Portia

Portia
Part One

Eva Reynolds was a bitch. She ruled with an iron fist and few escaped her wrath. That was until she graduated and her world blew up. Suddenly she wasn’t the queen of the world, which had previously consisted of her home and school and her small group of friends. Instead she was just another nameless, faceless rich bitch at a relatively large university. Eva was unsettled. All her friends had chosen different universities and those who had continued on to the same university hated her. She was alone, she was unsettled and most importantly, she was failing first year chemistry. Eva was scared and frightened and depressed. The only foreseeable solution to any of her problems was getting an older student to tutor her in the more advanced aspects of chemistry. Which is why Eva found herself ensconced in one of the quaint wrought iron chairs scattered around one of the trendier café’s in town. She smiled at the group pf students who were staring at her, recognising them to be some of her detractors from high school. They all gave her rude gestures back and she turned back to her take-away cup of coffee. She took a cautious sip of the warm liquid and grimaced as the tip of her tongue was harshly scalded.
“Eva Reynolds?”

~*~*~*~

Christian Pelletier was good at a lot of things. He could make a reasonably satisfying coffee. He could dance fairly well when he was so inclined. He could also create heavenly brownies when the urge struck him. Christian was good at a wide variety of things. But there were a few things he excelled in. Chemistry was one. Science in general really. He was a wonderful older brother, doing all the necessary teasing and bullying and sticking up for, while still remaining comfortably cool with his relative levels of calm. He also managed to be an absolutely stellar goal setter. If Christian wanted something he was perfectly capable of putting all the necessary measures into motion to get what it was that he wanted. And it was as he was approaching the kitchen with a tray of dishes, about to go on break that he decided that he wanted her. The girl with the curled brown hair and the cute little skirt. He knew it has his new student because when organising an appointment at his everyday place of employment he had one simple instruction. Wear something blue sweetheart, it’ll be easier to recognise you. And she had. A soft blue scarf was wound around her neck and he watched her take a cautious sip of the coffee. She grimaced and he frowned as he approached. There was never anything wrong with his coffee.
“Eva Reynolds?” Christian smiled as the girl near the window turned towards him, peering up at him through thick, sooty eyelashes. She smiled.
“Yes?” She asked, her voice a soft weak murmur.
“Hey there, I’m Christian Pelletier. You’re here for tutoring right?” Eva nodded.
“Yes, I am.” She answered her voice a little firmer, less insecure.
“I’ll just be a couple of minutes, yeah?” He said gesturing to the tray in his arm, laden with dirty dishes.
“Sure. That would be fine.” She nodded at him and he smiled at her before sashaying away to the kitchen. He smiled to himself as he entered, whistling to himself. This was going to be fun.

