Inevitable (Book One)

Chapter 26

Shawn

I am heading into the library to meet with my group for our assignment. It's a four person group assigned by the teacher so I don't really hang out with the people I am paired up with but hopefully they'll be decent. I walk into the section of the library with study cubicles and search around. I don't see anyone from my group here yet so I pick a cubicle over in the corner that is free. I check my phone as I set my book bag down and it's five fifty-five. I'm five minutes early for when we had all agreed to meet. I also have a text from Lyla saying she just finished track practice and survived without any major cat fights. I smile down at my phone at her text. I respond back letting her know I just got to the library and as soon as I send it, someone is dropping into the chair across the table from me. I look up to find James putting his textbooks down on the table as he looks over at me.

"Hey, man," he greets me with a nod.

"Hey James," I respond with a small smile. I don't really know the guy but he seems nice enough. More on the academic side of the school extracurricular activities which makes sense with his thin frame and lack of muscle tone.

"I guess we'll wait for the ladies before I start sharing my ideas," James says as he organizes his books and pulls his laptop out, opening it in front of him. There's an awkward silence at the table and I'm hoping another group member arrives soon to break it. As if hearing my mental plea, I see both girls walking toward our table, arms linked together as they giggle about something. When they reach the table they take the other two seats.

"Hello fellas," Nicole greets us as she takes the seat beside me. Beth takes the seat next to James and smiles at us both.

"Let's get started," James says in a serious tone, right away getting down to business. I catch Beth roll her eyes at him and we stifle a laugh as we all pull out our laptops and listen to James start to drone on about his plan for our group.

Well that was painful, I think to myself as I exit the library. Majority of the time was spent listening to James and Nicole argue over who had better ideas for our assignment. The two of them went back and forth for an hour before any sort of agreement was made. Beth and I just sat in our seats sharing annoyed looks across the table as they bickered back and forth. By the time we actually got started working on something we had already wasted an hour and a half. I pull my phone out and see that it's almost nine thirty and I have a text from Lyla. Her text is from about twenty minutes ago saying she's getting pretty sleepy and will probably be heading to bed soon if we want to rain check for another night. I text her back to see if she's still up as I walk to my car.

I sit in my car in the parking lot for about fifteen minutes and don't get a reply so I assume Lyla's fallen asleep. I let out a sigh and find myself annoyed with James and Nicole for prolonging our meeting and making me miss out on my night with Lyla. I leave the parking lot and head for home. When I get home and head to my bedroom. I don't feel tired at all so I decide to do some reading for classes. My mind doesn't seem to want to study as it keeps drifting to thoughts of Lyla.

I close my eyes and imagine we're back on the dock at the lake like yesterday, my arms are wrapped around her as she rests against me. The memory makes me crave that my arms were wrapped around her right now, holding her close to me, keeping her safe. My thoughts drift to Saturday and meeting her parents. I admit she has me nervous after all her warnings. I want to make a good impression because I know it's important to Lyla which makes it important to me. I set an alarm earlier then I usually do so I can head over to Lyla's dorm before her class and hopefully she will want to take me up on an offer of breakfast. I missed not seeing her today. Hell, I missed her as soon as I dropped her off last night. I can't seem to get enough of her. I turn out my lights and climb into bed looking forward to seeing the most beautiful blue-eyed girl in the morning.