Caught In Your Chaos ✓

Chapter Seventeen

It had been the same all week. I somehow ended up either sitting beside Jake or in front of him. He was around me throughout the week, throwing a couple of annoying comments and a few flustering ones. The best thing out of those encounters was the progress in my novel, it was going well, and I was thankful to Jake for that.

By the end of another tiring week, I was feeling quite relaxed. Finally, the weekend was around, and I had bigger things on my plate. I was feeling rather enthusiastic about the plans I had set out for the coming days. Preparing for the semester was definitely on the top of my priority list, but it could still wait for few more days. I planned on dedicating the upcoming weeks to set up the pace for my novel. I needed a change of atmosphere, and the cafe for which I was setting off was just the right place to make it happen.

Before leaving, I had a little talk with my mom, who didn't sound very happy about me not going home on weekends. It was a four-hour drive to my place from the college, but I wasn't very good with bus travel. Moreover, I wanted to spend more time on my book.

Grabbing a cup of coffee, I made myself comfortable at the far end of the cafe. I set my laptop and started pouring out my imagination. It was an early Saturday morning, and as expected, it wasn't very crowded. Just the right amount of peace I needed.

"Are you new here?" a voice called my attention. I looked up to find a guy clad in a white button-up and blue jeans. He looked a little older than my age, and his calm features showed he was a guy with experience. There was an authoritative aura around the guy, and his deep but decent voice proved he was a gentleman.

"Yeah," I wasn't very comfortable around strangers, and my discomfort was visible on my face. He sat on the empty table beside me and set his laptop in place.

"Hi, I'm Sebastian, senior year," he responded with a warm smile and pushed back some of his soft brown hair, which anyway looked perfect.

"I'm Amy, freshman," some of my tensions dissolved the moment he gave me an acknowledging nod. His attention shifted back to his laptop, and he started typing something. He was fast in typing. I gave that to him.

"Nice to meet you, Amy." he smiled and gave a glance at my laptop. "Isn't it quite early to start with your studies? Your semester has just started, or are you one of those nerds who prepare well before and score straight A's? Although you don't seem like the one."

He chuckled lightly, and his comments did make me flustered. Ever since I joined college, everyone had assumed me to be a nerd. When in reality, I was far from being one. "Nope, it's not for the semester. I write in my free time," I mumbled, not knowing what to tell him. After all, we had just met.

"Oh! I see. Could it be that your major is English?" he pressed on, occasionally looking on his screen while typing casually.

"I'm majoring in Computer Science," I gave him a quick reply. By then, I was getting the urge to be out of his presence as soon as possible. It had always been a sensitive topic for me to discuss. I didn't want to go into the same spiral of questions. Why not pursue writing as a career rather than keep it as a mere distraction. I couldn't forget the scoff my dad gave when I informed him about my choice of career. And most of all, how easily he convinced me out of it. What difference would that have made anyway? After all, I was a romance novelist hiding behind the hood, writing about love, which I knew I wasn't even capable of doing, and swoon-worthy romance, in which I had zero experience.

"I guess that's cool too, but I would be more pleased to befriend the writer Amy," his playful words made me giggle a little. I think he was the first one to amuse me. I knew it was the beginning of a new friendship. "And before you get weirded out, I have a keen interest in literature."

I was so glad I finally met someone who had similar interests as mine. But before we could continue our conversation any further, the doorbell jingled, and in came one person I didn't wish to see that early in the morning. Or did I? Jake walked in his full glory. He was wearing a white t-shirt, which was almost sticking to his body due to the sweat. He might be running or working out; I didn't bother to think much about that. His hair was sticking to his forehead, and his breathing was shallow. The way his muscles flexed when he ran a hand through his wet hair, exposing more of his forehead, made me gulp down the lump that unconsciously formed in my throat. My eyes stuck to the drop of sweat that trickled down his forehead to the side of his face and finally disappeared on his neck, where I could see his tattoos peeking out. It wasn't there before. He might have gotten that one recently. I felt a sudden urge to trace them down with my fingers.

No, not at all. I did not think that.

My eyes widened the moment his eyes met mine, and I quickly shifted in my seat.

Oh boy! I got caught gawking at him once again, and that infamous smirk of his wasn't helping either.