Sounds good. What time and where?
Aaron: 7p @ Starbucks
Great like I wanted to go there again. I sighed, cracked open a book and tried to not think about Blake.
WITH THE STUDYING I’d done before the group, and the five hours with them, I felt fully prepared for this final, and was glad it was on Monday. Once that was out of the way, I only had two days left of easy finals and this year would be over.
I was still wired from all the espresso I’d sucked down in the last few hours and since it was a twenty-four hour Starbucks, I decided to stay in the café and write in my journal. After my parent’s accident, Candice’s parents tried everything to get me to talk. I think they were afraid I would never come out of my depression. Her brother Eli had been the only one that had known how to handle me—so to speak. He’d been home from college for the summer when the accident happened, and unlike his first few years away, came back every weekend to see me once school started back again. He would hold me while I stared off into space, and never spoke a word. Eli’s form of healing was my favorite since it was silent, but we all knew he couldn’t be there for me forever. One night when I got home from school there was a journal on my bed with a note from Candice’s dad, George. He suggested using the journal to write to my parents like they were still here. At first it freaked me out, but I told him I would try, and I’m glad I did. Even I could see the difference in myself. I wrote to them every day, even if it was just a few lines. But I viewed it as a way of continuing our family time. Every night after dinner while I was growing up, we’d pile up on the couches, turn on the TV and talk about our days while watching whatever shows were on that night. So that’s what I did. I just told them what was going on in my life like I would if they were still here.
When I finished a couple hours later, I put everything in my purse and called out goodbyes to the too-awake baristas. As soon as I pushed open the door and walked out into the muggy night air, my phone went off and the words on the screen caused me to stumble and a chill to shoot through my body.
Blake: You look beautiful tonight.
Instead of bolting for my car like any sane person, I looked around until I found him. Well, running to my car wouldn’t have helped much; he was parked right next to it and leaning against the driver door of his shiny little Lexus.
How did he know I was here? If he didn’t know I was here, what is he doing here at two in the morning? Oh my word, he’s been following me! No, that’s ridiculous; come on Rachel get a grip. He is not following you, frick I really need to stop thinking the world and everyone in it revolves around me. He just happened to be here and saw your car. That’s all. Right? Right.
I took a few steps closer to the cars and took a deep breath as I dropped my phone back into my purse, trying to calm myself down. “Hi, Blake.”
“I was starting to think you would never leave, I’ve been out here for hours.”
Oh God, he had been waiting for me! Those words were creepy enough, but paired with the sexy, innocent smile they seemed even worse. I meant for my voice to sound strong and annoyed but it was barely a whisper, “Why are you following me?”
“Following you? I’m not following you. Candice told me you were waiting for me to pick you up from the study group. Jesus, Rachel, you look like you’ve just seen a ghost; are you all right?”
“Candice said what? No, I was definitely not waiting for you; I drove myself here. That should be obvious, since you’re parked next to my Jeep.” I didn’t know what was going on, but I wanted to get out of there and away from him. Now.
“Yeah, but your car isn’t starting. Which is why I’m here.” He said every word slowly like I was a child or something. “Don’t you remember Rachel? You called her almost three hours ago, but she was busy so you told her to call me. Are you feeling okay? Come on, get in the car I’ll get you back to your room.”
“I am not getting in your car, I’ll drive myself back!” With that I took the last few steps to my car, got in, locked the door and put the key in the ignition. I turned it but nothing happened. There wasn’t even a click. What happened to my car? I knew I hadn’t called Candice. And even then, if I’d wanted Blake to pick me up I would have called him myself. Someone tapped on the window and even though I knew who it was, I still jumped.
“Come on, Rach, this is dumb. Just get in the car I’ll take you back. I’ll get your car towed in a couple hours.”
There was no point in trying to call someone else. It was two in the morning, everyone was asleep, and I definitely couldn’t walk back at this hour. I let out a big sigh and opened the door.
“That’s my girl, come on let’s go.” He helped me into his car then got in beside me, this time he didn’t put his hand on my thigh.
The short drive to the dorm seemed to take forever, and besides asking me a few times if I was feeling all right; there was no conversation. Blake seemed genuinely concerned about me. Had I called Candice? Did I just forget about everything while I was writing to my parents? Is that why I went in to write to them in the first place? Maybe all the studying mixed with my caffeine high that was turning into a major crash had my mind all jumbled. I must have just forgotten. It would have been easy to grab my phone and check the recent call history, but something inside me tightened and I knew it would be the wrong thing to do. We finally reached the dorm, and just like this morning, Blake parked in the lot. Aces.
“Are you sure you’re feeling okay?” He asked for the fifth time since we got in the car, “You freaked when you saw me.”
“I’m fine, really, don’t worry about me. I probably just forgot and lost track of time in there.” I tried to make my smile convincing, I didn’t want him to walk me to my room. I got out of the car, ducked my head back in to thank him and saw he was getting out too. Crap. Well, at least this would give me time to tell him I needed some space.
“You don’t really think I’m going let you walk up there by yourself, do you?”
“Of course not,” I muttered, “I was just trying to be polite. It’s late and you’ve already been waiting on me for hours . . . apparently.”
He just laughed as he walked toward me, put his arm around my waist and led me to my room. When we got there he reached out to open the door for me; at least the good bye would be short. But my happiness was short lived; he walked me into the empty room and then turned to shut and lock the door behind us.
“Where’s Candice?” I couldn’t stop my voice from shaking. How weird that just Thursday I’d spent hours alone with him in this room and had felt comfortable and enjoyed my time with him. But now, being in here with him felt . . . wrong.
“She didn’t tell you when you talked? All she told me was she was busy.” He said a little too innocently.
I turned to face the room again to see if her laptop or cell were around, if they weren’t I was going to call her immediately. Before I could find—or hopefully not find– everything, Blake came up behind me and began kissing the back of my neck.
“Uh, Blake? Can you not do that right now? I need to find out where Candice is.”
Instead of stopping, he turned me around, pushed me up against my wardrobe, and resumed his place on my neck. I tried pushing him back, but it was useless. The guy was a rock and he wasn’t budging.
“She’ll be back when she’s ready to come back.” He breathed between kisses and little bites.