Page 16 of Steeling Her
“Danielle,” he says while he tut-tuts at me.
“Right! Danielle! I would’ve done the same if it was her—”
“Would you?” Seeing his smirk on his face, he knows I wouldn’t have done the same for her. I huff out a “Yes” to let him drop it, but he doesn’t. This guys knows me like a brother. He knows my reactions, expressions, and when I’m lying.
“Look, she’s hot, I get it. But you’re treading in dangerous water with her being Haley’s roommate—”
“TJ, I don’t like her like that. I’m just looking out for her. She’s shy, and apparently naïve, so I figured she needs someone to . . . help her.” I choose my words very carefully with him. He would twist them into something that’s not. Or worse, something that is.
Taking in a deep breath, he sinks further into the booth and says, “If you say so. All I’m going to say is, to you, she’ll be just another girl. But to her, you might not just be another guy. You following me?” I nod, and he leaves it at that. I know what he’s saying.
She’s shy, and I would ruin her if I got with her, in more ways than one. He’s right. I just fuck girls and leave. I don’t think she’s mentally at that part in her life. Honestly, I don’t think she’ll ever get to that stage. She’s young, but I can’t do that to her or my sister.
“Chin up man, there’s plenty of hot girls around the campus for you to bang,” he reassures me.
“I wasn’t sulking, TJ.” That just makes him scoff. He’s right; I was sulking a bit. Thinking of her; why I can’t have her; why I shouldn’t want her so much. There’s something about that blue-eyed beauty that I can’t put my finger on. She’s such a mystery, one that I want to figure out so badly.
“You totally were, Nick,” he teases me. He stands up to order us coffee and I sit back to wait for it to arrive. I look out the window at the surrounding people passing by me, and I start to feel myself comparing the girls walking by to her. The differences that are evidently there because it’s not her. The ones who see me looking at them try to act differently to keep my attention, something that Carter does the opposite of. She’s the girl who completely runs away from me and acts so nervous around me. I’ve never experienced a girl like that in all my years.
“Shit!” I whisper to myself for sounding like such a girl. I run my hands across my cheeks in frustration at why she’s doing this to me. Then, I start to play with the packets of sugar in the pots on the table as I wait. One sugar will do for me. I hadn’t noticed that TJ sat down until he cleared his throat for the second time. My mind just started to wander. Again.
“You alright, man? Your coffee is going cold.” He pushes the styrofoam cup in front of me. I groan out in frustration, making him laugh.
“I’m just tired today . . . I didn’t get much sleep last night,” I mumble sipping the brown liquid occupying the cup.Thanks to Carter.
“Something on your mind? Or someone?” He starts to tease me and I flip him the bird to show him I’m pissed. He starts to choke on his drink and laughs, throwing his head back along the booth.
“Holy shit, dude! You actually do like her?” TJ can’t stop his belly aching laugh. He does this a lot to emphasize that it’s hilarious. His eyes tell me he can’t believe what he figured out. But do I like her? I don’t like girls, I get with them and dispose them. I can’t like her. Can I?
“Shut the fuck up, TJ. I’m not in the mood today,” I grit out, showing him I’m not messing around. When a girl interrupts my sleep pattern, that’s when you know I’m in trouble. It’s never happened before, so it’s scaring me a little.
“Well, get in the mood, because here she comes.” I sit up straighter and whip my head around to see her and a guy entering the cafe to get in line. I check the time to see it’s ten minutes to the hour. Either she’s getting a quick coffee or is on her lunch. Who is this douchebag? He looks like he’s part of a fucking boy band. He’s got clean cut blond hair and is dressed like he’s about to break out into song for her. Jesus, is that what she’s into?
“Yo, Carter!” I’m literally about to drown my best friend in the pond for drawing attention to us. I turn to face an amused TJ waving over at her. I don’t look to see if she’s waving back. I’m just glaring at him, the traitor I call my best friend.
Hearing light footsteps nearing our table, I see her standing and hovering over the two of us, without the guy from earlier. Holding a notepad in her hands, she adjusts the strap from her handbag. Her hair is tucked back, allowing me to see her face.
“Hey, TJ, Nick.”
I immediately raise my eyes up to see hers as she smiles down to the two of us. Her voice was so soft, I barely heard her over the chatter in the cafe. We both respond, “Hey.” Catching those blue eyes, I grip my cup with a little more strength than necessary.
“You want to join us?” TJ asks, breaking the small tension between us. Watching her eyes fall over her shoulder to the guy now making his way over to us. Who the fuck is he?
“Oh, no we’ve got class now. We just came to grab a quick coffee, well hot chocolate for me. Rain check, maybe?” She takes her cup from him and thanks him. I watch him very closely. Both me and TJ nod and watch her leave. She waves at us and we wave back, with a tight smile on my face. This girl.
Seeing him hold the door open for her and note that his eyes drop down low as she walks out. Did he just check her out? What the fuck! I stand to walk over to him but TJ grabs me back down and pushes me back to the position I was sitting in. We watch them walking along the pathway back to a building and I see his hand slide onto the small of her back.
I feel the burning sensation surround me. I’m going to kill that guy by hanging him off the main building.. Lets see how many girls he checks out then, little pervert.
“Dude, stop acting like a jealous ex!” He clicks his fingers in my face to get my attention.
Well it worked, because I glare at him once again and state angrily at him, “I’m not jealous! Jesus, he was perving on her and feeling her up!”
“Nick, you do way worse than what he just did. You need to seriously chill out, man.” TJ had a point. I do way worse to girls than what that guy just did to Carter. But it doesn’t give him the right to feel her up. He’s not hers.
Shit.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
