Page 10 of Xavier

“What? What’s going on?” Jack asks, sitting forward in his seat, his unzipped jacket falling open, as if he’d only just noticed us sitting there.

“Some creepster is starting at us, but I just told Malynda that you’ll take care of us.”

“Oh yeah, hey… don’t be scared,” he reaches over and lays a hand on my shoulder, and I try not to shrug it off. “I’ve got you. I promise not to take my eyes off you, babe.”

I don’t know how I hold back an eyeroll, but I do.

We hang around for another hour and the crowd dissipates, but the owner of the eyes never reappears. It’s close to five when we all get up, picking up our bags off the pile in turn. I feel a sweaty hand grip the back of my neck.

“Hey, babe, I’ll see you in history tomorrow, okay?” Jack finishes his promise with a wink, thankfully pulling his hand away before I have to push it away. Ever since the one disastrous date we went on a few weeks ago, I’ve had a hard time avoiding him.

“Um, sure. See ya,” I say, keeping my voice as flat as possible.

I hang back, not wanting to have to spend another second in his presence.

“Need a ride?” Randi asks, as she pulls her hair into a ponytail.

I give her a grateful smile. “No, I’m going to walk home, to make up for the missed work out.”

“Okay, call me if you want to chat later.”

I give her a wave and watch as the door closes behind her.

The silence is calming. It’s only me and the owner behind the counter, wiping dry some clean glasses.

I sit and watch as the second hand makes a full turn around the clock, half waiting for Jack to be gone, half hoping maybe if I wait just one more minute, Mr. Green Eyes will make another appearance. The owner throws me a glance, though, that tells me he’d rather I go.

I sigh and push myself to my feet, hooking my hand into my backpack’s strap. Just as I reach for the door handle, there’s a loud shout from outside, and another one follows it right away, and then a round of yells. I turn to look at the owner, who just shrugs, and goes back to his work. I tug on the door and run outside to see what’s going on.

In the parking lot, a crowd has formed in a circle. Just from their backs I can see it’s made up mostly of the people I’ve just spent the last hour with.

“Get the fucker!” I hear one voice yell and then everyone joins in.

“What the…?” I push through the circle, only to come to a complete standstill at the sight in front of me.

It’s him.

Green Eyes.

Except now I can see the rest of him.

He’s tall, lanky; his hair is dark and pulled back into a short pony tail. A lock of black hair is plastered against his forehead, sweeping just above his eyes.

Those glinting, emerald green eyes.

That are doing their best to avoid mine.

Jack is circling him, arms up, ready to fight.

“What the fuck is happening?” I ask the guy next to me.

“It’s that guy, that guy Randi said was perving on you guys. Jack’s showing him that we don’t take too kindly to that kinda thing around here!”

“But he didn’t do anything!” I yell.

“Looks pretty guilty to me. GET HIM, JACK!!! Fuck him up!” he yells, pumping his fist, his eyes dilated, as if high on the anticipation of bloodshed.

At the sound of the growing cheers around him, I watch as Jack takes a half step back and then lunge, swinging his arm around, his fist making contact with his opponent’s face. Everything suddenly moves in slow-motion. I hear myself gasp as Green Eyes stumbles back into the crowd. Someone shoves him forward into Jack’s swing radius, and another punch lands on the other side of his face. Jack takes the opportunity to push him to the ground, stepping on his back, holding him down.