A little Jealous...

"Rick," I breathed. "Is this your family restaurant?" I guessed the obvious. Rick's green eyes held mine, as he took my hand on the table.

"Yes," he owned up. "But… wow," I scrambled for words as I scratched my head.

We had been to an Italian ice cream salon once, we ate lunch in a little Italian coffee corner, and now we were here… "I mean, were all of the places we've met of your family?" I questioned.

Rick looked down at our hands. "Yes, do you mind?" he whispered, biting his lip.

"No… but I mean.. " WHAT?!

I tried to compose myself, but I didn't succeed very well. "Why though?" I asked him. Rick cocked his head to the side. "You don't like it," he stated. "It's not that…" I tried to say.

Well yes, it was exactly that.

"It's just that it is… very unusual," I slowly tried to say. "If my family would not approve of you, then we would not stand a chance together," Rick tried to explain.

I frowned.

"My family is very close," he clarified. "Right, I see." I did, I could see his way of thinking.

Still, I would of never done something like this myself. Jeez…

"So, who approves of me," I snickered involuntarily. "My mother, my father, my grandma and some of my cousins… and now my grandfather as well," he smirked. "Mhh…" is the only thing I managed to say.

"Is this the regular procedure?" I couln't help but continue to laugh. "Yes," Rick admitted, not wavering. "Okay," I said.

"And what are your family ties with the concert?" I teased. Rick rolled his eyes at me playfully. "None," he smirked. "You made it through three rounds, so now I am the one picking the places," he told me confidently.

"Ah, I see," I smiled. "Would you like some dessert?" Rick asked me, while rubbing my hand. I glaced at the clock above the bar. "I think it is best to go to bed soon. I have a class on campus tomorrow," I reminded him.

"We'll make up for dessert another time," he promised me. I just nodded. When we went outside, I felt the urge flee home as quickly as I could humanly manage.

"Emily," Rick called for me. "Yes," I answered him. Rick drew closer and put a string of hair behind my ear. "Goodnight," he whispered and kissed me on the cheek.

When I got home, I took a quick shower and quickly went to bed. Would Julian be in the air right now? I had expected a phone call, or at least a message from him.

Sleeping was again not in the cards. I had been tossing and turning throughout the entire night.

~

I had never in my life been so incredibly nervous for a lecture. The class was incredibly early, so I wondered how he got here so quickly. I was sitting in the hallway, right in front of the room we would be having our lecture in.

While I was already typing something for my paper, I noticed that I was not alone anymore. "Hi Peter," I said.

"Hey, I've almost finished my paper," Peter said proudly. He always wrote his pieces very fast. However, that did not say much good about the quality of his work.

And then I saw Julian walking through the hallway, in the corner of my eye. For everything that was dear to me, why did he look so good. Dark blue jacket, white blouse, jeans with a brown belt and the same color brown shoes. I pressed my thighs together.

Julian proceeded to walk in our direction.

Only now did I notice how close Peter was actually sitting next to me. "Students of the course Law philosophy, right," he greeted us cheerfully. Although he looked at Peter a little less enthusiastically.

"Yeah, that's right," Peter said with the same level of enthusiasm. "Will you come in class just now," he stated more than he asked, looking me in the eye. Hint understood, he was clearly jealous.

"Yes, we will be there soon," Peter laughed. "We're still talking," he added unnecessarily. I felt very uncomfortable.

Julian said nothing more, and turned around.

"What an arrogant guy that is," Peter complained. "I can already see that I'm not going to like him," he said firmly.

"We still have ten minutes before the class starts, what is he interfering with," he continued ranting.

I knew what he was interfering with... With me...

"Is that... our new law teacher," Jessica whispered just a little too loudly, when she arrived. I nodded. "Holy prophets, I don't normally fall for older men, but..." she giggled.

I rolled my eyes, and Peter looked at me the same way.

"Come," Jessica shouted. "Let's be good students, and be in class early. Then we have time to take a good look at him," she giggled further, as she wiggled her glasses on her nose.

On one hand I found Jessica's reaction to Julian funny, but on the other hand...Well, I didn't think it was funny at all. A possive urge overcame me. If she was going to look at him, so was I.

Peter sighed. "Okay... I'll go with the two of you," he hummed involuntarily.

When I entered, I saw a blonde chick completely hanging forward over the lectern. I only saw her backside, but I hoped she was ugly. Probably not, I grumbled to myself.

Normally, I always sat all alone in the front, but now I doubted my normal habits.

I placed my suitcase with books on the side of the room and walked past the blonde chick, who so obviously fell for Julian.

Julian's eyes followed me to my seat. His hair playfully hung in front of his eyes. I sat down and squeezed my own eyes shut.

"Wow," I heared Jessica say behind me. "The way he looked at you for a moment, did you see that," she giggled in my ear.

"I think he's much more concerned with that blonde there than anything else," I said gruffly.

"I've heard that's his PhD student, and that they're in a relationship," Peter joked. I did not think it was funny though.

"That's not true," I hurried to say. Why was I on the defence? "Well, she really is his assistant," Peter said defensively.

"Maybe, but she's really not his girlfriend," I said with my chin forward. "Well, it looks like she would like to be," Jessica giggled again.

"By the way, I have to ask him something," I heared myself say, without thinking this through.