Chapter 26: Chapter 26

Charlee

Most days Drew and Charlee tried to carpool to school together to save on gas. So on Monday mornings, Charlee either left later, taking her own car, or she rode with Drew and hung out on campus for an hour, killing time because Drew’s first class was earlier than Charlee’s first.

Unable to sleep much again with the anticipation of seeing Hector today, Charlee was up early, so she had ridden in with Drew. She’d been trying to concentrate on the novel she started weeks ago. It was actually pretty good, but her mind kept wandering off to the usual—Hector.

Startled by the sudden body that sat down way too close next to her, she jerked away and gasped when she saw it was Ross. Since the time he’d approached her the morning she was walking through campus with Drew, she hadn’t run into him again. She’d seen him a few times from afar and made sure she steered clear from him. Now he sat here next to her, the faint smell of marijuana not as penetrating as her first few encounters with him but still there.

“Morning,” he smiled.

Instinctively Charlee moved away, but she didn’t want to be too dramatic about it, so she abstained from jumping up and away from him like she really wanted to.

“Morning,” she said as calmly as she could.

“I’ve been hoping to run into you alone.” That statement from anyone else wouldn’t be so creepy, but coming from Ross, it was just that. He must’ve seen it in her questioning eyes because he added. “I mean so I can talk to you. I wanted to apologize and tell you how sorry I am that I made such a bad first impression.”

Not sure how else to respond, she nodded, gathering her things but avoided direct eye contact. “It’s okay.”

“I was also wondering if you don’t have a class anytime soon if we can go grab some coffee or something. You know a kind of peace offering.”

This time she did meet his eyes. Unlike Hector’s sexy, carefree and very bright eyes even when they got all intense, Ross’s were a bit bloodshot and glossed over as they were the last few times she’d seen him, no doubt from all the pot he smoked. But there was something more cynical about them too.

She started to shake her head, and when he reached over and touched her leg, Charlee sprung to her feet immediately. “Whoa wait!” Ross lifted his hand up in the air to show her he meant no harm. “I’ll behave. I promise. I just wanna talk to you a little more.”

“I can’t right now. I have to go.” She lied, picking up her last book from the bench.

Her heart sped up when he stood up next to her. She was only glad she was in the middle of the campus with lots of other students still around, unlike that first time.

“You ready to go, Charlee?” She turned to see Walter standing there with his backpack over his shoulder, looking a little surer of himself than he had the first time he came to her rescue.

Immediately catching on, she nodded. “Yes, we’re late.” With a quick half smile, she glanced at Ross, who was now frowning, and hooked her arm into Walter’s. “Let’s go.”

“I’ll take a rain check then,” Ross said as she and Walter walked away quickly.

“Rain check for what?” Walter asked in a low voice. “What did he want?”

“To have coffee with me and you saved me again. Thank you, Walter.” Charlee pulled her arm out of Walter’s when they turned the corner of a building and she was sure they were out of Ross’s sight. “Sorry about latching on to you.” She shrugged. “It was an impulse I guess—felt safer.”

“It’s okay,” Walter smiled. “I didn’t mind. So he’s still bothering you, huh?”

“Actually, I hadn’t seen him in a while, and I’m pretty sure he’s not out to harm me, not here on campus in broad daylight, anyway. It’s just . . .” She glanced at Walter a bit hesitant to go on but then did anyway. “He brings back old memories for me.”

Walter’s eyes opened a bit surprised. “You know him from way back?”

“No.” Charlee shook her head before taking a seat on a bench. Walter sat next to her, and she turned to him with a frail smile. “But feeling spooked or maybe just harassed by someone like him brings back old memories of when I was a kid in school.” She lifted a shoulder. “I’ve always been really shy. So I didn’t do well fitting in. The kids were . . . Well they weren’t very nice. It’s why I ended up just being homeschooled.”

Walter’s eyes opened even wider. “You left school because you were bullied? So did I.”

She tilted her head. This shouldn’t surprise her, but he was so big. “Really?”

Walter frowned. “Well, I was practically done with school. Just a little over a month before I finished high school, I dropped out. It was kind of impulsive and stupid actually, but I’d just had it.”

Charlee shook her head, taking a deep breath and glanced away. “I just don’t understand what it is about people that make them enjoy being cruel to others. I don’t think it’s Ross’s intention to be cruel.”

“He’s a jerk, Charlee.”

