chapter 4 elio

My phone buzzed, and when I glanced at the screen, it was Ryan calling.

“Hey, bro. What’s up?” I tried to sound casual, but honestly, I had no idea if he’d be as weird as yesterday.

“Hey, bro… do me a favor?”

“Sure… as long as it’s not ‘help me murder someone,’ I’m good.”

“Remember Yasmin?”

Yasmin… the girl from yesterday? Yeah, how could I forget? Those eyes… that laugh… that stupid perfect smile—

“Elio? Can you hear me?”

“Oh… yeah, sorry. I zonned out. Right, Yasmin. Got it. Your cousin, yeah?”

“Exactly. So, I was supposed to hang out with her today after she picks up her car, but Jessica wants to see me.”

“And what did you do this time, genius?”

“Um… might have been caught kissing Vivienne at the party yesterday.”

“…Her best friend? Bro. Seriously? You’re lucky I’m your friend and not your therapist.”

“Relax, man. I was already planning on breaking up with her anyway.”

“Wait… I thought you liked her?”

“Plans change. Anyway, since you’re the only one I trust with Yasmin, can you just show her how to log into her school account and check her classes? I was gonna do it when we hung out, but… yeah, busy with Jessica.”

“Fine. I got it.”

“And don’t forget what I said yesterday. Seriously. I better not see you messing with her.”

“Chill, Ryan. I get it. It’s your cousin. You want to take care of her. Don’t worry, I’m not going to do anything.”

A pause. “You better not. I told her to go to the Nest—the same spot as yesterday—and text me when you guys are done.”

“Got it. Bye.”

“Yeah, bye.” He hung up.

Wow. Okay. So… I was actually going to see her again. Alone. Just the two of us. My face heated up just thinking about it.

Then reality hit me. She’s Ryan’s cousin. Off-limits. So yeah… no matter what, I needed to keep my distance.

Right… I’m totally over it. Just going to help her with the school stuff, maybe grab a coffee. That’s it. Nothing else.

I threw on a pair of grey jeans, a white shirt, and a green hoodie. Took a quick shower, cleaned my hair—no way I was showing up looking like I slept in a dumpster. Deodorant, a spray of Prada Luna Rossa Carbon, shoes on, coat grabbed. Late? Not an option.

***

On the way there, I tried to convince myself this was just helping someone out. There are literally millions of women out there. I could pick someone else—someone who isn’t Ryan’s cousin. Totally rational. Totally.

I walked into the Nest and made for the cashier when this faint vanilla scent hit me, and my stomach did that stupid flip.

“Ouch,” a familiar voice said.

“Yasmin?”

She rubbed the side of her head, looked up, and our eyes locked.

Yeah… whatever I said about other women being comparable? Absolute bullshit.

“Oh, hi, Elio! Nice to see you… I guess sooner than expected,” she said, flashing that damn smile.

“Hey, Yasmin. How’s it going?”

“I’m doing good, thanks for asking. And sorry for bumping into you—I wasn’t looking ahead, I was trying to check the menu.”

“You’re all good. What do you want to order? I’ll get it.”

“Ah, no, you don’t have to. It’s on me. You came all the way here to help me, so naturally—” she tried to step in front of me.

“Yasmin, I’m the one who was late, so of course it should be on me.”

“But you’re not late, though.”

“Later than you,” I shot back. “And honestly, you’re doing me a favor. I was dying of boredom at home—this gets me outside.”

She chuckled. “Okay, fine. But next time, it’s on me, alright?”

“I promise,” I smiled. “So, what do you want?”

“Uhm… I don’t know. I’m kinda cold, so maybe a hot drink? What do they have?”

“Here—look, the menu’s on the TV. Personally, I’m going with a French vanilla and a cinnamon roll.”

“Then I’ll get that too.”

“Perfect. You can grab us a seat, I’ll bring the food over.”

