ARIETEM

 

[amber’s pov]

 

“It’s like 20 minutes past! I swear if he wasn’t so extremely smoking, I would have strongly objected,” Kelly from my study group exclaimed lowly with an intense whisper, which made me and Colin grin. Colin shrugged with a smirk as Kelly pushed the door open and eyed Mr. Calvin one last time who was standing in the other end of the auditorium cleaning the blackboard - luckily out of hearing range. I giggled and rolled my eyes over her statement before Colin pushed the girl with the dark tone of skin and wide flashy beam out through the door making sure she wouldn’t stay and swoon over a certain Mr. Calvin for the rest of the night.

 

We were almost the last to leave I noticed as I briefly looked over my shoulder one last time to see Mr. Calvin turn his attention to his briefcase and stuffing papers and books into it.

 

“The real question is - why he didn’t choose to pursue the career of a model,” Colin started more loudly as the door to the lecture room closed behind us. “I mean have you seen his musculature? And that jaw - I couldn’t concentrate one moment on his speech about the structure of the financial department at all!”

 

My eyes flickered to the end of the hall; I was eager to get home and see what kind of ‘dinner’ Harry had been able to mix up as he had solemnly promised. Furthermore my heart was craving to just see him; to find the everyday peace in the greenness of his eyes and soft touches.

 

“Do you see this!” Colin whispered dramatically to Kelly. I turned to watch them; surprised to find out they were actually studying me. I had been smiling softly over the thought of Harry and his miserable cooking skills, “what?” A chuckle left my lips as my two friends let their eyes travel over me in an inspecting manner that made my cheeks burn.

 

“Mr. Calvin’s natural charming bullets are being completely rebound from Amber; that smile was definitely intended for Mr. Mysterious with the green eyes. Am I right? Kelly?” Colin smiled vaguely as Kelly played along and narrowed her eyes at me.

 

“Indeed you are, Colin. I see it clearly; her affection for Mr. green-eyed Mysterious is like a shield towards Mr. Calvin’s lethal vibes of hotness,” my eyes flickered briefly to the door we had just exited, but I couldn’t stop smiling, “shut up already!” I couldn’t fight the smile though.

 

“Oh god! She’s in love!” Kelly exclaimed even louder, “Mr. Calvin you’ve lost this one for sure!”

Colin and Kelly were laughing loudly as I kept shushing at them with bright red cheeks and giggles leaving my lips, “you guys are so - so…”

 

“Adorable?” Colin fired off.

“Charming?” Kelly noted.

“Dazzlingly good-looking for sure!” Colin concluded.

 

I rolled my eyes but it was simply impossible to not smile widely over their words. They had been going on like this with whatever topic they could relate it to - on and on about ‘Mr. Mysterious’ demanding more details and trying to squeeze them from me with whatever tools they could come up with. At this point I didn’t tell them a thing - simply because their intense tries to get me to talk was far more amusing.

 

“But obviously not as good-looking as Amber’s Mr. Mysterious,” Kelly strictly told Colin who exclaimed, “why of course!” It almost seemed as if he was taking damn drama courses instead of one about NGO’s and social structures of underdeveloped countries.

 

“Well what I was gonna say was ‘persistent’,” I laughed softly as I hitched up in my shoulder bag walking with a portfolio with our course project in my arms. I was hugging it tightly to my chest trying to ease of the craving and bubbly exciting feeling that I felt.

 

We had reached the end of the university entrance hall and the place was completely empty for people, so naturally Colin made a scene by spinning around with his arms reached far out to each side and his face towards the high hanging ceiling while he loudly sang ‘My Heart Will Go On’ because of the completely drama queen he really was deep down.

 

I was laughing loudly with Kelly as we fired off comment after comment. I barely noticed the constant sound of the heavy raindrops falling on the roof of the building and making a soft drumming sound which mixed with Colin’s attempt of hitting Celine Dion’s high notes.

