The Defender (The Carrier Series Book 2) (8 page)

I had been spending so much time on schoolwork, I didn’t see Adam
again until Friday when we ran into each other at the student center cafeteria.
I had just made my way through the sub sandwich line and was heading for a
place to sit when I saw him sitting at a table by the long row of windows. A
pretty blond stood up and left when I approached.

“Who was that lovely lady?”

“She’s the Theta Sig sweetheart. You know, silly Greek stuff.” I
wondered if he had feelings for this woman, but I didn’t dare to ask. I took a
seat across from him and glanced at his tray of half-eaten lunch.

“I’m glad I ran into you just now,” Adam said. “I’ve been meaning
to ask you. Do you like jazz music?”

I scrunched up my nose for a moment, surprised at his question.
“Actually, I am a big fan. I owe that to my father. When he wasn’t off on
business he would spend time listening to jazz on an old LP player. He
introduced me to all the greats early on in life—Louis Armstrong, Ella
Fitzgerald, and John Coltrane.”

“Lucky girl,” Adam commented before he polished off his Coke.

“That’s sort of a strange question, anyway. Why do you ask?” I
opened up my small bag of potato chips, pulled one out, and popped it in my
mouth.

“I was planning on going to the Riverfront Jazz Fest tomorrow
night and wanted to know if you would accompany me.”

“Riverfront Jazz Fest?” I dropped my jaw. “How did I not know
about this?”  

“I have no idea. There are signs hanging all over the place.” He
grinned at my nonobservance, pointing at a poster hanging on the wall right
next to my head. I laughed at myself as I read the info.

“So are you free?” Adam said excitedly.

“Of course! I’d love to go!”

But inside I knew I probably shouldn’t. This sounded somewhat like
a date, and although I really enjoyed spending my time with Adam, I still
wasn’t ready to explore any romantic feelings.

I looked up at Adam and he was beyond excited. His brown eyes
confirmed just what I was afraid of—he was looking at me with admiration and
perhaps even a hint of lust.  

“Oh, Ava! It is going to be—” and then he put on his obnoxious impression
of an American accent, “—awesome!” He leaned back in his chair laughing and
smiling.

I rolled my eyes, but in all honestly, he was adorably cute.
I poked a finger in the air. “Don’t start with
me, mister. There are plenty of ridiculous sayings you Brits use.”

He said nothing but winked at me and smiled.

A pleasurable ping in my heart startled me and I looked away
quickly.

Uh-oh.

I recognized that feeling. Was this platonic relationship starting
to go differently than I wanted it to? I replayed the few times I had spent
with Adam in the last two weeks since we met in the student lounge. I couldn’t
remember a single time I had knowingly led him on.

When I looked back at Adam, he was busy texting. For a split
second there was a hint of distress on his face and I thought I heard him say,
“Oh bugger!” under his breath. Suddenly he shoved the phone in his bag and
stood up, lifting his purple lunch tray. “Well, Princess Ava, I gotta run to
lecture.” He dumped the contents of his tray in the garbage nearby and returned
to the table. Then he picked up his backpack from the chair and threaded his
arms through the straps.

“I shall pick you up tomorrow evening at 5:30. Don’t eat dinner
before. I have plans.”

Dinner too? Sounds a lot like a date. I’m in trouble.

“I’ll be ready,” I said quietly.

Adam walked across the cafeteria and through the door on the far
side. I didn’t want to let him think I had romantic feelings for him, yet I
didn’t want to stop spending time with him. He really was a great friend and I
especially appreciated the way he reacted differently than my girlfriends to my
crazy head problems.

A few seconds before I was excited about Jazz Fest, but somehow I
talked myself into feeling uneasy.

*     *
    *     *

The next day Kasie and I went for a run, I wrote a stellar paper
for my Children’s Literature class, studied for a few quizzes I had coming up,
and then my friends and I watched a movie. As the day progressed I kept trying
to find a way to fix my relationship with Adam. How do you stop someone from
falling in love with you, but continue to be friends?

Not possible
, my head replied.

Soon enough the sun was setting outside my window and I was stuck
staring at my closet, trying to decide what in the world to wear. If this were
a real date and I wanted to impress my guy, then I would know exactly what to
pull from the closet. But I didn’t want to impress Adam; I just wanted to go
out and listen to good music with a good friend. I really wanted to pull a pair
of comfortable jeans and an oversized hoodie from my dresser, but I was sure
Adam would be more dressed up than that and I didn’t want to feel out of place.
I was still standing in front of my closet wearing only my pink undies and a
baby blue bra when I heard knocking on the door.

“Hold on!”

I quickly pulled on my best-fitting jeans and then grabbed a
long-sleeved, dark grey cotton shirt. I slipped my arms into my white, puffy
zip-up vest. Elaina knocked on my door and slowly came in. I was pushing some
fake diamond stud earrings through the holes in my lobes when I looked up at
her with agony in my eyes.

“You look nice,” she said as she crossed the room and took a seat
on the bed.

“Do I?” I tried to hide my nervousness by busily filling my purse
with a pack of gum, my cell phone, and wallet.

Elaina patted a spot on the bed next to her, signaling for me to
sit down. “Ava, what’s wrong?”

Was it that obvious?

I took my black boots from the closet, and then sat down next to
her and pulled them on. “I don’t look
too
nice, do I?”

What was I going to do about Adam?

“Ava, if you don’t like him, why are you going out with him?” Her
tone wasn’t accusatory; it was laced with care.

There was a long empty pause. I didn’t have an easy answer for
her. “Elaina, I love hanging out with Adam. He is a great friend to be around.
I just don’t—”

“Let me just stop you right there.”

