Fire And Ice

Chapter 62 - Fallout

Hailey's P. O. V

I always found it tranquil whenever I was home alone at Ari's place.

Kaesha was out at work, while Ari was taking her summer Special Abilities classes, so I had her mansion to myself. I would've cooked something, but we were low on some ingredients, and Ari said she'd take care of it on her way back, so I essentially had nothing to do.

By now, my mom had stopped pestering me to come home, and even Keily had decided to steer clear of me since finding out we were related to Ari. She still latched onto Greg possessively whenever we were in a group setting, but, to my knowledge, she hadn't cornered Ari again.

The tranquillity slowly soured into boredom as the hours ticked on.

Having gotten to the end of yet another manhua while sprawled out on my bed, I groaned, 'I really need a summer project.'

'What about Kaelin? Can't he be your project?' Opelene teased.

My face went warm, 'He's just a friend.'

She made a sound that definitely said she didn't believe me.

Kaelin was a friend. A good friend.

I hadn't been able to see anyone in a romantic light since meeting he-who-shall-not-be-named. The lingering attraction I felt to him, even while despising him with my everything, got in the way of every other male interaction I even attempted to nurture.

But Kaelin was different.

We'd met at the end of one of our shared lectures, after I'd dropped something and he'd picked it up for me. We were both heading for the library that day and had decided to walk and study together. Over time, he'd really helped me out with a lot with some of my courses, and we'd started hanging out outside of the college setting too. We'd actually become genuinely good friends, and I was sure we might grow into something more if we kept spending time together.

"Do you think I should call him?" I wondered out loud.

Even though we'd seen each other in a few places off campus, it still felt weird asking to see him outside the pretext of studying.

'Oh no. Stew in your boredom and waste away to oblivion.' She drawled

I rolled my eyes and opened up my phone app, but before I could call him, my phone rang with a call from him.

My heart jumped and I fumbled with my phone, my normally superior grip slipping and nearly failing me.. I could hear Opelene snickering in my head as I took a deep breath then answered.

"Hey."

"Hi." I said, then cringed at how high pitched I sounded.

"What are you up to?"

"Nothing much, you?"

"Just finished helping my dad out at his shop."

"Oh, that's nice. What do you do?"

From there, we spent nearly an hour on the phone. In that time, I'd somehow rolled all over my bed, perched on the windowsill, descendingly sat on each step of the staircase and found myself lying upside down on a couch in the living room.

"So..." He said after we'd settled down from laughing, "I really enjoy your company and I'd like to take you out, when do you think you'll be free?"

My heart broke into a sprint and I couldn't contain the grin that spread out on my face, "I like spending time with you too. I'll be free to go out tomorrow."

"Great! How does seven sound?"

"Sounds good."

"Are you staying in the dorms or with your sister? So I can know where to pick you up from."