Unrevealed

When I got to campus that morning, I couldn't see my unwelcome fans, it seemed Wyatt, Josh and their friends were finally off my back. It wasn't until I saw Josh and his friends in the hallway that I knew what was really going on.
Wyatt had a broken nose, Josh walked like his ribs hurt and another boy with greenish hair was limping. The second I saw them, Roman flashed up in my head and I instantly knew he was behind their injuries.
To make matters more eventful, when they saw me they turned and walked back to the direction they had come and I was convinced Roman most probably threatened them somehow.
I realised just how miserable I had been for the past two days and it had nothing to do with the dread of pending bullying. It had absolutely everything to do with Roman Reeves — the man who demanded my awareness every single second of my day.
I wanted so badly to make peace between Roman and I, and to thank him for getting Wyatt and his friends off my back, and later that afternoon when I'd walked through the door he had a TV channel on, a nineteen sixties movie playing but he looked miles away.
I was wearing one of his t-shirts just to annoy him, to get some kind of reaction from him. But he barely looked away from the TV screen. There was no volume coming from the TV and I had no doubt that he'd heard me come in. He was still mad at me, I realized with great dismay.
I walked towards him and took a seat in the love seat overlooking the balcony.
"Roman," I mumbled nervously, shifting from foot to foot. "I wanted to thank you for what you did for me with Wyatt and..."
He buried his face in his hands and made sure I saw how annoyed he was. "I don't know what you're talking about."
I sighed, this was going to be harder than I had originally thought. "I—I also want to apologise for Friday," I continued in the friendliest tone I could muster, I even put on my rare, unskilled puppy dog eyes.
He sighed, the edge of frustration creeping up on his attractive features. He swiftly got to his feet and walked down the narrow hallway to his bedroom.
I could hear the force with which he shut the door, a rough translation that I should not go after him. I grimaced as the door banged against the frame.
And that was it for conversation, for the whole day. I glanced at him at the dinner table as he moved the food around the plate, I looked away again.
When I looked up again — unable to help myself — it was to meet his penetrating gaze.
His face made an almost scowling emotion. He held his eyebrows closely together.
What was he thinking?
He sighed and looked away, down at the plate he was pondering at.
The frustration that inched with the growing silence made me tense. It was getting ridiculous and it worried me.
"This is stupid," I said.
He didn't look up. The only indication I had that he'd indeed heard me was the stutter of his fork on the plate, other than that he pretended like I wasn't there.
"Plus, I hate the phone you got me," I lied. On Saturday when I came back from a short walk down the road, he'd handed me a Samsung S8, too luxurious.
"I'll buy you another one," he mumbled. "What phone would you like?"
My eyes widened. "I was lying. My phone is fine."
He shrugged, not finding humor in what I'd just said.
I sighed, giving up on the conversation. I took my dinner with me to my room. If he was going to ignore me then I wouldn't be in his presence when he clearly didn't want me around.
I sat on the white fluffy carpet floor with my back against the bed. Roman walked in with his plate of food and sat far away from me, his back leaning against the wall.
What was he doing?
I bit my tongue to stop myself from voicing my thoughts.
He lingered in my room until after ten. He got up, took my dirty dishes and strode out of the room. I watched him leave, my jaw dropping to the ground.
The nerve!
Roman Reeves was just so unbelievable.
Tuesday, the day passed without any notable incident. Except, well maybe, that Thomas was smiling at me from across the cafeteria. I tried not to grimaced, maybe I'd been unfair to the boy. He waved and I nodded my acknowledgement. I didn't want to be familiar with him. There was just no need to force Roman's hand, and leading Thomas on would be just as cruel.
That night Roman ordered pizza and we ate in silence.
"Are you still not talking to me?" I asked him.
He looked up and my heart reacted like it normally did. I grumbled under my breath.
"I said I was sorry, okay?"
He looked away from me.
I sighed. "You're impossible!"
His lips twitched.
I was mortified. "You find this funny!"
He cleared his throat and shrugged.
I threw my hands up in despair. "Stupid Roman!"
Before getting started on my homework I took a quick shower. After the shower I walked to the kitchen to get myself a packet of doritos, Roman was there.
I froze mid-step.
He looked up and frowned. I was wearing an old t-shirt that used to be my father's.
I ignored him. Which was almost impossible.
I slept well that night. The dry air promising a sunny day the next morning.
In the morning, the sun was pleasantly warm, the sky was full of white puffy clouds and the birds were singing their praises.