Chapter Text
Lydia Martin was dressed to impress. She had long ago decided that her college life was going to be better than her high school career had ever been. No more hiding behind her pretty face, no more hiding behind Jackson’s cocky little smirk and, most importantly, no more playing dumb.
She wasn’t going to be known as the good looking but thick girl that everyone knew because she was popular. She was going to take Berkeley by storm. Or, at least, that was her plan.
Walking into her freshman Quantum Mechanics class on her first day however proved that leaving the old Lydia behind was easier said than done.
“Hey honey, you lost?” A boy with greasy hair and glasses with frames too big to suit his face called from the second row.
Lydia quirked her eyebrow at the boy and his smile faded. She smiled sweetly at him and proceeded to march right past him, seeking out a seat at the back of the hall.
The only other person on the back row was an older man. He looked at least a few years older than Lydia herself. He was wearing a pale blue V-neck that brought out the colour in his eyes perfectly. His jeans were stretched tight across his thighs as he sat with his legs opened wide, boots making an annoying tapping sound on the floor as he moved his legs in a weird rhythm.
He looked up as Lydia sat two seats down from him and she shot him a small smile. He seemed like the kind of person the new Lydia could be friends with. He returned the smile and lent across the seats parting them, the neck line of his t-shirt falling and revealing his chest, his very nice, sculpted from marble, chest.
Lydia tried not to gape and looked him in the eyes, she leaned closer to him as well, maybe this could be the start of a new friendship, she thought, if not more…
“If you really are lost you should probably get out now, because it’s going to get confusing for you very fast baby, this is quantum mechanics, a load of numbers and horrible equations,” he fake shuddered. “Not the place you want to be I’m sure.” He finished talking with a wink and Lydia instantly hated him, right down to his stupid little goatee.
Right there she made a vow to herself that she would do anything she can to keep the smarmy little smirk off his face, she was doing a favour really, it wasn’t a good look on him.
“Listen asshole, I had a 4.0 GPA in high school, took mostly AP classes and was valedictorian. I may look like a superficial airhead but don’t think for a second that that is what I actually am, especially since you know nothing about me, okay?” She raised her eyebrow and continued glaring at him.
He looked at her again, assessing her.
“Okay,” he agreed quietly.
Lydia tossed her hair over her shoulder and turned away to get her books from her bag. She heard a desk creak and turned back to see the boy looking at her with wide eyes and clenched fists on the table, his knuckles were white. He was looking at her like a starving man would look at a buffet, with awe and hunger. Both were acceptable reactions to have towards her she thought, she knew she was beautiful after all. However, the slight fear in his eyes confused her; she was as nonthreatening as someone could be. Her soft purple dress stopped mid-thigh and the grey cardigan she wore was loosely tied around her waist, showing off her curves. Her legs were bare except for some small boots that barely reached her shins. So understandably she was confused by the fear.
The more she kept looking at him however, the less scared he looked. The energy between them buzzed and Lydia found she couldn’t look away. The blue of his eyes visibly darkened as he made to close the distance between them, his eyes glancing down at her lips. Just as his mouth opened there was a loud bang from the front of the lecture hall.
Jumping in her seat Lydia turned to the front to see the professor stood, waiting to teach. He smiled and said, with a slight manic look in his eyes, “Hello, I’m Professor Finstock, and this is quantum mechanics…”
She distracted herself trying to focus on what he was saying, letting out a small relieved sigh at the interruption. She wasn’t going to be that girl, the one always obsessed with any guy that looked her way. Not that there is anything wrong with that, it’s just not how she intended to leave her mark here. No distractions she had promised herself, and now it looked like it was all going to shit.
All because of a very cocky, very attractive distraction, currently sitting only two spaces away, with a small smirk on his face.
Lydia sighed to herself. This was going to be harder than she thought.
* * * * *
Peter was really only humouring his sister Taila. He had no need to go to college, he definitely had no need for a degree, but, as she had pointed out, Derek couldn’t very well go away to college on his own. Since he was the closest in age, and his sister had considerable leverage over him, he was enrolled in Berkeley as a mature student, Peter shuddered at the very though, mature indeed. He was only four years older than Derek (really, the less he thought about the fact his own nephew was almost a brother to him, the better) so no one could call him old at all. Although… he thought, looking around his class, Quantum Mechanics, he was practically a dinosaur compared to some of the students, half of them didn’t even look like high schoolers.
He was wondering how much shit he would be in with his dear older sister when the door opened and a beautiful girl stepped quietly inside. She walked with her head held high and a slight smirk on her face, it was as if she knew everyone was looking at her, and what’s more, she revelled in it. She seemed completely consumed with her thoughts until a kid on the second row, Peter had heard him introduce himself as Greenburg, shouted out to her. He said something completely stupid about her leaving, as if a girl couldn’t be smart, Peter rolled his eyes. Peter braced himself for the inevitable shouting match that was going to take place, the girls eyes had a fire that seemed to blaze just beneath the surface, a fire that said she wasn’t go to let this go.
