Page 23 of Steeling Her
“I didn’t mean it like that. She ran into the restroom and told us she felt sick. It was the only thing I could think of . . .” He groans at hearing what must have gone through her head that day.
“And you!” She points to me. Oh shit. “You said she was ugly!” My eyes widen even more and I shake my head no.
“N-No! I didn’t call her ugly! Shit, is that what she thinks?” I spin my head to face TJ, who stares at me with disbelieving eyes.
Fuck. I fucked up. Badly. So did TJ.
“I think she took it the wrong way. I said that she’s not the type of girl to get pregnant. I meant it as a compliment, I swear! As in, she’s responsible to not get knocked up. I didn’t mean she’s ugly; she’s not!” I freeze at what I just said out loud. Double fuck. Don’t pick up on it, don’t pick up on it.
“Ughhh! You both need to rewire your brains! You’re both idiots, do you know that!” Haley points her fingers at both of us, with anger in her face.
“How about this? We’ll drop around tomorrow and apologize to her?” TJ steps closer to my sister, who drops her hands down to her sides. I nod my head, not wanting to say anything more about it just in case more word vomit comes up my throat and exits my mouth.
I watch Haley’s head nod too while her eyes dart between us as we all walk to TJ’s car. Slipping inside, I can’t get the thought of Carter thinking that I think she’s ugly.
She’s the furthest from ugly. She’s stunning. So stunning that she hasn’t left my mind since I first saw her. Her striking blue eyes when they fell on me. The way they roamed my body when she stood in front of me. Her timid demeanour. Her fragile body—her sexy, fragile body that I couldn’t keep my eyes off of.
Then, when she spoke. That soft angelic voice that, if you weren’t looking at her you would’ve missed completely. The way her lips moved when she spoke was what stole my attention instantly without even trying.
“Yo! Nick! You alright, man?” TJ punches me out of my thoughts. I nod back, slipping out of the car noticing the two girls had already walked inside.
“You good?” he asks me again when I meet him on the other side of the car.
“I’m good.” I pat his shoulder as we walk into the house. I look around the house to see if I can find her. Haley said she might come to the party. I hope she did. I want to talk to her before either one of us gets drunk and doesn’t remember what we said.
I roam my eyes around at each brunette, trying to see if she’s here. Catching a few eyes in the process, I get winks and smiles in my direction as I sip on the beer bottle TJ had gotten for me.
“She’s not here man.” He laughs before taking a sip of his own. Am I that obvious? “Haley said she’s still in the dorm room doing the assignment.” He smiles smugly over at me. He’s the only person who knows me like that back of their hand. But I’ll deny it.
“I’m looking for Maya . . .” I lie.
“Maya is blonde, Nick, not a brunette,” he teases me with that look still on his face. I roll my eyes and sit on the sofa with the rest of the players. A half hour later, I’m still on the sofa sipping on the same beer.
I can’t stop thinking about the whole Carter thing. I stand up and start to walk outside to the front but get stopped when I hear TJ.
“Where are you going?” he asks me from a distance sitting in the arm rest.
“I need some air. I’ll be back in five.” I don’t wait for a response. I walk outside and brush past people wandering through the space parted for me. I decide to leave.
***
Carter
I tap on my keyboard, trying to type some words into Google to help me understand what some of these big words mean. Some of the names given to body parts are absolutely outrageous. How in the world am I going to remember these?
YouTube.
That’s usually a good place for teaching things; tutorials and what not.
I type it in the search engine and click on it when it shows up. I type in anatomy courses and scroll through my options. Trying to find ones with good diagrams and pictures to help me learn the material usually works for me.Oooh, here’s one.I click on the name and wait for it to load.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
I look over to the door to see if it was ours that the person knocked on. I stare at it and then back to my laptop to see it’s only 10:44 PM in the top right corner of my Mac.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
I jump a little and laugh, thinking it’s probably Haley or Danielle. They must’ve forgotten their keys or something. I walk over to the door and my legs gets pulled back, trapped by the charger. I release it and carry on to the door and swing it open.
