Stealing Harper(86)

Like a switch had been flipped his face went back to his smooth, sexy self. “You’re right, actually I think it’s a good idea for you to study with some other people besides Candice; I’m sure you wouldn’t get anywhere with her.”

Wait, what? The sudden change in his mood made me almost feel dizzy. It’s like I had my own personal Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde sitting next to me.

When I could finally get my mouth to stop opening and shutting like a fish, I shook my head and exhaled roughly. “Speaking of, I really need to get back to campus.” I stood to leave without giving him the chance to say no.

Without another word, Blake followed me out to the car. We didn’t say anything on the drive back but he put his hand on my thigh again. Was I imagining how tight he was holding it? When we arrived at the dorm, he parked in one of the spaces rather than letting me out in front. I grabbed the handle to open the door and he pushed down on my thigh gripping it tighter. I turned to look at him and was surprised to see he still looked light and easy going.

“I’ll get the door for you. Wait here for just a second.”

Crap, I hope he wasn’t going to walk me to my room, I’d bet Candice still had Eric in there with the door locked. As soon as he released me, my thigh throbbed from the relief of pressure he’d had on it and I almost wished I’d been wearing shorts so I could look at the damage I was making myself believe he’d done. The passenger door opened and I stepped out without looking up at him. We walked without saying anything and I made sure to put some distance between us. I was relieved when he began to slow down as we reached the main entrance of the dorm.

“Well, thanks for the coff—”

He caught me around the waist, pushed me up against the wall and kissed me roughly, interrupting my goodbye. Before I had time to realize what was happening and push him away, he pulled back and started backing up toward his car.

“I’ll see you later.” He winked then turned away from me.

I have no idea what my face looked like, I couldn’t even pin down an emotion. I was disgusted, annoyed, confused and pissed. It took a second before I was able to compose myself. I shook out my arms and walked up to my room.

I didn’t know if I was ready to tell Candice about this, or if I even wanted to. Knowing her, she’d somehow turn it around so that I had done something wrong, or that I didn’t know how to kiss. Needless to say, I was dreading facing her. Luck was on my side, Eric must still be in there because the door was locked, and on the mini white board attached to our wall in Candice’s writing were the words, “DON’T come in.” I texted Candice, asking her to put my laptop and books outside while I went to the bathroom so I wouldn’t be subjected to a flushed and rumpled Candice and Eric. After I picked those up, I went back to the common room and pulled out my phone to finally text Aaron back.

Sounds good. What time and where?

Aaron: 7p @ Starbucks

Great like I wanted to go there again. I sighed, cracked open a book and tried to not think about Blake.

WITH THE STUDYING I’d done before the group, and the five hours with them, I felt fully prepared for this final, and was glad it was on Monday. Once that was out of the way, I only had two days left of easy finals and this year would be over.

I was still wired from all the espresso I’d sucked down in the last few hours and since it was a twenty-four hour Starbucks, I decided to stay in the café and write in my journal. After my parent’s accident, Candice’s parents tried everything to get me to talk. I think they were afraid I would never come out of my depression. Her brother Eli had been the only one that had known how to handle me—so to speak. He’d been home from college for the summer when the accident happened, and unlike his first few years away, came back every weekend to see me once school started back again. He would hold me while I stared off into space, and never spoke a word. Eli’s form of healing was my favorite since it was silent, but we all knew he couldn’t be there for me forever. One night when I got home from school there was a journal on my bed with a note from Candice’s dad, George. He suggested using the journal to write to my parents like they were still here. At first it freaked me out, but I told him I would try, and I’m glad I did. Even I could see the difference in myself. I wrote to them every day, even if it was just a few lines. But I viewed it as a way of continuing our family time. Every night after dinner while I was growing up, we’d pile up on the couches, turn on the TV and talk about our days while watching whatever shows were on that night. So that’s what I did. I just told them what was going on in my life like I would if they were still here.