Disclaimer: Any characters, storylines etc. associated with Wolfblood are not mine.
A/N: happy birthday you giant heap of trash, there is a soppy note at the bottom. xx
Little Red
On the bright side, Jana thought as she finally reached the door to the campus coffee shop, she wouldn't need to shower tonight.
The place was absolutely rammed with students and staff alike, everyone slowly sipping coffee or ordering muffins they didn't want or need, simply to get out of the pouring rain they were being treated to mid-morning. The queue extended virtually to the door, so all she had to do was shuffle a few steps to her left and then she was there, only ten people separating her, a hot chocolate, and two cupcakes.
She could do this.
There was a distinctively damp aroma to the cafe, with various umbrellas scattered around the floor leaving puddles, and hair drying in amusing fashions on the lucky people who'd been sat down for a few minutes now. Her own bright red hair was probably looking a little wavier than usual at this point, because of course she'd chosen today to wear a coat with no hood.
Not that she minded the rain, not at all. There was something fun about feeling the drops hit her face and splashing through the puddles, something that made her feel closer to nature, but that wasn't exactly a normal reaction to the weather, so she tended to keep quiet. Rather than being directed to that strange society at the university that planted trees every other weekend, she'd stick to just admiring the way everything just looked so much prettier in the rain, the way the grass was so green and the pavement sparkled.
What she didn't appreciate was the cold, and Jana was starting to grow delirious with excitement at the prospect of wrapping her hands round a steaming cup of hot chocolate.
"'Scuse me," someone muttered from beside her, and she awkwardly pressed herself against one of the low walls that ran through the cafe to allow them to pass.
For such an enormous campus, the most popular coffee shop could definitely use a bigger location. It was adorable, every table and chair mismatched and probably plucked straight out of an antiques store, and the dark wooden panels that swirled round the floor to create more private booths and a clearer path to the tills were cute, but there just wasn't enough room.
Jana had learned early on in the term that this was a place to take coffee away from. If she was on campus ridiculously early, she could sometimes snag a seat before her lecture, and one time she'd stopped on campus until around midnight, her desperately-needed caffeine fix made all the better by the fact one of the precious, closely-guarded squishy armchairs by the fire had been free.
There probably wasn't even room to share a seat today. At least five people were somehow relaxing round the three armchairs, cheeks glowing pink from the open flames, while footstools had been turned into seats at various tables. Some students, obviously having drawn the short straw, were just stood up, chatting to their friends who were sat down. By the window, one particularly grumpy looking guy was sat alone at a table, reserving the seat opposite apparently just as a resting place for his laptop, but the intense glare on his face seemed to be enough to deter anyone from asking if they could steal the chair.
The queue shuffled forward again, and Jana suppressed a smile at the thought of the hot chocolate that would soon be hers. The prospect of the afternoon's two lectures and library stint was less than appealing.
"What can I get you?" the barista asked, and Jana momentarily forgot how to speak, caught up in admiring his dreamy brown eyes and the dark hair that flopped over one of them.
"A hot chocolate please," she said, blinking and finding her voice. "And two cupcakes."
"Any preferences?" he asked, ringing it through.
"Um, hot?" she frowned, fumbling in her bag for her purse.
"I meant for the cakes," he laughed. "Your hot chocolate will be hot, don't worry."
"Oh," she blushed, her cheeks matching her hair for an instant. "No, any cakes will be fine, thanks."
"Is the hot chocolate to takeout?" he asked, glancing round the cafe sceptically.
"Definitely," she smiled, knowing that in ten minutes, the lunch rush wasn't going to help matters. She was feeling pretty sorry for this poor guy, who looked weary despite his grin.
"Six pounds eighty then please," and she handed a tenner over, internally wincing. It felt like her student loan was flying out of her account as quickly as it had landed in there. She was only buying the essentials though. Hot drinks and cake definitely counted as essential. "Cream on top?"
"Sure," she nodded, glancing at her phone. Jana was meeting her friend in ten minutes and there was one heck of a hill up to the building she was saving a table in.
"One hot chocolate, two cupcakes," the boy smiled, sliding her order over and finishing with a flourish of whipped cream. The way he was looking at her made her wonder if he was going to ask her something else, his mouth opening as if words were on the tip of his tongue, but then he hesitated.
"Thanks," she nodded, giving him one last look before spinning round to dash out of the cafe. She'd have to forever wonder what he was going to ask.
