Alex POV
I turned around just as someone bumped into me as they entered our private room that separated us from the rest of the bar.
It was the pretty brunette with curly hair and slightly Asian features who I had been bumping into all day. She was disoriented and in a panic, as if she did not know where she was.
“Are you okay?” I asked her.
“I’m lost,” she said, clearly needing help. Something about the way her deep brown eyes looked up at me sent shivers down my spine.
“I’m Alex,” I said and immediately regretted making such a lame dad joke. My beta held back a scoff.
But she seemed too drunk and distressed to care about my failed attempt at humor. Thank goodness I didn’t embarrass myself too badly.
I was at a more exclusive bar with some of my closest friends and advisors. When the disoriented girl burst through the door, I figured it would be a great time to talk to her one-on-one.
I looked around the room and gave my order. “Leave us.”
They were a bit surprised but replied without delay, “Yes Al—”
I shot a glare at them, daring them to call me Alpha.
“—Alex,” they said, bowing their heads ever so slightly before leaving us alone.
I turned my attention back to the helpless girl, trying to figure out just what her story was, and why she kept finding herself around me. Not that I cared, in fact I wouldn’t mind finding myself near her more often.
“I think I must be really drunk because I don’t recognize this place and my friends are nowhere to be seen,” she complained, her words slightly slurred and voice panicked. “I just went into the bathroom for a few minutes.”
“Are you talking about that room over there?” I said, pointing to the door behind her.
“That’s the one,” she responded. She kept looking around nervously, and I wanted nothing more than to wrap my arms around her and tell her everything would be alright.
“Yeah, that’s not a bathroom,” I said to her apologetically. She looked at me with confusion etched into her forehead.
I returned to Loren with a glass of cold water and some food. I had sat her down in a booth in a quiet corner of the private room. I took out a tiny bottle of glowing blue liquid and gave it to her.
“What is this?” she asked me suspiciously, those deep brown eyes unwavering from my face.
“It’s not a roofie, don’t worry,” I told her with a chuckle. “It’s a variant of a mana potion that my friend concocted; it’s basically a mental-boost elixir for mages, revitalizing the mana that flows through your mind.”
She looked like she had absolutely no idea of anything I had just said. Honestly, it was kind of adorable how clueless she was. A part of me wanted to teach her everything I knew just to have her sitting near me.
She tentatively swallowed the contents of the tiny bottle and then quickly downed a glass of water.
“Whoa!” she exclaimed loudly as her eyes shone a bright blue tint for a second. “It felt like my brain was filled with an icy river.”
I laughed, relieved that she was feeling better so we could actually hold a conversation.
“Does your head feel better?” I asked her, worried that my genuine concern would be noticeable in my voice.
“Much better,” she said, “thank you.”
“May I ask what that room was that I thought was a bathroom? It looked just like a bathroom, but now it looks like a broom closet.”
“It’s a trick door,” I explained. She looked at me like I had three heads, and I realized she must be new here. That would make sense, considering the tour she was on this morning when I made a fool out of myself with that d*mn basketball.
“Some of the earlier students at this school thought it would be funny to have these little rooms littered across campus that looked like toilets, but then when someone entered, it would teleport them to someone’s office or something like that. However, the spell went wrong and they instead created a sentient pocket dimension that roams around campus pretending to be a bathroom while trapping the victim inside for hours without them realizing it.”
“I’ve been in there for hours?” she almost shouted.
She checked the watch on her dainty wrist which read 13 minutes past midnight.
“I swear it felt like I was in there for a minute, but I was gone for four hours,” she said, absolutely stunned. “This is not how I expected my first day at magic school to go.”
“It particularly likes to pick on freshmen,” I said sympathetically, remembering my first encounter with the trick door. “Your tour guide should have mentioned them today.”
“I think he would have if I wasn’t so in awe of everything else and asking him millions of questions,” Loren said.
“That makes sense, there’s a lot to unpack here,” I responded. “So how did you find yourself here at Silverstone?”
She sighed and looked at me once over, probably judging whether or not she trusted me enough to tell her whole story.
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Loren POV
I couldn’t believe any of this was happening. First, I got sick in a bathroom that wasn’t even a bathroom. Now I was unloading my entire life story to Alex, who was sitting awfully close to me.
I could feel the warmth radiating from his body as he leaned in closer, listening to every word I had to say.
