Chapter 6

Sophia was a young lady with blonde hair . And that is as far as my description of her goes because that was all I could register of her.

The lady commenced some conversation with me as she took my measurements. Walked around me several countless times and asked me a load of questions....but my attention was not on her. My replies were basically the same. " Uh huh...yes...true ... really now? " and the likes.

We were in what I believe was her work station. A well furnished office with a nice mahogany desk, shelves of books lined the wall, and there was a large mirror which I was currently facing.

Calen stood a few steps behind us and every once in a while Sophia would turn her focus to him and ask him things like how his studies were going and whether he had aced the algebra test he had two days ago. 

And I watched him on the mirror, listened to the fluid charm of his responses and pretended that I couldn't notice the way he flicked his eyes over to me after every other second.

Sophia wrote down her recodings of my measurements and then disappeared into a door behind a desk, telling us that she'll just be a moment.

Immediately she left us, that pit in my stomach returned. I remained where I was, weary of taking a single step because my legs felt week and I feared that they would give way and let me fall. A clock on the wall ticked as the seconds passed and I found comfort in the uniform and recurring sound.

He was focused on searching for my eyes in the mirror, so I turned to the side and kept my focus on a shelf of books.

I wanted to walk over to one and inspect which titles they were, but I stopped myself and stood still.

Then Calen did just that, walking over to the shelf I was facing and running his hand against the books until finally he retrieved one and turned to face me .

I suddenly got the feeling that he was doing this on purpose. That he went there just so he could bridge the gap I was trying to create.

" You're not a fan of conversation, are you? " was the first thing he asked. 

I chuckled and crossed my arms.

" I prefer the beauty of silence, most of the time conversation leads to nothing but awkwardness and ruins that beauty. " 

He looked at me in that way if his again. Like I in a way interested him. 

" Are you saying there's no beauty in words? " 

" No. I'm saying that most often people tend to misuse words simply because they want to cover up the silence with them as opposed to letting them come freely. "

" So in other words you have nothing against conversation. It's aimless chattering that you cannot stand. "

I smiled and nodded.

" Then I suppose you and I have something in common J.R. "

I lowered my gaze to the tiled floor and kept it there. We heard Sophia shifting around and humming to herself on the other side of the door, and I wondered how much longer she would take because I wanted to be out of that room. I wanted to be somewhere alone.

I wanted to be somewhere where Calen Silverstein was not because being in the same place as him was unsafe for my mental health. Several minutes later, I heard him flip through the pages of the book in his hand and I deemed it safe to look back up.

" You read a lot. " I found myself saying without even realising it. It was a private thought that had managed to slip out. He looked at me with eyes hooded with charm and mystery. Then he did what I feared he would...he walked over to where I was.

With his free hand, he placed a finger under my chin and angled me to look up at him. His touch was so soft...yet it shook me to the very core. I breathed in and he was all I could smell....and he did not smell like the cologne that filled most of the hallways we had passed.

He simply smelled clean. A calming and refreshing scent that reminded me of the mountain on a cold morning where everything was yet to be touched by the warmth of the sun.

I rather liked how he smelt.

" What is it about you? " I heard him ask. But I concluded that the question was not meant to be asked out loud because he shook it off immediately after. And I did the courteous thing and acted like I had not heard him even though the question had engraved itself into my subconscious.

" It's so dark, " he suddenly commented and I was confused.

" I beg your pardon? " 

" Your hair... it's so dark, like gleaming tar. Each time I'm this close I'm tempted to dig my fingers into it's curly mass and keep them there. "

I might not have had much in the way of a social life but in that moment I knew for certain that that was not how things were supposed to be. That was not how we were supposed to relate to one another. And Calen Silverstein was not supposed to make me feel the way he was currently making me feel.

My culture prohibited it on every moral ground. And my culture was who I was.

" That would be highly inappropriate, don't you think?"

" I think it is we ourselves who have the right to decide what is and isn't appropriate. "

" So you think we ought to do whatever we like because it's appropriate on our own account. Regardless of what society tends to say? "

This conversation went too deep way too first. Considering that Calen and I had just met. But there was nothing awkward about it when we talked. That was yet another one of his many mysteries. He made everything sound so easy and normal without the slightest hint of complication.

" What's appropriate doesn't have to be necessary right J.R, but it also doesn't have to be necessary wrong. " 

And he left it at that, then he traced his finger down my jaw and instantly let go. 

Sophia returned and he took a step back, I immediately missed his closeness, his clean scent and his feather light touch.

" Ooookay, here you are. " Sophia said as she placed several pairs of clothes on her desk.

There must have been at least three pairs of everything. Including shoes. It was all neatly folded and arranged.

" Wow, that's a lot of uniform. " I heard the shock in Calen's voice , then Sophia turned to me with a shrug and smiled before saying, " It's what the parents paid for. Do you want to take them with you or should I send them over to your quarters? "

I said I'd take them with me and proceeded to grab as many of the clothes as I could in my hands.

" Here..let me help you with that, " Calen said as he took whatever remained. I thanked him and he assured me it was nothing.

He then turned to Sophia and asked her where exactly I'd be staying and we watched as she put her finger up and told us to wait for a second before she ran to her computer.

She typed in something and then I watched as her eyes widened slightly before she tried to cover the bewilderment.

" Um...it appears that our new student here will be residing in The Delta. "

I watched the same slight look of shock on Calen's perfect face, but then he regained his composure and smiled.

" Then to The Delta we shall go, " he announced as he led the way. I followed closely behind, trying to balance both the uniform and my violin case in my hands.