Senseless Attraction (27 page)

T
wo weeks passed by, and in that time, everything had settled down in my life. Skylar and Jessie had been right. Sarah understood why I had kept everything from her; she was hurt, but she forgave me. She also agreed with Skylar, that Tristan would come crawling back because she saw the way he was with me that night at Joe’s. The possessiveness and intense gaze while he watched me make out with that…idiot…clued her in.

      Like I had said, I doubted it, and I was right. I no longer saw him outside of school, and even in school, he ignored me in every way. I no longer existed to him and his crew.

      It hurt, not because he didn’t reciprocate my feeling, but because I’d lost a friendship. Still, I could understand why he had done it this way, and I think he’d done it for my benefit, even though he was an ass about it. But if he hadn’t cut me loose, I would have hungered for something more than friendship, worse than I already did, and it would have ruined everything. There was also the fact that he would have been embarrassed if anyone had seen us together…the nerd and the badass. They just didn’t mix.

      So I had to move on.

      Even though there wasn’t a day that went by when I didn’t think of him, or of the kiss we shared, or the way he’d held me all night.

      Until his truthful, but hurtful words would crash through my mind and cut me deeply once again.

      My dad had stayed in the hospital for three more days, and once he came home, things changed even more than what they had before he’d been hurt. He quit his job and was going to become an accountant with a firm that had a firm belief that family came first.

      Last Saturday, he went on his first date since my mother had passed away…with Mrs Jones, Skylar’s mum.

      After he left, I rang Skylar, and we had a great laugh at how nervous they were. Secretly though, we were both thrilled by it.

      “Alex, are you with me?” Sarah asked as a chip hit my chin.

      “Sorry, what?”

      Aaron, who was now a regular at the table because Sarah and he were dating, snorted and then laughed. “Off with the fairies again, Alex?”

      At first, both Corbet and I worried he’d be his usual annoying self and tease us in every way when he started to join us for lunch. Only he didn’t. It had a lot to do with Sarah, but lately, in the last couple of days, he actually seemed as though he liked hanging with us. He was nice, and often joined in our conversations.

      I asked Sarah one time what Tristan thought of Aaron being around us all the time. She replied with a sad smile and said that Tristan didn’t seem to care; he was happy for Aaron.

      Aaron’s friends still gave him hell for the change in his life. Still, Aaron didn’t care; he’d give just as much as he received, and in the end, to my and Corbet’s shock, they sometimes joined us as well.

      Never Tristan, though.

      I smiled at Aaron and said, “Yes, they’re a better company than you guys.”

      Sarah giggled as Aaron kissed her neck.

      “Hey, I’m not that bad,” Corbet said, as he sat down at our table in the cafeteria.

      “Thank goodness you’re here. These two have been at each other the whole time; at least now, I’ll have someone to talk to.”

      Corbet looked across the table to Sarah, and she longingly gazed at Aaron as he whispered something to her.

      “I see what you mean,” Corbet said and rolled his eyes.

      “Hey, Corbet, when did you get here?” Aaron asked. Both Corbet and I laughed. “Listen, you wanna try that new video game this weekend?”

      “Sure, at your place or mine?”

      “Even better—mine,” Sarah said. “My parents are going away for the week...” Sarah trailed off and looked behind me.

      I felt who it was even before Aaron spoke, “Hey, man. What you doing gracin’ us with you presence?” Aaron grinned.

      “I just want to talk to Alex,” Tristan barked.

      Sarah looked at me. She studied me before she said, “Sorry, she doesn’t want to talk to you.”

      Sighing in defeat, I closed my eyes. Sarah was right; I did not want to talk to him.

      Two weeks.

      He had a lot of chances before, but it had been two miserable weeks, and no matter what he had to say, I did not want to hear it.

      “Man, maybe it’s best if ya just go,” Aaron said quietly.

       “No.” I knew from Tristan’s tone that he was now glaring. I felt his heat move from my back to my side. “Alexandra?”

      I opened my eyes to see him crouched beside my chair. His eyes pleaded, but once they saw my own eyes fill with tears, the look upon his face was regretful.

      Shaking my head, I stood and turned to the others. “I—I’m going to go. I’ll see you later.”

      “Okay.” Sarah smiled sadly at me. Aaron sent me a chin lift, and even his eyes showed pity. Corbet grabbed my hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze, which I returned.

      Pushing my chair back, I moved away as Tristan stood and grabbed wrist. “Alexandra, please, just hear me out.”

      The cafeteria went silent. I could see all the students looking our way. They were probably in hope for some sort of scene to entertain them in any way. Only I would not allow it to be me.

      I spun back to Tristan, got close enough to stand on my tippy toes, and glare into his eyes. “Leave me alone,” I hissed.

      He let go of my wrist. Let go of me. I made it five steps away, I counted them, when he called out, “What I said that morning—it wasn’t how it sounded.”

      I froze.

     
Now,
I wanted to hear what he had to say, but not in front of everyone. I was about to turn and tell him that when he continued.

      In front of everyone.

      “I said I didn’t know what I was thinking because I knew…I knew I couldn’t be around you without…without feeling the way I did about you.”

