Wanna Bet? (3 page)

“
I can’t go
back there on my own, ever again” I say struggling for breath,
belatedly I realise I’m crying.

“
Well I would
have said that months ago”

“
No he told me
to wear a skirt next time” I say between sobs as the reality of it
hits me.

“
He didn’t …
today did he?” he asks stiffening slightly.

My body
shakes with the sobs that come when I realise how I only narrowly
escaped that fate today, If he is thinking it then there is no
reason why he didn’t do it today.

“
That son of a
bitch!” Matt shouts next to me making me jump.

“
No
, no not today, he
said next time” I rush to tell him when I realise he took my
silence for the wrong answer.

“
Damn it
Brooke there isn’t going to be a next time” he sighs “why didn’t
you call me? I would have come with you, I told you this yesterday”
he says more softly and seemingly has his temper
controlled.

“
I didn’t want
to bother you, I knew you had plans to go to the party, which your
missing by the way, you should get a move on, you’re already late”
he just stares at me looking at a loss for words.

“
Could you
help me up please?” I ask him softly seemingly bringing him out of
his trance. Once he has set me down on my own bed I clear my throat
getting their combined attention. “I think you should both leave
now, I have kept you from your party long enough, if you could help
me down the stairs I’ll give you all a ride over there” I
announce.

“
No, we’ll
stay” Sophie says softy making her way over to my bed and gingerly
putting her arm around me.

“
No, I would
really like to be on my own … honestly I can deal with it better
that way, I’m probably ju
st
going to go to sleep after I’ve iced my jaw”

I’m woken up
by the sounds of someone opening and closing drawers and cupboards
in ou
r little kitchenette. I
pull my eyes open and frown at the sight of a topless Tucker moving
around in my kitchen muttering “coffee” to himself.

“
In the
freezer” I say amused as he drops a cup at the sound of my
voice.

He spins
around to face me smiling sheepishly “Morning, sorry I didn’t mean
to wake you”.

I throw my
legs over the side of my bed and gingerly stand to test my ankle.
There
’s only a little pain so
I limp my way over to him.

“
What are you
doing here?” I ask moving around him to start the process of making
coffee.

“
Umm ... Matt
and Sophie took my room last night, his room mate had a few
guys over and you were here so they
kicked me out and sent me here” He explains as he watches me pour
the coffee beans into the machine.

“
Can’t you
just use the stuff from a jar?” He asks and laughs at the look I
send him.

“
Not is you
want a decent cup of coffee” I sigh bending over to inhale the
scent as coffee drips down into the pot.

“
You’re crazy”
he laughs at me.

“
No, I just
like coffee” I return getting two mugs down and pouring us both a
cup before taking a seat at the table.

He sits
opposite me and frowns at me.

“
What?” I ask
warily
.

“
What happened
to your jaw?”

I lift my
hand up to touch it and although it’s not swollen it’s sore so I’m
guessing from the way he winces when I do that I have a bruise on
it. “Slipped in the bathroom caught it on the tub”

“
Ouch”

“
I didn’t keep
you up last night did I?” I ask trying to keep my expression blank
as I remember all the nights I’ve kept Sophie up screaming and
shouting from my nightmares.

“
Umm ... no
why? You was asleep when I came in” he replies watching me
curiously.

“
No reason, I
usually keep Sophie up most of the night that’s all”

“
I’m a light
sleeper and slept right through so you must have been quiet” he
smirks at me.

I feel my jaw
drop open as what he’s implying I was doing finally registers in my
brain and glare at him.

I’m
completely caught off guard when he raises his hand towards me I
watch wide eyed as it comes closer and before I can stop it I
flinch away from him just has his hand comes up next to my
face.

He quickly
pulls his hand away and his eyebrows pull in together. I turn my
attention to my coffee when I am no longer able to bare his
questioning eyes.

A few minutes
of silence pass and I hear him sigh.

“
You didn’t
slip in the bathroom did you?” He asks quietly.

“
I did” I
reply sternly not looking up from cup.

“
Brooke…”

“
I’m going to
take a shower” I cut him off and push away from the
table.

When I come
out of the bathroom the room is empty, I rush through getting
dressed and dry my hair. Making another cup of coffee I settle down
into a full day of studying for a test I have on Monday.

“
What’s he
staring at?” Sophie whispers in my ear. I look and over to where
she is glaring at someone.

I shrug.
“He’s in one of my classes” I smile over to Jason and he gets up to
start heading our way. “Oh shit” I whisper to her and watch as
Jason takes the seat next to me.

“
Hi Brooke” he
says smiling at me.

“
Hey” I smile
back not sure what he’s doing because we have only spoken a few
words to each other since we met at the beginning of the
year.

“
I was
thinking it would be good if we went out sometime” he says taking
me off guard.

“
Umm…”

“
I know we
haven’t really spoken but I’d really like the chance to get to know
you”

I’m aware
that he is waiting for me to say something but I just there staring
at him. Sophie pokes me in the side.

“
Uh
yeah
, sure” I say
quickly.

“
Great, we’ll
arrange in next class” he smiles getting up and tapping the top of
the chair he’s just vacated before walking off again as quick as he
came.

“
Well that was
interesting” Sophie says to herself.

“
Umm … no that
was bizarre” I correct.