What happened next was a blur. One moment she was gathering her stuff together, the next she was facing the other way holding two squashed cupcakes, their icing now on someone else's shirt.
"I am so sorry," she began, heat creeping back up her neck, not helped by how warm this cafe suddenly was, and wow, there were a lot of people in here. Setting her hot chocolate back on the counter, Jana's hands fluttered uselessly in the direction of the poor person she'd just slammed straight into, but he flapped her away irritatedly.
Glancing up, Jana realised she'd couldn't have chosen a worse person to walk into, meeting the eyes of the grumpy man who had reserved an entire chair for his laptop case.
"Doesn't matter," he said gruffly, a soft Welsh accent making her stomach do inappropriate things at such a stressful time.
"No, it does, your shirt is stained," she said, motioning to the mess of green and pink that clashed nicely with the tan material.
"Forget it," he said, batting her hands away as she attempted to do something, anything. What she was planning to do, she had no idea. Scrape the icing off him? Lick it off her fingers? Apparently her brain had stopped functioning.
"At least let me-"
"Please, forget it," he huffed, frowning at the person who was shuffling past him in the queue. And now she'd made him lose his spot.
"No," Jana said suddenly, her stubborn streak bursting through. "I just ruined your shirt."
"Well I ruined your cupcakes," he said, and she could swear there was a flash of amusement in his eyes, his striking blue-grey eyes, before they hardened again.
"It was my fault."
"Maybe I shouldn't have been standing so close to you."
"You were standing very close," she said, before shaking her head and glaring at him. "Stop that. It's my fault."
"Look, I have a lecture to get to," he said, patting his beloved laptop. "We can't all be first years."
Roughly a million thoughts crossed her mind in that moment. The first was to take another look at him, and she was met with the realisation that this guy was older than her, a few years older, possibly a finalist. She, a first year student, was practically yelling at a final year student in a crowded cafe. That was a thing. Good. Great. Excellent.
And then she wanted to know how he knew she was a first year, wanted to inform him that she attended most of her lectures actually, wanted to insist that she be allowed to please at least pay for the dry cleaning that shirt was going to need, wanted to tell him she liked his face quite a lot.
It was probably for the best that he strolled up to the counter at that point, because if she'd opened her mouth only for the words 'I like your face a lot' to tumble out, she didn't even want to imagine the consequences.
Speechless, Jana glared at the back of the man's head, but he showed no signs of turning round, so there was nothing left to do but pick up her lukewarm chocolate and head out, feeling relieved that not many seemed to have noticed their exchange after all.
If there was a reason her legs felt like jelly for hours afterwards, it was the strenuous walk up the hill. Nothing else.
He couldn't believe it. No one knew about this spot on campus. It was always deserted. And yet there she was, scarlet hair catching the light as she bobbed her head, animatedly talking to the lady behind the counter. Why was she even here this late? First years had better things to be doing than studying this late at night.
Just as Aran considered turning straight back around and finding someplace else, she was spinning to face him, and honestly, he thought she might have learnt her lesson on doing that after the other day.
"Think I'm going to have to start wearing my second best shirts to uni," he found himself saying before he could stop himself, and he wasn't sure why until a second later when her face split into a smile.
"Disaster averted this time," she grinned sheepishly, holding up the intact cupcake.
"Just the one?"
"Studying by myself tonight," she nodded. "The cupcake last week was for my friend. She was waiting for me in the law building. Wasn't too impressed with the lack of icing."
The strangely charming girl bit her lip, as if she was well aware that she was rambling and wanted to physically stop herself before she continued. Aran found himself wanting her to continue, deciding he had too much else to do than be pondering that any further.
"First years don't need to be on campus this late," he said, raising an eyebrow. It was nearly eleven, and he hoped she didn't have a coffee in her hands.
"How do you know I'm a first year?" she asked indignantly, taking a sip of her drink. So not coffee - unless she liked hers with whipped cream on top.
"You've got, er," he said, pointing to his lip.
"Oops," she laughed, wiping the stray cream off.
"You look too happy to be anything but a first year," he continued, as if that hadn't just happened. "Too eager."
And she did. Her eyes were bright and keen, always flicking around the room, taking everything in. He guessed she was probably clever; observant at the very least. Her clothes were nondescript, but her hair hinted at a real personality underneath a very, very pretty face.
Aran cleared his throat.
"As opposed to dead behind the eyes like final years?" she laughed, before realising what she'd said with a look of pure horror. "I absolutely did not mean that you look like that."
