Perfect (Third book to the series Senior Year) - jb

26. Shy

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Ava's POV

Another week went by. I went to Uni and got back home, day after day. Studied and studied. I was pretty proud of myself for putting up with this kind of everyday life. But each day I got more concerned with money. I didn't have a job. My parents often sent me money but I was basically living with my savings and that savings account was getting smaller and smaller. I didn't have time to get a job if I wanted to graduate in a little over a year.

But if one thing was positive was that it was getting easier to live with myself and my thoughts. I didn't cry myself to sleep anymore. I didn't beat myself up for my past mistakes and oh, how I felt relieved. It was like a weight had lifted off my shoulders and all I had to think about was me and my needs. Not someone else's.

And even better news; I finally got the courage to cut my hair short. Life was kind of changing for the better and my value was actually getting very clear to me.

-

I sat in the lobby of my Uni's main building. I had my phone in my hands as I browsed through different social media platforms; twitter, instagram, facebook, while sinking into the very soft armchair they had in here.

I had just finished a four hour lecture about social sciences so I was pretty out of it. Thank God it was friday and I had an empty weekend ahead of me. I planned on doing absolutely nothing. Well actually today I was seeing Alex to go do a little shopping with her, but that was pretty much it.

The lobby I was in would at times get louder as people passed by but otherwise it was quite peaceful. I was supposed to meet with Alex here because she wanted to see the campus and the people who studied here. And in other words, she wanted to see the guys.

I sighed as I put my phone down to look around. I could feel my body getting more loose with tiredness and I felt like I could literally fall asleep. That was how comfy these chairs were. I looked around the large lobby to keep myself busy and prevent myself from snoozing. My head turned to look up at the top of the large stairwell as I heard steps, indicating someone was coming down. I saw a glimpse of a head with black messy hair and I somehow immediately knew who it was.

Remember Rob? The guy I freaked about a week ago.

He stepped down from the last step of the stairs while closing the zipper of his bag.

Stop staring at him.

I cleared my throat, obviously way too loud, while shifting in my chair. Of course that made him look to my direction and I did the stupidest thing a person does when someone looks at them; I looked away quickly and he definately noticed that.

Why did you do that?

I was looking down at my hands when I saw him walking towards me.

Do not look at him. Let him go past you.

"Hey! Ava, was it?"

Well, shit.

I looked up at him since he was clearly talking to me. It would be weird to not notice him now.

"Heey! Yes, Ava. You were Rob, right?" I spoke up.

"Yup." he said, popping the 'p'.

We put his bag down on the hard stone floor and sat down on an armchair in front of me.

Okay, so we're going to have a proper conversation. Be cool.

"I just had the longest lecture and I feel like actually falling asleep." he let out long breath following with a short laugh at the end of it as he leaned back at the chair.

What? What a coincidence.

"Oh my God, me too. I had social sciences and the lecturer had the most soothing voice. Try not to fall asleep when he's talking." I giggled, shifting in my chair yet again, feeling very restless now that we were talking.

"It shouldn't be allowed for teachers who have soothing voices to teach for hours." Rob commented as he lifted his leg to rest his ankle on his knee.

"That's so true." I hummed.

It was silent for a few seconds between us. He was now staring at the floor and I was still anxiously looking around, at times at him and at times at the walls and the ceiling.

"Are you waiting for someone or...?" he suddenly spoke up, looking straight at me.

"Uh yes. My sister. We're meeting here in a few minutes. Or later. She's always late." I shrugged, seriously not knowing when I was seeing Alex.

That made Rob laugh. I didn't know I was that funny.

"Sounds like my little sister." he said.

Oh, he has a sister?

"How old is she?" I decided to ask because why not?

"She just turned eighteen. She's at that age where she doesnt respect anyone but herself, you know?" he said, jokingly I think.

"I know that age very well." I rolled my eyes, laughing.

This was going actually very well. Talking to Rob wasn't hard. He didn't have that awkwardness that I had in me so it was easy to have a conversation. But I did feel shy and I hated that. I guess being in love with the same guy for six years made me like this. But again, why did I think talking with Rob was in a romantic way? What if I was gaining another friend but I was ruining the chance with my weird thoughts? I needed to get rid of them. I can't have myself crushing on someone just a little over a month after my breakup. It wasn't healthy for me.

"Ava!" suddenly echoed in the large lobby.

My goodness, who yells at a university's lobby.

I turned me head to the right to see Alex approaching me with a big smile on her lips.

"Your sister, I suppose?" Rob asked, apparently looking at the direction as me.

"Mhm." I nodded as I watched Alex walk up to me.

"What's the haps?" Alex greeted me happily and sat on the arm part of my chair, wrapping her arm around my shoulder, "Oh, hey! I'm Alex." she said immediately when she saw Rob.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Rob." Rob lifted himself up from the chair to shake Alex's hand.

I felt Alex squeezing my shoulder, indicating that she already knows who he is. The same guy we were talking about a week ago.

"Did I interrupt something?" she asked, her gaze jumping between me and Rob.

"No, not at all." I answered quickly, not wanting her to say something stupid.

"Shall we go then? We really need to do something fun after the shopping trip." Alex got up from my chair, adjusting her shirt.

I glanced at Rob while he was getting up from his chair too. Did he really wait with me since he was now leaving too?

"What's 'something fun'?" I asked Alex and got up from the chair after collecting my things.

"Uhm, you know. Shots shots shots." Alex whisper-shouted.

"Actually,-" Rob suddenly spoke up and me and Alex both looked at him, "I'm meeting up with some friends at this small pub on 7th Avenue. Would you like to join us?"

Uhmm... Excuse me?

I couldn't say anything. He was asking us if we wanted to join him with his friends, at a bar. I didn't know if that was a good idea.

"Well, Rob-" Alex glanced at me smiling, "We would love to join you guys. Just tell us the place and we'll be there."

This girl.

"Great!" Rob smiled at us and landed his gaze on me, "John Sullivan's, it's the Irish pub. Be there at 9pm."

"Sounds great!" Alex put her palms together with relish, already ready to go.

Sounds great, yeah...

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hey guys, found my motivation to write again :) sorry it took so long, I hope you're still reading the story!