Anders Larzelere's PoV:

Chapter 3 - "Giving You, Your Happily Ever After."

What. The. Hell. Is. Wrong. With. Me.

It's been two hours since I started reading, 'The Bone Labyrinth'.

And I've read only 10 pages.

Ten!

My mind is all over the place.

Reeeeally? My conscious mocks me.

Okay, Maybe I said a small lie.

My mind is occupied by 'The Angel'.

There, I admitted the truth.

I sigh and let the book slip from my fingers and fall to my bed with a bounce.

What is wrong with me? Why am I not able to think of anything except her?!

Maybe it's because you're just so smitten, My conscience teases, and I groan in frustration.

Another time with another girl?!

Just shut the heck up, I snap back.

Great, now I'm talking to myself.

Vrrm. My pocket vibrates.

I fall back on the bed, and reach for my Blackberry Priv. The screen flashes with the name, 'Ethan Kingsley'.

I smile as I think of his laughing face and ever-present happy mood, picking up on the third ring.

"Hey, Ethan."

"How did you know it was me?! Oh! Caller ID, duh. Anyway, how was the year—" He continues shooting me with question after question, not giving me even a minute to breathe.

"Ethan, Ethan, Ethan! I can tell that you're nervous about something. So cut to the chase and tell me about it," I cut him off hurriedly, and he falls silent after that.

He sighs.

"I've got a date."

"So?"

"With Quinn Tyrell."

"Oh!" I say, as realization dawns on me.

To describe Ethan in one word, he's a player. Oh, not the kind that plays soccer like me, but the kind that uses girls like kleenex. But, the last time I visited him, I noticed a subtle change in his behavior around a certain, green-eyed, smart and sarcastic brunette. They were 'kind-of' acquaintances at that time. That is to say, the two of them couldn't hate each other more. But, any person who is within 20 feet of them could see the chemistry between the two.

Or as Ethan would put it, their 'Biology' works as well.

Only, the two of them had been too proud to see it.

I'm surprised that it had taken them 10 months to realize it.

Well, I guess you could say it is better late than never.

"Yeah..." He trials off, but the 'yeah' holds a note of inexplicable something, which makes it obvious that he wants something from me.

"So what do you want from me?" I ask bluntly, making him chuckle a 'you caught me' chuckle.

"It's a double date." He states after a moment.

"Uh huh." I reply, already having a bad feeling of how this is going to end.

"Paige is coming."

My heart stops.

Oh yeah, did I fail to mention that Paige and Quinn are best friends and they are from my city as well?

Maybe I forgot. But now that I've mentioned it, you know the reason for my anxiety.

"No way, Kingsley." I answer, even before he could ask me his question.

"C'mon, Anders!" He cajoles and that annoys me more. No matter how many times I remind people, they just don't get the fact that 'Anders' is not my last name. Many think that I'm too proud to tell my first name when I introduce myself to them. It's such a pity that people are so stupid.

"No," I say firmly, curbing in the urge to hang up on him.

"No one else will come because they know that Paige is your girl!" He complains,

"Since when is Paige 'my' girl?" I ask, confused.

"Cut the shît, Larzelere. Everyone knows that you have the hots for her." He informs casually, and my heart just about jumps out of my chest and crashes to the floor.

"What?! No!" I deny immediately, trying to save face.

I don't want to humiliate myself further by asking the question 'How he knew it,'. Because, when I'd finished my 1st year of college and returned home last summer—with a huge crush on Paige, of course—I hadn't known that Paige's Mom, Dad and younger brother had moved to Riverdale during the year, wanting 'calmer' surroundings.

So, when she'd walked into the Club I was meeting my high-school friends on, looking dazzling in her white dress, my jaw had dropped, both in awe and shock.

"It's so obvious man! Stop trynna deny it."

"Well, shit if she knows."

"She doesn't." He says, and I blow out the biggest sigh of relief.

"But," He adds, before I can even finish sighing. "If you don't come, I will tell her."

With that, that little fûcker hangs up on me.

Fúck, what am I going to do now?!

♻︎ ♻︎ ♻︎

"Going out with someone special?" Starnes asks with his usual aura of serenity, as I rush down the stairs.

"Yes," I answer, throwing him a constipated grin as I stop myself from slipping on the carpet and speed-walk to the door.

"A date, I presume. Good luck." He says, smiling, as he once again reads my mind.

"I'll be needing that a lot tonight." I say, and wave at him over my shoulder. I pull open my car's door quickly and get inside, buckling myself in the process.

"Have a great night, Mr. Larzelere."

"Thank you, Starnes!"

With that, I'm off for my date night.

♻︎ ♻︎ ♻︎

"So...What's your favorite color?"

Yeah, I seriously just asked her that question.

"Um, green." She says, smiling, as she sips on her strawberry milkshake.

"Nice." I say, nodding back.

It has been half an hour since we arrived at the Gibson Summer Fare.

Great place for a first date, I know.

Note the sarcasm.

After the initial 'Hi' and 'Hellos', Ethan and Quinn had ditched the two of us, leaving to God knows where in this crowded fare.