 

It wasn’t till Kelly pushed the great front door open that the sound of the heavy rain increased and briefly caught my attention. I stopped for a second to put away my portfolio to save it from the rain, but not even the dark sky in this late hour could pull me down from the cloud of happiness I was drifting on. All my thoughts were with him; I imagined how Harry would be standing in the kitchen with a facial expression of completely confusion and stubbornness while trying to create something eatable for us. How he would stand with frowned brows and use all of his concentration though having absolutely no idea what he was doing.

 

I followed closely behind Colin and Kelly who groaned slightly over the weather condition. I on the other hand was one big smile, “it’s just a little rain - besides you guys don’t have to wait for the buss like I do.”

 

Kelly shrugged and said, “she has a point there.”

The entrance to the university was beautiful; a single lamp hanging far above was still lit though the lights in the entrance hall had been turned off already. The white marble building against the pitch black sky and the parking lot which seemed blurry with the rain. The black wet asphalt seemed alive as the raindrops splashed everywhere. The cold wind hit my face the second I stepped out behind Colin and Kelly; I tugged my jacket closer around me and hesitated for a second. But the memory of Harry’s green warm eyes awaiting me at home made me take the next step.

 

My eyes travelled briefly over the almost scaringly yet magical city scenario. As I noticed a shadow leaning up against one of the marble pillars. It only took a second to recognize him; recognize his strong slender fingers which were fiddling with a petal from the bouquet he was holding; and he was dripping wet.

 

In that moment my eyes travelled up to his face to see his green eyes were already on me; a soft grin with an apologetic statement over his hopeless romantic and insane act resting on the soft wet lips already. His hair was darker and wet; strands of hair stuck to his clammy forehead and his cheeks were wildly red as his breath became visible in the cold air.

 

Colin froze to the spot in the middle of his sentence as he noticed the absolutely soaked Harry too. I could hear Kelly state a confused ‘is that..?’ But in the very same second I had dropped my bag to the ground and in a heartbeat stormed over to the other piece of my soul which was currently dripping with raindrops.

 

Harry caught me in his arms easily and I didn’t care one bit about the rainwater hurrying into the fabric of my shirt and jeans where my body was pressed against his. I tiptoed with a smile of happiness I couldn’t handle before I pressed my lips briefly to his, which were slightly colder. His taste, his scent, his warmth filled up the craving and a giggle left my lips as I deepened the kiss; it wasn’t till Harry leaned away and his eyes flickered to something behind me, that I remembered Kelly and Colin whom I had absolutely forgotten all about.

 

With burning cheeks I stepped a little back from Harry, though still holding onto his hand as I looked back at my two friends who tried hard not to laugh I could tell. I moved a strand of hair behind my ear as my cheeks only turned redder.

 

“This totally explains the bullet rebound ability - hi, I’m Colin!” With the widest smirk Colin stepped forth and Harry let go of my hand to shake his. Kelly was still fighting with the chuckles while I was slightly panicking.

 

I could see Harry narrow his eyes slightly over the ‘bullet rebound’ part and he looked briefly at me before with a lighthearted tone stating, “hi, it’s nice to meet you. I’m Harry.”

 

I noticed Kelly winking at me while Colin did his best to seem politely interested - instead of obsessively.

“Your eyes really are very green,” Kelly noticed as she stepped forth and shook Harry’s hand as well, “Kelly. So this is the wonder Amber has been daydreaming about?”

 

Kelly eyed me with a grin while I was partly hiding behind Harry with a fiercely red face and mentally face palming.

 

Harry didn’t get to answer before Colin with his foxy smirk stated, “so Harry - what do you think of -”

 

I cut him off as I knew exactly the look in his eyes; Colin was going to do his impressive 20 awkward questions disguised as purely innocence though that was quite the opposite of their true nature.

 

“You should probably get dry before we go, Harry,” I interrupted Colin and pulled a little in Harry’s arm to get him to go with me. Kelly was edging to burst with laughter I could tell and Colin let his eyes travel over Harry and finally looked at me stating, “don’t forget yourself honey - he got you all wet!”

