Chapter Text
Feels Like Home
Chapter 1
Athena Carter angrily slammed her breaks as she pulled into the university parking lot.
She grabbed her cell phone and looked at the number of texts and became more infuriated.
When would that asshole realize it was over?
She got out of the car and slammed the door.
Athena pressed the talk button so hard she was surprised it didn't break.
"Aaron, for a law major you sure are a real idiot!" Athena screamed, letting all of her anger out. "No, no you don't get to talk! Now listen, you and I are done! Stop texting me, stop calling me...and oh yeah, stop emailing me!" With that, she disconnected the call.
If she wasn't so pissed off, the looks the students around were giving her would've been embarrassing.
On second thought, she really didn't want a huge audience. It wasn't like her to air her dirty laundry for all to hear.
Athena stalked passed all of the students, all of the stares. She walked right over to registration.
"Hi!" A cherry girl greeted her from behind the table. "Welcome to the University of Los Angelos. My name is Billie..."
"I'm sorry, but I'm really not in the mood to share pleasantries right now. Can I please just get checked in?" Athena cut her off.
Billie seemed taken aback, but nodded with a smile still on her face. "First day?" When Athena just gave a short nod, she continued clearly not taking the hint. "I bet you have a boyfriend back home you miss like crazy, right?"
"No!" Athena snapped. "But I do have an ex boyfriend I'd like nothing more than to use as my own personal punching bag!"
Billie's eyes lit up in understanding. "Say no more. Got a few of those myself, girlfriend."
Athena sighed. "Seriously, I really just wanna get checked in. My name is Athena Carter."
Billie nodded and looked through the files. "Oh, here we are. Athena Carter, you are going to be in room 15B. Here is your key. Oh, and make sure you check in with the RA. It's campus policy."
Athena grabbed the key and her papers eagerly and took off.
"Wait, Athena!" Billie yelled but she was already too far gone. "I never told you his name." She sighed. "Oh well...can't win them all."
~*~*~*~*~*~~*~
Athena walked into the dorms, she was halfway to her door when her phone went off.
She pulled her phone out of her purse and became angry once again.
Not only was Aaron still texting and calling but so was her sister, Natasha.
She felt angry tears sting her eyes.
She didn't wanna talk to Aaron and she sure as hell didn't wanna talk to Natasha.
Those two were officially cut from her life forever.
The time for talking was over.
Long over.
In a moment of angry rage, Athena threw her phone on the ground and stomped on it with her foot...crushing it.
She was shaking.
Her whole body was shaking with anger, but most of all with deep hurt.
She buried her face against the wall, breaking down into tears as she finally broke down and cried.
A few moments went by and then she felt a hand gently touch her shoulder.
"This is probably a stupid question, but are you alright?" A voice gently asked.
Athena took a shaky breath and got herself under control. She really should've gone into her room to break down. This was embarrassing.
She quickly wiped her tears before turning to face him.
Her breath caught as she looked at him. He was gorgeous.
"I'm..." Athena sighed, leaning against the wall. "I'm just having a bad week. A really bad week."
He looked at her sympathetically before his eyes went to her broken phone on the ground. "Did someone do this?"
She followed his gaze and realized what he thought. "Yeah. Me."
He frowned before looking at her amused. "You expect me to believe that you shattered your phone into the pieces that it is on the ground? Listen, sweetheart this campus has a no tolerance policy on harassment of any kind. You don't have to be afraid to talk to me. Just tell me who did this, and I will make sure they are dealt with."
Athena couldn't deny the warm feeling that went through her at what he'd called her. "No one did this, but me ok? I realize this doesn't make me look all that mature here but I smashed my phone. I just..." She sighed sadly. "I just wanted it to stop."
He frowned as he looked her over with concern once again. "You wanted what to stop?"
"The reminders." She whispered. "You know, I enrolled her to...get away from it all. I couldn't be home anymore. I wanted to get away from my boyfriend...well ex-boyfriend who has turned out to be the worst thing that ever happened to me. My sister is on that list as well. They keep texting, calling wanting to explain. Wanting me to forgive them." She shook her head bitterly. "It's not happening. Ever."
He joined her against the wall.
The two of them stood together in comfortable silence for a few moments.
"Well, we have something common." He finally spoke.
Athena looked over at him curiously. "We do?"
He nodded. "Yeah. I enrolled here a couple of years ago, also to get away from home. I couldn't be there either."
"Why?" Athena asked, but then she immediately apologized. "I'm so sorry, you don't have to answer that. That was rude of me.."
He gently held her hand in his, the action surprised both of them but it just felt....right. "Hey, it's not rude at all. But if we're gonna exchange life stories we should probably at least know each other's names." He smiled warmly at her. "My name is Bobby Nash."
Athena smiled back, the first genuine smile she'd given since leaving home. "It's nice to meet you, Bobby. My name is Athena Carter."
The two stood in silence as they continued to smile at each other. They both felt that they were on the road to something really great.