Page 20 of Vexing the Viper

"Fuck!" I roar, not lifting my head, but start frantically looking around the ground for my glasses. "Do you see my glasses?"

"Yeah, man. They're right here. Sorry about them."

He hands me my glasses and a cry gets caught in my throat. They're broken. Fuck, they're broken, and I'm surrounded by students. What the hell do I do now?

"It's okay," I choke out, trying to hold back the tears that want to fall. "I gotta go."

Standing up, I keep my head down, trying to navigate through students in the quad without looking up. It's so fucking hard, and I don't even know if I'm going the right way. Every time I try to look up, I see a pair of shoes on the floor, and I know I can't glance up. I can't risk turning someone to stone.

With shaky hands, I pull my beanie over my face, trying to see if that helps, but when I look up, all I can see is the fabric. Tears start to flow freely. I hate being in this situation. This is why I'm always prepared. I shouldn't have been in a hurry. If I’d woken up on time, I wouldn’t have been rushing and run into the middle of a fucking football game.

Holding my backpack to my chest, I breathe in deeply, trying to calm myself down, but it's no use. The tears won't stop falling. Looking at the ground, I recognize the edge of the benches, which means I'm in the middle of the quad. Still so fucking far from my dorm. I throw myself onto a bench and I cry silently, hoping all the students disappear into their classes soon.

"Niko?" I hear King's whispered voice beside me, and I nod my head.

"Yeah, it's me," I choke out, holding onto my backpack tighter.

"What's wrong? What happened?"

"I was late for class, so I was running, and I ran into a crowd of students." I hiccup, wiping at my tears that won't go away. "I got knocked down and my glasses flew off. They’re broken, and now I'm struggling to get home."

"You can't get home?" he questions.

"If I make eye contact with someone, they'll turn to stone. So, I've been keeping my eyes down trying to find my way back to the dorm by looking at the ground, but I can't do it. I can't fucking find my way home, King."

"Hey," he soothes, rubbing my back. "Let me help you. Can you stand up? What if you put your beanie over your eyes, and I'll guide you back to the dorm?"

"You'd do that?" I ask, my chest swelling at the thought of King wanting to help me even after everything.

"Yeah, Niko. Of course I’ll help you. Now, come on. Stand up."

I quickly pull my beanie over my head as I stand up. King grabs onto my shoulder and guides me out of the quad. I still keep my head down, just in case, but the tears slowly start to dry up.

"Why are you helping me?" I ask, knowing I've been a complete ass to him every chance I got.

"I'm a nice person, Niko. I always have been. You just haven't let me show it."

"I'm sorry," I whisper, a ball forming in my throat. I can't believe how badly I've been treating him, and he didn't even hesitate to help me.

"I got you."

He guides me all the way out of the quad toward the dorm. We enter the elevator in silence, and he walks me down to oursuite. Once we're inside I keep my eyes down, but start walking to my bedroom.

"Thank you, King."

"No problem."

I quickly hurry into my space, looking for my contacts. Putting them onto my eyes, I pull on my beanie and walk back out of my room. I owe King a huge fucking apology, and I can only hope that he'll listen to me.

I quickly enter the common room but notice it's dead silent. "King?" I question, walking around searching for him. He doesn't answer. Walking over to the window, I pull down on the blinds, and as I see King walking away from the building, I deflate.

Okay, I guess no apologizing right now.

10

KING

Returningto the dorm room after class has me in a funk. I don't know how to act around Niko anymore. I tried really hard to be his friend, but there's only so much shit I can take. We haven’t talked since I saved him in the quad, and to be honest, I’ve been avoiding him. I wasn’t planning to talk to him at all, but once I saw him freaking out and struggling to get home, I knew I had to help him. But it’s been a few days since that incident, and we still haven’t spoken.

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