 

That was it for Kelly; she started laughing extremely loudly as Colin winked at me, “have a nice evening you two!” He caught hold of Kelly’s arm before the two of them made their way out into the rain towards Colin’s car. Harry chuckled and I couldn’t help but smile either, though my cheeks were completely crimson. 

 

"Well that was interesting," Harry noted with an amused tone as he inspected my red cheeks., while I shook my head and sighed heavily over my impossibly study-buddies. I was going to hear no end about Harry and me after this.  We stood there in comfortable silence and watched them while the rain made the sight blurry; Harry’s warm big hand was holding mine. He held up the bouquet of flowers and turned to me, “anyway - sorry - I’ve never been very good with watering plants.”

 

I chuckled in heartbreaking despair over his adorable gesture, as I tried holding up the head of one of the blood red roses. The sparkling raindrops were gliding down over the velvet fine surface of the petals that were still left.

 

“You’re adorable, you know that?” I grinned up at Harry who had been watching me peacefully while I had studied the flowers. The soft gaze in his eyes was always so overwhelming; I couldn’t quite believe someone could look so tenderly at another human being. A few drops raced their way down his temple as I continued, “so should we follow Colin’s proposal?”

 

 

“You know this is all the toilet paper I can find but maybe -” I started as I entered the little toilet where I had left my jacket and Harry alone with his hair in under the blowdryer. The university was definitely closed for the day as all the halls and classrooms were empty and dark. It was only the single lamp here in the little toilet that was lit I reckoned.

 

I noticed the curly messy hair of Harry's was still dark and humid but at least it wasn’t dripping any longer. Instead he was standing without a shirt on trying to blowdry the bouquet of roses and other small flowers I had no idea what were named. His shirt was laying over the sink as if he had tried letting it air dry for a moment.

 

I stopped for a second stunned by this Greek god standing there all innocently trying to carefully dry the flowers with the wild stream of hot wind the machine produced; instead various petals drifted slowly to the ground to Harry’s deep surprise and he tried desperately to hold the flowers in place.

 

Finally he noticed I was standing in the door with the two rolls of toilet paper I had found and as if burnt he removed the bouquet of flowers and hid it behind his back. I could see the reflection of the softly tortured bundle of flowers in the mirror behind him, but of course he hadn’t thought of that.

 

I didn’t say a word; just threw the rolls on the floor and crashed my mouth onto his. His naked upper torso felt warm and soft as I let my hands travel over his sparrow tattoos. The bouquet had fallen to the floor as Harry instead let his hands tangle up with my hair pulling me closer. I giggled as his nose tip brushed over mine; I could feel him smile as his hand travelled down my back and his cold fingertips traced the line of free skin under my shirt. I kissed him again; kissing him was like the gift of oblivion that merely let me be filled with blissfulness.

 

His hot breath travelled over my skin as he kissed my neck and I tugged my hands into his still humid hair while chuckles left my lips. I leaned a little back so I could see his beautiful eyes, which were alive with a passionate green color, “thanks for the flowers.”

 

His eyes shyly flickered down for a second as a wonderful shade of color entered his cheeks; the adorable embarrassment kissing his cheek bones. Yet a heart fluttering smile of confident formed on his lips and was aimed just for me, “to be honest I thought they would be easier to deal with than dinner - but I guess not really? I'm really horrible with this stuff -”

 

I put my index finger on his lips stopping his stream of words. He was so close; his big green eyes watching me closely while his chest moved up and down under the palm of my hand.

 

"I'll never forget this," and I truly never would; the completely unexpected sight of him standing their holding onto his little bouquet of slightly wounded roses that matched his violently pink cheeks, while rain drops had been sliding down his jaw and perfect features. The way his smile had carefully broken forth as if he just couldn't help himself for being reckless. 

 

"Not even one hundred perfect roses would be as perfect as this right here," I let my finger follow the line of his bottom lip, down his chin, neck. When I placed my hand on his chest next to my other; he leaned in and kissed warmth and gratefulness into my being. Careful, gentle, and loving. Truth be told I would never need any flowers or heart shaped boxes of chocolate to feel special or loved; all I needed was just him actually.