No Strings Attached? // Roman Godfrey

Back to school.

"Of course!" you said with a wide smile. "Letha's friends are also my friends. And I have quite some classes with her as well, so  we can get to know each other better, if you'd like."

"That would be nice." she quietly mumbled a little bit. "I-I've never really had friends. Let alone a group of people liking me."

She looked down to the floor and you noticed that she came across somewhat younger than you all. She was probably around Shelley's age. Maybe she had skipped a class, and that's why she never had friends.

"Hey, it's okay." you tried to comfort her. "You have us now."

"Thank you, Eva." she said with a small smile.

---

"I still have one class to go." Shelley's computer voice said, as she let out a sigh.

"We'll wait for you." Roman said, walking up to her and lightly touching her cheek with his thumb. "We're gonna get ice cream, and you have to come too."

Shelley smiled happily, because she loved ice cream. She walked by you and smiled, just  before entering the classroom next to the bench you were sitting on.

Peter sat next to you and was watching Letha sorting out her locker. Roman came sitting on the other side next yo you and Alison took the spot next to him. You leaned your head on Peter's shoulder and at that moment, Cassidy and her minions walked by.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Eva." she said as she stood still. "He might kill you this time."

You rolled your eyes at her. "Just fuck off, Cassidy."

"Eva, just let them." Peter mumbled at you. "She's not worth it."

"Ahw how sweet." she continued saying with a teasing voice. "He's trying to hide the fact that he's the dangerous one, and not me. Who are you gonna scar next? Your precious Letha?"

"That's enough, Cassidy." Roman said as he got up and angrily walked up to her, making her back off.

You knew what Roman was about to do, so you got up as well and got in front of him. You looked him in the eyes. "Roman, don't."

He sighed and bit his lower lip as he backed off a little bit to give you some space. You then turned to Cassidy and said: "I would appreciate it if you didn't spread lies about my family anymore. We all know you're butthurt because Peter is with Letha and not with you."

"What are you gonna do?" she said, as she got closer to you. "Make me shut up?"

"If I have to." you replied.

"Your cousin is a psychopath who tried to kill you." she said right into your face.

You didn't hesitate for a second and gave her a punch in the face. "That's a fucking lie!"

She looked shocked at the fact that you had actually hit her and immediately got ready to give you one back. In a split second, you saw Peter standing in between you and Cassidy and felt Roman's arms dragging you away from her.

"Roman let me go!" you practically yelled. "I'm fucking gonna kill her!"

"No you're not." Roman replied, as he sat you down on the bench and stood in front of you, in case you wanted to get up again.

Peter came walking back, and it looked like Cassidy had left. "Shee-it Eva. What were you thinking?"

"She can't say things like that!" you said, still semi-yelling.

Roman chuckled, licked his lips a little bit and looked at you while shaking his head. "That was fucking unbelievable, pumpkin."

"Shut up." you said. "Why did you stop me? I can easily take her."

"I know." Roman said. "But not while you're still recovering. Any other day I would've let you fight it out though."

---

"I hope she has a black eye tomorrow." Letha said, with a slight chuckle.

Shelley's class had ended and all of you were not at the local ice cream shop. Roman, Peter and Alison were getting the ice cream, while you, Letha and Shelley picked out a good spot to sit down.

"She probably will." you snorted, looking at the three that were ordering the ice cream. You saw Peter struggling to pick what he wanted, while Roman and Alison were talking and soon goofing around a little bit. They looked like total opposites, Roman with his dark jeans, grey shirt and his hair pushed back a little, and Alison with her pastel pink sundress and her hair falling loose over her shoulders.

You couldn't help but feeling a little bit jealous, since it seemed like he immediately thought she was nice. While he didn't think that about you when you first met. Okay, you didn't like him either back then. But you did like him now.

The three of them walked back and Alison handed you your ice cream as she sat down next to you. Everyone just chatted a bit with each other, but you couldn't really keep your head with it.

After everyone finished their ice cream, you all walked back to the school's parking lot. Peter and Roman were way up front, goofing around. Letha and Shelley were talking about some books they had read and were reading, and you and Alison walked quietly next to each other.

"Eva, aren't you warm with that vest on?" Alison quietly asked. "Why don't you take it off?"

"I don't want anyone to see the scars." you replied quickly.

You saw Alison's eyes widen a little bit. "I'm so sorry! I didn't know. I mean, I knew you had scars, but I didn't know they were on your arms. I'm really sorry, Eva!"

You chuckled a little, "It's okay, you didn't know that! It's my left arm, mostly my under arm. And the left side of my waist."

"Has anyone seen them?" Alison carefully asked, hoping she wasn't too rude by asking that.

"Only Roman." you said. "Because he had to help me with stuff, you know."

"Are you together?" she smiled at you. "Because I heard Peter say that you live with him. And you two seem pretty close."

You shook your head. "No. I'm just staying at his place until my sister comes back from her trip. And he offered to help me when I got out of the hospital."

"Oh okay." she replied. You heard a hint of relief in her voice.

"I know we don't know each other that well." she then continued. "But you seems really genuine and I feel like you, and Letha and Shelley too, are like one of my best friends already."

"That's really nice of you to say." you said with a smile. "I feel like we are. You're so easy to talk with and you're absolutely one of the nicest people I have ever met."

She smiled ad sighed a little. "Can I get something off my chest? I can't tell Letha. Or at least not yet. And I feel like the best person to talk to about this."

"Yeah sure." you said as you looked at her. You could see that it was obviously bothering her. "What's the matter?"

She looked at you, a little nervous and took a deep breath. "I really ike Roman. I've been liking him since I met him a few weeks ago."