“Oh, I know.” Charlee glanced back at him, agreeing quickly. “I’m just saying I don’t think he means to hassle me more than pursue me, but it’s the way he goes about it—so aggressively and intimidating, like his just sitting down so close to me today, especially because our first encounter didn’t go over well at all. That’s what drudges up the ugly memories.”

“Well, I wouldn’t take my guard down about him not meaning any harm.” Walter said with a somber expression. “I still remember that look in his eye the day you wouldn’t give into him.”

Charlee thought about the first time she ran into him after that day and how creepy it had felt. “I won’t.” She smiled and stood up. “I better get going. I was so busy just trying to get as far as away from Ross that I went the opposite direction. My next class is clear across campus.”

Walter stood up. “I’ll walk you.”

“No, you don’t have to, Walter. Being my bodyguard is not your job.”

Walter shook his head. “My next class is that way too. And I want to.” His smile was a shy one. “Who knows? Now that I’m working out so much, maybe I will look into doing some bodyguard work.”

Charlee smiled maybe a little too big. Just like that, the butterflies in her belly started up again. Walter talking about working out was all it took to bring on the thoughts of Hector, his rock hard body, and the fact that she’d be seeing him again soon.

With her heart rate already taking a flying leap, she reminded herself of what she promised Drew. No matter what happened, she would remain composed. Charlee had also promised she wouldn’t do what she tended to do when she was trying to cover up feeling hurt or uncomfortable—overcompensate by acting too much the opposite way or say something rash if she got angry. She shouldn’t be angry, because in this day and age people did things like this all the time. Becoming angry or hurt would only make it obvious that Hector had been the first guy she’d done anything like this with. Charlee shouldn’t give him the pleasure of knowing that, if he didn’t deserve it. She was a modern woman living in a modern world. This was true. She agreed completely, even though this was huge for her.

Charlee smiled inwardly, chewing on the inside of her cheek. She remembered the way Hector gazed so tenderly into her eyes, kissed her so sweetly, and how sincere he was when he’d said the things he had. What she didn’t dare tell Drew was that the more she thought about Friday night, the more she was convinced this hadn’t been so insignificant for him either.

***

Monday . . . Tuesday . . . Wednesday . . . Thursday. . . Disappointment didn’t even begin to describe what Charlee was feeling. Hector hadn’t bothered to show up for chess lab all week. It was already Friday, and Charlee was certain he was avoiding her. Overhearing the guys and Walter talk about Hector with the two girls he’d apparently taken home again last Friday night didn’t help either.

As devastated as she felt, she was madder at herself than anything. He’d shown up with two girls—two girls he knew she’d seen grinding up on him on the dance floor just prior to them ending up in that room. And though he’d referred to them as just friends, Charlee knew exactly what kind of friends they were and, therefore, what kind of guy that made him, and still she’d gone against her better judgment and allowed him to kiss her.

The worst part of it all was even though Drew insisted this wasn’t a big deal, and it really shouldn’t be because she hardly knew him, it was. It was a very big deal. Every day that week when she walked to the chess lab, her insides would knot up about the possibility of facing him again.

Even though she’d given up hope that he would show up this week at all, her insides were already knotting up as she took the walk of shame to the chess lab again. More than likely, he’d give it at least an entire week, if not more, then show up next week sometime and act as though nothing had happened.

As much as she dreaded facing him now, she almost wished he’d just show up already so she could get it over with. Just as she made it up the stairs of the physics building, she heard it.

“Charlee!”

Her heart was immediately at her throat when she turned and saw him hurrying toward her. Wish granted.

Trying desperately to push back the emotion that just seeing him brought on, she focused on trying to appear unfazed. His expression gave nothing away. She didn’t know what to make of it. The fact that he was hurrying toward her, however, could be a good thing. Had he missed seeing her as much as she’d missed him?

Instead of rushing up the stairs and pulling her to him like she’d begun to envision, he stopped at the bottom when he got to it. The dark 5th Street t-shirt he wore was a little on the snug side, and she could make out those abs and strong chest—the chest she’d been pressed up again that amazing night. “Can I talk to you for a second before we go in there?” He motioned to the doorway of the physics building where the lab was at.

Nodding and beginning to feel a little numb, she made her way back down the few steps, ignoring her tangling insides. Unlike Friday and all the other recent times she’d been around him, he now avoided making eye contact for longer than a few seconds. Charlee already had a very bad feeling about this.

They moved off to the side to avoid blocking the stairway, and then he said what he’d been in such a hurry to get to her for. “Does, uh,” he glanced back at the building. “Does anyone know about last Friday? Anyone from the chess team?”