05

Missy's point of View;

She didn’t expect to see him again so soon.

But there he was sitting in the back of the lecture hall, dressed in black as always, leaning back in his seat like he owned the shadows around him.

Alexander.

Missy hesitated at the doorway when their eyes met.

He didn’t blink.

She swallowed, her fingers tightening around the straps of her backpack as she forced her feet to move.

Her steps felt louder than they were.

Maybe it was the outfit.

A black cropped jacket, the sleeves just a little too long.

Blue jeans that hugged her curves specifically her backside which her roommate very dramatically pointed out before she left.

“Missy,” Sienna had whispered, wide-eyed, “your ass is ass-ing today, okay? If Alexander doesn’t look, I swear he’s blind.”

She’d blushed furiously then.

And now, walking into the classroom under the weight of his gaze?

She could feel the heat crawling up her neck all over again.

She sat next to him because of course every other seat was mysteriously “taken.” Bags, water bottles, jackets.

A blockade of assigned-seeming chaos.

“Hi,” she said softly, placing her notebook down.

“Um… thanks for what you said yesterday.”

Alexander didn’t speak at first.

Just looked at her with that unreadable expression of his like he was trying to figure her out, piece by piece.

Then, finally, a slow nod. “You’re welcome.”

That was it.

No compliment. No soft smile. No “you’re cute when you cry.”

Just a stare.

Missy immediately started panicking.

Did I not wear my makeup right today? Is there something on my face? Maybe he hates black jackets?

The silence was eating her alive.

So naturally, her brain short-circuited and she blurted, “Did you know cows can fly?”

Alexander blinked. Once.

Then again, slower.

“What?” he asked, lips twitching.

“I mean…” she fumbled, “if you throw them hard enough?”

That made him laugh.

Actually laugh.

It was low and quiet, but it rumbled out of him like thunder behind a mountain.

The kind of laugh that felt like it hadn’t been used in a long time.

“How, sunshine?” he asked finally, voice softer now. Eyes locked on hers.

She smiled, caught in that stare again. “You believe in magic, don’t you?”

Alexander tilted his head slightly. His eyes lingered on her smile like it was something he hadn’t seen in years.

“No,” he said, voice like velvet. “But maybe I will.”

Missy looked down at her notes, her heart thudding a little too fast. She couldn’t look back at him just yet.

Not when he said something that dangerous.

Class ended with a soft murmur of chairs scraping and notebooks closing.

Missy was still doodling little wings on her notebook, trying not to think about the fact that Alexander hadn’t looked away from her once since the cow joke.

She gathered her things slowly, pretending she didn’t feel his eyes on her.

When she finally stood, he stood too.

“You going anywhere?” he asked, like he already knew the answer.

“Um…” she blinked, hugging her books to her chest.

“Maybe back to the dorm. Or… maybe lunch?”

He nodded once, like that settled it.

“Come on,” he said.

“Wait, huh?”

“I’m walking you.”

Missy’s heart stuttered in her chest.

He didn’t ask.

He just… decided.

And before she could say anything, they were walking side by side down the campus pathway, her steps light and unsure next to his long, calm strides.

Leaves crunched beneath their feet, and the wind caught her hair a few times, brushing it gently against his shoulder.

She didn’t know what to say.

Her mouth wanted to move, but her thoughts were all over the place.

What if he thought she was annoying? What if his friends were there? What if they laughed at her again?

She finally found the courage to speak.

“Are your, um… friends going to be at the restaurant?”

Alexander glanced at her from the side. “Yeah.”

She bit her lip, slowing down just a little.

He noticed.

“You don’t want to see them?”

“It’s not that,” she said quickly, then paused. “Okay… maybe it is that.”

Alexander stopped walking. So she did too.

“Sunshine,” he said gently, “they won’t touch you.”

His voice was low, like a secret only meant for her.

“I know,” she said softly, looking down. “I just feel like I don’t belong.”

Alexander reached out and tugged a loose thread from her jacket sleeve. His fingers brushed her wrist, sending a strange warmth up her arm.

“You don’t belong with them,” he said. “You belong with me.”

Her heart almost fell out of her chest.

She looked up, eyes wide.

He was staring at her again soft, intense, unblinking.

The kind of stare that made her feel like maybe she wasn’t crazy for liking him already.

“…That was bold,” she whispered.

He smirked. “It was honest.”

She didn’t know what to say.

So she kept walking.

And this time, he matched her pace.

When they reached the small street corner where the restaurant sat, she paused again, nerves tightening in her stomach.

He noticed that too.

Alexander reached for the door but didn’t open it yet.

“I’ll sit next to you,” he said. “You’ll be okay.”

Missy nodded slowly.

And maybe, just maybe… she believed him.