"What's yours?" Paige asks, and instantly, my mind flashes back to a pair of molten gold eyes.

"Gold." I reply, without thinking.

Crap.

"Wow. Exotic," She comments, shrugging.

Just great, Anders. Come on a date with one girl, and think about another.

"Yeah..." I mumble, looking around. My eyes fall on the ferris wheel, and before I could think twice, I blurt out, "Do you wanna ride that?" I point the ferris wheel behind her. She turns around to see what I'm talking about and the turns to me with another smile.

"Okay."

I take a look at the lengthy queue waiting for their turn, and wince.

"Maybe you should go and wait on the line. I'll be right back." I suggest, looking at her with hopeful eyes. She takes another sip of her milkshake and looks at me, confused.

"Where are you going?" She queries, scrunching her pale brows together.

"Nature Calls," I smile at her with an embarrassed expression that I hope looks convincing enough, and she laughs breathily at that.

"Okay, okay. Be soon." She says, and turns around, sauntering over to the line.

Phew.

How much more awkwardness can a man take?

I shake my head and turn around in the direction of the Men's room, for the sake of keeping up the pretense of my little lie. Suddenly, the hairs on my neck raise, and for the second time that evening, I get the eerie feeling that someone is watching me.

I turn my head to the right and left, scanning the crowd for anything that might seem out of place.

Nothing.

Okay, then.

In my search for the supposed stalker, I don't see who is coming my way, and accidentally slam into someone.

"Ouch." That someone says, and I turn to them in alarm.

"I'm sorry!" I apologize to the dark-haired girl before me, who's rubbing her shoulder.

"Dude, watch where you're going," A male voice snaps, just before a guy comes into view. I nod my head apologetically at him in reply. The guy wraps his arm around the girl, saying something to her in a low voice, and I don't wait one more second to escape, before he decides to pick a fight.

Finally, the small building with the black drawing of a man's silhouette grabs my eyes. I enter the Men's room and close the door behind me, thankful that it's empty. I trudge over to the dingy sinks and open a faucet, letting water rush out like a fountain. I gather the cool liquid in my palms, splashing it over my face.

Sigh.

All the nervous sweating had made it sticky.

I look back up at the mirror, and almost jump out of my skin in shock, when I see another person standing behind me in the reflection.

It's her.

Angel looks amused by my reaction, and her lips tilt up in a smirk.

"W-What are you doing here?!" I exclaim, turning around to meet her eyes directly.

"You act like I shouldn't be here," She replies, and hearing the sound of her melodic, soprano voice for the first time, sends a zing up my spine.

A zing?! What the hell?

"Of course, you shouldn't be here! It's the Men's room!" I exclaim, walking closer to her. The moment I come a feet distance of her, my senses are assaulted with the sweetest, most appealing perfume man has ever known. It's not too floral, but something musky with a hint of violets.

The scent itself screams one word, 'Pure'.

Shut up, Anders.

"Oh. The ladies room was full of pesky little humans." She says with disdain, spitting out the word 'Human', like it's something bad. When she notices the strange look I'm giving her, she shakes her head in correction. "I mean, a posse of barbie doll-like girls. Probably from the local high-school." She improvises, but it's so obvious hat she's making it up.

She walks to the mirror above the sinks. "And I wanted to fix my hair," She adds, and runs a hand through her silken curls, fluffing it up.

I cock a brow, dubious.

She meets my doubtful gaze in the mirror with a small wink.

"Just kidding." She says after a moment, pirouetting to look at me fully.

"Maybe I'm here to take you away." She whispers, and my brows shoot up in confusion. For some morbid reason, fear strikes my heart like a lightning bolt, when I see a predatory glint in her liquid golden eyes. Something that sends my heart into overdrive, and makes my breathing shallow.

That's stupid, because she's just a girl, right? I can easily overpower her with my size.

But still, my voice shakes when I speak, "W-What the fück do you mean?"

"Tsk, Tsk, little Mate. No cursing." She says, waving her index finger with a mock reprimanding expression.

Mate? Maybe she is from Australia?

She doesn't have an accent though.

Her full pink lips stretch in a secretive smirk as she slowly advances in on me, twirling a piece of red cloth in her hand that suspiciously looks like a silk tie.

'Ooh, Kinky,' My mind comments and I want to smack myself for such thoughts in such a situation.

"W-Why do you have that?" I point to it, looking at her with suspicious eyes.

Instead of replying, she continues to advance on me, and like the idiot I am, I back up with every step she takes.

Only to get cornered.

'Super, Anders. Just Super.' I chide myself, feeling completely stupid.

She takes the last step between us, and places her hands on either sides of my face on the wall, leaning close to my ear.

"To give you your happily-ever-after," She whispers in a throaty voice, and I shiver visibly when her hot breath tickles the sensitive flesh in my neck.

"W-what?" I stutter, feeling dazed and disoriented. I can already feel my cheeks heating up.

Damnit, Damnit, Damnit!

"Oh, I'm kidnapping you,"

With that, she presses a small white square of something — that I didn't notice she had — on my face. In a split second, a sharp and chemical smell invades my nostrils and before I know, I slip into a spiraling abyss of darkness.

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