“
Not really,
everyone thought you were gay but after hearing Tucker spent the
night in our room it’s been decided that you are straight just shy”
she tells me as if this is common knowledge.

“
Oh my god” I
groan and start hitting my head on the table.

“
What’s up?” I
hear Matt say from somewhere above me but continue my head
banging.

“
Jason Hunter
just asked Brooke out” Sophie explains.

“
Really?” he
asks not sounding that surprised “Are you going?”

“
No wonder
she’s always covered in bruises if she does stuff like this” I hear
Tucker say besides me, I lift my head to see him watching me
curiously and Matt and Sophie quickly look down at their
food.

“
How do people
know you spent the night in my room?” I ask ignoring his
comment.

“
Uhh .. people
saw me leave … don’t worry everyone knows nothing happened” he
assures me confidently.

“
How?” I ask
not sure I want to know the answer.

“
Because I’m
talking to you now and you haven’t hit me yet” he says as if it’s
obvious.

“
That can
change” I smile
innocently at
him making him chuckle softly.

“
I’m glad we
decided be friends”

“
Where was I
when we had this discussion because I don’t remember agreeing to
any such thing”
I frown at
him.

“
When you say
friends, do you mean …” Matt asks Tucker but eyes me
curiously.

“
No
. But that’s a good
idea” Tucker watches me for a second.

“
What’s a good
idea?” I ask worried now.

“
Why don’t we
do the whole friends with benefits thing?” he asks
seriously.

“
Because I
don’t think I’d enjoy having the benefits you give me removed” I
answer back not missing a beat.

“
Just friends
it is then” he says not perturbed and starts eating his
lunch.

“
You two are
weird” Sophie sighs watching us, Matt nods in agreement.

“
I’ve got to
go, I got a date to arrange apparently” I stand up from the table
picking up my coffee.

“
What date?”
Tucker asks looking up at me from his plate. I shrug and walk away
as Sophie starts explaining the Jason situation to him.

When I walk
into English a few people nod at me, I manage to hide my surprise
and smile weakly back at them, normally I manage to slip in to my
classes unnoticed. I slump down into my usual chair and gather my
things from my bag, when I look back up Jason is sliding into the
chair next to me, the one that Tucker sat in last
Friday.

“
Long time no
see” I smile shyly at him.

“
Yeah … was it
random me approaching you like that?” he asks with a shy smile of
his own.

“
Just a bit,
normally people just leave me alone”

“
But you don’t
mind me asking you out?” he checks
, I shake my head at him. “Great can I have your phone so I
can program my number into it please?”

I pass him my
phone and catch Tucker watching us.

“
Was there
anything in particular you wanted to do on our date?” Jason asks
mindlessly while he taps things out on my phone.

I’m unable to
answer him when our conversation gets cut short by the lecture
beginning. I rip out a piece of paper from my notebook and scribble
a note on it for him to see.

No what did
you have in mind?

He leans over
to read it then writes his reply, we carry on our conversation on
paper.

Dinner,
movie, bowling, coffee, golf?

Golf?
I look up and raise an eyebrow at
him, he just shrugs grinning.
Dinner’s fine.

It’s date
then, Tonight?.

“
Mr Hunter, is
there something interesting going on up there?” We both look up
when the lecturer calls Jason.

“
No sir, just
helping Brooke with her notes” he replies easily.

“
Well Miss
Daniels maybe you should consider taking one of Mr
Hu
nter’s tutoring sessions if
you’re having problems” he raises an eyebrow at me.

“
Of course” I
reply sinking into my chair to avoid everyone eyes that are now on
me.

You’re a
tutor?
I quickly
write

Yeah, extra
credit, need help keeping up?
He’s smirking at me now. I roll my eyes at him and slip the
paper back in my notebook to start paying attention to
class.

* *
*

“
How was it?
Where did you go? What’s he like? Did he kiss you?” Sophie doesn’t
even wait for me to close the door before she throws her questions
at me bouncing on her bed excitedly.

“
Good, FB’s,
sweet, yes” I answer all her questions stripping my jacket and
collapsing on my bed while she screams and claps her hands
together. “Oh my god” I groan and pull a pillow over my head to
block her out.

“
Aww come on
Brooke, I’ve known you nearly three years now and I’ve never been
able to do the whole girly date run down with you before” I look up
from my pillow to catch her pouting at me.

“
Fine you can
question me on the way”

She freezes
at the subject change “Where are we going?”

“
Wear
something pretty” I wink and get up to grab my suitcase from under
the bed, she claps when she notices the dress I
’ve selected.

* *
*

We meet Matt
outside the old gym where he hands us our tickets. The old building
is full and we have to push our way through to the bar. We make our
way through the crowds and Sophie guides us to the front, getting
us as close to the cage as possible. This isn’t the first fight
we’ve been to so we both know that as soon as it’s over we’ve got
to make a quick exit unless we want a few bruises of our own. The
lights dim as one corner of the cage is lit up by a spotlight,
illuminating the first contender. He isn’t one I’ve seen before but
he looks mean and fast. His opponent however is Matt’s friend Jack.
The fight starts quickly and is over just as quick when Jack knocks
him out in the second round. We make our quick exit, meeting back
up with Matt outside.

***

“
Oh god, I’m
starving but I can’t stomach food yet” I grumble collecting my
coffee and handing one to Sophie.