"Pursuing me?" Claude flinched and glanced at his violin. He looked up at Len again, forcing himself to smile. "That's, uh, flattering, but… I can't do that. I don't like people who pull the crowd with them. Not that I've seen you get surrounded or something… I just… You have a lot of fans. I don't want to deal with any of that. I'm sorry."
"Is that a rejection?"
"Not as properly worded as we preferred, I guess…" Claude sighed and averted his gaze from Len's face. "It's very late. I should head up."
Len hummed and turned in a direction. He looked at Claude again. "Why don't we talk longer in your place? I don't think I can let this go that easily."
Claude froze and stared at Len for a moment. He figured Len was one of those who wouldn't take no for an answer. His smile lessened. "Can't. House rules are absolute. No visitors past ten. It's past midnight. Why don't we just talk some other time?"
"What about my place?" Len pushed off the wall to stand. "House rules don't prohibit us from taking visitors late at night. They even think it was better than driving students into the dark."
"You're seriously not letting this go…" Claude hugged the violin tightly. "You know, I can just simply… give this back to make a point, right?"
Len stepped closer and stood within Claude's personal space. He leaned down, smiling despite Claude's sharpening gaze. "Claude Lavallee, don't deny what happened between us that night. I'm not talking about the kiss or behind my room door. Remember… Why did you bite me?"
Claude stared at the man without much emotion, but his mind was already in a flurry. He didn't know how to quantify his thoughts. However, Claude chose the hard way out. He turned away and answered, "I was drunk. How well do you think I'd remember that night? Can we just talk some other time? I'm tired. I want to sleep on my bed."
A sigh. Len was so close to Claude that the latter felt him sigh. The pushy guy then leaned closer, pressing a kiss on the corner of Claude's lips. He whispered, "Let's talk some other time then."
Claude only moved when he stopped seeing the smallest inch of Len's image in his eyeshot. He pressed a knuckle against the spot Len kissed him. Even if it was nothing compared to his drunken kiss, Claude still felt like trembling. A part of him wanted to get angry, while another hoped for more. He just closed his eyes and shook his head to wake himself up more.
"This isn't going anywhere…" Claude wanted to convince himself. He just walked to the grills and slowly opened the gate to the stairs. "This isn't going anywhere…"
…
Loud complaints conquered the supposed silence. Len entered the shack's family room and saw Courtney speaking to her phone. She was doing a drama bit while holding the tripod. When he looked at the other people in the room, they seemed to be watching something on their phones. Were they watching whatever Courtney was doing?
Jameson then laughed from the couch, throwing a pillow at Courtney's back. "You're too dramatic! You're overselling shit!"
"I have to let everyone know that Claude Lavallee is a liar!" Courtney snapped behind her, facing Jameson. She collected the pillow and thought of throwing it back. However, she could see the doorway to the side. Her eyes glimmered, but she quickly moved her tripod to show Len to the camera. "Len, please agree with me!"
"What is your argument?" Len sighed within him. How did he get stuck with babysitting these people? He just walked inside, heading for the stairs.
Jameson sat up properly, followed by everyone else in the shack. However, he laughed out as if making Courtney feel worse. "She argues that Claude Lavallee lied about how she broke his violin… and how he was hot enough to twist your neck. Is he really that good? We want to hear it from you, Len!"
Len's brows rose, but he didn't say anything. However, he caught Courtney picking up her tripod as if following him. She almost screamed, "Len! I didn't break the violin! He's a liar!"
"It could have been implied, but he didn't say it. Moreover, you need to admit it. You did ask your friends to throw that violin from his window." Len chuckled helplessly. "You should also add that I mediated between the two of you, and Lavallee chose to forgive you without an apology. Courtney, stop twisting people's words."
"Why would you say that?" Courtney gasped before turning the camera toward her face again. "That kind of forgiveness is unnecessary! I did nothing wrong, so why should I apologize?"
"Go to bed, Courtney. We still have class tomorrow." Len didn't want to listen to her anymore. He better retire for the night.
Courtney glanced at her phone, seeing many bullet comments flashing across the screen. She looked up and watched Len ascend the stairs to sleep in the room on the second floor. She put on a pout. "If I go to bed, will you sleep next to me, Len?"
Len stopped at the top and laughed. "Why? Are you Lavallee?"
Her smile completely broke, and the livestream caught it. The males in the family room couldn't help but giggle and laugh. Courtney glanced at them, even catching her female friends covering their mouths. The supposed lead girl ended her stream and walked to them. "So much for being friends, right?"
…
Regardless of the time, Claude and Eugene saw that livestream Courtney had started. Claude could only growl and roll on his bed. He didn't want to deal with it tonight. It was already past one in the morning.
The next day wasn't any kinder. Claude could still hear his name in the gossip around him. However, he just concentrated on getting through the day. Later, he would cry at the Moon Goddess for tethering his fate with this troublesome man named Valentin Dietrich.
Len still sat beside Claude in their GE subjects, but the other guy strangely kept to himself. Claude wasn't bothered as long as Len still reacted the same to his friends and unwanted admirers.
"Hey, did something happen between you and Dietrich?" Eugene asked Claude while they were having lunch with their friends in the dorm. Everyone's eyes fell on Claude and his appalled expression. Eugene waved his hand. "I didn't mean that. What I'm saying is that… you guys stopped talking. I used to hear him talk to you a lot. What happened?"
"Nothing." Claude shrugged his shoulders. "There's nothing between us, so nothing will happen. We just stopped talking to each other. Also, we're not even friends. We can do that."
One boy watched Claude closely before glancing at his friends. He then flashed a smile. "So… you're still available, right? Want to go on a group date with us? We invited some girls from another course."