Page 25 of Steeling Her
He succeeds in taking my hands away from blocking my face and, with his arm once again finding my shoulder, tells me, “Carter, you couldn’t break the screen if you threw it at a wall.”
We laugh and take a picture. I see it as his contact on mine and he takes another one of us for his phone. Setting them both up on our phones, I smile at his name typed in. “If you need help with anything, college, parties . . . my sister, just call me. Or text me, I don’t mind. Or even if you just want to talk.” He smiles, leaning over my phone in my hands, his elbows resting on the table. I stare down at the picture he took of us. We’re both smiling like we won the lottery. He’s so photogenic. Meanwhile, I look like something from Ghostbusters.
“Okay, cool. Thanks.” I was surprised at how calm I sounded. Because inside, it was like a rampant zoo kicking up. I look up to see how close he is to me, and I see his smile slowly fade away as we once again look at each other. My breathing is silently erratic and uncontrollable as I realize his proximity, staring into those hunter-green eyes once more. You could get lost in them.
I study his features more closely. He’s got small freckles dotting his face, making him look more innocent. His nose is perfectly straight with no bumps or crevices visible to the eye. His lips are plump and pink, and his tongue trails out to lick them. I look back up to his eyes and see he’s looking at my lips.
Why is he looking there?
He starts to lean in slowly towards me, finding my eyes once more. His hand slips to the back of my chair, caging me in, all while his head tilts slightly to the side. Feeling his breath tingle my lips, I don’t pull away from him.
Hearing the keys fumbling in the door, we pull apart from each other quickly as soon as the door swings open.
Was he going to kiss me?
No. No, surely not.
“Ca—Nick? What the f-fuck? Where the holy hell have you been the entire n-night! TJ w-went home looking for you . . . Maya is pissed!” Haley starts laughing along with Danielle. They can barely stand. I release a small giggle at my two roommates laughing at what Haley said. They both trudge in and sit in the seats opposite to us. I lean back, pulling my legs up on the chair. Watching them both nearly miss the chairs completely as they sit down, I hear Nick laugh at the two of them.
“She’s such an annoying bitch! Ugh, she just wouldn’t leave me alone tonight. ‘Where’s Nick? Have you seen Nick? He told me he was coming!’ Blah blah blah . . .” Her voice tries to imitate the girl she really doesn’t like. You can tell by her face. Every time she’s mentioned, Haley rolls her eyes or huffs. It’s like she is allergic to her. Haley stands back up, gripping on to everything in her path to the refrigerator.
“Ahhh! Pizza!” She swoons at the sight of our leftovers from last night.We really need to start cooking for each other,I mentally note to myself. “Alright, I’m going to s-sleep. I’m tired and wasted. Gooodnight, peeps!” She gives us the peace out sign as she walks into her room, closing the door with pizza hanging freely from her mouth. Hearing Danielle snort brings our attention back to her. She’s sipping on a water bottle, eyeing both of us up.
I see the smirk crawl onto her lips as she looks at me. I feel my cheeks heat up.Don’t say anything. Please don’t say anything.Nick starts to look between the both of us skeptically.
“We didn’t interrupt something did we?” Danielle teases Nick, who stares at her for the longest time. The silence between the three of us is deafening. Someone answer.
“No, we were just talking.” He shrugs off her comment like it’s no big deal. He’s telling the truth. Nothing happened other than us talking. I smile over to her and send her adon’t-you-say-another-wordlook over to her but she purposely doesn’t pick up on it, because her smile gets wider.
“Mmmhmm. Talking? Riiight . . .” She stands up and throws the bottle into the trash. Pushing her chair in, she smiles at the both of us. I try to hide my embarrassment while Nick stares at her, confused as to what is going on. Catching Nick’s eyes again, I look away down to my laptop screen.
“I’m going to sleep too. ’Night, kids! Stay safe, and wear protection!” she yells behind her. I close my eyes, trying not to throw the chair at her. Oh. My. God. She did not just say that out loud. Nick twists his body around in the chair to watch her leave and then focuses his attention back to me. I feel his eyes burning through my skin. I refuse to look at him.
“Am I missing something?” He laughs slightly at the end.
I shake my head. “I honestly don’t know what she’s talking about. I-I think she’s wasted too.” I think on the spot to diffuse the awkward situation.
“Okaaay . . . Well, I better go anyway. TJ will be annoying the hell out of me if I’m not home.” He stands up beside me and I copy him. I fix my hair once more and stand there awkwardly. I mentally groan at myself. Why do I have to be like this?
He opens the door and I stand there, watching him walk out the few steps we had. Watching his back muscles move is so hypnotizing. He turns back around to face me, smiling down at me. I gulp down hard as I look up at this Greek god standing right in front of me.Speak, Carter, speak.
“Um, thanks for helping me out tonight. I owe you one.” His smile gets wider as the seconds pass between us.
“No problem! Anytime, I’m just a phone call away. You don’t owe me anything, Carter. I wanted to help.” He slips his hands into his front pockets, leaning slightly forward on his toes. While staring at each other, I remember that it’s my turn to speak.
“Oh yeah! Um, thanks. You’re probably going to regret giving me your number.” I laugh, holding up my phone in my hand. “I do owe you, though. You spent the entire night with me, I probably bored you to tears. I’ll buy you food or something to make it up?” I bite on my bottom lip, thinking why would he want to hang out with me? I’m so weird.
“I definitely won’t regret it. How about this? You come to my next game and we’ll call it even?” I hear the happiness in his tone and it catches me off guard a little.Why would he want me at his next game?“Because I would like to see you there.” My eyes widen at the fact I asked that out loud.
“I said that out loud didn’t I?” Seeing his head nod with amusement, I groan and face palm myself. His laugh occupies the space between us. “Um, sure okay?” I stare back at his tall frame.
“Really?” he asks raising his eyebrows at me. I nod, shuffling my bare feet around. “Cool! It’s in two weeks, on a Saturday though. It’s at home because the other team’s stadium is under renovation at the moment. So, I’ll see you there?” I nod once more and he once again sends me his beaming smile that knocks the wind out of me.
“I’ll see you there!” I tell him and he waves me off as he walks down the hallway and down the stairs.
He looks back at me one last time and says, “Goodnight Carter!” And he leaves.
I’m standing there, staring at the empty space he once occupied and I finally close the door snapping myself out of it. Feeling my heart beat so rapidly, I feel the adrenaline in my veins and I smile at the thought of him.