To the surprise of both of them, Aran barked out a laugh, quickly stifled down to something less jovial.
"Most of us do look pretty dead," he admitted. "Enjoy first year while you can."
"Noted," the girl nodded, and then an awkward silence fell, neither of them really wanting to leave but not having anything else to say.
"I should probably get going," Aran said.
"My name's Jana," she stated at the exact same time, cheeks immediately turning the same colour as her hair.
"Aran," he replied, thrilled that he now had a name for the girl he hadn't stopped thinking of for the last few days.
"Yeah me too," she stated in unison.
"I'm usually a lot better at conversation," Jana giggled, and Aran made a mental note to make her do that again.
"Yeah, I'm a little out of practice," he shrugged, scratching the back of his head.
It was true; he didn't really do small talk, with anyone. He would occasionally greet his housemates when they happened to be around, but as they were all doing sciences, they spent hardly any time at home. He rarely saw his tutors, and tended to silently observe seminars from the back row rather than actively participate in them. The rest of the time Aran tended to just hole himself up in the library, earphones firmly plugged in, blocking out the rest of the world.
Studying he could do; talking, not so much.
"I was actually just heading home," Jana said, checking her watch. "I have a nine o'clock lecture tomorrow."
"Don't let me keep you then," he murmured, thinking of how he could maybe adjust the times he'd been planning to study to instead be on campus at the same time as her, maybe bump into her in another cafe-
Aran shook his head. She was a kid with distinctive hair that he'd happened to see several times in the space of a few days. He'd lose any interest in her in five minutes. He had a degree to complete, and there were a few years between them for goodness' sake - he needed to get a hold of himself before he started feeling something stupid.
"See you around?" she grinned, and he found himself nodding at that smile before he could help himself.
"Sure," he said, knowing it was already way, way too late
"Someone's sitting-"
"No they're not," Jana smirked as she picked up Aran's laptop case and set it on the windowsill next to them, daring him to argue with her with a quirk of her eyebrow.
It had been two weeks since she'd decorated his shirt with cupcake icing, and they'd had coffee together no less than six times, four of those after just happening to bump into each other, two of them planned in the loosest sense of the word. If one of them happened to mention they'd be in a certain cafe at a certain time, and the other knew they were going to be in a similar place at the same time, well, that was just a happy coincidence.
They'd started out by trading the usual information. Jana had turned up her nose at the fact he was reading English, claiming her Classics was far more interesting. In turn, he'd snorted at the halls she was staying in, having stayed in the rival hall when he was a first year. They'd discussed tutors, flatmates, societies, anything and everything related to university, and then they'd hesitantly stepped over the line they'd been treading carefully.
He was really close with his sister, her and her father were notorious for their 'disagreements'. They were both from small villages, both had an affinity for long treks through the forest, and he planned to teach abroad once he'd graduated, while she was hoping to stay on and do a masters.
Now Jana was placing two cupcakes on the table and trying not to think too much about how excited she'd been to see him sat at the usual table. He was older than her, was going to graduate in a few months, and had a face that was entirely too nice to look at to not be attracting dozens of others girls. Falling for him wasn't an option.
She had an awful feeling she'd already chosen it though.
"Won't your friend be waiting for hers?" Aran asked, closing the book he'd been reading and bobbing his head towards the cakes. "Or have you been lying all this time, and you really are a two-cupcake kind of girl?"
His mouth twitched into a smile, and she narrowed her eyes at him playfully.
"The second one isn't for me," she said, biting her lip thoughtfully as she looked between them, then picking up the cake with purple icing, nudging the blue towards Aran. "It's for you."
"Thanks, but no thanks," he laughed, pushing it back. "Not a huge fan of cakes."
"You haven't tried these," she said, mouth full of cupcake.
"I'm just not really a sweets kind of person," he said, eyeing the cake warily. "Prefer meals."
"But dessert is always the best part!" Jana said, unable to comprehend what he was saying.
"Then you haven't eaten at nice enough restaurants," Aran stated, but obligingly picked up the cupcake and took a tentative bite.
Jana chuckled at the sight, not having anticipated how amusing it would be to watch a surly man eat a cupcake with silver stars stuck to the icing.
"What?" he frowned, and she just shook her head, not wanting to make him grumpy.
The thing she'd learned most about Aran over the last few weeks was that he was a complete teddy bear, with the ability to transform into an old man in five seconds flat. When he started talking about something he enjoyed, when he laughed and joked with her, when he took a sip of the coffee he had an apparent addiction to, his entire face softened, eyes friendly, and Jana's heart was usually subject to a bit of a stutter before resuming its normal beating at twice the pace.
