Soulless

S O U L L E S S: CHAPTER 5

I could feel my hair beginning to frizz thanks to the unfathomable heat.

I'd already changed tops since I sweated my way through the last two and my sneakers were swapped for flip-flops that slapped loudly against the ground with every step I took. 

I had forgotten that tonight was my turn to do the supermarket trip, dad's asking was just out of politeness.

We both knew I couldn't say no.

Bonnie was in here somewhere, probably prowling around the organics whilst I meddled with trying to find ingredients for something edible. 

We were more of a take-out family but our options weren't very vast- we had already tried every food in the local Chinese cuisine and every pizza from the Italian House.

One thing that I was grateful for was the cool air conditioning, it kept me awake. I was exhausted after such a long day, I wanted nothing more than to go home and climb into bed without any objections. 

I knew that dad and Calla would be waiting for me by now to get home so that we could eat but I was so tempted to skip dinner and take a nap instead.

It was worse knowing how bad it would be tomorrow, I knew what Julian had planned. Every damned year he would write up a list of social clubs that I should join, I know that he only done it so that there was something more to my life other than coursework.

He knew that it was important to me to get good grades, anything that would help me get into a good, and faraway college, was worth doing. 

But Julian was awful at making suggestions; he tried to get me to join the schools Fangirl Club. Which would be great if I obsessed over that stuff.

I was reaching for the tinned peaches when I was suddenly harshly shoved out of the way, hard enough to make me lose my balance. 

Had it not been for the large hand that wrapped tightly around my upper arm and jerked me back onto my feet, it took me a few moments to understand what happened. One minute I was falling, the next I was standing perfectly straight on my feet.

"Are you serious!?" I snapped when I saw that the can's I had gathered in my eyes had clashed against the tiled flooring. I turned my infuriated gaze towards the critically moronic fool who had shoved me.

Brilliant.

He stared down at me with a hard gaze that resembled someone who would rather be anywhere than in the same space as me. Although he had youngish facial features, I couldn't help but describe him as a man. 

It was all in the strong facial features that looked well sculpted but there was still an edge of boyishness there that made me question his age.

Either way, he was astoundingly handsome. With a square jaw that was dotted with a days' worth of dark stubble that complimented his richly blond hair, it looked as if he were trapped between the end of adolescence and the dawn of manhood.

"You might want to think of watching where you're going." The man-boy suggested without missing a beat, his baritone voice irritatingly calm and collected. I didn't know whether to take offense or not.

I shouldn't have stared at him for too long, because once I fell into the trap. I was gone. Mystery was shrouding him and I found myself eager to decipher whatever it was that drew me to him.

I could feel my fascination reach a peaking point the longer I was in his presence. There was something about the way he...just was that made me feel at ease near him.