Antagonym

Chapter 22

The sound of the dinning hall rang in the background like the impatient drone of a clock in a silent apartment; you couldn't get it out of your head if you had nothing else to think about. Sitting at a table in the middle of the cafeteria all alone definitely took away much of my entertainment.

True to his word, Beck totally skipped practice on Saturday. The two of us ended up sleeping in until midday, only getting up to watch a movie and order takeout from a Chinese place near by. Sadly, today, also known as the ever dreaded Monday, I had to go to class so I couldn't stay home in bed. What was I doing sitting alone? Waiting for Beck, my ever faithful servant, to get himself and I lunch since my hip was absolutely killing me. Even sitting here in these padded blue chairs was making me uncomfortable.

I thought being alone and bored was miserable, but I stand corrected. I knew that instantaneously when I felt a man's presence behind me before I saw him out of the corner of my eye, taking a seat across from me at the square table. After confessing to Beck about my rape, this man was the last person I wanted to see. He's half the reason I didn't even want to tell Beck.

"What do you want, Alec?" My voice was less than amused, crossing my arms across my chest in annoyance and hostility. Sadly, the movement only drew his hazel eyes to my boobs under my navy windbreaker with the fancy Q on the breast.

"I uh, saw you get hit the other night. I wanted to make sure you're okay," the lanky swimmer spoke somewhat hesitantly, running a hand through his blonde hair.

"Well I'm sitting here so I'd say I'm pretty okay, but I'm starting to boarder slightly unhinged due to your presence," I snipped back, not wanting to think about him. It was obvious exactly why he wanted to speak with me; he felt guilty and after seeing me get knocked on my ass and almost break down mid ice, Alec suddenly thought he had hurt a defenseless woman. I wouldn't take his bullshit.

"Look, I'm sorry Danny. I didn't mean to-"

"I'm glad you stopped wasting my time, though the same can't be said right now," my clipped voice retorted with a slight glare. I wished he would take the hint and leave already.

"New friends?" I heard Beck's husky voice ask as a plate of steaming vegetables an chicken appeared in front of me. My attention focused on him as he removed his black backpack from the chair on my left and sat down, his superior muscles shifting under his long sleeve black shirt.

Beck's judgmental eyes ran over Alec, observing every detail of the man in the way Beck usually does, never missing a single movement or wrinkle.  That's what made him such a prodigy at hockey; he could predict every move based on the direction of his opponents eyes or the twitch of a hand. "New boyfriend?" Alec asked in the same tone, seemingly trying to size up the captain of the hockey team. I resisted the urge to laugh because while Alec was a fit and tall swimmer, he was nothing compared to the equally vertically gifted, much stronger, and more alpha male typed Beckett Sampson.

"I'm not trying to sleep with your girlfriend, buddy," Beck droned slightly patronizingly. I couldn't hide my smirk. I don't think any girl would see much of a competition between the two. Then again, I'm a biased judge. "I don't date my teammates. So what do you want? Because based on her face, this isn't a very pleasant conversation."

"He's not my boyfriend," I sent Beck an annoyed look before focusing my attention back on Alec, who was growing exponentially more annoyed at Beck's presence by the second. "Thank you for the concern, Alec, but if you were really worried about my wellbeing you would have made better choices in the past. So I suggest you stop using me as your good deed of the day to feel good about yourself, and move along because frankly I'm not interested in anything you have to say."