Battlefield ｡ Tony Stark

4 - RUMOUR HAS IT

I hadn't seen Tony Stark in a week but once our Law class rolled around on a Friday morning, I knew a lot about the new face on campus, the one name that was on everyone's lips. Of course, I knew about the Stark family, snippets from news articles, the money and the fame. I knew stories about Tony's uncle and how he had spent a brief time with my mother in Europe. But while jumping from class to class, hearing gushes and long dramatic rumours about the boy from gooey eyed girls in the library, all I wanted to do was forget about his floppy dark hair and cocky smile. 

"He's not even been here six weeks and he's the most popular boy," I was saying while we waited up the back of our lecture hall early Friday morning. Lucy was beside me, sipping at her coffee and letting her eyes roam over the sea of people around us. "I was in the bathrooms yesterday and all I heard was Tony this, Stark that. Can you believe it?"

Lucy let her eyes drag over to me, giving me a knowing look. "You sure talk about a boy you claim you have no interest in a lot." She slowly noted. 

I gave a little huff, giving her a glare. "I don't have any interest in him." I started, rolling my pen between my fingertips. "I just don't understand all the hype. He's just a boy."

It was Lucy's time to give a little huff, placing down her coffee and turning to face me. With her serious eyes pinned to me, she opened her mouth. "He's the son of a multi-millionaire. He's a goddamn prodigy with the world at his fingertips, Tilly. Plus, he's super hot with that whole I'm a rich boy with too much time on my hands, let me buy you a drink and show you my collection of over priced cars. Then we'll have hot sex on the leather seats and sleep under the stars, then I won't call you because I'm just that type of guy."

"That was very elaborate." I snorted out, taking her coffee and bringing it to my lips, letting the warm sugary liquid touch my tongue. "Have you by any chance slept with him yet?"

Lucy shook her head, settling back in her seat. "No, I wouldn't do that to you."

Her words caught me off guard. "Do what to me?" I questioned. 

"You clearly have some mild interest in him," She started. "You can pretend all you like but he's gotten under your skin and you've only spoken to him what, once?"

I was already shaking my head, trying not to laugh. I didn't have interest in boys, they were something I didn't need in my life at this current point. Boys and everything that was brought along with them were too complicated and I would rather spend the night with a bottle of vodka than with a boy. "I do not like--"

Suddenly there was a sharp jab in my side, my sentence cutting off. My head swung around, ready to question what the hell Lucy was thinking when there was movement by my side and I found familiar dark eyes pinned to me. 

"Is this seat taken?"

Lucy was already beaming across at Tony Stark. "It is now."  

He gave a warm grin, settling into his seat and pulling out a pen which he began to fiddle with. As we sat there in blissful silence, my stomach began to flutter and I hated it. I gave Tony a side glance, feeling his eyes on me.

"What are you staring at, Stark?" I snipped quietly, flicking some hair from my eyes. I could feel Lucy shifting awkwardly on my other side, maybe hoping I was not about to bite Tony's head off. She knew me well and boys were something that often pissed me off. 

Tony just shrugged, effortless and cool. I caught two girls in front of us gawking around to stare at him, trying to be subtle but it was not working. "Just trying to work out what your deal is."

I gave him a glare. "My deal?"

He nodded, "Yeah. You act like you don't care about anything but here you are, ready to take notes for a class that doesn't even interest me. You party every other night, getting wasted or high on some drug that should probably be banned from campus but you still show up to class and actually try."

"You really think you've got me pinned, huh?" I questioned hastily, pulling a knee to my chest and letting my notebook fall into my lap. A pen dangled from my fingertips, blue ink leaking from the broken bottom but I didn't care. "You think you can figure me out completely because you've noticed me in class a few times and that we spent half a night together?"

Lucy coughed randomly, trying to break the heated conversation. I didn't even twist around to give her a look, my gaze was solely on Tony Stark and that stupid grin. "I've always been pretty good at reading people." He noted.

I gave a short laugh, leaning closer to him so he wouldn't miss a single word that fell from my lips. "I'm pretty good at reading people too, Stark. Rumour has it, you're nothing but a playboy with serious commit issues." I paused for a moment, cocking my head to the side. "Crappy fathers can really fuck up a kid, huh?"

"Tilly, I think that's enough--" Lucy piped up from beside me, jumping in to try and save the day like she always did but she never got it through her head, I didn't need saving. 

Tony didn't glance away from me. "It's fine," He reassured Lucy. "Can I tell you something, Tilly?"

I gave him a nod. 

"I don't know why you don't like me, everyone else does." Tony went on, his lips twisting up into that handsome but beyond cocky grin. "But I like a challenge."

I heard Lucy snicker from beside me, saw how those girls were pretending they weren't listening to our conversation. I felt the race in my chest, my heart beating too fast. I stared at Tony, knowing very well what he was playing at. I grabbed my notebook, the ink from my pen smudged on my fingertips. I got to my feet, grabbing my bag in the process. "You'll be playing this game by yourself." 

"Where are you going?" Lucy called out as I pushed passed her. "Class is about to start--"

I turned back to her but my words were aimed at the boy who kept on grinning. "You don't know me and you won't by making it a game you can win."

I twisted on my heel, heaving my heavy bag up onto my shoulder and leaving the lecture hall without a second look back at my best friend or the boy who was determined to know everything about me.