Wasn’t she?
Claire flipped the keys in her hand so that they slid between her fingers as she formed a fist, dropping into a squat behind her desk so she could watch the office entrance. She could hear footsteps now, and see a shadow over the door. With another creak, she watched a hand open it.
“Claire?”
She let out the air she hadn’t known she’d been holding in. “Chad!” she yelled. “What the hell are you doing here?”
Chad stuck his head into the room, squinting in the darkness. “Claire, where are you?” he asked, ignoring her question. Claire huffed as she stood up, pocketing her keys as she flicked on the lights.
“Ah, there you are,” Chad smiled.
“Chad, it’s midnight. What’re you doing at the courthouse?” she asked again, rubbing her forehead.
“Oh, same as you, I’m sure,” he shrugged, glancing at the posters on the wall. “Finishing up the odd paperwork and answering a few emails. Ainsley said that you hadn’t called yet, so I thought I’d join him.”
“Join him?” she repeated. “Wait, you don’t mean—”
Chad flicked a thumb over his shoulder at the door. “He’s been waiting outside since six. I told him you liked to burn the midnight oil, but, well,” he said, laughing at his own words. “Of course I didn’t mean it literally.”
“I’m taking the bus home,” Claire announced, glaring at him.
“Yeah?” Chad asked, and Claire tried to ignore the way that her stomach curled at his carefree tone. The idea of sitting at the bus stop alone, in the dark, scared her. “You want to?”
Claire opened her mouth to speak, but she couldn’t find the words.
“Well,” Chad said, taking off his hat and leaning against one of the desks. “While you think on it, do you mind if I talk?”
Claire frowned, but sat back in her office chair. Chad took that as his green light, and closed his eyes with a sigh.
“Claire,” he said, opening them again. “I wanted to apologize.” Claire had half a notion to scoff at his words, but his tone stopped her. She’d never heard him speak so seriously. “What happened in college,” he said, shaking his head. “It was wrong. I was a stupid boy pretending to be an adult, and I didn’t think about how much my pride would hurt you. I’d take it back if I could,” he said, talking faster. “I’d tell everyone, and wear a shirt that had our names on it in a heart.” Catching his breath, he said, “I wouldn’t be ashamed of someone who made me happy.”
“Well,” Claire said awkwardly after a moment. “That’s good of you—”
“I always regretted it,” he cut her off. “And then, when I saw you the other day; well, I thought I’d imagined it. Sure, there was some girl being kidnapped, but it couldn’t have been you. But then, I turned down that alley and helped the girl up, and it was you. It was your eyes, your smell. Suddenly, I’d found you all over again.”
Claire frowned. “You could’ve found me before I was being mugged at knifepoint, you know,” she said irritably. “There’s Facebook—social media. And my number hasn’t changed.”
Chad just shook his head. “I was too ashamed. But, Claire,” he moved, suddenly sinking to his knees in front of where she sat. “We’re here now—you, and I, and I’ve never stopped thinking about you. Do you think that we could try again? To be us?” he asked, placing one of his hands over hers.
Claire blinked. This was her Chad. Behind the locked dorm room door, in the words of his cheesy notes, or the cuddles late at night under the sheets.
But her Chad had betrayed her, and she’d realized that he hadn’t really been her Chad at all.
“You know what?” she said, glancing at her watch. “You just made me miss my bus.”
Chad stared up at her, and a smile broke his sullen face. He stood up, dusting off his pants, and extended a hand to her. “Then I guess I owe you a ride,” he winked.
Claire rolled her eyes, but took his hand. “Something like that.”
Sure enough, Ainsley was waiting outside with the same BMW that he’d driven her around in the day before. She thought about it for a moment, and slid into the backseat after Chad. He lit up at her choice, happily leaning in towards her. She just rolled her eyes, promptly dropping her bag and purse in between them. Chad just laughed, and told Ainsley to take them home.
Chad led her to the same guest bedroom as before, and Claire had him locked out before he’d even finished talking. She heard him laugh as he walked away, and she couldn’t help but smile.