Instead of her shouting though she simply stood up taller, squared her shoulders and raised her eyebrow at the poor boy. The look was like a silver bullet to the heart and honestly Peter would have crumbled under it, it reminded him of his sister and how she had the ability to make him want to repent for the rest of his life with only a twitch of her perfectly waxed eyebrows. The thought of this small, unassuming girl with an alpha backbone was a laughable idea, but then again, Peter watched her climb the stairs, right to the back, maybe she would be fun to toy with.
She shuffled across the row, her short purple dress caught on the desks, showing more leg than she intended to, Peter is sure. Not that he was complaining.
Her legs seemed to go on forever, a ridiculous amount of creamy skin on show, just begging him to be traced with his mouth, his tongue…
She finally chose a seat, just one down from him, close enough so he could hear her heartbeat clearly over the noise the other students were making in the hall. Her heart was pumping in an odd way, either from the confrontation earlier or the climb. Or she could be nervous; the way she glanced up at him shyly confirmed his theory. Now, Peter thought to himself cockily, what could make her so nervous.
He grinned back at her and leant in; her heart missed a beat and then started again, double time.
She leant in as well, her eyes flashed down to Peters chest and he supressed a smirk. Now was the time to choose, be an ass or lead her on?
“If you really are lost you should probably get out now, because it’s going to get confusing for you very fast baby, this is quantum mechanics, a load of numbers and horrible equations. Not the place you want to be I’m sure.” He finished with a smirk, so ass it was then.
Her whole body stiffened and Peter could see a tiny glimpse of hurt in her eyes before her anger returned, this time with a voice.
She went on a well-constructed rant about how she was smart, but Peter could only look at her mouth. Her lips were full and stained dark pink, Peter could just imagine them wrapped around his… Nope, not even going there, he thought.
Trying to tune in to what she was actually saying, something about being more than just a pretty face, Peter was distracted again, this time by her voice. It was high pitched and commanding and he could just imagine the noises she’d make if her held her down and… Taking another deep breath Peter tried to clear his head. Jesus, what’s wrong with me today, Peter thought to himself angrily, I don’t even know her name.
When he looked back at her she seemed to be expecting an answer from him. Peter simply agreed with her, hoping it was the right course of action.
Seemingly placating she nodded her head at him, as if she’d taught him a lesson or something. Peter was amused but willing to let it go, after all, she would be too hard to try to annoy without putting too much effort into it. She seemed like the kind of girl who wouldn’t let herself be stepped on. Too much energy would be wasted on someone he probably wouldn’t know for more than a month. Peter would just have to give up.
He had just agreed on this when the girl tossed her hair over her shoulder and bent over to get something out of her bag. The scent hit Peter like a ton of bricks, leaving him struck dumb. Her scent was fruity, like pomegranates and raspberries, and it was the single most delicious scent he’d ever caught.
His mouth filled with saliva and his hands gripped the table to stop himself from claiming her as his own. Because that was the thing wasn’t it, or more accurately, she was the thing. The only thing he’d ever want. His mate.
He’d heard the stories when he was little, been told from a young age that you’d just know when it happened to you, when you met the person who would complete you. And apparently for Peter it was happening in a crowded lecture hall, in a college he didn’t want to go to, with a girl he’d just pissed off. Talia was going to die laughing at him.
The girl, he really should get a name at this point, turned to look back at him, her hair flowing over her shoulder and sending more of that mouth-watering scent his way. He looked at her again; this was the person he was supposed to spend forever with? A beautiful, yet smart, woman who would probably crush him like a bug if he ever dared to treat her like anything other than the goddess she was. She would be high maintenance, but the more her thought about it, the more he wanted it. He wanted to wake her up with breakfast, wanted to take her shopping for more dresses that would hug her figure perfectly and make other men jealous of him. He wanted to worship her.
He hadn’t realised that they had been leaning closer together but they had, he could easily reach out and touch her perfect curls, but he didn’t.
His eyes were drawn to her lips, they were parted slightly and each breath out of them looked laboured, like she was struggling to get enough air. Peter could sympathise.
He opened his mouth, about to ask for a name of the woman who had changed his life with a flick of her hair when there was a loud bang from the font of the class. The professor had finally arrived it seemed. Peter glanced back at the girl, what was her name, but the spell was broken, she was sat straight in her chair, resolutely not looking in his direction.
She shook her head like she was scolding herself and it made Peter smile. She shot him a glare and then turned her attention back to the front of the hall.
Yeah, Talia was never going to let him forget this.
* * * * *