Ride

ARABELLA's POV

"That jerk did what!?" Vanessa bellows over the phone while we do our routine video call. 

I can picture her lying on her plush bed in her home, picking at her perfectly manicured nails absently while I update her on the details of my ex-boyfriend, needing to hear her voice. 

Even though she had warned me a million and one times about Blake, I had to tell her. She is currently the only one who can assure me that things are going to be okay. 

Vanessa was the definition of old money. She had been promised to Antonio De-Rou since birth and now, their parents are forcing them together. Antonio always used that to annoy my friend. I met Vanessa during my freshman year. We happened to be in the same department but never ran into each other until a party in the second semester where someone spiked my drink. She took care of the guy and he was still in jail. 

Her smooth, glistening brown skin contrasts with the ivory shades of her bed sheet, accentuating her appearance. She carries herself with so much grace and poise. She is currently in Costa Rica for a family vacation with her fiance's parents for a week, so by the time she comes back, I don't trust my memories not to be distorted. 

"Can you believe it? I blame myself for trusting him, not you!" 

Vanessa nods her head and tilts "I told you not to take him back, that he had a very bad reputation." 

"You know me," I foolishly defend my actions. "I'm a mess." 

"No, you're not!" she chides. "He's an airhead, but I swear if you go back to him, I'll -" 

"Ew, again, never." I finally declare with my hands touching the floor and pointing it at the sky like how I have watched Vanessa do so many times. 

She laughs at my action. "I am so done with boys, especially college boys. From now on, I would start to date only men. Real Men." 

Or one particular man. 

Now that I think of it, I'm not particularly disappointed or relieved that my boyfriend cheated on me. 

On one hand, I'm disappointed that Blake wasn't willing to change for me, and those two years of trying to make it work were all a waste. My feminist brain is telling me to be pissed at him and curse the hell out on him. But then there's a tiny part of me rejoicing from the thought that I can now crush on his brother all I want without an afterthought. He is still my professor though and anything between us can threaten his job. I couldn't allow that to happen to him, could I? 

"You're just too soft for this world and that's courageous, okay? Now, don't worry. I'll be back in a few hours and then we'll rant all about him while taking Smirnoff Ice." 

I chuckle. "And here I was thinking you would let that rot in the cupboard." 

"One bottle only." She wags her finger at me with each word said and winks. She rarely drinks alcohol but she has a stash of Smirnoff Ice in her cupboard. Something about being a brand ambassador for them. 

"I love you." I blew her a kiss over the phone. "Thanks for always being there for me." 

She blows me a kiss back. "Love you too!" 

I laugh before hanging up. Only Vanessa can make me forget about all my worries with just a call. She might not be a psychic like she claims to be but she has that skill. 

I walk in a daze along the pavement of a cobbled path in New York outside Blake's apartment building, realizing that I was played by my ex-boyfriend for the third time and doubting my instincts for trusting people so easily. My mother always says I am too easy to trust and I am finally starting to believe her. 

I wait for a cab, watching the people pass by as I stand under the sky which I believe is about to rain as the weather changes. Rain would have been a mercy. It would at least make me feel something other than self-hatred. 

The cabs are few and I remain standing there, waiting for one to stop for me. A gust of wind blew sending me goosebumps over my exposed body, and I hug my waist, recalling Dimitri's warm touch. 

He appears both intimidating and welcoming at the same time. He is no doubt way too good-looking, giving major daddy vibes twenty-four, seven. 

Sometimes I think that the reason I keep falling for Blake's apologies is that being his girlfriend allows me to be near his brother too. My heart clenched as I realized that I would not be having late-night ice cream and chocolate cookies with him anymore. 

But he is still my professor, so I will still see him. However, it is not like I or anyone else has been paying attention in his class because we are too busy checking him out instead. 

And why won't they? 

Not all professors have enigmatic personalities with a body that is covered with ink all over. Even his fingers are tattooed with a signet ring that adorns the middle finger of his right hand along with two other rings on his index and ring fingers. 

Worst of all? 

He has a piercing on his tongue. I mean, that shit must have been pretty painful. The first time I saw it was during one of our late night ice cream sessions. I stared at it for so long that he had to touch me to ask if there was some thing on his face. Merly looking at it only brings visions of his head between your thighs. As his hands brush over my belly, up to my breasts, and his fingers pinch my nip- 

Wait! Do I really want that? To feel him between my legs? Do I really like him more than a crush? I groaned as I thought of how Nessa would claim she saw right through me again. 

No. It is so sick of me to feel such things for my ex and my professor. I shook those thoughts away and pulled out my phone to use a bolt app. 

Before I can input my location details, a black-tinted SUV pulls up, and the windows roll down to reveal Dimitri Rossi sitting in the driver's seat. 

I could hear my heart fluttering and butterflies flying around in my stomach. 

I hear a click as he unlocks the doors of the SUV and leans over. "Ride with me instead?" Dimitri asks in that Italian accent of his and my heart skips a beat.