MIDSUMMER CRUSH

Chapter 15

“That was Epic! Did you see how he saved her? I’m in love with the vampire already, god he was hot,” Reece blabbered as they all came out of the movie theatre .

“He was mere chalk face and delivered lines like he was constipating. I found the werewolf hotter,” Aliyah stated and looked at Giselle. “Aren’t I right, Giselle? The werewolf was hot, wasn’t he?” she asked as they walked into a restaurant.

“Hmm…he was, but not as much as the Vampire, after all he was the male protagonist in the movie,” Giselle replied and smiled at Reece while Aliyah rolled her eyes in disappointment.

“See that Aliyah, Like mind think alike,” Reece returned the smile and teased Aliyah while Amber and Katnis placed an order.

It was a weekend and the girls as usual had decided to meet up over some snacks and movies to unwind. Having returned from watching  the latest supernatural flick of the year, Reece and Aliyah continued arguing over whom they found more hot.

“The werewolf isn’t even an adult, in the book he’s just a teen with crazy hormones!” Reece said and irked Aliyah.

“I’ve read the book too, in fact borrowed it twice from Giselle last summer and there’s no mention of him being a teen,” Aliya frowned and corrected her before Giselle interrupted them.

“Hey look! They installed a new gumball dispenser, I’m going there and getting some,” Giselle informed and rose from her seat.

“Whoa girl! Those are for kids, you’re 19 for peat’s sake,” Amber  said and did a face palm.

“There’s no age limit for gumballs, besides, you want me to bring you some as well?” Giselle smirked and knew the offer was too tempting for Amber to refuse.

“Fine, I’ll have the yellow ones,” Amber gave in and smiled sheepishly.

Excited, Giselle passed by several occupied tables as she walked towards the other end of the restaurant. It was when she reached midway that she spotted a group of familiar faces at the table to her right. On closer observation she realised that they were boys from her class having a good time and what surprised her even more was that seated amongst them was none other than Aariz himself.

Giselle grew conscious, suddenly heading towards the Gumball dispenser didn’t seem like an agreeable  idea to her. “What will they think? Oh, forget it! I’ve come this far, I may as well take some and leave,”  she argued in her mind and hurriedly fled pass their table before anyone could recognize her.

Giselle found her hands turn cold and sweaty when she reached the dispenser.  She knew she had become conscious after spotting Aariz in the same restaurant. “Just take some and leave without anyone watching,” she told herself while a kid came and stood beside her, waiting for his turn.

The kid watched in amusement as Giselle shoved in all the changes she had. “Come ‘on hurry up,”” she spoke to the dispensing machine when all if sudden she heard a boisterous laugh from their table.

“Damn! Are they laughing at me?” she got nervous and began cursing the machine when it refused to release the gumballs.

Frustrated, she hit the machine with her fist and turned to leave when to her embarrassment a stream of gumballs flowed out and bounced across the floor.  The commotion grabbed everyone’s attention on her. Giselle turned around and cringed after realising what she had done while the excited kid collected all the gumballs.

Aware that all eyes were on her, she lowered her head and hid her flushed face before leaving the crime spot.  She walked sideways with her back facing Aariz when she passed by their table.

“Girl! What’s with the King Tut’s Egyptian walk?” Katnis enquired when Giselle joined them.

“Shut up and move from my seat!” Giselle said and startled her. Katnis had switched seats and left the seat  that faced directly towards Aariz’s table. Giselle was aware of it and at no cost was she going to sit facing in his direction.”

“But why? It’s not like you had your name written on it, beside’s I don’t want the rays falling on my eyes,” Katnis refused to switch back to her earlier seat and ignored her request.

Feeling helpless she sat on the seat and hurriedly hid her face behind a menu card. “Hey where are my gumballs?”Amber complained.

“Forget the Gumballs, they’re for kids, remember?” Giselle remarked and startled her with her reply as well. “By the way where’s our food? I’m starving,” she added before Katnis pulled away the menu.

“It’s right in front of you! Jeez,  you’re acting weird ever since you returned from the gumball dispenser,” Katnis stated and looked at her suspiciously.

“ Give the menu back!” Giselle cribbed and partly hid her face with her hand.

“Giselle, are you alright? You seem  like you’re having a headache,” Reece excused herself from the argument she was having with Aliyah and looked at Giselle worriedly.