Catching him on an off day though, or when he wasn't happy, it was like he was a different person. His face hardened, the grey in those eyes steeled, and a shiver ran down Jana's spine. And it was so unhealthy, because the moment he became like that, her defensively stubborn side started peeking out, the one that had gotten her into a lot of trouble over the years.
They were probably not a healthy pair, and though they'd avoided it so far - two weeks was hardly a long time after all, even if it had been the best fortnight of the semester so far - Jana had a feeling that if they were to argue, it would be catastrophic.
Therefore, the only sensible thing to do was for them to stay friends, maybe put some distance between them given that they'd grown close at an alarmingly fast rate, never risk becoming more. Only Aran had just stretched his arm out and the hand that was round his coffee cup was currently resting against hers, leaving her skin on fire, and distance seemed like far too painful a prospect right now.
"You know, it's pretty mean to always reserve an entire chair just for your laptop case," Jana informed him nonchalantly, motioning to the offending item with her head, afraid to move her hand lest he realise the contact and draw his hand back. "Someone might want to sit here."
"Yeah, exactly," he said, and his pinky had definitely just brushed down the back of her hand, and her stomach was definitely doing somersaults.
"What?" she asked, distracted by his answer for a moment, eyebrows furrowing together in confusion.
"I'm not a huge fan of people," he muttered, and the way he said the last word made it sound as if he considered himself above everyone else, of a species far superior to the rest of humankind wandering the campus.
She rolled her eyes, but did understand.
"That's-"
"Excuse me, miss?"
Jana and Aran turned to the intruder at the same time, Jana's face splitting into a smile at the sight of the adorable barista she'd been served by a few weeks ago, just moments before the shirt-icing-incident.
"Hey," she said brightly, and in the corner of her eye, she'd swear Aran stiffened.
"You left your purse at the counter," the boy explained, holding it out for her.
"Oh, thank you!" she said, shooting him a genuinely relieved smile as she took it from him, not even having realised it was missing. "Thank you so much."
She leaned under the table to retrieve her backpack, something that required nothing short of contortion in order to not move the precious hand Aran was still touching, and slipped the purse inside, then straightened out to find the guy still stood there.
"Anything else?" she asked expectantly.
"I was wondering if..." he began, but trailed off after what happened next.
If they had been clinging to any sort of line, it had just been crossed, and Jana wasn't sure if she was terrified or gleeful. In a motion that in no way could be construed as an accident, Aran twisted his hand to place it entirely round Jana's, grasping hers as she continued to hold her cup, and he must have felt the way she was shaking beneath him.
"...if everything was okay?" the barista finished off, and Aran cleared his throat in a way that almost hinted at triumph.
"Yeah we're good," Jana nodded, her voice only three octaves too high, nothing too noticeable.
"Great, let me know if you need anything," he nodded, bravely trying to cover his crestfallen expression.
Jana just smiled at him as he walked away, unable to do much else. If she let the rational part of her brain think for a second, she'd know that he'd probably been about to ask for her number, and as he was pretty attractive, roughly her age, and clearly incredibly friendly and very much into her, it was something she should pursue. The problem was, there was an older guy still holding her hand and it was difficult to focus on much else.
"So what's wrong with not liking people?" Aran asked leaning back and breaking a spell she hadn't even realised she'd been under.
Jana blinked for a moment, amazed at the fact he was just going to let all of that slide as if it had never happened, as if it hadn't been life-changing. Okay, it hadn't been life-changing, but it had been pretty eventful.
"Um, it's just a little closed-minded," she said, stumbling on her words as her brain struggled to process what exactly was going on. "Not all people are bad."
"Yes they are," Aran said, sipping his coffee, and yep, apparently they were about to ignore what had just happened.
Well two could play at that game.
"Do you have any exceptions to that rule?" Jana asked with a smile playing on her face, taking an innocent sip of her hot chocolate and looking up at him from beneath her eyelashes.
"Not usually," he said gruffly, trying to hide the fact he'd just choked on his coffee a little bit.
"But sometimes," she pressed, and he rolled his eyes.
"Maybe," he replied, and she grinned victoriously.
"Okay, I'm late for my lecture," Jana said regretfully as she looked at the clock in the cafe, draining the last of her drink and standing up.
"It's ten past already, you'll be more than late," Aran told her with a raised eyebrow. "Lose track of time?"
