AN: Hey chapter 3 is up, still working my way through this fluffy thing while editing on my current WIP (aka my first attempt to write an original story)
I hope you like this chapter and the way things progress here between them.
Enjoy and let me know what you think in a review. Thanks.
Chapter 3: HopeIt had been a few days since she accidentally knocked out the new football player. The scene had played on repeat in her mind ever since. She knew his name was Rueben Smith, and she knew who his parents were. But other than that she knew nothing about him and for some reason he wouldn't leave her mind. That long raven black hair slicked back in a ponytail, those dark chocolate eyes, that made her lose her ability to speak like a normal human being. God I was so flustered, he must think I was a total dimwit.
She slumped further down on their worn out couch, the scorch mark on the coffee table reminded her of her inapt attempt to harness her magic. Now her wayward magic had caused pain to someone else, aside from the burnt shoelace when that bloke had tried to kiss her years ago, she'd only hurt one other, her own brother. A burnt eyebrow wasn't too bad was it? She rolled her eyes. Of course it was. Liam kept reminding her that she was the sole cause of his lack of attraction from every female he would approach. She chuckled at this. Liam was the spitting image of their father and he had the same suave personality. She knew he'd be able to pick up any girl he wanted, if only he learned the finer arts of actually talking with said females. Well he would learn eventually, she thought.
"Hey girl, why so glum looking?" Rose plopped down next to her and nudged her with her shoulder.
"Just wallowing in my own misery," Hope groaned, "can't believe I'm the reason that the football team won't have Smith on the field this Saturday." She hid her face in her hands, shaking her head.
"Awe, I'm pretty sure William will forgive you," Rose said in a chipper tone, then added with a smirk, "though he did mention the other day that Smith is one of the best players on the team."
Hope looked at her friend with curiosity, "you spoke with William? When?" When Rose shifted a little uneasily in her seat, Hope said in surprise, "you actually like, talk, talked with him? Good on you girl, you've been fawning on that boy for months now."
"I might have got his phone number," Rose shrugged, "you know when you kept watch over Rueben in the hospital. We sort of talked a bit."
"Nice," Hope was happy for her friend, "I'm terrible at talking with anyone, I'm not sure I made much sense to Rueben when he finally woke up."
"Come on, it can't have been that bad." Rose laughed when Hope rolled her eyes at her.
"I felt so bad for him," Hope said with a moan, "and when the doctor said his parents were a little late I thought I should watch out for him."
"Bet you didn't mind looking at the chap for all that time, eh?" Rose wiggled her eyebrows.
"Shut up." Hope smacked her friend's arm, rolling her eyes, "it was the right thing to do."
"Yup, oh what a pain it must have been," Rose laughed and said, "bet you took a peek under the blanket, checking out the goods."
"Bloody hell, get your mind out of the gutter," Hope admonished her friend, "I didn't do anything like that."
"You didn't do what?" Gloria's voice piped up. Gloria walked into the living room, sitting down in their recliner chair looking at them, "what?"
"Hope was taking a peek, to see if Smith is as well endowed as the rumors say," Rose explained with a chuckle.
"There are no such rumors," Hope said in slight anger, "the man just got transferred this year to our college, how on earth would anyone know how… you know… oh forget it."
Gloria chuckled at her friends' bickering, she was the quiet girl in the group, but very observant. "But the guy is pretty handsome, don't you think?"
Hope only shrugged and picked at the hem of her shorts, not sure if she would elaborate on her real thoughts about the man in question.
"I bet she dreams of him at night." Rose put in with a laugh, then asked Gloria, "you think he is cute eh?"
"No, oh god no, he's not my type," Gloria shook her head. "Those sports jocks are not my type."
"What's your type then?" Hope asked, suddenly very pleased that the attention was pulled towards someone else.
"Don't know really," Gloria looked down at her clasped hands, "not sure I have a type, as… well you know I haven't really had a real date in like, ever!" She glanced at her two friends sheepishly.
"That can be fixed pretty easily," Rose said with a grin, "William invited me over to their post-game celebrations at their house." When her two friends gasped in surprise Rose waved them off, "awe come on girls, the guy is hot as hell, should I have declined such an invitation? I think not."
"But we can't just crash their party like that," Gloria tried to reason, "I mean he invited you, not us."
"William said I could bring a few friends," Rose wiggled her eyebrows at Gloria, "I bet we could find your type there."
"I said no sports jocks," Gloria said with a frown.
"They are not all athletes in that house," Rose explained, "So no worries, come on girls it will be fun." She turned to Hope who had been quiet in this exchange, "what do you say, Hope, bet your Smith is there."
"He is not my anything," Hope said with a groan, sometimes Rose could be real meddlesome especially when it came to her friend's love life, or lack thereof.
"He might," Rose grinned, "or you could try to apologize to him again, bring him a gift or something. I mean you did knock him out." She shrugged, then turned to Gloria and continued to talk about finding the poor girls 'type'.
