Catch My Fall (11 page)

Darby i
s avoiding Trace like the plague, which means that we haven’t gone back over to the guys’ house together in the last two weeks.  Tristan and I talk and text every day and I’ve gone to his house by myself five more times, either to watch movies with him or hang out at the little parties that he and Trace have.  Spending so much time with him is only upping the ante and I really, really like him.  I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that I like him as a lot more than a friend, too.  He’s funny, he’s sweet, he’s considerate and on top of everything else, he’s hot. Tristan Chamberlain is the full package.

Tonight Darby is going out on her first
actual date with Brandon and I’m going back to Tristan’s to hang out again. I know it’s probably wishful thinking but I feel like there’s something so much more between us than just friendship.  The way he calls and texts and asks to spend time with me…it feels like more.

Standing in front of my closet, I struggled to make a decision.  I’ve got some dresses and skirts with me that I brought just in case I ever felt like dressing pretty again, but mostly I’ve been dressing really casual and for comfort.
  I haven’t gotten dressed up at all since I’ve been here, but every day I feel a bit stronger.

Now, f
or the first time in forever, I found myself wanting to wear something girly.  I moved hanger after hanger until I found what I was looking for, a pretty little floral dress that had spaghetti straps and a flouncy skirt.  After slipping into it I surveyed myself in the mirror.  I felt…pretty.  I haven’t felt that way in so long that it was almost an entirely alien experience, but I felt ready to let myself go a little.  I added a sleeveless jean jacket and my favorite pair of cowboy boots to the ensemble.  I styled my hair down with a slight wave and created small braids on either side of my head that were pulled back and held together with a beautiful butterfly hair clip.  After spraying myself with Poppy, I left the dorm to head to Tristan’s.

My steps came to a halt right outside my door when I literally almost plowed into Tiffany.  She
wore a halter dress with a plunging neckline and the tightest skirt I’d ever seen.  Paired with her three-inch heels, she looked like a model for a sexy dating service.  Giving me a look of pure disdain she said, “Aw, how cute.  Country-bumpkin chic.  Or is it geek?  Either way nice try, Little House on the Prairie.  Next time, why don’t you try to buy something that isn’t straight out of the sixteen hundreds.”

It doesn’t take much for confidence to take a hike, and now I felt stupid for even trying to dress up.  If it weren’t for the fact that Tiffany was glaring at me, I would have turned right around and changed.  But, since she wasn’t going to move, I stepped around her and hustled to get outside to my car.  If I look
ed stupid, oh well.  Tristan probably wouldn’t really notice what I looked like anyway, and now I just felt like a fool for dressing to impress him at all.

When I got to his house I wiped my sweaty palms against my skirt before knocking
on the door.  My heartbeat settled into a more normal range when Trace was the one to answer the door.

“Hey Mia!” 

I smiled and said hello, and I saw that he looked over my shoulder as if he were looking for something just before his shoulders fell dejectedly.

“
It’s been two weeks and she won’t return my calls and she’s never with you.  How come Darby doesn’t come over anymore?”

Oh wow
… I had this all wrong. He likes Darby.  Like really likes her.  Why is he slumming with tramps like Tiffany if he has feelings for Darby?

I sputtered helplessly and tried to think of something to say, but all that came to mind was the truth and I started to babble like an idiot.  “She’s been hanging out with one of the guys from Gamma so we’ve spent a lot of time lately at their frat
house. Tonight she and Brandon went out on their first official date.”

Whatever color Trace had when I started talking
disappeared.  He looked as if he had just swallowed a fistful of razorblades.

Almost against my will I stepped forward and set my hand on his shoulder.  “If it bothers you so much, why did you push her away?”

I dropped my hand as his head reared back and his eyes went wide.  “She… she
told
you?  About us?”

I stared at him without saying a word because the answer was obvious.  Taking a
nother step back from me, he shook his head.  “She’s never told anyone before, not ever.  I don’t like what’s going on between us right now… but I’m very happy that Darby finally has a friend to confide in.  Take care of her.”

