Chapter 18 - 18
Eleanor
"You did what??!" Sofia yelled at me, pulling everyone's attention towards us as we walked through the hallways. Noticing that everyone was staring at us now she just smiled awkwardly and pulled me into a corner dropping her voice to a low whisper. "You did what? Tell me you're joking."
"Do I look like I'm joking?" I raised my brows, giving her a questioning look.
I had just told her about everything that had happened at my place when Jake came to visit. I didn't want to talk to her about it over the phone so I decided to wait till I got better and came to school.
"But...but why?" Her eyelids fluttered.
Ok since she wasn't aware that Jake and I were dating, I just told her that Jake confessed his feelings to me and asked if I could be his girlfriend and I turned him down and told him that we were better off as friends. I already made her promise me that she wasn't going to talk to Jake about it, so there was no way he was going to find out.
And if he did, I'm sure he'd understand why I told her that instead of the truth.
Well...sort of.
"Why? Because...we're better off as friends duh." I said with an eye roll.
"That's not true. I know you like Jake and even though you've been acting weird lately, I know you still like him, so tell me. What really made you turn him down?" She asked, clasping her arms to her chest.
"I told you already." I sighed as I side stepped her and walked off and she immediately followed behind me. "We're better off as friends."
"Oh don't give me that." She glared at me pulling me back and I swear I would've tripped on my own foot if her grip wasn't so firm. "Tell me the truth, Dori."
"Ok fine." My eyelids drooped. "Let's just say I didn't want us to get together and end up breaking up because of one stupid reason. I just didn't want to ruin our friendship and he understands that." I found myself saying.
How the hell was I always coming up with stuff like this?
"What?" She seemed momentarily stunned by my words. I then glanced at my phone.
It was 8:35 and our class was by 8:40 so I continued walking down the hallway and Sofia hesitated a bit before following after me.
"Is that really why you turned him down?" She asked, her tone a bit softer.
"Yes, Sof. Now can you leave me alone?"
"You don't have to say it like that." She whined. "And also dating Jake won't ruin your friendship. It might even grow." She told me.
Turns out she wasn't backing down. Thankfully we had arrived at the lab.
"Please can we not talk about this now." I groaned as we both searched for seats at the back seeing that Mrs. Chen was already in class.
Sofia gave a soft growl before finally agreeing with me. Finally I had gotten her to shut up.
I didn't remember the friends back at my college being so nosy.
"Please read the lab manual carefully and follow the instructions precisely to avoid any mistakes during the experiment." I heard Mrs. Chen say, causing Sofia and I to turn towards her.
If I had to be honest, I preferred Mr. Harris' teaching to hers. She could be a bit strict and I found her criticism to be overly harsh at times.
"Putting you guys in pairs would make the practicals go quicker but that would take up our time so just remember your lab partner from Mr. Harris' class and pair up with them.
Oh no.
Without thinking I glanced round the class, my eyes settling on the dark haired guy in the corner, who was paying no attention to the class and focusing on his phone.
No, no, no, no, no.
"Not again." I whined, banging my head on my desk.
"Relax Dori. You keep acting like he's a monster." Sofia said from beside me as she packed her things to go meet Jake. "You should even be happy you weren't paired up with Jake...if not things would be crazy weird." She widened her eyes.
"I thought you said being with him would grow our friendship?" I frowned at her.
"Well that was before you turned him down..." she said in a hushed voice as she got up from her seat. "...now? Things are definitely going to get weird. Unless you accept his offer and be his girl." She said before heading to the front.
"Argh." I groaned as I packed my books into my backpack before heading to the closet to grab two lab coats.
I knew Liam wasn't going to get up from where he was seated and I didn't have the strength to argue so I just decided to grab one for him.
"Make sure to label your equipment and samples correctly, and please clean up your workstation as you go along to avoid any accidents." Mrs. Chen announced as I hurried towards Liam.
The other students had already set up their equipment and Liam was still on his phone. Sometimes I wondered why the teachers couldn't see him.
Were they blind towards him? Or did he just pay them to shut up?
I didn't bother saying hi to him. I just dropped the lab coat in front of him and started setting up our stuff. But there was one teensy weeny problem.
I was horrible at organic chemistry. No matter how many times I read, it just didn't stick.
So I wasn't certain if I was going to do well in the practical or not.
"Oh wow." I said when he got up and wrapped the lab coat around his waist.
Um, hello? Why wasn't Mrs. Chen not talking to him about it?
Don't tell me she couldn't see him?
Gosh.
"Not even a hi or a hello? Or even a thank you for getting you a lab coat?" My voice was heavy with sarcasm.
"You literally dumped it in front of me. Do you expect me to say thank you for that?" He said, his voice flat as ever.
I exhaled sharply through my nose, pressing my lips together. He was so damn insufferable.
"Never mind," I muttered, turning away as I began setting up the experiment.
The class had already started working, glassware clinking, the faint scent of ethanol filling the air. I grabbed a clean conical flask and carefully measured out the reagent for our esterification reaction, making sure to follow the manual's instructions.
From the corner of my eye, I noticed Liam wasn't doing anything. Typical.
I turned to him. "Are you just going to stand there and watch me do all the work?"
He tilted his head slightly, eyes lazy but sharp. "Looks like you're handling it just fine."
Oh my God.
I clenched my jaw, gripping the conical flask so tightly my knuckles turned white. "You're literally useless."
Liam didn't even blink. "Harsh." He reached out and took a test tube, examining it as if it were the most boring thing in the world.
"Pass me the sulfuric acid," I snapped.
He didn't move. Just watched me with that annoyingly unreadable expression.
I gritted my teeth. "Fine. I'll do everything myself. If I mess up, it's on you."
I turned back to the table, carefully adding the concentrated sulfuric acid drop by drop...when suddenly, a hand covered mine, stopping me.
"Too much."
Liam's fingers were barely touching mine, but I felt the warmth of his skin. His grip was steady, firm but not rough, and for a split second, I forgot to breathe.
I looked up at him, startled. "What..."
His eyes flickered toward the flask. "That's too much catalyst. You'll overheat the mixture and mess up the reaction."
I swallowed, my throat dry. "I knew that."
Liam hummed, clearly not believing me as he took the dropper from my fingers and adjusted the amount himself, his movements smooth and effortless.
I hated that he was right.
I hated that he was better at this than me.
And most of all...I hated the way my skin still tingled from where he touched me, but that was just because this body reacted way too quickly to guys.
Yesss.
I quickly looked away, focusing on setting up the water bath for heating. I refused to let him get to me.
"Relax, four eyes. You're just setting up the water bath." Liam murmured. "You look like you're going to explode any moment."
I turned to glare at him. "And you look like you enjoy running your mouth a little too much. Maybe try shutting it up for once?" I sized him up.
His lips twitched just a little bit and I huffed and grabbed the flask, swirling the contents carefully. The mixture had to heat for a few minutes before we could separate the layers. I stole a quick glance at Liam, expecting him to still be looking at his phone or something.
Instead, I caught him watching me.
Not in an obvious way. Not in a way anyone else would notice.
But he was watching me.
Like he was studying me.
And why did I have a feeling that had something to do with that day he saw Jake and I in the hallway?