Convincing her (Jen and Lucas)

Chapter 51: Strange man

The following day Jen woke up early since she knew she had to walk to campus. She didn't feel well-rested since it seemed like she had already gotten used to Lucas sleeping beside her from the two days that they spent together.

She wasn't well-rested but she felt like she had gotten a load off of her shoulders and silently vowed that she would try to give their relationship everything she had.

She was not able to do so for her previous relationship and had tried to compensate Tyler by doing whatever he asked her at the time, but because of how the dynamics of their relationship worked, Tyler continued asking and she freely gave and she couldn't ask for anything in return since she was feeling guilty for not being entirely there. After her shower, she quickly got dressed and made herself a small breakfast before leaving.

She quickly made her way to campus and as she normally did, she had put on her earphones making her completely oblivious to what was going on around her.

*

Michael was talking to one of his friends who was majoring in performing arts when he noticed Jen enter the campus. He was able to easily spot her because people were whispering and pointing at her. 'Did she become famous or something?' He wondered as he looked in her direction and ignored his friend who was talking nonstop. His friend noticed that Michael was distracted and turned to see what had caught his attention.

"Give up bro, she's dating some billionaire" the Jared advised.

"Mmh" Michael vaguely replied. What his friend didn't know was that Michael was not looking at Jen but the man who was walking behind her. He had noticed him follow her around more than a couple of time and when he tried talking to her he was always being brushed off.

He didn't know what he was doing wrong but he was getting very bad vibes from the man.

He was unsure if he was a student or just a random person who had developed an interest in her, but he was always in her vicinity.

"Do you recognize that guy?" Michael asked his friend while pointing in his direction with his chin.

"Which guy?" His friend asked with furrowed eyebrows

"The one in the black hoodie and cap, he is wearing a face mask like he has a cold" Michael described in a couple of seconds his friend was able to zone in on him.

"Ah, no man, I've never seen him. Is he new?" Jared asked curiously

"You don't recognize him?" Michael asked again as if confirming something.

"Yeah, I know practically everyone on campus and I've never seen him before" Jared confirmed.

"Okay," Michael said deciding that he would try to talk to Jen again today.

"Why?" Jared asked curiously.

"I've been seeing him around her but whenever I tried talking to her she would ignore me and brush me off" Michael explained.

"You tried talking to her? You probably tried to be nice and came off as creepy right?" Jared teased.

"What do you mean?" Michael asked truly lost.

"What did you say when you wanted to talk to her?" Jared asked preparing himself for the worst.

"I said hi, then asked her out for coffee" Michael explained.

"You didn't ask her for coffee immediately right?" Jared said trying not to imagine it being as bad as it sounded.

"I did. It's not like I can just blurt out that you have a weird guy that follows you around can I?" Michael said defensively.

"I understand your sentiments, but she probably thought you were coming on to her or something" Jared tried to explain

"What?!" Michael exclaimed genuinely surprised. Jared resisted the urge to smack his head. He knew his friend had a pretty much non-existent EQ, even though he was smart, he was very awkward when it came to communicating with people. It's easier with guys, but girls would just find him creepy.

"Why would she think that?" Michael asked making Jared facepalm.

"There's no point in explaining it to you, you wouldn't understand, your smart in everything else with the exception of the stuff that actually matters," Jared said in frustration.

His friend was always ranked first since they were in middle school together, but couldn't communicate and it seemed he was also asexual, he had never shown much interest in anyone.

The only reason he was not bullied was because he was ridiculously handsome. Jared couldn't help but feel envious of his wasted looks whenever the two of them met.

"If you can't talk to her then tell her boyfriend, she isn't your responsibility anyway," Jared said.

"Who is her boyfriend?" Michael asked blinking his slightly tilted eyes. Jared was speechless for a second before he sighed.

"Lucas Lewis" Jared answered

"Oh, how do I contact him?" Michael asked again.

"How the f*** am I supposed to know? I'll see you later" Jared answered in frustration before he turned to leave.

"Don't force her to talk to you, if she doesn't want to talk respect her space" Jared added before he left.

Michael looked at his friend's disappearing back wondering what had gotten him so worked up before he turned to go to the lecture hall.

*

The lecture had finally ended after three hours and Jen was arranging her things in her bag before she noticed someone standing in front of her. It was the same guy who had been pestering her to talk during the previous week. She couldn't help but roll her eyes from annoyance.

"Excuse me," Michael said.

"Yes?" Jen said after calming herself down. She was not about to let anyone ruin her mood.

"Can we talk? It's really important" Michael asked. Jen almost scoffed at him.

Although he was adorable, like her young brother, she did not appreciate how he was constantly in her space and couldn't help but feel annoyed by it.

"I'm busy, maybe next time?" Jen said as she closed her bag.

"But it's really impo-" Michael said before she interrupted him.

"I know that I may come across as mean, but I really am busy," Jen said as she stood up and walked out of class. Michael resisted the urge to follow her out and just sighed.

"Will I really need to find her boyfriend for this?" Michael asked himself feeling slightly frustrated.