Page 5 of Between the Flames

CHAPTERTWO

Ican tell by the way she looks at me that I freak her the hell out. She thinks I don’t even know her name, but she is sadly mistaken. Not only do I know her name, but I see her. I see the way she hides behind her folders in class. The way she always has her glasses pulled down almost to the tip of her nose while she types in the computer lab. I see the way she clings to that Noah kid as they pass through the quad, and the way her eyes don’t sparkle for him. She may always be attached to his arm, but the only thing they are is platonic. I watch the way her eyes are constantly darting around looking for something, as she lets him guide her throughout campus.

Is it me she’s looking for?

Fuck yeah it is.

She thinks I don’t see her, but I do. I see her and I know—I know for a fact, that if I gave her the smallest inch of me, she’d let me take the whole fucking mile. And let me be damn straight here: I’d be giving her a hell of a lot more than just one inch.

I’ve kept it tight-lipped that I’ve had a thing for little miss nerd glasses for the better half of our senior year. Not even Tommy knows, although I almost lost control and punched him in his smug face a few weeks ago when he was going on and on about how sexy her ass looked in the shorts she had on. She had caught his eye, which wasn’t difficult to do, and it really fucking pissed me off. It took every ounce of strength I had to keep my composure and not lose my mind in front of everyone in the quad. No one could know about my obsession with the nerd girl; it needed to stay hidden. Everyone sees me and Lily and assumes that we’re endgame, but what they don’t see is me lying in bed at night, burning a hole into the ceiling and growing half-mast for her. Fucking Elle Peters with her dark hair and doe eyes that she hides behind these oversized, ugly ass black-framed glasses. She keeps everything that I want to see hidden behind modest necklines, forcing me to imagine what’s beneath. When Lily first became my girlfriend, I thought for sure she was everything that I had wanted, but the more I grew to know her, the more I realized she was the perfect girl—just not the perfect girl for me.

Elle makes me wonder, makes me think. Keeps me guessing.

I know damn well that I shouldn’t be looking, that I shouldn’t fucking care, but here we are: football quarterback and borderline stalker.

A pair of warm arms slither around my waist and the scent of Lily’s heavy perfume infiltrates my nostrils. My gaze doesn’t shift from the hallway, even though Elle has long since disappeared. I roll my eyes as I turn around to face my girlfriend, but I’m careful that she doesn’t see my discontent. I press my lips on the top of her head, playing the part of a dutiful boyfriend. Lily is pretty—no, scratch that, she’s gorgeous, but somehow, I still feel like there is something missing. She leaves nothing to the imagination and has offered no mystery when it comes to her personality or her body. Lily was all too happy giving it up to me the same day we had made our relationship official. Luckily for her, she had been born with brains and a talent for photography in addition to her good looks, so there was bound to be a guy out there who would find her to be the total package. Unfortunately for her, that guy wasn’t me. I had made up my mind to break things off with her in the next couple of days, before she got too attached, which I feared was already too late. She had a plan for her life and was determined to make me a part of it. I knew it was time to cut ties before it got even harder to do so.

“Hey babe!” Lily squealed, pulling back and tilting her pink glossy lips up toward me. I leaned down and kissed her with instant regret. I fucking hated the strawberry-flavored stickiness that coated my lips. Or maybe it was just the fact that I would rather taste Elle’s lips.

“Hey,” I replied, wiping away the crap on my mouth. I looked down at the back of my hand in disgust at the sticky lip gloss that had transferred and smeared. A long breath escaped me as I wrapped my arm around her shoulders, leading her toward the doors of the building. Our next classes were in the buildings next to each other, and it was an unspoken expectation of hers that I would meet her outside of her chemistry class so we could walk there together.

Just because I wasn’t that invested in her didn’t mean I wasn’t a fucking gentleman.

Opening the door to the art building, a strange feeling overtook my body, and I paused before following Lily inside.

Shaking it off, I continued walking behind her, stopping once we had made it to her classroom. She stood on tiptoes, tilting to reach my mouth for a kiss, but I dodged her lips and gave her a quick peck on the forehead instead.

That pissed her off.

Saying nothing, she turned on her heel and walked into the class, not bothering to glance in my direction again.

As I made my way back toward the building’s doors, my eyes fixated on the door to the darkroom. The need to go inside washed over me and I couldn’t explain why I felt compelled to. I knew Lily wasn’t in there, and photography wasn’t exactly my forte… but I couldn’t ignore the voice shouting at me to open the door. I hesitated for only a split second before pulling it open and slipping through.

My eyes took a moment to adjust to the darkness, only illuminated by the harsh red bulbs in the room. A wicked smile pulled at my lips when I zeroed in on the reddened silhouette in the corner, leaning over a developer bath.

How had I sensed that she was in here?

Elle hadn’t seen me yet, so I stood silently and simply drank in the sight of her for several minutes. She had no idea how hot she was… how beautiful. She had completely captivated me, stealing my attention over these last few months, my fascination only growing stronger and more primal as the days passed. I couldn’t wrap my head around it. I felt mildly guilty as my mind wandered back to the girlfriend that I had just escorted to class, but I pushed it away as I watched Elle glide through the darkroom, clearly in her element.

“You know, monsters like to hide in the dark.” I purposely shifted my body so that I was hidden within a shadow and watched as she looked around for the source of the voice she had heard. “You have no idea how beautiful you are. So fucking beautiful.”

Elle stopped moving, a half-developed photo hanging from a small set of tongs in her hand, dripping into the container below it. She said nothing, so I continued. She didn’t know it was me—the shadows shielded me, and I intended to hide in them to speak my truth.

“I’ve watched you for a long time. Somehow…you’ve bewitched me. The only thing I can think of is you, and it fucking drives me insane. I’ve never wanted anyone as badly as I want you, and I don’t even know why. Or how? It’s… ugh… maddening. You infuriate me and make my mind go crazy. I don’t know what the fuck you’ve done to me.”

Fuck. I’ve said too much.

Furious at myself for letting that much slip out, I retreated as far back into the shadows as I could, watching Elle move around the table. As she drew closer to where I was standing, I could see the clear image of her face contorting with emotion as I came into her line of sight. A breathless gasp escaped her lips as she slapped her hand to her mouth, taken aback by my presence.

“Ryder?” she questioned, voice riddled with confusion and disbelief. She dropped her hand to her side, and I fought against my instinct to reach for it.

Fuck.

Shaking off the tingles that had radiated through me again, I hurried to the door, my hand hovering above the handle.

“You know this is Elle, right? Lily isn’t here…”

The beating of my heart ricocheted in my ears as she studied me, seeming to seek any ounce of truth she could pull from me. She thought I had been looking for Lily, but it’s as if she was hoping I was here for her. Shifting my body to face her, I allowed myself to get lost in the two pools of sparkling blue that were searching mine.

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