Page 14 of Choosing You

He laughs. “You sound like my little sister. She’s six.”

I feel my face getting hot. “Yeah, I didn’t mean to say it like that. What I meant is that I don’t know you that well, so I don’t trust you to drive me somewhere.”

“Really? Am I that scary?”

I look him up and down. He doesn’t look scary. He looks hot. White polo shirt, light-colored shorts, sunglasses, deep tan.

“Do you want references or something? Because I know Jasmine, your RA. She’ll tell you that I’m perfectly safe to be around.” He stands there waiting for me, the door still open. “Come on. I thought Midwest people were trusting.”

“Trusting is just a nicer word for stupid or naive. And I’m neither one of those things.” I hesitate, not sure what to do. He seems all right but I’ve seen plenty of pretty boys tried for murder on the news. And around here, he could easily dump my body in the woods and nobody would ever find it.

“Hey, Garret.” Jasmine walks by, waving at him.

He calls over to her. “Jaz, wait. Come here for a minute.” She walks over to us. “Tell the new girl I’m normal and not some crazy psychopath.”

She looks confused. “What?”

“She’s afraid to get in my car because she doesn’t know me well enough. She wants references and you’re it.”

“Um, okay.” She turns to me. “I’ve known Garret since middle school. Sometimes he can be an ass, but the majority of the time he’s a good guy.” She turns and walks away.

“What the hell? I’m not an ass,” Garret yells at her.

She yells back, “The ass part’s for breaking up with my sister.”

He shakes his head. “I went out with her sister one time. I didn’t ask her out again and Jasmine’s been pissed at me ever since. Anyway, you got your reference so can we go now?”

“I guess. But I know self defense, so if you try anything you’re going to be in some serious pain.”

“I’m not going to try anything.” He waits for me to get in, then shuts my door.

As we’re driving away from campus I remember that I don’t have any money. “I forgot my cash. Go back and I’ll run in and get it quick.”

“It’s on me. Don’t worry about it.” He keeps driving.

“No, I don’t like people buying me stuff. Then I owe them and I don’t like owing people. Turn around.”

“You won’t owe me anything, Jade. It’s just lunch.” He turns onto the main road. “I was thinking we could go to a deli and grab some sandwiches to take to the park. There’s a lake there and some picnic tables.”

“Yeah, sure, so you can take me in the woods and kill me and throw my body in the lake.” I can’t believe I just said that out loud! The image was in my head, but I wasn’t supposed to verbalize it!

“Are you serious? Where do you get this stuff? Do you watch a lot of horror movies or something?”

I realize that I’m the one who sounds like a deranged lunatic. If anyone should be worried about their safety, he should.

“Never mind,” I say, trying to act normal. “We can go to the park.”

“Are you sure? Because we can go somewhere else if you’re that uncomfortable.”

“Just accept it before I change my mind.”

We get some sandwiches, chips, and drinks from the deli and head to the park. It’s full of people, but he finds an open table under a tree. The lake is off in the distance. It has a small beach where kids are playing.

“Still scared?” he asks, making me feel like an idiot.

I ignore the comment. “Thanks for lunch. It might be the last time I eat until the dining halls open on Tuesday.”

“Shit, you don’t have a car, do you? Well, I can take you to the store so you can get some stuff for your dorm fridge.”

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