"Nope, I was waiting for something."
"And it was worth being late for?"
"Absolutely," she beamed, slinging her bag over her shoulder and making her way to the door.
"What were you waiting for?" he called after her, curiosity getting the better of him and she grinned as he frowned at himself, evidently annoyed.
"A maybe!" she laughed, dashing out of the door and heading for her lecture theatre.
"You're an idiot," Aran muttered to himself as he watched Jana skip away to her lecture.
He didn't know what it was about her, whether it was the way her smile was always too big, whether it was the way one of her backpack straps constantly fell down and confused her, maybe even just the way she spoke too fast when she felt passionately about something, whatever it was, it was causing him a problem.
He'd held her hand, for crying out loud.
He'd sensed that the coffee kid was going to ask her on a date, and something inside his stomach had twisted at the idea. He didn't want someone else to take her on a date, and if he was being honest, the only reason for that was because he wanted to be the one to take her somewhere. Take her somewhere nice, make her laugh all night long, watch her eyes sparkle more and more as wine glasses emptied and the sky grew dark.
And that was a problem. Or at least, it was a problem in his opinion.
It was a difficult one to ration out. After all, they were both just humans. The only thing that separated them was that she was a first year while he was in fourth. That was truly the one difference. They shared a sense of humour, conversation never stilled - except for that second time they'd met, which he still thought about sometimes and chuckled about - and they both had a penchant for spending their spare time in coffee shops.
On paper, there was no problem. And yet, ever prone to the dramatics, Aran couldn't help but feel like it would still be wrong. He'd be pulling her away from people her own age, the way he'd literally just done, and he was going to be leaving soon, not to mention the fact he was almost permanently laden down with essays.
It wouldn't be fair, and oh god, if he didn't care about that one bit as his phone lit up with a message from her.
From: Jana
save me! this lecture is AWFUL.
To: Jana
Ha, what's it on?
From: Jana
formations of the Roman Army. THERE ARE 142 POWERPOINT SLIDES.
From: Jana
to clarify, we are on slide 23.
To: Jana
Sounds thrilling, see you in a few years.
From: Jana
this isn't funny, send help immediately.
The right thing to do in that moment would be to tell her to enjoy the rest of the lecture, to stop texting her and distracting her. He'd sort of lost that point quite a while ago though, and now all he could think about was that she'd chosen to message him when she needed someone to talk to, and it was almost embarrassing how thrilled he was about that.
Aran's reputation was officially dashed, at least when it came to Jana.
Gruff, unfriendly, cold... the exterior he'd spent three and a half years expertly crafting, and she'd broken through it with two cupcakes.
To: Jana
I can't send help now, but I can give you something to look forward to when you escape?
From: Jana
I'm listening...
His thumb flew across the keys, paused, and then he closed his eyes and pressed send. To hell with it.
To: Jana
Can I take you out to dinner tonight?
Fun things Jana was learning tonight included, but were not limited to, wearing heels in a city that never stops raining was a bad idea, Aran wearing smart trousers and a shirt was a very good idea, and gasping when you enter a restaurant with your date is somewhat frowned upon.
"I've never been somewhere this fancy," she giggled, and she didn't miss the way Aran's face lit up at the sound.
The place had low lighting, the soft glow only enriching the deep purple of the drapes that covered the walls. There were very few tables, and Jana was pretty certain that the background music was an actual harpist.
"May I?" Aran asked politely, pulling the chair out for her, which immediately made her blush, her cheeks burning at the gesture.
"Why have you brought me somewhere like this?" she hissed, excited but also starting to get a little nervous. Where the hell were they? Jana was chuffed when her friends agreed to order from the more expensive pizza takeout place, and now she was staring at a table set with no less than three sets of knives and forks. Why did she need three?
"I thought it would be nice," Aran smiled. "Besides, I did already tell you that you needed to find some place where dessert wasn't better than the main course. I think this will change your mind."
"It's very nice," Jana assured him, returning the smile, her heart melting a little that he even remembered that throwaway snippet of conversation. "You really didn't have to though."
"Well I am," he grinned. "Besides, what sort of gentleman wouldn't treat a girl after they'd been subjected to 142 slides on Roman army formations?"
"Okay, that's not funny," Jana laughed, pointing a finger at him and pushing some hair out of her face. "We only reached slide ninety three, he's threatening to cover the rest next lecture."
"That's very unfortunate," Aran chuckled, and Jana switched her expression, frowning at him.