~*~*~*~

Eva tucked a stray brown curl behind her ear as she began to pull her text books out of her bag. She took another sip of her coffee, feeling the warmth through the Styrofoam to her freezing fingers. She set all her books in a neat pile on the table and began to rub the palms of her hands together to keep her fingers warm.
“Winter came early this year, yeah?” Eva looked up, away from her fingers as Christian slid into the seat across from her. He yawned as he rolled his shoulders back, stretching his long, denim clad legs out in front of him. The black apron and the tray of dishes had disappeared and he was left in his black uniform shirt, speckled with powdered chocolate.
“Yeah, it did.” She rubbed her palms together as she gave up searching for a pen on her voluminous bag.
“So, let’s get stuck into it, what is it exactly that you are having issues with?” Christian asked as he pulled her text books towards him and began to flick through them. Eva could feel her detractors listening in to the conversation.
“All of it.” Eva said, her cheeks burning a little.
“No wonder. You need better text books.” Christian said as he skimmed over a section in the class’s main text book.
“Do you know any?” she asked hopefully.
“Yeah. You can borrow my first year text books if you like.” He smiled at the obvious look of relief on her face.
“Really? That would be great.” She answered.
“Who do you have?” He asked, setting her text book down on the table.
“Rosenbaum.” Eva answered. Christian whistled and he leant forward, his elbows on the table as he tucked his legs in underneath him. He wasn’t so tall that his knees bumped against the underside of the table, but his legs were notably long. He watched her for a moment, his dark, chocolate drop eyes focused on her face.
“Do you want the truth?” He asked her.
“Yes.” She answered, a lump forming in her throat.
“Once Rosenbaum decides she hates you, you haven’t got a chance in hell.” Eva opened her mouth to protest and Christian held up a hand to stop her.
“Listen. If she hates you, keep quiet and do your work, if you think you might be struggling get informed and show the bitch you’re not an idiot. If she likes you ask lots of questions and submit everything at least three days early. Yeah?” Eva nodded.
“That makes sense.” She said thoughtfully.
“Now, when’s your next prac? Rosenbaum loves me enough to let go through run through experiments beforehand.”
“Umm, Three weeks, I don’t know the date.” She answered after a few moments of contemplation.
“Get me the date and I’ll get the lab. My breaks over in five minutes so…questions?”
“How much per session?” She asked.
“Forty five, thirty if you have them more often.”
“Why less if you have them more often?” Christian smiled.
“Sweetie, I’ve been at uni for a while now, I know that uni students are poor as hell, ‘cause well, I am too.”

~*~*~*~

Christian studied the girls face as she contemplated what other questions to ask. She was biting her lip as she thought, her glossed lower lip reddening. The apples of her cheeks were red and she was visibly cold. Christian could see a fellow employee walking towards him, his apron in his hand.
“I’m sorry love, but any questions are going to have to wait til I have a spare moment, that’s if you want to stick around, you don’t have to if you don’t want to.” His apron was thrown at him and he pulled around his waist, knotting it as he stood. He was facing the table behind him, his pen and notebook in his hands. He had managed to do it in less than five seconds and the customers looked impressed.
“So what would you guys like?” He asked, his selling smile on his face, dimples forming on his cheeks.
“Oh, we’re fine.” A red head answered as she threw her hair over her shoulder, the auburn strands flying around chaotically. The brunette next to her was nearly whacked in the head by the girls’ hair. He looked hopelessly happy to be sitting next to the red head, a disturbingly enraptured smile on his face.
“I’m not. I’d like a cappuccino with soy milk, and a latte glass full of soy milk because I can’t drink hot coffee, so make the cappuccino like, half full.” A blonde girl answered, her elbows on the table, her chin in her palms as she thought out loud. Christian quickly scribbled down her order and looked up.
“Was there anything else with that?”
“Yeah, and a slice of cheese cake too.” This time it was a brunette who answered as she sat perched in her boyfriend’s lap. The guys at the table refused to order.
“Umm, Christian, sorry to interrupt but I, uh, lost your number.” Eva appeared next to him, her messenger bag flipped open.
“Sure, I’ll just get it for you again.” He turned the page in his notebook and scrawled his full name down as well as his phone numbers.
“If I don’t answer the first one, call the second one, it’s the number to my apartment.” He directed, tearing out the page.
“Where did the jacket come from?” He asked as he handed her the torn out piece of paper, watching as Eva shrugged herself into the dark jacket. She tossed her curls over her shoulder as she flattened the collar down. The caramel curls sailed smoothly over her shoulder and Christian watched as they settled back in the same places. Eva patted her bag and he frowned at her.
“That’s not fair, if I could throw everything in one big bag I’d be happy but I can’t because then people start assuming that I’m gay.”
“Get a man bag.” Eva suggested as she took the piece of paper from him.
“How about no. Bye Eva.” He said as she made her way out.
“God, she’s a bitch.” The red head declared as the door shut behind her.
“I’ll just get your order.” Christian said as he walked away from their discussion on Eva.

~*~*~*~

Hey guys.

I'm back.
Pieces is on hiatus 'cause I don't know where to go with it.
Hope you like this.

Love LMP