Hope didn't pay attention to their talk, she thought about what Rose had said, 'bring him a gift', yeah but what? She wasn't even sure it would be such a great idea to meet the guy again, she felt as if something triggered her magic that first time her eyes landed on him. The past few days she'd kept repeating what exactly happened that day. She'd been talking with her friends about the game, and Rose had droned on and on about William and gushed her heart out over the fact that he was now team captain. She remembered turning around and her eyes landed on this tall well-built football player, she hadn't seen him before and right away she guessed this had to be the new guy.
While her eyes had taken in the sight before her, something happened inside her, in that part of her harnessing her magic. The next second a ball of magic flew from her hand and hit the poor guy right in the head. Those minutes after were horrible and with her heart in her throat, she'd rushed to aid the man up again. But in the end, he puked and someone called the medic, for some reason she followed him to the hospital along with her friends and the guys he'd been with.
Her focus returned to her friends again, it seemed as if Rose was convincing Gloria to go to the party after the next football match. Both her friends looked at Hope expectantly, finally relenting she agreed to go to the party with them. Hope was still thinking about what she could bring as a sort of peace offering, hoping that Rueben wouldn't hate her forever.
—
It was another win for the Magic Kingdom College football team, so everyone was hyped for a party and gathered in the big townhouse, where William, Rueben, and Damien lived.
Hope walked up the steps to the wraparound porch, her two friends in front of her. Her hands clutched a small wrapped gift to her chest. Once inside it was clear how packed the house was with other students wanting to celebrate the team winning.
"I'm not even sure Rueben is here," Hope pulled her friend Rose to the side, "I mean it's so noisy so many people, I did give the poor guy a concussion, I don't think he would be here if he needs rest, he is probably at his parents' place." She turned to walk out again but was pulled back by both her friends.
"You don't know until you look," Gloria said with a smirk, "now come on, I bet Rose's new guy William will know where your beau is."
"Bloody hell he ain't my beau." Hope hissed out, but let herself be dragged along by her friends.
"But you want him to be," Rose said with a smirk.
"No!" Hope huffed in annoyance.
A few minutes later they found William out in the back garden where he hung out with a group of friends, most of them from the football team.
"See he is not even here." Hope swept her hand towards the garden.
Rose ignored her and sauntered over to William, who broke into a huge smile when he spotted the pretty brunette walking up to him. Hope and Gloria failed to hear what words were exchanged between the couple but seconds later both their jaws dropped as Rose wrapped her arms around the guy's broad shoulder, standing on tiptoe she pressed her lips to William's.
"I guess our friend got what she wanted," Gloria managed to mumble while they watched their friend deepen the kiss, making the crowd around them cheer in racy catcalls. When they finally parted William listened to something Rose whispered in his ear, then he looked towards Gloria and Hope and a grin spread over his face. He nodded and whispered something back. Then Rose kissed his cheek and walked back to her still stunned friends.
"Rueben is here Hope, he is hiding down in the small gazebo," Rose explained and pointed towards the garden, "the noise is not bothering him down there." When Hope only stared down towards the gazebo, where garden lights wrapped around its frame, Rose nudged her friend, "Go to him, Hope."
Gloria chuckled, "I'm pretty sure he will love your gift."
Hope looked down at the gift in her hand, taking a deep breath she ignored whatever other comment her friends sent with her. This was so bloody ridiculous, the guy would think she was nuts.
The garden was less crowded and she easily found her way to the cozy gazebo. Taking a deep breath she quickly stepped inside and scanned the small area. Sure enough, Rueben was sitting in a garden recliner chair, his black hair swept off his face but not tied in a ponytail. He wore a button-down dark blue shirt and khaki shorts.
"Hi," Hope said timidly and waved stupidly at him. Her hand clutched the gift tighter, butterflies took flight in her stomach and she hoped she would be able to talk more normally with him this time.
"Hi." He shifted in his seat, sitting up a bit more, a smile spread over his face as he scanned her body. "What a nice surprise. What brings you down here in my quiet corner of this party?" He smiled and pointed to a similar chair as his. "Have a seat."
"Nah, no thanks." Hope groaned inwardly. Keep it cool girl. "I just wanted to give you this." She took three quick steps and set the small gift in his lap. When he looked surprised and puzzled, she tried to explain. "Well yeah that is my apology gift. I mean my friends suggested it… well you… I mean… I'm sorry for knocking you out that day and that you couldn't play today." She tugged down on her short skirt. Rose had insisted she'd wear this summer dress, which had a skirt far too short for her liking.
Rueben picked up the small square box, flipped it over in his large hands and grinned. "You really didn't have to do this." He shrugged and began peeling away the blue wrapper.
"I know, but I felt so awful. And when I realized you got sent home from the hospital the next day, I never got to say a proper apology to you," Hope tried to explain.
Raising an eyebrow he asked, "You went back to the hospital the next day?" A small smirk began forming on his face.
"Oh yeah, it's stupid really, I know." Hope rolled her eyes and shifted uneasily on her feet. His dark brown eyes bored into her soul and she could feel her magic starting to flicker inside her. She clenched her hands hoping she would be able to keep it together without frying the man again with her magic. "And the gift is really lame," she muttered and bit her lip nervously.
