Once Upon A Rejection

“You don’t need to wait for me outside of my classes, you know.” I said.

I had thought that Grayson would go for a walk around the campus or find a coffee shop while I was in my first class. I didn’t think he would stand outside for the whole lesson waiting for me, peering through the widow every so often to check I was still ok. The thought of him standing there the whole lesson made me feel really guilty.

“I know but then I wouldn’t have learnt about machine learning algorithms.” He said.

“Did you understand the lecture?” I asked maybe a little too eagerly. All my friends thought I was a geek for being interested in this kind of thing but I found it all so fascinating. It would be nice to have someone else to talk to about it.

“Not a word of it.” He replied. I giggled.

“That can’t be very fun. How about I show you a coffee shop I like to go to. You can walk around campus while I am in classes and meet me there in about two hours?” I suggested.

Grayson agreed. I don’t think he liked the idea of being away from me very much but he had to admit that my lessons weren’t exactly that interesting to someone without a scientific or mathematical background.

I showed him how to get to my favourite cafe and made sure that he had my phone number in case he got lost. I then headed to my next lesson. I could hear Ellie and June gossiping about me before I even walked into the classroom.

“You should see the guy she was with. Talk about hot, he is literally steaming.” June said.

Ellie was about to reply but then she looked up and saw me walking into the room and quickly closed her mouth. June followed her gaze, she smiled at me. There were still a few minutes before the class was due to start and I knew that June was going to make it feel like hours.

“What the hell Molly? You go away for a couple of days and come back engaged?” June shouted.

I glanced around the room, practically everyone was now staring at me. I sat down in the place that June and Ellie had saved for me, right between the two of them. The perfect place for them to both interrogate me effectively.

“I guess.” I said.

“I don’t understand. You were so much of a commitment phobe that didn’t even want to call Dominic your boyfriend and yet you are getting married to some guy that you hardly know.” Ellie said, I could tell from the tone of her voice that she was concerned about me.

“I don’t care how hot he is, you can’t marry someone you don’t know.” June interjected. What was this, some kind of intervention?

“It’s not like that, his family and my family are close. We used to talk a lot when I was younger.” I replied.

“So this is some kind of arranged marriage then, I am sure that is illegal.” June said.

“If you need us to help you get out of it then just tell us. We are here for you.” Ellie added.

“No, that is not what I meant. Nobody is forcing us into it.” I replied although technically it wasn’t true, at least to begin with.

“Ok, so why are you engaged rather than simply dating?” Ellie asked.

Luckily I had been thinking about how to answer that question for most of yesterday evening.

“His family are a bit old fashioned.” I said. I shrugged as if to imply that it wasn’t a huge problem. I hoped that they would take the hint and change the subject.

“So does that mean that you won’t be having s*x until after the wedding.” Ellie asked.

“Oh, I can see why you are getting married so quickly.” June said. She nodded her head slowly as though everything had suddenly become clear.

“Oh come on. I am not saying that we won’t do that before we get married, we just have to keep it a secret.” I said.

“So have you done it already?” June asked in a fake seductive tone. She winked at me.

I looked around the room and everyone was still looking at me. I felt myself blushing, why was everyone suddenly so interested in my s*x life.

“No, we were both a bit too tired last night.” I said. I kept my voice quiet hoping that the rest of the class would lose interest in our conversation.

“I don’t believe you.” Ellie said.

“Me neither, I think that you…” June was interrupted by the tutor walking into the room.

I could tell that June and Ellie were desperate to ask me for more details. For the whole two hour lesson they kept glancing in my direction every few minutes. I tried to ignore them and focus my attention on the lecture instead.

When the lesson ended I stuffed my belongings into my backpack and left the room. I wanted to get out of that classroom before June had a chance to ask me any more awkward questions. I managed to get as far as the courtyard outside of the main building before June and Ellie caught up with me.

“Where are you heading in such a hurry?” June asked.

She was slightly breathless from the jog through the building in order to catch up with me.

“I am going to meet Grayson. He will be waiting for me in the cafe, he is probably very bored right now.” I said.

“Now the rush makes sense.” Ellie said.

She was only around 5ft2 and she was having real issues trying to keep up with me and June, we are both much taller than she is. My attempt at escape had evidently failed anyway so I slowed my pace to a steady walk.

When we arrived at the cafe a few minutes later I I saw Grayson instantly. He was sitting alone at one of the tables, he had a coffee on the table in front of him. He was looking at something on his phone. I felt a small flutter in my chest at the sight of him.

‘And you say I have it bad.’ Jade teased.

I felt as though the eyes of all the women in the cafe were on Grayson. I knew it was probably the mate bond messing with my emotions and making me possessive. It was the reason most people marked and mated with their mate within hours of recognising each other. Once the bond is complete it is unbreakable and this possessiveness starts to melt away.

We ordered our lunch then joined Grayson at the table. He put the phone back into the pocket of his jeans and kissed my cheek as soon as I sat down beside him. I hadn’t realised how anxious I had felt all morning but now that I was by his side I could feel it all melting away. This must be what he meant when he said we couldn’t be apart.

“I had to come and see who managed to get Molly to get over her fear of commitment.” Ellie said as she sat down next to me.

“I hope I am not a disappointment.” Grayson replied.

“No, although I was wondering. Molly doesn’t seem to be wearing an engagement ring.” June said.

She winked at me, I wonder how long she had been thinking up this obvious hint. I felt myself blushing for what must have been the one hundredth time today. I hope that Grayson doesn’t think I put her up to this.

“No but we are going shopping tomorrow.” Grayson replied, taking the bait. He looked in my direction and smiled. Oh yeah, he clearly thought I had put June up to asking that. I hope he didn’t think I was only taking back my rejection because I want him to buy me things.

“Ok, he is perfect. Where can I get one?” June said.

“Do you have any brothers or sisters?” Ellie asked.

“I have two younger brothers.” He replied.

“You shouldn’t have told her that. She might show up at your house and try to seduce one of them.” June jokes, or at least I hoped it was a joke.

“Who said it would only be one of them?” Ellie said. Now that had to be a joke, right?

June opened her mouth in shock. At first I thought it was because of what Ellie said but then I noticed that she was looking past me towards the entrance of the cafe. I turned around to see Dominic walking towards us.

‘Now you are in trouble.’ Scarlett said