      People gasped. Some laughed.

      Turning, I pleaded with my eyes and a shake of my head for him to stay silent. He had to know what I was thinking as I surveyed the many students listening in. I couldn’t let…whatever this was…happen in front of so many people.

      “Tristan,” I whispered, “don’t—”

      “I don’t give a shit about what they think.” He gestured to the room in general. He started walking towards me, only to stop a few steps away. “I’m sorry I hurt you, and the time I chose to do it. I’m sorry I haven’t cleared this up before now. Jesus, I’m sorry for being a chicken shit and caring about what people would say, what your father would say if you brought someone like me home as…as your boyfriend.”

      My hand flew to my mouth. I heard Sarah sob behind Tristan. Students started talking in low voices, but all I could do was stare at Tristan as his eyes warmed and he smiled down at me.

      Tears now ran freely down my cheeks as I continued to stare with wide eyes.

      He was telling the room, telling everyone here that he wanted to be with me.

      But he had hurt me.

      Just because he was willing to do this in front of so many, did that give him a right to expect me to forgive him for the way he’d treated me?

      He took another step towards me, only that time, I backed up a step, shaking my head. I moved my hand away from my mouth and asked, “Why are you doing this?”

      “Because I hate what I am without you. I used to look forward to those days we had together when you tutored me in Maths. I looked forward to spending time with you. To the text messages. Crap, I sound like a tool, but I miss you. I miss not seeing you smile, not hearing your voice. I can only hope you’ll forgive me.”

      “Under the thumb,” someone yelled.

      “Rack off, dickhead,” Tristan growled. The room fell silent once again.

      He took a step forward and I didn’t move. He reached out and ran the back of his hand down the side of my cheek, gently wiping away my tears.

      As soon as he knew I wasn’t going to protest, he pulled me into his arms, wrapping me tightly in his embrace. He kissed my neck and whispered into my ear, “I will regret the words I said to you for the rest of my life. I didn’t mean any of it. You are more my type than anyone else in this room, and I will spend the rest of our time together making it up to you…”

      My breath hitched; his words knocked the breath out of me. I gripped his tee and his waist. I wasn’t sure whether it was to pull him closer, or if it was for the support to help me stand on my two weak legs.

       “I know we still have a long way to go before I even start to make it up to you, but every second will be worth it because
you
are worth it.”

      I bit my bottom lip as he stood straight to study my face.

      Clearing my throat, I said, “Y—you didn’t need to do…say this…in front of everyone.”

      He chuckled. “I did. You can’t tell me that if I turned up at your place that you’d answer the door. Or you would have sent me away. I also wanted to do this in front of our peers to show to you and to myself, that I didn’t care what anyone thinks. Besides, if they do say shit, I’ll just beat the hell outta them.” He grinned and then sobered. “I have to be honest. It scared the hell out of me to do this. But once I saw you sitting there without a smile on your beautiful face, I knew I had to do it. I had to have you smile again. I had to take away your pain. The pain that I caused. I knew I had to go to great lengths…do
you
know why, Alexandra?”

      My heart beat wildly as I shook my head, and then whispered, “No.”

      He bent lower so our noses touched, and I watched his eyes crinkle as he smiled. “Because I love you.” And then he kissed me.

      In front of everyone.

      Cheers started, along with whistles and shouting. But I ignored it all and was swept away with the moment.

      He was right. We had a long way to go before things were great between us, but I knew that I would enjoy working it out along the way.

I
had the chance to hide from Kane for two weeks because I hadn't gone to school. My teachers understood that I wanted to be at home with Momma. It wasn't that he didn't try to come around. He did, multiple times, and once Momma knew I wasn't going to answer the door or speak with him, she, in her polite way, told him to give me time, that I had a screw loose.

      Even when I told her after the first time he came, it just wouldn't work between the two of us because we were from different worlds. She scoffed and told me to get my head out of my butt.

      It was good to see her back to normal. I have never been worried like that before in my whole life, and I never wanted to be again.

      The one great thing that did come from the accident was Alex. She's like the sister I'd never had. Every day we talked over the phone. What was also great was that Momma had her first date in...well, a long time, with Alex's dad, and I couldn't have chosen a more perfect guy for her.

      It was great to see her fuss, and be shy and embarrassed over her first date. It gave me a lot of ammunition to tease her with.

      But what was more than great, better than anything so far, was to see my momma happy.

      “Skylar, will you get that damn phone?” Momma yelled from the living area.

      Honestly, I hadn't even heard it. I got up from my bed and took the seven steps out into the kitchen to grab the phone on the wall.

      “Hello?”

      “Hi, is this Skylar?” A deep male voice asked.

      “Yeeeah?”

      “Oh, good. Skylar, this is Mr Stanley, Dommy's father.”

      My heart jumped into my throat, and I gripped the phone harder.

      “Is everything all right? Is Dommy okay? Kane?”

      He chuckled. “Yes, sorry to scare you after everything you have been through. I was only calling...you see, I have to be at a meeting soon, and Rosa has a doctor’s appointment, and Kane is at school. He mentioned you hadn't been attending, so I was hoping you would be able to mind Dommy for me?”