Or so Bailey wished but for some reason he forgot his curse of luck because it was quite the opposite.

He basically saw the evil Zane everyday! Yes, he was evil. No human could ignore someone’s troubles that much and not be evil. He had to feel pity at some point but, nope! He defied logic and human decency in general.

And so Bailey had dubbed their encounters “The Levitt Incidents.” There were many but to just name a few…

There was the one a few days after classes began. Bailey was minding his own business; walking through the halls with his head down, phone in hand when, suddenly, loud shouting erupted from a room. Bailey hesitated in his movements, looking curiously ahead of him where he thought the sounds were originating from. Then, without much warning, a door opened, nearly clipping Bailey when it did.

He jumped back, smiling triumphantly at successfully avoiding getting his face bashed in. Oh, but that was where he was wrong.

Apparently, a couple was fighting within that room and, as Bailey basked in his success, the boy came out with his girlfriend right behind. She threw a punch, one that her boyfriend dodged but, sadly, Bailey was right behind him so he felt her fist collide with his cheek.

With a surprised shout, Bailey fell to the floor, clutching his cheek as he stared up into two pairs of shocked eyes. Rather than either of them helping him up or apologizing though, they started shouting at one another about how ‘immature’ the girl was, ‘look you hit someone’ and ‘if you hadn’t dodged I wouldn’t have hit him’.

Bailey was forgotten easily.

However, Bailey heard a chuckle just a few doors down. He looked past the boyfriend to find Zane snickering to himself while wrapping up a vacuum chord. As if he could sense Bailey’s gaze, Zane looked the boy’s way. Rather than being sympathetic or kind person in general, Zane smirked and walked off.

Bailey didn’t like the word hate since he felt it was too strong but he certainly disliked Zane with an extreme passion.

Then there was the accident at the café. Bailey was rushing to get out some orders. Apparently, people were setting up early for club registration and many wanted coffee. Bailey had gotten stuck with the early shift that day. He was running about when the door opened, sending the normal jingle throughout the café. As he normally did, Bailey turned to at least greet the one who entered but his words fell short when his gaze met with light blue eyes that, if someone else had them, would be considered intoxicating.

Zane didn’t bother to hide his annoyance. The moment he saw Bailey, his face contorted into that of displeasure. His eyes closed slowly in what appeared to be exhaustion while his lips fell into a thin line. Just as Zane opened his eyes, Bailey got caught up with some guys messing around behind him. One had shoved the other and so they shoved Bailey, who went flying forward.

The cups of coffee on his tray went flying, shattering across the floor, sending both glass and coffee everywhere, including Bailey’s own face. He shouted in pain, the hot coffee tingling his face and, when he looked up, he saw he was laying just before Zane’s feet. Again, instead of being a normal nice person, Zane didn’t do anything other than turn around and walk back out.

Bailey was starting to think hate wasn’t a strong enough word.

Next was the paint fiasco. Some men were called in to repaint some of the older buildings that had white linings on the outside. Bailey had to pass those buildings to get to his dorm so he was being extra careful. His phone was in his back pocket and he wasn’t listening to music. His eyes were on the sky, staring at the men above since he knew, if he didn’t, he would somehow mess something up or get messed up. He felt he made the right decision when one of the workers stumbled, kicking a bucket off from the roof.

Bailey jumped back, dodging it successfully but…he tripped on his own feet, fell back and hit the scaffolding on the opposite side. He had enough time to open his eyes to see white splatter across his chest when another paint bucket fell, hit beside him and rolled across the ground. He was covered in paint and his head hurt. And guess who happened to be getting off work when that happened?

Zane!

He stood a few feet away beneath the doorway of the dorms with his eyes glued on Bailey. Slowly, Bailey sat up, frowning when he heard the workers shouting to ask if he was all right. Bailey had enough time to look over and find Zane shaking his head in total fascination before, like always, he chuckled and walked away.

How did he always manage to catch Bailey’s worst moments? Because those were only a few of the, what felt like hundreds, of times Zane caught Bailey in embarrassing situations. Bailey was starting to believe Zane was the bad luck charm and if he was around something was bound to happen.

He knew that to be a lie because there were plenty of accidents that Zane wasn’t around to see but he just wanted to blame the guy because he was a jerk. Most of the time he could have offered a helping hand or at least pretended not to see or, y’know, not laugh! Alas, the man was simply a jackass and found immense joy in watching Bailey’s suffering.

“Write a complaint?” Amery suggested over lunch, taking a bite of her sandwich as she listened to another of Bailey’s stories that involved Zane, who, once again, chuckled at Bailey when he tripped into his dorm room.

“I could but it’s not like he’s doing anything wrong. He hasn’t helped me but he never caused any of the incidents either so I feel like I’m being an asshole,” Bailey explained, though Zane had no problem being an asshole which meant Bailey should be an asshole to teach the asshole a lesson. At least, that was what he thought he should do but…it just seemed very extreme.

“True, I mean, everyone else laughs at you.”

Bailey shot Amery a heated glare.