“What?”

“What is holding you back? Adam is cute, funny, friendly. Why
can’t you let yourself fall in love with him?”

My heart jumped at her words. Fall in love? Yikes.

“I don’t know. I just….” For some reason I felt like my heart
wasn’t free to be shared, but I couldn’t explain why. There wasn’t another guy
I had my eyes on.

“Is it Aaron?” she asked.

I hadn’t thought about Aaron for quite a long time. Although my
steady high school boyfriend broke my heart into what felt like a million
pieces last year, I couldn’t remember the last time I had thought about Aaron.

“No,” I said with certainty. “It’s not Aaron.”

“Then I suggest you go into this
non-date
”—she used air
quotes—“with an open mind and heart. Ava, the other girls and I see how happy
you are when you’re around Adam. Just give him a chance.” She looked up at me
with pleading eyes. It was almost alarming.

Then instantly it hit me that perhaps I had been a little too
obsessed with my heartbreak last year. And the last few weeks had been filled
with some strange and somewhat disturbing head problems. Of course my friends
wanted to see me happy. Maybe I could give Adam a chance.

A knock on the door interrupted my thoughts. “Ava? Can I come in?”
It was Adam. My heart skipped a beat, and I suddenly felt very sweaty.

What was happening to me?

“Yeah, sure, come on in,” I yelled to the door, my voice cracking
at the end. I half whispered to Elaina, “Thanks. I promise I’ll try to open my
heart,” and then leaned in for a hug just as Adam opened the door.

Adam walked into the room. He wore casual brown slip-on loafers
and dark-wash jeans. A button down, dark blue shirt was tucked into his jeans
exposing a brown leather belt around his slim waist. The first few buttons of
his shirt were left undone to reveal a white T-shirt beneath.

Elaina moved toward the door, calling, “You two have fun!” Then
she gave me a wink and left the room with a smile.

Adam took the seat at the desk by my computer and swiveled around
to look at me. I guess we were going to hang out here for a few minutes.

“You look smashing.”

“Thanks, Adam,” I giggled. “You, too.”

“So this is your room?” He turned around on the computer chair and
checked out my old-fashioned desktop computer with a large monitor that was
definitely not a flat screen. “Where’d you get this dinosaur?” He laughed a
little bit under his breath.

“Hey, you can’t deny free! It works just fine,” I said proudly.
“My dad upgraded several years ago and for some reason kept this computer in
our basement. I took it when I moved to Point last year. It’s kind of annoying,
though, because he left all his files on there and so there isn’t much room for
me to save my papers.”  

Adam’s eyebrows rose a little. “Did you clear out all his files to
make room for yours?”

“I started, but it takes so long I haven’t got much of it deleted
out yet.”

“I see. A job for a rainy day, I guess.”

He got up from the chair and looked around at the pictures on the
wall and the books on my shelf. I explained who some of the people were and
Adam asked me a few questions about my family.

When silence was upon us, I suggested we get going. I grabbed my
purse from the bed and my white mittens and scarf from on top of my dresser.
The October nights were getting pretty chilly, and I didn’t know how late we’d
be out.

Adam and I walked down the hall, and found the girls were sitting
around the TV in the living room eating the pizza they had ordered. We bid my
friends good night and then headed out the door.

As we climbed the stairs, he patted his jeans pockets. “Hold up! I
forgot my phone in your room. I’ll be right back.”

“Sure.”

I stood at the top of the stairs and stared out over the rooftops
on the other side of the street. The sun was almost set, and a gentle orange
glow was casting its light onto my eyes.  

What would tonight hold for me? I knew I would have fun with Adam,
of course, but would I allow myself to find more?

Adam opened the door and jumped up the stairs two at a time. He
held his phone up for me to see. “Got it.”  

We walked across the front yard to Adam’s car, and I got in after
he opened the door for me. I let out a profound sigh as I watched him walk
around the front bumper.

Pull it together. Just let tonight happen naturally.

He opened the door and I smiled uneasily at him as he sat down.
“You ready, Miss Ava?” He moved his hand over and patted me on my knee. The
sight of his face was calming, and I suddenly felt a wave of excitement brush
the nerves away.

I returned the smile and nodded my head. Keeping his gaze at me,
he started the ignition and I left my worries right there on the curb as we set
off into the sunset.

Adam took me to a restaurant downtown that oozed a Midwestern
supper club feel. There were deep red linens over the tables and little yellow
opaque glass candle holders flickering light onto the faces of the hungry
patrons.

The menu was full of classic American fare including juicy
hamburgers, fresh shrimp cocktails, and ample T-bone steaks. An antique, opaque
glass relish tray welcomed our arrival to the table. I loved it all mainly
because it reminded me of a place my parents used to take us on Saturday nights
when they didn’t feel like cooking at home.

Over dinner we settled into our familiar and comfortable dynamic.
We chatted about our week at school, and I told him about my nerves for the
upcoming PRAXIS test—an exam I had to pass in order to be accepted into the
School of Education. Adam assured me I would pass, but I wasn’t so sure. There
was a lot of pressure associated with the test. If I wasn’t successful, I would
have to change my major or transfer schools and start all over somewhere else.

I asked Adam more about living in London. It was very fascinating
to hear about another world. So many things were different from the way I lived
my life, and I thought it would be interesting to someday visit London.

Right in the middle of dinner, Adam’s phone rang. He took it out
of his pocket and checked the screen.

“Sorry, Ava. I really need to take this one.”

“No problem,” I replied.

Adam got up from the table and answered the phone as he shuffled
past the tables and out the front of the restaurant. I wondered who was on the
phone and why he had to go all the way out the front door to have his
conversation.