Page 54 of The Gargoyle in the College

“You’re fine with dating a gargoyle?”

I poke his chest. “Stop jumping to the conclusion just yet. All I want to say is thank you. It must be challenging to try to hide your features to help me.”

He smiles but doesn’t look as happy as before. “You’re welcome. It took some imagination to pull that off. I hope no one found me suspicious when they watched the security camera, at least not suspicious in terms of being a gargoyle among humans.”

“Don’t you have magic to make yourself invisible to other humans?”

He gives a wry smile. “It’s not that easy. In theory, I can.” He taps his temple. “But if I can’t stay focused on that throughout, the magic may fade and it’s going to be bad.”

“Part of me thinks that you can just walk outside like this and no one will bat an eye. Do you know that people out there like to dress up as anime or characters from movies? People are going to think that you are pretending to be a gargoyle.”

He rubs his chin. “You want me to be around you all the time, huh? So eager to show me off.”

I look him up and down. “Well, maybe you have to get dressed. Put on something more than trousers. Geez... now that I actually take a look, what’s that? Summer beach shorts with flowers on them?”

He looks at himself. The bright color goes well with his darker skin tone, but... that’s a bit too... out of place with the collegecampus that prides itself on its history. He makes this place look like a beach resort.

He chuckles. “So, you want me to take these off, huh?”

I roll my eyes. “You know what I mean. I don’t mean to cut our chat short, but I really have to study.”

“Oh... I can understand that. But have you eaten?”

I blink. Right... I didn’t remember that part. I was planning to grab something from the vending machine downstairs, but with my backpack getting stuck and Gisett coming out of nowhere, I forgot about that. “No, but I’m fine.”

He taps the tip of my nose. “You should eat something. I’ll cook you something.” He heads to the kitchen as if this is his house. “You do have something in the cupboard and fridge, right?”

“You don’t have to do that. We can order takeaway or something.”

“Nah, I can cook. You’ve tried my cooking skills already.”

“Then... Thank you.” Watching his back as he wanders into the kitchen, looking for ingredients, makes my heartbeat race. Maybe I should have agreed to be his mate earlier. But... Does he consider himself my mate already? I think I want that, but for him, is that official?

Even though studying is important, figuring things out is important too. Maybe clearing things up will help my focus, which will be essential.

It doesn’t take long before he puts a pot of water onto the stove. I go to him. “Hey, cooking gargoyle, are you going to set the kitchen on fire?”

He turns and glances at me as he gets spaghetti from the cupboard. “Because I’m too hot? That’s a possibility.”

“I... It feels like we are both weird. Or say, something’s wrong with both of us.”

“Why’s that?”

“I told you that we could never have a future and upset you, but you’re here cooking for me.”

He watches me for a moment before he lets out a breath. “Weird, right?” He opens the pack and pulls out some spaghetti. “I’ve never been like this. But you make me feel like... Um...” He wraps up the package and puts it back into the cupboard. “Like a marshmallow. I don’t get it, either. But it is what it is. It’s hard for me to stay upset or mad at you. Good news, huh?”

“So... What are we? Friends? Mates? Dating? Something else?”

“Well, gargoyle and human.” He laughs while I sneer at him. He knows what I’m asking about, and his answer is just silly. Silly like him.

He nudges me closer to him with his wing. “You know that I want you. I could have taken you to my place and locked you up until you changed your mind.”

“Is that a threat?”

He shakes his head. “No. Why would I do that? I want you to like me back and that’s not achievable with capturing you.”

I lean into him as he chops sausages. “Are you going to keep cooking for me?”

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