Page 16 of Take Me Home

“That’s not the game!” I objected.

“You were the one asking qualifying questions! ‘Fess up!” Becca demanded.

I sighed. “I dated a girl from my lab at Virginia Tech, so we were working on a long-term project. It wasn’t like a job job thing, though.”

Darcy rubbed her lips together until they were white, her eyes with a slight sheen to them. I considered nudging her under the table, but something was really wrong. I didn’t want to poke the bear.

“Line judge?” Becca asked, pointing to Caleb.

“Doesn’t count,” Caleb said firmly. “I’m talking making out in the stock room, sneaking dirty grabs throughout the day, buckling your pants as someone walks in.”

“Fine,” I said, remembering Andrea from college. “I remain safe here.”

My relationship with Andrea couldn’t be described as anything but vanilla. She was *nice.* I didn’t want nice in the long-term. I have slightly more adventurous appetites. She would have never made out in the lab closet with me.

“Not for long,” Becca said under her breath, but loud enough for all of us to hear. She and Caleb shared a sidelong glance. Darcy must have sunk her foot into Becca’s shin, because she gave a loud squeal and glared at Darcy, betrayed.

I knew exactly what Becca was getting at, and so did Darcy. Everyone knew there was something in the air between the two of us. Becca’d called me out on my crush on the first day of work. Fortunately, she only teased me about it privately and swore she wouldn’t tell Darcy directly. Becca and Caleb conspired to make the sparks fly between me and Darcy. But something was wrong with Darcy during this game, and I needed to keep her smiling.

“Okay, my turn. Never have I ever gone skinny dipping,” I said.

Darcy was so far zoned out that everyone noticed.

“Darcy!” Becca shouted, clapping her hands like you would at a misbehaving dog.

“Huh? Shit. I’m sorry. Is it my turn?” Darcy asked, coming out of her daze.

“No, it’s mine,” I said with a righteous tone. I cleared my throat. “Never have I ever gone skinny dipping.”

Darcy seemed fully back to herself. “Well, don’t make your first attempt in the pond up here. We’ve got snapping turtles and I can’t imagine you’d want to lose…” She stopped herself in the middle of that statement, realizing she was about to talk about my dick. “A toe. You wouldn’t want to lose a toe.”

Caleb and Becca looked at each other, eyes bulging from stifling a laugh. Darcy snorted quietly and held her hand over her mouth, giggles seeping through her fingers. That set the rest of us off.

“Alright, game over,” Darcy said, standing to clear the plates. “Becca, you’d better get home. We’ve all got an early morning and need our beauty rest.”

* * *

I sat in my trailer,holding my laptop to the window to look for any sliver of WiFi to send in my sketches to my advisor. No dice. I could drive to Huntington to submit it, but then I’d be in bed so late. It was already getting dark.

Well, there was my excuse to go visit Darcy. I packed up my laptop bag and headed out the door, a little pep in my step as I looked forward to seeing her. I definitely, for sure, 100% had a crush on her. Part of it was just being horny and having not done anything about it for a while besides managing things on my own. But there were things about her I was pretty sure were separate from my aching libido. She was smart and funny. I especially liked this mischievous look she got sometimes, where I could tell she was holding back a nastier joke or comment. I was desperate to get the inside scoop. Though she was anxious around me a good amount of the time, she was actually pretty tough. I loved watching her do things on the farm I wouldn’t expect that small frame to be capable of. She’d try anything, and not ask for help until she was absolutely sure she couldn’t do it herself.

I knew I wanted to start looking for someone to date, maybe even find The One. Swiping on dating apps had led to some fun times, but I was kind of over it. I saw girls at school, but I was almost always so busy that I couldn’t mess with trying to lock down a date. Or no one struck me as being worth the time and effort.

Darcy felt worth the time and effort. And it was suspiciously convenient that we lived mere feet away from each other and worked together 5 days a week.

I knocked at the mud room door, hearing the water shut off in the kitchen. But then I heard nothing for a minute or so. I knocked again, making sure she heard me. I could see her tiptoeing into the mud room through the semi-sheer curtain, hoisting herself onto the bench to get something off the top shelf.

“Darcy, it’s Jake,” I said gently. “Not a murderer. Can I come in?”

The door swung open, revealing a shotgun-wielding Darcy. I jumped.

“Jesus wept, Darce! You grabbed the gun?”

She looked sheepish. “You caught me. It was an instinct. I don’t even know how to use it. I just wanted to be scary.”

She cautiously lowered the barrel. I watched as she handled the gun with care, making sure her fingers were nowhere near the trigger. She stepped on the bench to put it back and wobbled a bit. I put my hand on her lower back to steady her.

As she stepped down, I got a closer look at her puffy, red, tear-stained face. Fuck. Something had really upset her tonight.

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