ELLIE

"I should be paid for listening to him," Alexis, my roommate says, chewing a gum, "He's like the most boring person I have ever heard and I am including old politicians who don't know what a vagina is, in that list."

I know how I will write this conversation in the blog; Alexis, with her fiery tongue, looks at the stage with dead eyes, one hand scrolling through Instagram and the other periodically popping her bubble gum bubble.

"I am going to go sleep, El pick me up when we go back to the dorm," Lex says, resting her head against the seat and closing her eyes.

"You mean wake you up?"

"No," She drops me a wink, "Pick me back to the dorm."

"Lex," I start, mocking hesitation, "I don't know if you know but I don't lift."

"Why?"

"I am allergic to Dumbbells."

She stares at me dumbfounded before breaking out in a hearty laughter, "Can't blame you, I am allergic to treadmills and cardio."

I sigh heavily, "Cardio is just a highway to hell."

"Every time I do cardio, I lose ten years from my life."

"Uh," Hunter interrupts from behind us, "That is the opposite of what happens when you do cardio."

"Shut up Hunter. You must be wildly fun at parties," Lex yawns.

For the first week, I was actually super intimidated of her. Alexis walks like the world is for her taking; a wildfire of life, always uprooting everything in her part and grinning while doing it. But then she forced me to go to Taco Bell at two in the morning and blasted Taylor Swift on the stereo and I knew we'd get along just fine. I like anyone who likes Tay-Tay and the rest of the month filled with trash romcoms and prank calls to our high school teachers proved my theory correct.

We are sitting in Meyer University's auditorium and it's big enough to fit in a whole mansion and then some. Silk drapes are tied back sensually at the stage and the auditorium is bare of any gawdy or ornamental aesthetics except the huge portraits of the founding father of America, hung on the beige walls. This place couldn't be whiter even if it tried.

"Man make him stop," Lex grumbles beside me and before I can say anything, the back door slams shut.

Everyone in the room turns towards the sound but the old professor from some no name European college continues speaking; he's probably the only one listening right now. Hunter whistles lightly, seeing the two boys enter.

They're tall, definitely above five-eleven. One of them is black-haired with an easy smile on his face which grows larger as he waves to Hunter and walks over to us; his steps graceful and smooth. Confident, he's oozing confidence from every pore of his body.

I look at the guy behind him and my throat dries up; I know how I would write him: He's taller than the one in front of him, with platinum blond hair and a hard set of brown eyes, scanning everything as if he's an assassin looking for a way out. His lips are pink with the cupid's bow prominent and the lower lip plump and rosy. He looks angry, and with the blonde hair and sharp bones in his face, he reminds me of a falling angel; beautiful but deadly.

"Aaron, Logan!" Hunter motions for them to come join us and I am aware of every nerve in my body as the platinum haired guys sits behind me.

"What's he talking about?" I don't even have to turn back to know it's the platinum one asking. I have read enough romance novels to assume what he sounds like. Like he smoked a pack of cigarettes before coming here, he sounds hoarse.

"Some bullshit, who cares," Lex says, tilting her head back almost ninety degrees to look at the boys, still chewing her gum which should be a ball of tasteless rubber by now.

"She's been trying to convince us to sleep for fifteen minutes now," Hunter remarks, rapidly typing away at his phone.

"By the way," Alexis says, cheering up, "This is Ellie, Ellie this is Aaron," she points to the black-haired guy, her voice dripping with distaste. I know enough about her to tell that this is the Aaron whose life she actively tries to ruin every chance she gets. Way cuter than she described him to me.

Aaron gives me a bright white smile, the kind people write books about. It's picture perfect, "Hey it's Aaron, Alexis' best friend and the person she lost her virginity to."

She scoffs at his reply, "Ha! You wish you can touch me!"

"What does that mouth do instead of talk shit Lexie?" He says, his mouth turned into a cunning half smile. He clearly enjoys aggravating her.

"Bite," Lexie bats her eyelashes at him as he rolls his eyes.

"Anyway," she continues, "This is Logan, our hockey team captain and such a dearie!"

Logan gives me a crooked smile, and the dimples on both of his cheek flare up. Something inside me contracts, tugs at something deep and familiar, but so untouched and preserved.

"Hey," he says and I nod in return.

Horrified at my sudden lack of social skills, I force out a shy smile in return, "H-Hi."

