Page 59 of Chase
“I’m starting to think you were gonna try to go with option one. Trying to break my heart, beautiful?” He says.
“Parties aren’t really my thing, sorry sugar,” I tell him and try to keep my voice friendly.
“Fuck the party. Come downstairs,” he says with a confident and commanding voice.
“Whatdoya mean come downstairs? Where are you?” I sit broomstick straight and switch on the tabletop lamp. It’s Evie’s old desk light and it gives off a soft glow for our end table.
“In your lobby, I told you I was counting on option two, now come sign me in.” He’s being bossy and not in the fun way. I don’t like it.
“How’d ya know I lived here?” I say and grip my feather necklace while my heckles rise.
“Lucky guess. Now come on, we can sit in the lobby if you want. I don’t give a shit I just want to see you.” I can’t imagine him making a lucky guess that Evie and I were granted special permission to live in one of the senior student apartment buildings as juniors.
This man seems to be a strong mix of both crass and charm and I like him less and less the more he talks. No matter how sweet he thinks he’s being, it’s all starting to sound sickly to me.
“You left your party with high hopes that I’d let you in.” I know how Greek life is. This guy is Vice President of hisfraternity and it would be frowned upon for him to just up and leave. My spidey senses are tingling and there’s no mistaking that what I’m feeling isn’t sparks firing off between us.
I know plenty of girls would swoon over Will especially if he insisted he rather sit in a building lobby instead of being at a party on a Friday night. I don’t care one bit. I don’t have so much as a slight buzz in my body over this guy.
I read just as much romance and smut as Evie and if there was even a flicker I’d consider going downstairs. He’s not my fresh start. He’s not ever going to be my anything.
It feels like my heart isn’t ever gonna be available. It belongs to Chase. And no matter how mad I am right now, and how rejected I feel, my broken heart is still his.
“I told you today I can’t get you out of my head. If you weren’t coming to my place, I was coming to yours. So what’s it gonna be, beautiful? You gonna come sign me in?” I need to tell him that I’m nothing more than a waste of his time.
“I’ll be right down.”
Before I lose all my nerve I reach for my long cable knit cardigan sweater and stick my feet into a tall pair of Uggs. I’m not expecting to be downstairs for all that long, I just need to get myself off the hook with Will and then I can come right back up and lock myself away in my room.
I’m waiting for the elevator along with a group of people from the other side of the hall. They look like they’re going out tonight and with festivities happening on both Jock Row and Greek Lane, they’ll have their pick of parties.
The car arrives and I get in first. I’m now wedged into the back corner and can smell everyone. We’re packed in here like sardines and the unsavory mix of body sprays send me into asneezing fit. I catch the attention of the girl in front of me and she turns her pretty head to look at me.
“Aren’t you that girl who sang last night?” she asks while her eyes dart around my face in a judgey way.Rude.
“Were you at the showcase, sugar?” I ask with a quick smile and keep my own eyes trained on her face. I don’t need to see the rest of her to square her up. I know how to handle girls like her, I was with a whole lot of ‘em on the pageant circuit.
“God no, I saw it on TikTok,” she says it like she wouldn’t be caught dead at something like that and it makes me mad before the embarrassment of last night takes over.
I feel it coat my belly before shooting up to the back of my throat like a geyser. It’s nauseating. It feels like I’m swallowing boiling water, and I somehow manage to keep it all down.
“Oh, I didn’t realize it was on TikTok,” I say, feeling stupider than ever. I hadn’t even considered social media.I’m such an idiot.
“Girl, it’s viral,” her tongue clicks before she continues, “I wasn’t sure if it was you. In the video you're looking down at someone the whole time you're singing.”Someone.I wanted him to bemysomeone, not someone who’s going to now turn back into a stranger. That word has so much potential. I thoughtwehad so much potential.
She looks like she wants me to say something about my performance but I’m too caught up in my head to even respond to her. The elevator doors split open and before she steps out with the rest of her friends she says, “Your voice is amazing by the way.”
I’m still standing in the back of the elevator, processing what she went on about and cringe to myself.TikTok… viral… me singing to Chase.Someone back home is gonna get a hold of this and show Mama, I just know it. It makes me wanna curl up into a ball and roll away.
The elevator doors start to close and it snaps me out of my thoughts. They were moving a mile a minute through my head but made it hard for me to move. I extend my arm out to keep them open before walking out.
I immediately see one of the building directors and he gives me a slow and assessing nod before chin pointing toward Will.
He’s leaning up against the wall staring at his screen. He looks annoyed and outwardly scoffs before lifting his phone to his ear. Within two seconds my own phone is buzzing with his name displayed across the screen.
He doesn’t notice me approach. I feel absolutely nothing while I walk toward him. I know without a shred of doubt that I’m doing the right thing.
When he finally looks up, his whole face changes and he gives me a smile that looks downright unpleasant. I make sure to leave some space between us and I protectively cross my arms over myself.
