Page 31 of Steeling Her
Me: sure be there in 5
I grab my hat and leave out the door. TJ is in the gym at the moment so hopefully it’ll be just me and her. I start up my truck as soon as I’m inside and back out of the parking space. Within a few of minutes, I’m outside their dorm building. I climb out to go and get her. I wait for the elevator and press the floor they’re on. I notice the stares I’m getting from the girls in the lobby of the building. I do my best to ignore them and continue towards their room. Walking up to the brown door, I knock and see Danielle answer the door with a beaming smile, then I hear yelling.
“Come on Carter! Do you want your car or not?” Haley taps her foot as Carter runs around the room collecting some papers and her drivers license.
“Haley, I asked you not to. I’m perfectly happy with taking the bus—”
“Which will take over an hour!” My sister raises her hands at Carter, who is still collecting things to put in her bag.
“An hour that I would happily do! Haley, I appreciate the gesture but I’m fine. I don’t need a chauffeur . . .” she trails off as she turns to me. “Sorry for bringing you out here, but I can take the bus.” She walks by me and leaves down the stairs. It’s the first time she’s made eye contact with me since Saturday. I see Haley going to follow her out and I stop her.
“Let me handle this.” I push her and Danielle back inside the room as I race down after the blue-eyed beauty I’ve been dying to talk to all week. “Carter!” I yell down to her. “Carter! Wait up!” I run faster down the stairs as I near her and grab on to her arm spinning her around.
“I can take the bus. It’s fine.” She slips out of my grip and continues her way out the door, only for me to block her and get her to look up at me.
“Will you just wait? I can take you. It’s no problem—” She doesn’t let me finish because she makes her way around me and leaves again. What is her problem? “Carter! Wait! Wait! What’s up? Is there something wrong?” I place my hands on both of her shoulders to stop her from walking away from me again.
“Nope, I’m fine. I’m going to miss the bus if I don’t leave now. So, if you don’t mind . . .” She’s not even looking at me. She’s looking behind and everywhere else but me. Once again, she goes to leave me but I intertwine my fingers with hers, pulling her back to me. Her small body crashes into mine and I hold on to her. She feels so good. The way she smells is like a drug to me.
“Carter, I’m taking you to get your car. End of story. I’m not arguing with you about this. I don’t want to, but I will if I have to,” I state matter of factly. Why won’t she let me take her?
“No . . . I’m taking the bus, Nick. I think your girlfriend is looking for you . . . or is that your girlfriend?” She’s sassy today. This is a side of her I haven’t seen before. What is wrong with her? But I do turn around to see Maya standing with her friends and glaring at the both of us. I mentally curse at myself and run after Carter. Damn, is she stubborn, but I deserved that dig she threw.
“Carter, I don’t take no for an answer . . . Just get in. If you’re annoyed at me, I get it. I’ll drive you there and leave you alone,” I assure her. She silently debates inside her head about what to do. She actually wants me to leave her alone? I feel a small twinge in my stomach at the thought of that. Shit, I really did fuck up. I can see that she is annoyed at me.
Fuck!
Fuck!
Fuck!
She then continues to walk away from me yet again, and I sigh and walk alongside her. “Has anyone ever told you that you’re stubborn as hell?” I mumble to her.
“All the time.” She picks up her pace like she’s trying to run away from me. I lock my car behind me and keep up with her. “Where are you going?” she asks me, almost jogging to the bus stop.
“What does it look like? I’m coming with you!” I say in the most obvious tone.
“No, you’re not. I don’t need a babysitter, Nick. I’m capable of getting on a bus myself.” I hear the anger in her voice, and I want nothing more than to hug her. So I do. I wrap my arms around her and hold her tight when we reach the bus stop. We’re waiting for the bus to come and I hold on to her.
“Um . . .What are you doing?” she mumbles into my shirt. I look down to see her already staring up at me.
“I’m hugging you. You look like you need one.” I smile down at her which makes her laugh. She shakes her head and tries to step away from me but I don’t let her; I tighten my grip around her and the bus comes. I begrudgingly let go of her and pay for both our fares on the bus. We get seats together and I lean my head against the window, studying her. She’s watching other people while I’m watching her. I can see she’s stressed about something but what is it specifically? She’s annoyed, I’m just not sure if it’s about me and those photos that I have since then deleted; every last one of them. I cringed going through them as I deleted them. What was I thinking?
While thinking to myself, I smile, but it looks like I’m smiling at her. I take out my phone and open my photos to find a picture of me and my sister Ellie. I hand my phone over to her and say, “That’s Ellie. She’s five.” I point on the screen and see her face light up. It makes me smile at her.
“She’s adorable. She looks like you and Haley.” I nod back at her in agreement. She does. We all look like our mom, blonde hair and green eyes. Mine have always been the brightest. My mom is convinced that’s the reason why I get girls. I roll my eyes at my thoughts. “You all have the same eyes,” she says like she’s read my mind.
“Yeah, we get it from our mom. I have the lightest ones though.” I point to myself, making her look up at me. My breath catches in my throat at the sight of her catching my stare.
Watching her nod and smile, she says, “You do.” I smile back at her. We’re staring at each other until she breaks eye contact clearing her throat. I clench my jaw hard, realising she felt awkward.
“You got any brothers or sisters?” I see her tense hard at my question. It must be a touchy subject. But to my surprise she answers.
“Yeah, I have . . . um . . . two older brothers.”Shit!There’s nothing scarier than two older brothers. I hear her start to laugh and then I realized I must’ve said it out loud. I mentally slap myself.
“Maybe three older brothers?” She jokes making me laugh along with her. She has a good sense of humour. I like that in a girl.
Hold on! What? No! No! Back up! You can’t like her, Nick.