"It really isn't funny!" she exclaimed.
"You look very cute when you frown," Aran replied seamlessly.
Jana's heart stuttered. He'd just called her cute. Cute. She liked to think she wasn't like other girls, always more interested in climbing trees and playing outside than talking about boys, but she wasn't eleven anymore, and when handsome men paid her compliments, it was difficult to stop herself from blushing.
"It wasn't meant to be cute," she said airily.
Of course, she couldn't let him know she'd enjoyed the compliment. They had a front to keep up, she had a reputation. Aran thought he was so smart, so funny, and Jana liked to challenge his perceptions, believing she did a fairly good job. She wasn't letting that go so easily for a single compliment.
Still, she did glance up at him a moment later, just sneaking a look from under her eyelashes, and reluctantly smiled at her date when he smirked at her.
Aran ordered them some wine and water for the table, and then they chose their starters, Jana opting for a vegetable soup, simply because 'vegetable' and 'soup' were two words she definitely understood. It was safe.
"You know, I didn't have you down as the fancy restaurant type," Jana said, finally voicing something she'd been wondering all evening so far.
Not that she minded Aran scrubbing up and taking her out at all, he spent most of his life in crinkled shirts, old jeans and hoodies, always looking like he hadn't quite gotten enough sleep. She'd hardly seen him eat anything in the few months she'd known him; he seemed to exist solely on coffee and the complete works of Shakespeare.
And yet here they were, Aran in a charcoal shirt that made his eyes positively piercing, trousers that were too well-fitted to not to be tailor-made, and it even looked like he'd shaved. Not too much of course - even Jana knew his scruff was trademark at this point, he liked to stroke it when he was thinking - but he definitely looked neater.
It was strange, but nice, and if the food here didn't make her stomach do somersaults, Aran sure did.
"I can be civilised when I choose to be," he grinned, gesturing to the place.
"I can see that," Jana said, eyeing only him, and pleased for once that he was the one ducking his head at the compliment.
The night passed far too quickly for the both of them, eleven o'clock arriving all too soon. They hadn't stopped chattering, this time delving into subjects far more interesting than the small talk they usually exchanged in the campus coffee shops, and it was becoming inescapably obvious to Jana that she was head over heels for this man, and truthfully? She didn't mind one bit.
They walked home hand in hand, Aran holding an umbrella over the two of them, and they laughed through the rain. He asked her if dessert had still been the best part, and the answer was that of course it was, but the main course came much closer than any meal had in the past.
He'd only snorted at that, and then they were suddenly back at the uni dorms, and it was time to say goodnight.
"Do you think you'll be getting a coffee at any point this week?" Jana smiled, and Aran's eyes crinkled as he returned it.
"I think that's a pretty safe bet."
"I'll probably see you around then."
"Guess so. Goodnight, Jana."
Her stomach flipped at the sound of her name from Aran's lips, and then those very same lips were on her cheek, pressing a gentle kiss to it.
"Goodnight, Aran," she said softly. "Thank you for tonight."
With that he disappeared into the rainy night, and Jana skipped up to her flat with enough energy and happiness to see her going to bed with a smile on her face for the next three nights.
It had been a perfect night, the perfect first date, even if neither of them had explicitly stated that that was what it had been, and Jana hoped more than anything that they could do it again soon. Coffee dates were lovely, but they didn't compare to dinner.
As it was, over the next few weeks, neither of those were an option.
Aran was an idiot.
God, he was such an idiot, and didn't he know it.
Even his housemates had picked up on how terrible a mood he was in these days, and they were hardly around him. He couldn't even bring himself to tell them what was wrong, just let them believe that the loud music and slamming of doors was down to the fact he was stressed, and his final project deadline was looming.
If only that was the problem. As it stood, Will Shakespeare seemed to be about the only thing he could wrap his head around at the moment, because it certainly wasn't his face he couldn't get out of his mind as he lay awake at night and stared at the ceiling.
Their date had been perfect. It had been perfect. He hadn't even called it a date to Jana's face, and they'd both known what it was, and at the end, he'd finally kissed her the way he'd wanted to since the first time he'd made her laugh.
She'd looked beautiful, in her tight black jeans and sinfully high heels, talked a mile a minute all night, made him chuckle and cut him down on his sarcasm in all the right places. Aran didn't really do dating, but he'd happily make an exception for this girl if she'd let him, because he was well and truly falling for her.
And then he'd gone and woken up the next morning, remembered everything he'd told himself before to convince himself out of asking her out, and his mind was made up.