“Okay.” She gave me a quick smile before turning, and—yeah, I probably let my eyes linger on her lips a little too long. Whatever gloss or magic she had on them wasn’t helping my situation at all.

When I finally got our food, I braced myself before making our way to the table.

“Here, be careful. It’s hot,” I warned, handing her the drink and sitting down across from her.

“Thank you!” she said, smiling. It was like she couldn’t stop herself, but anytime I looked at her, that smile was plastered on her face.

“So, what can I help you with? Ryan told me you needed help logging in and checking your classes.”

“Well… I didn’t really need that much help. It’s just Ryan being his usual dramatic self. I just need to get my schedule and hear a little about the professors.”

“ That’s totally fine. Open the app.”

“Mhm.”

“Wait, is it okay if I sit next to you? I can’t really see your phone like this.”

“Oh… okay,” she said, a little awkwardly.

I stood up and moved my chair next to her—not too far, not too close, just enough so she wouldn’t feel weird. I didn’t want to scare her away. As I leaned in to look at her phone, that faint vanilla scent hit me again. For a split second, my mind went haywire, and I had to snap back to reality—this was about classes, not me losing it over her.

“Okay, so open the app,” I said, trying to focus on the screen.

She nodded, scrolling with her thumb. “Mhm.”

“Now go to the login page—yep, right there. Do you have your school email?”

“Yeah, I think so… wait, is it this one?” She turned slightly, tilting the phone toward me, and her shoulder brushed mine. Not on purpose, I think, but it was enough to set my heart racing like I’d just sprinted a mile.

“Uh—yeah,” I cleared my throat, forcing myself back into focus. “That’s the one. Put in your password and it should take you to your dashboard.”

She typed carefully, biting her lip in concentration. Of course she had to do that.

“Okay… done. Oh, it worked!” She looked at me with this bright little smile, like I’d just saved her life instead of showing her the most basic login ever.

“See? Easy,” I said, grinning back. “Now you can check your schedule.”

She scrolled through the list of classes, humming softly. “Hmm… looks like I have Final Design Studio VI, Professional Practice in Architecture, Sustainable Systems in Design, Advanced Structures, Digital Fabrication Lab… wait, except for Final Design Studio, can you check if we might have any other classes in common?”

“Yeah,” I said immediately, already pulling out my phone. “Hold on, I think I screenshotted mine.”

We both dropped our phones on the table and started comparing.

“Oh look, we basically share all of our classes.” She glanced at me, her eyes warm. “Guess I’ll be counting on you.”

I smiled back, but my brain was short-circuiting. I know I promised Ryan to stay away from his cousin, but under these circumstances? It was going to be really, really hard.

“By the way, thanks for this. Ryan made it sound like I was gonna need a whole IT department just to figure this out.”

I chuckled. “Yeah, that’s Ryan. Always dramatic.”

For a moment, we just sat there, her scrolling through classes, me pretending I wasn’t hyper-aware that our knees were almost touching.

“Wait, can you tell me a little about any assignments I might’ve missed? And the professors?”

“Of course, I got you.”

For the next couple hours, what started as talk about professors and assignments turned into talking about… well, everything.

Turns out, she used to be a taekwondo fighter but stopped four years ago after a knee injury. She loves baking, and fashion too—she used to sew back home but took a break to focus on her studies. She’s into reading, movies, just… life. The more I listened, the more it hit me: Yasmin was the kind of person who threw herself fully into whatever she loved. Passionate, alive, like she wanted to squeeze every drop out of her time here.

And me? I was mesmerized.

I wouldn’t call it love—definitely not—but she made me feel something I’d never felt before. No girl had ever made me see them like this. It was like she’d cast a spell, and suddenly I couldn’t take my eyes off her. Not that I even wanted to.

The thing that messed with me the most? She wasn’t the only pretty girl I’d ever been around. But the way she carried herself, those little mannerisms, that charm—it kept me on edge, like I was waiting for her next move. And the worst part? I didn’t even want to look away.

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