“So yeah, I didn’t even believe that magic existed until my mom told me I was going to attend this school,” I shrugged.
“That sounds like a huge shift. Let me know if I can help in any way, okay?” he asked, closing the tiny gap between us so we were flush against one another.
I started to feel the fatigue settle into my body as I nodded and unconsciously leaned against his chest. He put his arm around me and my whole body erupted in goosebumps. My stomach filled with butterflies and I could feel my cheeks redden as I inhaled his scent.
“So, what are you doing in a private room in such a fancy place? I didn’t think jocks like you spent time in the classier scenes,” I asked.
He gasped playfully and looked at me with a dramatic look of surprise on his face.
“Jocks like me? Ouch, I didn’t think you’d have an issue with getting up close and personal with the captain of the basketball team,” he joked.
I noticed he didn’t answer my question, so I asked again. “Well, mister captain, how can you afford such a luxury?”
“My family has connections with the people that own this place, I bring some friends along with me sometimes if I want a more chill environment,” he shrugged. “Anyway it’s getting late, shouldn’t you be getting home?”
“Oh crap, you’re right,” I said, noticing that it was now close to 1:30 in the morning. I pulled my phone out to call Riley, but it was dead.
“Do you need to use mine?” Alex asked, seeing the screen flash the low battery sign before shutting off.
“Yes, please, you’ve been such a great help,” I responded, reaching for the hand that held his phone.
“Not so fast,” he said. “Every favor comes with a price.”
“A price?” I asked. I certainly didn’t want to know what kind of payment he had in mind.
“One kiss, that’s all I ask,” he said matter of factly.
“Excuse me?!” I shouted. “I am NOT just another girl you can trick into giving you whatever you want. If you really wanted to kiss me, you’d do it like a gentleman and not someone who’s looking for a good time.
With that, I stormed out of the room and into the brisk outdoors.
“Loren! There you are, I was so worried!”
Not even ten minutes after I stormed out of the bar, Riley and Jamaiah ran up to me, wrapping me in a hug.
“I’m fine guys, there was this door—”
“The trick door, yeah,” Riley finished my thought. “I tried to warn you, but you ran off so quick.”
“Yeah, sorry about that, it was...urgent,” I replied sheepishly.
“So, how long have you been walking around aimlessly?” Jamaiah asked me as we headed back to the dorms.
“I actually ended up back in that club. It was pretty nice considering the circumstances,” I began.
Jamaiah stopped us in our tracks and stared at me bug-eyed.
“You ended up IN there!? And they didn’t kick you out?? How!?” She practically screamed at me. “That place is so exclusive even famous guests of the school can’t get in!! I’ve been trying to find my way in with that crowd for YEARS!”
“I didn’t know it was that big a deal... Alex’s family knows the owners or something so we—”
“We?” Riley asked. His voice was colder than ice, and it sent shivers down my spine in all the wrong ways.
“Oh, yeah, I ended up in his private room with some of his friends. Well, his friends just kind of left when he told them to. That was weird. But then we had some good conversation before...” I realized I had said too much, because Riley shot daggers at me with his eyes.
“Before what?” His voice was deadly low.
“It’s nothing, honestly, we were both drunk and miscommunications happen all the time,” I explained, trying to downplay the situation.
“Before. What. Loren,” he pressed, slowly.
“He...he tried to kiss me. I told him no and he backed off. It’s fine, honestly. Can we just go home please?” I said, trying to end the conversation.
“I told you that f*cking dog is no good,” he mumbled.
Thankfully, we were only a few meters from the dorm buildings. I didn’t think I would ever see my bed again, and I wanted nothing more than to lay down and leave this whole night behind me.
“Guys, can we table this please?” Jam asked. “I’m tired and we have classes in the morning. Look, the guy respected her boundaries. Can we focus on the bright side and go to bed?”
“You read my mind, Jam. I’m exhausted, and I do NOT want to oversleep and miss my first class,” I said.
“Yeah, whatever. Goodnight y’all,” Riley said, as he turned and sulked back to his building.
Jamaiah looked at me apologetically. “Sorry about Mr. Grumpy Pants over there. I don’t know what his deal has been all day. Let him sleep it off, things will be fine.” She gave me a quick hug and we went our separate ways.
As I drifted off to sleep, one question kept ringing in my mind.
What if I said yes?