He could be stubborn when he wanted to be, and to him, this plan made perfect sense.
They'd left things on a nice note, and then that was that. He would just cut all ties, and she couldn't even be upset, because they only had nice memories together, had no arguments or tears, they'd just come to a natural end. He didn't respond to her texts, didn't frequent any coffee shops, studied in the restricted areas of the library. Foolproof.
Except he was the fool, because it had now been three weeks and five days, and he still couldn't stop thinking about her, was still regretting everything, and was really, really missing coffee.
Aran didn't know who he thought he'd been kidding, but it certainly wasn't himself.
Letting out a groan, he shoved his wallet, phone and memory stick - a staple these days - into his pocket and left the house. He had another three hundred words of one of his chapters left to write, and right now he didn't care that it was two in the morning. He needed a distraction, and this would be it.
With his friends asleep, the house was empty, as he hoped the university would be, especially factoring in the rain that was hammering down, to no one's surprise. Aran had already tried late night studying five times in the hopes of forgetting Jana, and while he was getting a shedload of work done, nothing was helping. Still, as he always told himself, tonight could be the night.
Jana checked her phone, and for once it wasn't on the off-chance Aran had texted her.
02:04, the display glowed at her, and she winced.
She really hadn't meant to spend that long in the library, but sometimes when she was essay writing, this just happened. One thought after another, that was a great sentence, she could use that quote there, fingers hammering the keys of her laptop, and then suddenly it was the early hours and the library had emptied around her.
Her hair was a mess and her legs were cramping from being sat down for so long, but the essay was done. It was a technique that had worked all year so far, and a habit she just couldn't seem to shake.
It wasn't much of a problem, really, it was more that every other night she'd had a friend to walk back to the dorms with, and tonight she'd gone rogue, visiting the library by herself and consequently without a companion to walk back with.
Her head was telling her that the campus was safe, and well-lit, but the goosebumps on her arms as she stepped out of the toasty library and into the pouring rain told her otherwise.
She hurried across the road and towards one of the campus' main buildings, hoping it would be open so she could cut through it and get back to her flat even faster, reassured by the safety and light of buildings. Annoyingly though, the doors were locked, and even her student pass wouldn't unlock it. She'd half-expected it really, given that it was incredibly late, but it was still annoying.
Hopping down some steps, Jana tucked her laptop into her side and picked up the pace. It wasn't too bad a journey, she just had a little alley to cut through, and then she was back on the main road that ran through campus, which would lead her all the way to the front door.
By the time she hit the alley, she was nearly running, and she slowed down a little, steadying her pace. There was no need to freak out, despite how creepy this place was. She was completely alone, and besides, Jana knew how to defend herself. She'd made grown men cry before now.
The rain made it difficult to see or hear much, so she battled on, knowing it wouldn't be long until she hit the glorious spotlight afforded by the street lamps. Just as this thought reached her though, a stone skittered along the ground just behind her, and then she was almost certain she could make out some laughter.
A shiver ran down her spine, and Jana picked up her pace, starting to panic when she heard footsteps crunching closer to her, the menacing laughs increase in volume. She was probably imagining everything, and if she looked round now, she'd just see a few innocent students make their way home from a late-night study session too, but in the dark, everything seemed different.
Jana was just debating whether or not to start running when out of nowhere, there was somewhere by her side, a firm arm slung across her shoulders, and then they were walking faster, Jana's legs almost unable to keep up with the pace.
She glanced up to find Aran staring ahead stonily, and just tucked her head back into him again, squinting against the rain.
They finally reached the road, and then Aran pulled her into the light and spun round abruptly.
"What the hell are you thinking?" he growled. "Why are you wandering around at night by yourself? Anything could have happened."
"I was just studying!" Jana bit back. "I was fine, you didn't need to swoop in to the rescue."
"Oh yeah, you were really fine, being tailed by three guys in the year above me, and you're by yourself with nothing to defend yourself with."
"I can defend myself just fine!" Jana said, any feeling other than anger now completely drained from her. The rage pulsed through her, and she could feel her cheeks reddening with it.
She glared up at Aran, ignoring the way the rain ran off her face and soaked her clothes, the way her arm ached from carrying her laptop. How dare he do this? He'd ignored her for nearly a month, with no explanation, not even a goodbye, and now he was here yelling at her for not taking care of herself, acting as if he had a responsibility towards her, when Jana was just fine without him.
