared a table with food and beverages for us. Everything was perfectly ordered and smelled fantastic.

  “So, I thought that we were having this conversation anyway so we might as well make it pleasant” I definitely liked what he had just told me. If there is one thing that I am always happy to see, it’s food.

  He looked better than ever. He had actually cleaned up and did not have blood all over his ears. His complexion was finally a normal color that looked perfect with his grey shirt. I could totally see the veins in his neck, which I personally found to be crazy attractive. My eyes stopped on his eyes and the way he looked at me. He didn’t mean to but the way he was looking at me made me feel like he was telling me sweet words with his eyes, it wasn’t on purpose, it was just who he was.

  “Looks great!” I said and walked toward him. I took off my jacket and got to show off how perfectly my shirt shaped my body. I couldn’t help but notice that he liked it too, his eyes were all over me.

  “I didn’t know what you like so I got a variety of sandwiches that you can check out,” he said while unpacking the boxes on the table.

  “I’m not picky,” I lied. I was actually very, very picky. I hated more food than I loved even though I loved food in general. I just knew that in that moment even if I hated the food I would have pretended to like it because I did not want to seem like a bitchy, picky, spoiled girl.

  We both sat down and began trying out the sandwiches. Even though I wanted my answers really bad, I felt like it could wait. Luckily for me, I actually enjoyed the food and there weren’t any dishes that made me want to puke.

  Even though the food wasn’t bad, I felt a weird feeling in my stomach and that feeling was because I was nervous to be around him. He was beautiful and he had gotten food for me, it felt just like a date.

  “So, you’re into languages, huh?” he asked while taking a sip of his coke.

  “How did you know?”

  “I looked you up.” he said while giving me a smile.

  “Stalker…,” I joked and smiled back while putting my hair behind my ear. I hated how it would always get in my mouth when I ate. Long hair can be a pain.

  “Hey, you’re the one who stalked me at the hospital. “

  “I wanted to help you!” I knew he was joking but I had to make sure.

  “Relax. I know, thank you for that. I honestly don’t know what could have happened if you hadn’t found me that day, so thanks,” he looked at me and I could tell he was genuine in thanking me.

  “You’re welcome, it was nothing”

  “I heard you stayed in the hospital all night.”

  Ugh.. I did not want to seem weird.

  “I would have done that for anybody.” I said fast trying to make it seem all normal, because to me it was.

  “Well, you sure know how to make a guy feel special,” he was funny. We both laughed and went on with our meal.

  “You know; I’m really enjoying this but eventually we have to get on with the real reason for which I am here.” I was getting a little impatient. “what I saw is gonna require a really good explanation.”

  “I get it. Thing is, you won’t believe me.”

  “Try me,” I said as I went closer to him. I sat next to Troy and put my phone on the table. It was really uncomfortable to have it in my pocket when I was wearing skinny jeans.

  We were so close to each other in that moment that I could feel his breath on me. My heartbeat sped up and I could feel myself getting more and more nervous.

  He looked at me as I sat next to him and in the next moment he grabbed my hand. He held it and I could feel his soft skin on mine. It felt electric… it was just his hand but it felt like I had the whole world in mine.

  I pulled aside because I felt like he was just trying to distract me.

  “What are you doing?”

  “It’s just… this is really hard for me,” he said and by the way he was looking at me, I felt like he meant it. His eyes were almost teared up, he was scared.

  “You can trust me,” I said and I put my hand back on his. I felt like he needed somebody, whatever was wrong, he shouldn’t have to go through it alone.

  “I don’t know if it is safe for you to know,” his voice was shaking a bit as he was speaking. “I’ve been wanting to tell someone for months, I want to tell you, I really do.”

  “Then tell me,” his hand was holding mine so tight.

  �
�Whatever I tell you, you have to promise not to tell anybody and pretend like you do not know anything about it, ok?” his eyes were begging me to agree.

  “Okay. I won’t say a word.” I meant it. I could feel how bad he needed to confide in somebody and I wanted to be that somebody for him.

