Filed to story: Submitting to My Bestie’s Daddy Read Online >>???
I quickly finished my last few bites and reached for my backpack.
“You know,” Elio started casually, poking at his unfinished eggs, “it’s a pain to get up this early every morning, isn’t it? You don’t have to go to school if you don’t like it. I can more than support the both of us.”
I paused, staring intently at Elio as he did the same to me. It seemed like he didn’t want me to even go to school, though I thought he’d been so supportive of it in the past. But thinking it over, I realized that this wasn’t the first time he had suggested this and no doubt, it would not be the last. But as always, my answer would remain the same.
“No,” I said firmly, as I crossed my arms unhappily. “I’m going to school, and I’m going to get my degree, end of story.”
Whether I was with Elio forever, which I certainly hoped I would be, or not, I needed to have some semblance of my own life. I needed something that was my own, and getting this education was more important to me than I’d realized before.
He sighed, dropping the matter, but I could see how much it clearly bothered him. I knew that he wanted to support me, to give me the world if he could, but I also didn’t want that. I wanted to be able to stand on my two feet without him, to make something of myself through my own effort.
I didn’t get why he didn’t understand that, and he didn’t understand why I kept shutting him down every time he brought it up. But we’d been through it so many times that I just didn’t want to fight about it anymore.
“I love you.” I pressed a kiss to his cheek, and he smiled at me as I rushed out of the house.
Our compound was father away from school than our penthouse had been, and it was a bit of a drive now that took me almost forty-five minutes. I had to rush at this point, so I parked and locked the car, rushing into the building.
I had to reorient myself a few times, having only been to the classroom twice so far, so I rushed through the halls, counting doors and halls and hoping I was going the right way. I had just turned the corner which should contain the class when I hit what felt like a wall.
I fell back onto my ass, groaning painfully as the items in my backpack spilled across the floor. Even more alarming was that the wall fell onto me, pinning me on the floor.
My heart raced in my chest, and I stared into two very confused brown eyes.
“What the hell?” was the only response I could come up with.
*Caterina*
“I am so sorry!”
The guy who knocked me down rolled off me and reached for me to help me up. I pursed my lips, staring at the guy’s offered hand before sighing. I took his hand, not wanting to spend any more time on the floor, letting him pull me to my feet.
His hand was sweaty like he was nervous and once I was steady, I immediately dropped it. As he stepped back to help me up, he stepped onto one of my pencils, which snapped under his weight, and I stared incredulously at the pieces. “I’ll replace that. Uh, here—”
He immediately got onto his knees, gathering up the splintered pieces of my pencil and offering it to me with a sheepish look.
I stared at him with a frown, unwilling to take it. He was cute, in a boy-next-door kind of way, around my age, and he looked incredibly guilty about the mess, but I wasn’t in a forgiving mood right now, though I knew I shouldn’t have been rushing.
“Forget about it.” I sighed, brushing my hair from my face as I grabbed the pieces and stuffed them into my back.
I began to gather the rest of my stuff one by one, and the guy helped me, gently placing them in a pile in front of me. I had to admit his long arms came in handy.
Once everything was picked up, my hand automatically moved to zip it back up and with just my luck, the metal zipper broke off in my hand.
“Uh,” the guy said, looking just as shocked as I was.
I glared at the broken zipper, throwing the piece into the bag as I gave up on it. I knew I should’ve gotten a new bag due to how old this one was. One little fall and now it was broken.
“I’m so sorry about that,” the guy said, getting to his feet. “I didn’t even see you. Are you okay?”
“It’s fine. I’m okay, only one casualty here, the pencil,” I said as I dusted off my clothes.
“I really am so sorry!” the guy said again, giving me a guilty look. “I should have been looking where I was going.”
“It’s fine, really,” I said, mustering up a polite smile.
I grabbed my phone from my pocket, glancing at the time. Luckily, I still had a few minutes before class started.
“I need to get to class,” I said.
I dodged around the guy, heading down the hallway to my class in a speed walk.
“Wait, let me make it up to you!” The guy jogged up next to me. “My name is Elijah. Here, I can give you my number and I’ll send you the cash for a new bag and pencil.”
“It’s really fine, okay,” I insisted. “I don’t need anything. I shouldn’t have been rushing either, so don’t worry about it. I really have to get to class, though, so goodbye.”
But it seemed Elijah wasn’t taking no for an answer. Though he fell silent and didn’t push any further, he continued to walk beside me all the way to class. I gave him a weird look, but he just grinned in response.
It wasn’t until we arrived at the classroom that I finally turned to him. “This is my class, so thank you, but I’ve got it from here,” I said firmly, knowing that I probably looked stand-offish, but after having him follow me all the way there, I felt a bit defensive.
He blinked, surprised and seeming not to get it until realization flashed in his eyes and a sheepish look came across his face. He rubbed the back of his head, looking more awkward than when he had knocked me to the ground.
“Uh, yeah, about that.” He laughed nervously, “I wasn’t following you. This is my class too. I’ve, uh, actually seen you in class before.”
He trailed off, standing there awkwardly and I swallowed, my face heating up in sheer embarrassment. No matter what I said, it would just be a loss.
Sure, I’d been busy with Elio taking over the base of operations in the US, finding my own place in all of that, the ongoing search for Junior and school on top of all it, but that was not really a good excuse.
“I’m sorry,” I said, fully chastised, ducking my head as I entered the classroom.
I just wanted the whole day to be over and done with and maybe tomorrow will be better. I locked eyes with Professor Donovan, a rather young guy with a beard and a no-nonsense attitude, who stood at the podium with a very displeased expression.
My face burned with embarrassment as I realized the only empty seats were at the front of the class, and the silence as we walked between the rows to the front of the room was worse than I expected. I felt like everyone was staring at me and to make things worse, Elijah was still trailing behind me slowly, not a single word from his mouth either.
I settled into one of the seats and to my chagrin, Elijah took the seat next to me, though admittedly, he didn’t have much choice. The professor scowled at both of us and then turned to the board to continue his lecture.
I was relieved to have all eyes off me, but it didn’t last long.
Professor Donovan was a very unforgiving man. He called on me and Elijah constantly for the next two hours. Elijah was quite smart and managed to answer all the questions flawlessly, which was impressive. Much to my surprise, the earlier awkwardness was forgotten due to the professor’s sudden attention on us both.
My relief was palpable when the buzzer went off and class was over. I gathered up my things and Elijah and I escaped into the crowd.
“Thanks for jumping in on some of those questions,” I said to Elijah once we’d made it down the hall.
“No problem,” he said, winking at me. “You answered the ones I couldn’t handle, after all. And I’m still sorry about crashing into you earlier.”
“We’ll just call it even,” I said, turning to head to my next class.
“Oh, wait!”
I looked over my shoulder at him and he gave me a crooked smile.
“Uh, I was wondering if you’d like to get coffee or something,” he said. “We could bounce some things off each other since we seem to work pretty well as a team, like a study date, or not a date, but just like a hangout—”
As flustered as he was and as kind as he seemed, red flags went off in my head. I took a step back on reflex, not even realizing it until his face fell in dismay. I felt bad for him, but truthfully, no matter what he seemed like, I knew firsthand the lies men could tell, the masks they hid behind to ensnare unsuspecting victims.