𝐑𝐞𝐝 𝐑𝐢𝐝𝐠𝐞

C H A R L O T T E

"Thank you so much." I smile and say for what feels like the one-hundredth time today as I accept yet another card from someone who doesn't know me but feels like they do.

"Wow. This is just impressive at this point." Lucy comments as Reed and I walk her to her classes before we head out for our own.

"I feel like it's just going to get worse every year. Last year wasn't like this." Reed says, exchanging glances with me out of the corner of her eye.

"I was a first-year last year. Obviously, nobody knew me two months into school." I roll my eyes and shove the card in between two others that are taking up the space in my bag.

"Sorry I didn't get you anything," Lucy says forlornly and I smile genuinely.

"Please don't get me anything. I'm very content." I say honestly. "I have everything that I need. Except for a home for Moony."

"Still haven't found one?" Lucy asks, pouting and I mirror her expression, shaking my head.

"Still haven't tried to find one more like. Not that I blame you. But we can't keep her in our dorm forever, it's not fair to her, she's just going to get bigger and the room is going to feel smaller. She needs a yard." Reed says and my shoulders slump, knowing that she's only saying the truth.

"But I love her," I say sadly, my heart clenching at the thought of giving her up and never seeing her again. She's slept soundly in my bed beside me every night since I found her, and when I'm not in classes or at practice, I'm with her. She's also the excuse that I had always wanted to see Alexander more often. We're practically co-parenting.

"Okay, we'll figure that out later. For now, this is your stop." Reed says to Lucy, and we look up at the beautiful architecture of the Fine Arts and Humanities building.

"Thanks, guys. Good luck with Moony, Char." Lucy smiles at us and Reed and I make our way towards the Maths and Sciences buildings that are all clustered together, thankfully.

"Ask Xander what he thinks. Maybe he'll have an idea." Reed offers and reaches out to hold the door for me. "He's a smart guy."

"Don't I know it," I mumble and I hear her faint chuckle, smiling to myself. "Yeah. Maybe I will do that." I resolve to ask him. He's made sure not to let the responsibility land solely on me since he picked us up in his car, and it can't hurt to rely on him a bit more just for some advice.

"Have fun with that," Reed says, waving as we branch off to our different lecture halls. As soon as I'm through the doors, I do what I always do; I seek out Alexander and find him faster than a bloodhound.

He has earbuds in his ears and his head is down as he works away at what looks like a study sheet, the page filled with formulas and notes. I slink into the seat beside him, pull up the desk from between the chairs, and wait for him to notice me, all the while pretending not to notice him.

The TA sets up the slides while the professor talks to her quietly, but still Alexander doesn't move a muscle. His brown eyes are glued to his paper and I find myself wishing I could have his focus on me like that. Just once.

Shaking my head and squeezing my eyes shut briefly, I focus on the professor as he begins to speak and causally nudge him with my elbow, darting a glance at him when he finally looks my way and I nod my head towards the front, having to bite my lips together to stifle the smile that threatens to overtake my face when Alexander drops not one, but both earbuds on the floor when he rushes to remove them from his ears, lacking his usual powerful grace.

My expression falls and my eyes widen when he bends over though, his white t-shirt riding up his back and showing off the dimples of muscle at the bottom of his spine. I'm only able to tear my eyes away when he sits back up and thanks me quietly for informing him of the start of the lesson.

"Girl, you could do so much better than a guy who doesn't want you." I hear a familiar voice say quietly. Turning around, I spot the redheaded guy with whom I completed a project last year. Saying that he contributed would be an overstatement.

"Who would be better for me, you? You're literally taking the same course as us but failing it." I defend, trying to smoothly transition away from his comment and ignore it, hoping like hell that Alexander is paying attention to the lecture and not the bickering going on beside him.

"I don't need to pass this course to blow your mind in—"

"Aaand that's more than enough. I'm sure she gets the memo. Pretty sure her answer was a no though, so if you wouldn't mind, the rest of us are here to learn." Alexander turns around in his seat to say to Chris. He doesn't even need to stand up to look intimidating.

A small part of me is celebrating that he defended me, but mostly, I want the ground to open up and swallow me whole at the tone of his voice. He sounded very annoyed, and I know that it's partly my fault for even engaging in the first place.

"I'm sorry." I put my hand on his forearm lightly as part of my apology and a way to get his attention, but he surprises me by covering it when I try to move away. His eyes don't leave the slides at the front of the lecture hall but he leans in towards me and speaks quietly.

"He's a dick, and it's not your fault."

"Right."

"Was he...talking about me?" Alexander asks and I blow out a long breath.

"Honestly, probably," I tell him honestly, too afraid to make eye contact after my miniature confession.

"Well, I'm pretty sure he's wrong." He says and I turn to face him, knowing that my confusion is bleeding into my expression.

"That I can't do any better?"

"That I don't want you." He says after a brief pause and I hold my breath, looking at him like he just suggested we go skydiving without parachutes.

"I'm sorry...I believe I've heard you incorrectly." I laugh embarrassedly. Surely there's no way...

"I don't think you did, Charlotte," Alexander says, and it's the last word that comes out of either of our mouths until the end of the lecture.