I am acutely conscious of my attire as he glances at me up and down, and if I was delusional enough, I'd think there's recognition flashing in his eyes. Nothing brings me down about my outfits, but suddenly I am wondering if the corset-y summer dress and half the container of blush I put on my face is somehow childish or immature. It's not like he doesn't like what he is seeing because there's a small smile on his face, but I am intimidated. The guy's wearing an all-black outfit and has a silver ring on his left ear, forgive me for thinking he's a romance book protagonist come to life.

"Lex, love, you need to stop talking to me like I am some ancient poet putting rocks on my in coat pocket and jumping off of a cliff because my husband doesn't give me orgasms," Logan says, his burnt cigarette voice doing weird things to me. Illegally weird things.

"It just goes so well with your aesthetic," She whines.

"No it doesn't," Aaron says, leaning back and intently watching the speech going on the stage. At least he looks like he's listening.

"Shut up asshat, no one asked you," It's incredibly funny how Alexis can go from cool and happy to a boiling pot of anger with just a word from Aaron. He really knows how to push her buttons.

"Yeah sure, if you think my aesthetic is inspired from Sylvia Plath," Logan smirks.

"Virginia Woolf died with rocks in her pocket not Plath and she was in love with Vita," I point out before I can stop myself.

Logan looks at me like I told him chickens grow out from rotten tacos; he looks highly amused, his arms crossed in front of him, a gleaming spark in his brown eyes, "I meant the suicide part more."

"Right. Sorry," I am embarrassed as fuck and this would absolutely top the time, I shaved my eyebrows to follow a tiktok trend. Imagine embarrassing yourselves in front of a boy who looks like the Gods above answered my prayers of bringing a fictional character to life. This one's for the books.

Lex whistles and even Hunter and Aaron are focusing on me now. I want to melt in this chair and go down the drain all the way to underworld, so no one can find me.

"Lookie here!," Aaron remarks, "We have another literature enthusiast, who can finally decipher the shit Logan says half the time."

"Oh! how the turn tables," Hunter smirks.

"Isn't that from a tiktok?" I ask, this time, very much willingly.

"Oh she's got dimensions," Lex says, grinning at Logan, "This explains the toppling books in your bed and your table you whole fucking room and the trendy pastel outfits El!"

"You read?" Logan asks, curious.

"Uh, yeah," Somehow my confidence is doing a rollercoaster ride around this guy.

"If anyone could have saved me, it'd have been you," Logan quotes, his voice a low whisper that I feel in the bottom on my spine.

"Yeah um," I clear my throat, "The suicide letter of Virginia Plath. Woolf! Sorry Virginia Woolf and Sylvia Plath."

I feel like the quirky main character of a chick flick who tries to be all shy and cute in front of the biker bad boy and if this isn't my lowest moment in life, I want to slit my throat so I don't have to experience anything worse than this.

Logan looks at me amusedly, surprised by the turn of events. His lips are pursed, a small smile playing on them and I have no doubt that he's going to have a good laugh with Aaron about the girl who was awestruck after seeing him and I want to die of a seizure right this second. I am not even shy around people, I don't have a dipping self-esteem and I can hold a conversation very well, what is wrong with me today, did they mix something in the water?

I feel fired up by his gaze, and my palms start to itch. Suddenly the temperature is too high and I wonder for all the money they spend on portraits of colonizers, do they even have functioning air conditioners?

"Okay um," Lex is the first one to break the silence and I thank God for her interruption, "This is a very weird way of stating that you two have sexual tension and would like to sleep with each other."

I take back my words, I absolutely did not need her interruption because what the fuck did she just utter?

"I was just implying that I do know who killed herself with rocks in her pockets," Logan says shifting in his seat, his voice not as confident as before.

"Sure, that explains everything to us who are not Ellie," Aaron says, his eyebrows raised.

"Fucker," Logan mutters, "Go snort paint or something."

"No one snorts paint Logan, did you do it?"

"Oh God!" Alexis says, balancing her legs on the armrest of the empty seat in front of her and sighing dramatically, "What will I, a talentless person, ever do with my life?"

"Be a headache," Aaron answers.

"You're the walking embodiment of a migraine, Richards."

"Yeah, not my fault you bring out the worst in me."

"Dear students," a voice booms in front of us and we turn around to see the Dean glaring at us from the stage, a pristine smile still intact on his face, "Kindly pay attention."

Oops.

★-★

Hey guys!!!
I am going to start linking songs that match with the chapter but I'm still a bit weak in finding the perfect match lmaooo please bear with me, in the meantime you can check out the whole playlist from the link in my bio, that's where I'll link the songs from.
This book is honestly so fun to write and Ellie and Logan are so different than Lexie and Aaron
Hope you liked it, please vote, comment and share‼️‼️♥️