𝐎𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐅𝐨𝐨𝐥'𝐬 𝐆𝐨𝐥𝐝

Wing Man or Bad Friend? Eric in a Nutshell. ||3.

Eric and Leith had rushed through the hallways of the university to get to their class. Walking through the building was comparable to sweeping down the walls of lavish museum. Ornate busts sat on half-columns, watching each student pass with earthly insight. The windows were scattered with panes of stained glass, in roaring colors painting the white brick a plethora of hues.

On the way, Eric's voice had echoed explanations into who Valerie Hanson was. As Leith slid into her seat, these thoughts resonated in her mind. Unsurprisingly for the wealthy campus, she was a trust funder- she did have the confidence of a socialite. What Leith hadn't expected was the insurmountable riches, and curious stories of gaudy life that Valerie was bred from.

Apparently she used to model for magazines, interned for Vogue, and went to a myriad of private boarding schools across the globe.

Leith couldn't fathom that way of living. She'd grown from humble roots, planted in rotten soil. A twisted family tree, with brittle limbs and decaying leaves. The only reason she had escaped the usual fate of her bloodline was her exceptional mind. She was the first to branch out, finish high-school, and land a bad ass scholarship at an elite New York City school.

Eric's father was an alumni, so him putting in a good word for her also helped.

She folded her hands on the table, dragging her nails across her soft skin. The wooden desk creaked and and jiggled, and Leith debated folding a slip of paper to set under the uneven foot. Then she realized it would only matter if she planned on paying attention. She was consumed in her thoughts, and lost in the white noise of shuffling chairs and Mr. Edison writing on the gigantic white board.

What snapped her back was Eric's nudging her arm subtly. Her light eyes shifted up, swirling across his face curiously as the light sank into her irises and illuminated them internally. Nonchalantly, while tapping his pen across his lips, he dipped his head back and gestured behind them. His gaze held mischief, like a cat about to knock something off your nightstand.

Voices collected like keepsakes that Leith would savor once she was old, and nostalgic. Her auburn strands of hair made a lapsing shied over her eyes as she craned her neck back. Her eyebrow raised, confusion peppering over her lips until they frowned like a leaf weighed down with water droplets. Then it clicked, and fireworks cracked her chest open and made her heart skip a beat.

Valerie was a couple rows behind them, casting her pensive stare out the window. Leith wondered if she was watching the world below, thinking about how life was passing them by. She always thought this as they sat in this drab room, listening to a bland man over-explain simple concepts.

Valerie looked so beautiful. The sunlight carved her soft features, and made every monochromatic shade of blue obvious in her eyes. Her lips were pursed and pink, glossed and naturally lilted in a smile. It made Leith raise a hand to her mouth, and thumb over the scar on her bottom lip.

"You're staring," Eric smirked, now gazing up at the high ceiling. "If she doesn't already think you're weird, or an idiot, this may change her mind," he teased.

Leith cleared her throat sheepishly, and went to turn away. Before she was able to tear away her eyes, Valerie just so happened to turn her head. Her magnetic pull kept Leith looking, until Valerie rose her elegant hand and gingerly waved. The simple gesture could have stolen Leith's breath away, when coupled with the allurement before her.

She waved back, a vivid grin becoming her as she managed to not lose her cool. Too much, anyway. Leith wasn't sure why she was so infatuated with Valerie. There was something in her coy demeanor, so exuberant and puppyish, that set Leith ablaze. She turned away, pressing her lips together to stifle her smile a bit as she faced forward again.

"She makes me nervous," Leith whispered to Eric, not shedding the giddy twinge to her complex musical voice. Her words were courted by a laugh, one she couldn't hide.

Eric rose his precisely shaped eyebrow, and opened his eyes wider in "shock". "You don't say," he replied sarcastically. "Hey, you've-" he rubbed a thumb over the corner of his lip, gesturing to Leith pointedly. "You've got some drool, you might wanna wipe that off," he chuckled.

Leith scoffed, pushing his shoulder softly with the shake of her head. "Shut up," she replied. She was no better whenever he had someone he was interested in. They grew up practically as siblings, so their humor was fused together and morphed into monstrous cloud of sarcasm and witty teasing.

"Alright," Mr. Edison's numbly droned, absorbing the classes attention. He held a piece of chalk, and Leith was more focused on the way it stained his tanned skin than his words. He used it to point to the board, where messy handwriting had scrawled their new assignment. "I suggest you all pay attention to today's lesson," he said, watery hazel eyes skipping over some of the less engaged students. Leith, and Eric included. "It's worth twenty percent of your grade for the semester."

This made Leith's spine straighten up. The shift from uncaring, to precise careful was jarring on her sharp features.

Mr. Edison, with a smirk, combed his fingers through his salt and pepper hair. (Which was heavy in the salt, lacking in the pepper.) "The bastard is on a power trip from having everyone's full attention for the first time," Leith murmured loud enough for only Eric's fine tuned ears.

"Right, this assignment is one you'll be expected to work throughout the next three months, with the partner of your choosing," he began to explain, gesturing widely with his arms over all the students. "Choose them wisely, because I won't be allowing any changes to the pairing once they're chosen," he added. "At the end of the semester, you'll be expected to sell me and select other professors to buy the product you create."

The product they create? Leith furrowed her neat eyebrows, tapping her fingers on the desk. How were they supposed to create a product? This wasn't an engineering course.

"Based on your expressions, I'll explain more thoroughly," Mr. Edison sighed dryly. "You and your partner will be creating an idea, and selling it to use. The prototype doesn't need to be perfect, as long as it conveys what I'm sure will be your brilliant ideas," he smiled inauthentically. "The point is to show you've learned how to market to a broad audience, and convince others to believe your thoughts based on the pitch you give."

"Ooh, partners?" Leith whispered to Eric expectantly, a smile lacing her lips brightly. Only the be instantly stifled by Eric's wayward dismissal.

"Can't," he replied, lazily glancing around before pointing vaguely in front of them. "I already promised that... person I'd be their partner," he said, even though there was no way that could have possibly been true since they just found out about the assignment. "But I bet you Valerie doesn't have a partner yet," he smirked.