  “I’ve been making experiments,” he said and stood up. He went up to his computer and showed me some charts that I did not understand at all. It was more confusing than all the math courses I had ever taken.

  “I don’t get it,” I wanted to make sure he knows my science knowledge is limited.

  “Those experiments were me trying to develop medicine for my mother. She has cancer.”

  “But, you’re just a student.. How?” I didn’t want to sound like I thought that he wasn’t smart enough but if nobody has medicine by now, what are the chances of a student doing it really.

  “Trust me, I had everything I needed, except somebody to test it on.” I had a feeling I knew where this was going. “So, I tested everything on me” he added.

  “Oh my God…,” I exclaimed and went up to see that computer diagram like it would actually tell me something. It didn’t.

  “I kept testing everything, I monitored my DNA change with the help of people in the biology lab. They didn’t know what we were doing but they sure enjoyed the practice,” he continued while showing me some other slides.

  He took a deep breath and clicked the next slide. It was a picture of many broken objects on the ground.

  “This is when everything went wrong for the first time,” he said and looked at me as if he was checking if I was ready to run. I wasn’t going anywhere.

  “I found out that I could do things I hadn’t been able to do before, but always at a cost.”

  “Is that why you were unconscious?” Things were starting to make sense now.

  “Yes. Most of the time when I do… things… I end up either hurt or unconscious.” I was finding this hard to believe but it made complete sense considering all that I had seen until now.

  “Then you should stop doing it,” it seemed logical to me.

  “You don’t get it… if I can do this, I am so close to a breakthrough.”

  “No… it hurts you, it’s bad.” I couldn’t believe he was okay with basically dying every time.

  “I am close to finding a way to control it!” he went close to me and grabbed both my hands. “Imagine if I had a way to use amazing powers like this without consequences, I could do anything!” he was being so persuasive with his beautiful eyes looking right at mine.

  “You shouldn’t risk your life for something like this,” I insisted. “I know you want to help your mother but… let the doctors do it.” It was definitely not my place to say it but I was sure that his mom wouldn’t approve of him doing this for her.

  “Lana…” him calling my name was so damn amazing to hear. “It isn’t about that anymore, it is about what I can do. I can find a way to control it. This is both crazy and amazing and you’re the only person I am sharing it with right now.” He held my hands and I felt excited for a second.

  It was in fact something insane that he had just shared with me. I was still finding it hard to believe but I had seen him lift a cup with his mind. I was there to see what he did and now I had an explanation for it and God was he being amazing in that moment, holding my hands, looking into my eyes and sharing the most important thing in his life with me. I felt like I was in a superhero movie, except he was quite far from being a hero – he was more of a mad scientist.

  I felt so close to him in that moment. I was the only person he had right now and I wanted him to feel like he could trust me. I didn’t usually believe in energy and all that shit but I could tell that me and him had something special for sure. So what if I was willing to trust a feeling more than logic, I had in fact just found out that impossible things are actually possible. I felt amazing around him, I enjoyed looking at him and he was really nice to me. He was interesting to me before I even knew what he could do. Have you ever met somebody who felt really special to you without a really good reason? That was Troy for me. I felt it more than it made sense.

  “Maybe I am out of line but…,” he came closer to me and continued holding my hands. His face was so close to mine, I just kept staring into his eyes and thinking how beautiful he was. His tiny freckles on top of his perfect nose made him look cuter than anything that I could imagine. Before I even had time to realize what was happening he leaned forward and kissed me. Yes, a kiss, a nice no tongue, soft, long kiss that made my whole body shiver and my head spin so hard that I thought I would fall down.

  “... but I’ve been wanting to do this since the first time I saw you,” he finished his sentence after letting me go from the kiss. I looked at him but both my body and mind were frozen. I couldn’t find it in me to say anything, I was so shocked, surprised and glad by what had just happened. I loved that kiss so much… I could easily say it was my favorite one.