"How?" he shrugged, raising an eyebrow, and she shook her head at him, unable to believe this.
"No!" she shouted, relieved they weren't around anything but trees right now. "You don't get to not care about me one moment, and then change your mind the next!"
"Oh for- of course I care about you, Jana," Aran groaned, and Jana scolded herself for still allowing her heart to flutter when he called her by her name.
"Well you could've fooled me," she snorted, stamping her foot, which was a move she admittedly regretted a second later. "I thought you enjoyed spending time with me?"
"Can we talk about this another time? It's half two in the morning, we're not doing this here."
"No, we're going to talk about it now," said Jana fiercely, leaving him no room for negotiation. "You seem to think you still have a say in what I do and when I do it, so you're going to explain exactly why you think that, given that you haven't spoken to me in nearly four weeks."
Jana frowned at herself briefly; letting on that she'd been counting the days, a rookie error.
"Because," Aran began frustratedly, looking up at the clouds, as if he wished they could just ease up for a moment. "Because I'm an idiot, and I thought this was for the best, but I was wrong."
Jana tried not to think about how fast her heart was beating, standing her ground.
"Go on," she said calmly, as if they were discussing something over coffee again, not stood in a thunderstorm in the wee hours.
"Jana, we can't work," Aran groaned. "You're a first year, and I'm leaving in just a few months. You need someone closer to your age, closer to you, someone who is more similar-"
"Aran," she interrupted, irritated now. "I have never met someone more similar to me than you. That's a pathetic excuse. If the only thing you've got going is the age difference, let me tell you that I really don't care, and if you can tell me you didn't enjoy the date as much as I did then I'll leave you alone but I think-"
"It's more than just an age difference though, isn't it!" he huffed.
"How?" Jana pressed, confused. Apparently they were doing this here.
"I don't know, it just doesn't feel right. It's like, it's like you're Little Red Riding Hood and I'm the big, bad wolf, preying on you because it's easy. I don't want it to seem like I'm taking advantage of you or-"
"Are you being serious?" Jana interrupted, rolling her eyes and then stepping towards him. "I am not Little Red Riding Hood here."
Aran opened his mouth as if he was about to say something else, but Jana had had enough. Bobbing up on to her tiptoes, she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him the way she'd wanted to since the day she'd squashed the icing of two cupcakes into his shirt.
It was still raining, and they were both soaked, and shivering, and she could barely feel it when his arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her closer, almost lifted her off the ground. His scruff tickled her cheeks, and raindrops were falling into her eyes, and her fingers were practically numb as she let them tangle in his hair, but it didn't matter, none of it mattered at that moment.
"So who are you?" Aran asked in a gravelly voice as they finally broke apart, eyes bright despite the situation.
"Oh come on," Jana laughed, thinking it was obvious. "I'm a wolf too."
A/N: how the hell do you even use this website, what.
ANYWAY. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY LITTLE ANGEL BEAN. HOPE YOU ENJOYED, BECAUSE A LOT OF PAIN AND SUFFERING WENT INTO THIS.
no, no, i'm kidding, sort of. basically, i wrote you the first part of this a million years ago, as you well remember, and truthfully, i'd really lost my way with writing around then. i tried so hard to finish it, but nothing would work. then last summer, i started writing for some new fandoms, sorted some of my issues out, and got back into it. i found my flow again. i fired up this fic around november time(?) thinking, i need to write this for her, i need to finish it one day. i know it's a running joke of ours, but it does need finishing AT SOME POINT. but by the time i was happy with it, it was only a few months until your birthday. i decided it would be far funnier to wait until then to post the second part, forcing you to wait EXACTLY A YEAR for the second part, and not the one week i'd promised.
and then guess what happens? two weeks, TWO WEEKS, before your birthday, my laptop crashes. i lose all my files. i just about lose the plot.
i have spent all week frantically scribbling this for you, oh my goodness. it may not be perfect, and the storyline does differ a little from the original, because you know when you can't re-create something no matter how hard you try? but truthfully, i'm pretty happy with this version! and i really, really hope you are too. and i hope you know i'm just joking as i tell that story, because truthfully, i couldn't stop laughing. after all of that, i didn't have a choice but to give it to you a year later.
to any wolfblood fans who just read all of that, i apologise. i also apologise for trying to write two of your characters, when i have never watched a single episode that includes them.
happy birthday, darling. i am so proud of you for making it this far. i can't wait to see where you go from here. you are truly the most wonderful person, and the greatest friend, a girl could ever wish to have. 3