"Let me be the judge of that," Rueben said with a smile and removed the last paper from the box. When he flipped open the box and looked down, Hope could see a small smile form on his face. She sighed in relief, it was a bit stupid.
Rueben pulled out the round globe filled with lightning magic that changed direction wherever he touched the glass. He rolled it over in his hand making the magic go a bit crazy.
"I know it's a lame gift—"
"Nah I think it's cool," Rueben said and looked up at her, "think I saw one once, so this is real magic inside?"
"Yeah," Hope shrugged, everyone knew about magic in the United Realms, and spheres like this were much more common these days.
"Thank you," Rueben said with a smile, then he tugged his gift into the box again.
"I hope that you'll recover quickly," Hope said and finally chose to sit down on the chair next to him, she avoided looking at him, "I'm really sorry."
"It's fine, in a week or two I'll be ready to play again," he placed a gentle hand on her arm that rested on the armrest. She gazed up at him then looked at where his hand touched her, the heat from his warm hand shifted something inside of her. Her magic was going nuts again.
"I'm glad," she clenched her hands trying to dampen whatever happened inside of her, she wasn't sure what this meant. "I don't want to hurt anyone, it's just that my magic is doing stupid stuff sometimes."
"I understand," He gently squeezed her arm then pulled his hand to his lap, then he glanced at her with a smile, "so how long have you known you had magic?"
"Since I was 13," she closed her eyes and remembered that first time her magic showed, she chuckled.
"Did you knock out someone back then too?" Rueben asked with a laugh.
Shaking her head, "even worse, I burned half my brother's eyebrow off."
"I bet he never let you forget that incident."
"Nope," she shook her head, "it never really grew back to its normal form, he claims I've ruined his chances at the ladies." Rolling her eyes she turned towards Rueben and laughed, "but the wanker looks too much like our father so I bet any young maiden wouldn't care if he's missing some of his eyebrows."
Rueben laughed at this, "I bet he is a charmer."
"He's three years younger than me," she shrugged, "but we're cool now, well he can still be a pain in the arse."
"That's cool," Rueben said and added, "I've never had a sibling, so I wouldn't really know."
"It's both a blessing and a curse having a sibling, I tell you that." She gave him a small smile, and they fell into a companionable silence for a while. It was a nice and relatively quiet place down here.
"Do you like it here?" Hope suddenly asked, "I mean living in Royal City, got to be something entirely different."
"Yeah, it's pretty cool," Rueben explained, "my parents live in the outskirts of the city, I chose to move in here when the opportunity showed up, the commute to the college was a bit crazy."
"Nice," Hope said and continued to ask him questions and told bits and pieces of her life here, her friends, they even shared stories about their families. It turned out to be a pretty spectacular evening. She was surprised at how easy it was to talk with Rueben, the guys she usually talked with were either too starstruck with whom her parents were, or slightly afraid of her magic. Rueben was neither of these things, even if she had hit him with her magic once. They ended up having a lot of fun, and Hope only wished it could somehow continue another day. She wasn't sure how to broach the subject, but somehow Rueben seemed to have the same thoughts.
"I had a lot of fun," He plucked an invisible lint on his shorts, "maybe we could, you know, hang out again… someday?"
"I'd love that," Hope said and pulled out her phone.
While they exchanged phone numbers Rose came bolting into the gazebo, "Sorry Hope," she grinned when she spotted the phones between them, waggling her eyebrows she added, "you and I have things to talk about, later."
"Bugger off," Hope grumbled and smiled sheepishly at Rueben when he raised his eyebrows in surprise. Yeah, she did have her daddy's lingo pinned down to a tee, much to the dismay of her mother.
"Really, really, really sorry to interrupt this," Rose waved a finger between them and Hope realized that her friend was a bit wasted. "But we need to get Gloria home, the poor girl puked all over Damien's shoes."
"Oh fuck no, poor Gloria." Quickly rising to her feet, Hope turned to Rueben and said, "I'll text okay, I need to help my friend." Rueben nodded in understanding.
"Sure thing, see you around." He gave her a huge smile and nodded to Rose, "better go help your friend."
"Yeah, right," Hope flustered, and asked Rose while they walked out of the gazebo, "why did she puke?"
"Too much alcohol, combined with nerves," Rose waved her hands aimlessly in front of her.
"Over what?"
"Talking with Damien of course." Rose rolled her eyes and giggled her usual drunk laugh, "the poor lass spotted Mr bad-boy and drank herself stupid trying to gain enough courage to actually talk with the bloke." Rose stumbled over her own feet but managed to upright herself again, she'd clearly also been drinking a bit too much.
"Awe poor Gloria," Hope said and quickened her steps, then remembered she needed to have her drunk friend there with her, "come on let's go, we need to get her home before she embarrasses herself even more." Rose only hiccuped in agreement as they found their sick friend and managed to get her back home.
Finally in her bed later, Hope could finally find the time to replay the scene between her and Rueben. It had gone remarkably well all things considered and she hoped they'd be able to spend some more time. He certainly seemed to want to get to know her more, it was good.