  The rest of the day was followed by a small make out session and some other talks about our lives. I found out that he was a dancer before, it was a big part of who he was. Too bad he did not have time for it now. And he found out about how much I enjoyed learning new languages - I even taught him a few swear words. It was nice to share my interests with him, we talked for hours and he made me feel comfortable and safe. The only thing I didn’t like hearing was that he would continue trying to control his powers even though they made him sick. His idea was that eventually they would work normally if only he knew what to perfect and what to let go of.

  My non date did in fact turn out to be a date and it was amazing. I hadn’t felt that way in such a long time that I felt invincible in that moment. I felt as if nothing could stop me and nothing could bring us down because we had all the time in the world and this new, fascinating feeling to explore.

  Chapter 6

  You know how I kept saying it was not a date? Well, this time it was. Only a day after he kissed me he asked me out. He didn’t specify that it was a date but it wasn’t that hard to figure out when he had asked me to wait for him to pick me up at around 7:30pm.

  This time I didn’t tell anyone. I know it was probably not such a good idea and I know how important honesty is in a friendship, but I think that sometimes it is okay to keep a little quiet when you don’t know how things will turn out. If the date went well, I would have told them right away.

  I usually hated dating, I hated having to make small talk and to pretend that everything is perfect, I hated having to dress up and wear uncomfortable clothes just to impress somebody - so I did none of that.

  I put on my skinny jeans and a hoodie, it was quite windy outside. I did my makeup as well as I could and I put my hair in a ponytail. I didn’t want to spend all evening having my hair in my mouth which always happened with windy weather.

  I didn’t know where we were going, it was going to be a surprise, I wasn’t much into surprises but I was kind of excited about this particular one.

  I was ready at 7pm and I had no idea what I would do for half an hour, I turned on my computer and started studying - even though it was the beginning of the year, we already had a bunch of assignments, ugh. My eyes wouldn’t get off the clock, I couldn’t focus on anything because I kept expecting him to ring the doorbell any second now. I turned off my computer and grabbed a soda from the fridge. I tried to calm down and pretend that I was actually super cool and laid back.

  At 7:25 he rang the doorbell. I was so happy that he wasn’t late, if there was one thing that I seriously hated in people it was when they were chronically late, is it that difficult to just show up on time for things? It wasn’t difficult for me.

  “Hey there.” he said when I opened the door. His hair was styled like always. I was starting to think that he just had it like this naturally because it always seemed perfect. He was wearing a nice black buttoned shirt that was neither too tight, nor too big on him and you could notice he had quite the broad shoulders. T
hat is a quality that I always find attractive in a male, I like to feel their broad shoulders when they hug me - it just feels comfortable and safe. I was also wearing a black hoodie so in a way we were matching.

  “Hey, let me just grab my phone and we can go.”

  “Great” he said while I went back to get my phone from the charger. I had already made a rule for myself that I would not be touching my phone all evening – I wanted it to be just us, no distractions.

  When we went outside I couldn’t help but notice he had quite a nice car. It wasn’t anything too expensive but it was obviously well taken care of, clean and proper. I liked that, as I was quite the ordered person myself. I hated a mess, I wanted all my things to be as ordered as possible, maybe even alphabetically if possible. I couldn’t do anything if my room was messy - it just felt way too uncomfortable, like I couldn’t breathe in there.

  For a second I thought he would open the door for me but I was relieved to see that he didn’t. When guys did that it didn’t seem gentleman-like to me, it seemed a bit pretentious. I mean, I know how to open my own door...it’s really not that hard or heavy.

  “Where are we going?” I was getting curious. I had just gotten in the car of a guy that I did not know very well.

  “If I tell you now, you won’t get it, trust me, it’s good,” he said while driving. He seemed confident so I decided to trust my instincts and let it go. Perhaps, letting him drive off with me in there might seem a bit strange to some people but I was way too naive, I trusted everybody.

  The car ride was better than expected, we talked a bit and there was no awkward silence, I played with the car radio trying to find any station that wasn’t too bad and I was happy to find out that we liked similar music - that’s always a good thing when it comes to dating. And when you two actually sing along to the same song right at the beginning it feels like you are already more comfortable with each other than most people are. I usually hate singing in front of others but that time it just felt fine, I felt like he would not be judging me at all, we simply had fun together.