“No, I’m cool. I’m not having any head ache,” Giselle stuttered and cautiously looked in Aariz’s direction. She took a breather when she noticed him engrossed with his friend. Relieved that he was unaware of her presence in the restaurant, she slowly relaxed and got back to being her normal self.

“Hey don’t try to divert away from the argument, Reece! I want an explanation from you,” Aliyah interrupted and began arguing with Reece all over again. They continued arguing while the rest ate in silence. Giselle however stole glances at Aariz occasionally. She was amused to see him being accepted by the very boys in class who had ignored him earlier because of his fraternity status. By the look of it, it seemed he had managed to win hearts of most of the non Greek organization students, after all he was an Alpha Epsilon.

Though shy and still reserved, popularity and easy A’s came along with being in a fraternity or sorority.

Giselle kept staring at him when suddenly Aliyah interrupted her. “Giselle, why don’t you tell me what you find so attractive in him, Reece gave me the shitiest answers I’ve ever heard,” She said and waited to hear Giselle’s opinion on the vampire.

Lost in her own world, Giselle failed to realize whom Aliyah was asking about and instead began giving reasons related to Aariz. “I  guess it’s the way he smiles. His cute dimples, his impressive height, his intense gaze and lastly his Arabic accent…” she said it all with a grin and left her friends miffed.

“Wait! I don’t remember any of the vampires having Arab origins,” Aliyah crunched her brows and wondered what Giselle was talking about.

They all stared at her in amusement until she realized her blunder. “Uh…Erm ha-ha silly me, I have no clue what I’m talking about. I guess today’s outing has really taken a toll over my head,” She turned red in embarrassment and laughed it off

“Well I guess it has indeed taken a toll on everyone. Let’s call it a day and leave then, shall we?” Amber yawned.

The girls agreed and as usual split the bill before leaving.  It was when Giselle reached home and got ready for bed that Reece txt and surprised her. “I saw him in the restaurant too, I must say he fits the description of a vampire perfectly…” Giselle read it out and did a face palm after realizing there was nothing she could hide from her best friend.

The  next day in class was as mundane as usual, lecturers came in and left after their sessions, backbenchers passed comments and slept between sessions while girls fixed their gaze on their new class representative. By now Aariz was a common face in class and so was Zehara who detested attending class more than anything. 

Aariz had found a set of friends and now had his own separate group in class like the rest. It was funny to see how everyone had a group of their own and hardly interacted with each other though they belonged to the same class. It was during human resource session that Reece alerted Giselle about Aariz that day.

“Don’t look now, but the vampire is staring at you,” She whispered  in a sing- song manner and continued writing in her book.

Giselle gave her a weird look and invariable glanced at Aariz. She found him staring at the white board instead and sighed at Reece’s observation.  “Get your eyes tested, he’s busy staring at the board ahead,” Giselle remarked and got back to writing.

“You  think I’m lying? I caught him staring right at you before he noticed me and looked away,” Reece sounded adamant and wanted to prove she was right. “Wait and see for yourself, he’ll look in our direction pretty soon,” she added as prof. Grace went on boasting about her experience in the industry.

Curious, Giselle waited patiently for few minutes and slowly looked in his direction again, through the corner of her eyes.  Her heart thumped when she caught him staring at her.

“Freak! You were right, he is looking at me,” she lowered her gaze and felt awkward.

“What did I tell you, eh!” Reece smirked after feeling victorious. “I guess he’s found a liking towards you,” she added and made her blush.

“No, he hasn’t. Stop assuming silly things and copy the notes before Prof. Grace erases the board,” Giselle denied it and shifted in her seat.

However, that didn’t stop her from wondering the same. Was he really staring at me? She thought and this time glanced at him, before their eyes met. No sooner they locked eyes, both realised that they had caught each other staring and hence swiftly looked elsewhere.

Reece noticed Giselle’s flustered face and found her scribbling aimlessly in her book. “Psst….you okay?” she whispered and got no reply from her. Doubting that it had something to do with the class representative, she glanced in Aariz’s direction and was amused to find him seated with his face partly covered with his hand.

“Looks’ like you passed on your head ache to the vampire,” She commented and made Giselle cringe all the more.