Chapter 181: plotting over lunch

Chapter 181: Chapter 181: plotting over lunch

Damian was already watching her.

For a brief moment, Vivienne wondered if he looked slightly annoyed.

She immediately felt a little guilty.

Maybe she’d been rude.

He had just returned with his lunch, and she’d been staring at her phone instead of talking to him.

"Oh."

She slipped the phone back into her bag.

"Sorry."

Damian raised an eyebrow.

"For what?"

"I’ve been on my phone."

"It’s fine."

His answer was calm, but Vivienne still gave him an apologetic smile.

"I’ll put it away now."

She pushed her phone deeper into her bag.

"Let’s eat."

Damian nodded.

"All right."

He picked up his fork.

For a moment, neither of them spoke.

Then Damian glanced across the table at her.

She looked perfectly content.

Completely unaware of what was going through his mind.

He still didn’t know what she and Christopher had been talking about.

He hadn’t seen the messages.

He hadn’t heard a single word.

And somehow, that almost made it worse.

Because he knew enough.

She liked Christopher.

She was interested in him.

And whatever had been on her phone had been enough to put that little smile on her face.

Damian lowered his gaze.

Wonderful.

He had spent the entire week watching Christopher as though observing him closely would somehow reveal what was happening between him and Vivienne.

It hadn’t.

And now he was sitting across from her, doing exactly what he’d always done.

Talking to her.

Walking with her.

Having lunch with her.

Being her friend.

The word suddenly felt different.

Friend.

For years, that had been enough.

Now it wasn’t.

Because what exactly was he expecting?

For Vivienne to somehow realize that he liked her?

She wouldn’t.

Not when he’d spent so long treating her as someone familiar and safe. Not when he’d never once consciously given her a reason to think of him as anything more.

And if Christopher continued getting closer to her...

Damian’s jaw tightened.

He already knew where that road could lead.

Vivienne would keep talking to him.

Christopher would keep answering.

They would get closer.

And Damian would remain exactly where he’d always been.

Beside her.

Familiar.

Comfortable.

Safe.

A friend.

His stomach sank.

No.

He couldn’t simply stand by and watch that happen.

If he truly liked her, then he had to do something.

The problem was...

What?

Damian looked at Vivienne again.

He couldn’t exactly walk up to her and say—

Vivienne, I like you.

The thought alone made his stomach twist.

She might stare at him.

She might laugh.

Not cruelly.

That somehow made it worse.

She might think he was joking because she couldn’t imagine him saying something like that.

Or worse...

She might simply tell him that she liked Christopher.

Damian immediately pushed the thought away.

No.

Not yet.

He wasn’t ready for that.

But then what was he supposed to do?

How could he make her see him differently?

He had known her for years.

They were already comfortable with each other.

She knew his jokes.

His habits.

His personality.

She trusted him.

And that was precisely the problem.

She already knew him.

Christopher didn’t have that advantage.

He was new.

Interesting.

Someone Vivienne still wanted to discover.

Damian, meanwhile, was familiar.

So familiar that perhaps she’d stopped noticing him altogether.

His thoughts drifted back to the dreams.

Since Sunday, almost every night had brought another variation.

Vivienne telling him she liked him.

His admitting that he liked her too.

Then holding her.

Kissing her.

Touching her.

Every dream different in its details, yet somehow always ending the same way.

Christopher.

And every morning, Damian woke up wondering what the hell was wrong with him.

He had never even kissed her.

Yet his subconscious had apparently decided to skip every reasonable step.

Now that he’d finally admitted what those dreams had been trying to tell him, he couldn’t pretend they meant nothing.

He wanted her.

Not merely her company.

Not merely the comfortable friendship they’d built.

Her.

And that made the thought of Christopher becoming her boyfriend almost unbearable.

Because if that happened...

Christopher would be the one holding her hand.

The one she’d allow to stand close to her.

The one she’d lean toward.

The one who would kiss her.

Damian’s fingers tightened around his fork.

He now knew enough about Christopher’s past to know the man wasn’t inexperienced.

This week, he quietly learned about his previous relationship from other students.

Christopher knew how to approach women.

How to court them.

How to make someone comfortable with him.

Damian had never thought about any of that before.

Now he couldn’t stop.

Vivienne had spent years loving Anthony without ever really having the relationship she’d imagined.

If Christopher became the first man she genuinely chose, he could become the first person she experienced all of those things with.

The first hand she held because she wanted to.

The first man she kissed because she wanted to.

The first person she allowed that kind of closeness with.

Damian looked down.

He hated the thought.

Far more than he had any right to.

And once Christopher had that place in her life...

What chance would Damian have?

His chest tightened.

No.

He couldn’t wait until it reached that point.

Not because Vivienne belonged to him.

She didn’t.

And not because Christopher was doing anything wrong.

He wasn’t.

But Damian wanted a chance.

A real one.

Before Christopher became too important to her for Damian to matter.

That was the problem.

He couldn’t simply tell Vivienne not to like Christopher.

He couldn’t manipulate her into disliking him.

And he certainly couldn’t confess everything before he even understood how she saw him.

So what could he do?

He had to change something.

Not force her.

Not deceive her.

But change the way she looked at him.

Because friendship alone wasn’t going to be enough.

He needed her to see something beyond—

Damian, my friend.

His gaze drifted toward her again.

Vivienne was eating quietly, completely unaware of the small crisis unfolding across the table.

Damian almost smiled.

He had spent years being familiar.

Comfortable.

Safe.

And somehow, those things had become his greatest disadvantage.

He’d never needed to learn how to court someone.

He’d never needed to make a woman notice him.

He’d never even considered that he might have to compete for someone’s affection.

Until Vivienne Beaumont.

Damian exhaled slowly.

Fine.

If he wanted Vivienne...

Then he couldn’t keep behaving exactly as he always had.

He would have to make a move.

Somehow.

Before Christopher got there first.

Because Damian could probably survive Vivienne choosing someone else.

Eventually.

Perhaps.

But the thought of watching another man become the one she first truly loved, first kissed, first held close...

That was something he wasn’t sure he could endure.

He glanced at her once more.

She looked completely innocent.

Completely unaware.

Damian almost laughed under his breath.

What have you done to me, Vivienne Beaumont?

Only a week ago, he’d never questioned the place he had in her life.

Now he was sitting across from her, wondering how to keep another man from taking a place Damian had only just realized he wanted for himself.