Before I could formulate a response, he turned and walked away.  As he
left the room Tristan walked in from outside and my heart skipped a half dozen beats just from being in the same room with him.  Today he was dressed in khakis, a pale blue polo shirt and a pair of Ralph Lauren sneakers.  He’s got a great sense of style and while on a lot of guys it would seem pretentious, on Tristan it looks just right. 

He halted mid-stride and stared at me for a minute before he made a beeline for me and lifted me off the ground in a hug that made my pulse pound.  It was over far too quickly, even though it caught me off-guard.  I haven’t hugged a guy in
what feels like forever, and I’ve never been hugged by someone that I’m so attracted to, but apparently Tristan and I have entered a tactile portion of our friendship.

Giving me a smile
, he guided me into the dining room where he pulled out a chair for me at the card table.  “How do you feel about board games?”

Why
was he asking me such a random question?  Sometimes Tristan is so odd that it cracks me up.

“I feel good about them, I guess, but I haven’t played one in years and years.”

Tristan walked to a cabinet in the corner of the room and pulled out a stack of board games.  He set the boxes on the table.

“When we were kids, the best part of the week was always game night at the McKenzie house.  It would suck so badly when we’d get grounded for some ridiculous reason and we wouldn’t be allowed to go.  When I was thinking of what we could do tonight, I immediately thought of the games
‘cause to me, that’s what friends do.  There’s a bunch of games that we can’t play because we would need more people, so that leaves us with Clue, Life, Monopoly or Candy Land.  What’s your poison?”

“Oh
my God, that’s classic!  You’ve got Candy Land?”

He nodded his head as he laughed.  “Darbs got it for me a few Christmases ago and she’s even made me play it a few times.  It’s not bad, but it doesn’t require a lot of skill.  I’ve got a few puzzles too, if board games aren’t your thing.”

“Puzzles?  Really?”

“Yep.  Mom McKenzie is
a real stickler about having us complete a couple of big puzzles every year.  She swears that it helps us all calm down and think things through better.  If you want, we could start the latest puzzle she gave me.”

That was actually pretty enticing and I nodded my head enthusiastically.  “I’m down to do a puzzle for sure.  You know that there’s no way we can finish it in one night, right?”

“It usually takes about a week,” he said with a smile.  “We can set it up on the table and tackle it until we’re finished.  What do you think?”

What I thought was
that I loved coming over and hanging out with him and any reason to continue worked for me.  This was going to become a problem; I was way more attracted to him than I should be and he was just trying to be a friend.

“Sounds like a plan, Stan.”

With a chuckle he went back to the corner cabinet and pulled out a puzzle.  He came back across the room with it behind his back.  Stopping in front of me, he grinned sheepishly.  “The candy thing is pretty much something that everyone who knows me well teases me for.  Mom McKenzie’s latest puzzle for me picks up on that.”

Pulling the box out from behind his back he handed it to me.  I burst out laughing when I saw the photo on the front.  The puzzle
was one giant photo of a pile of candy—Tootsie Rolls, Junior Mints, Dots and lollipops. 

Looking up at him, I laughed out loud. “I get the joke but you do know that this puzzle is going to be next to impossible, right?  It’s a big-ass jumble of candy that’s going to be a bitch to piece together.”

He laughed as he opened the box and dumped all of the puzzle pieces onto the table.  “You don’t strike me as someone that turns away from a challenge.  Are you up for this?”

“I’m up for it.”

The two of us huddled together over the table as we turned all of the pieces right side up and separated out all of the border pieces.  From time to time our arms brushed together, something that I enjoyed far too much.  He smelled amazing, so good that it made me ache to touch a lot more than just his arm. 

Our heads were close together in our position over the table and it was making me a little (okay, a lot) crazy to be so close to him.  I wasn’t focusing on the puzzle at all and my hands had stopped trying to assemble the border.  Turning his head to me, he opened his mouth to say something but nothing came out.  We were eye to eye staring at each other, the silence trapped between us.

He leaned closer as his hands came up to cup my face, and I didn’t pull away or try to stop him.  For the first time in my entire life, I really, really wanted to be kissed.  It’s not like I’ve never been kissed before; clearly I have.  But when you’re the child of someone who got pregnant in high school, you get a lot of safety lectures.  Add to that the fact that my father has never missed an opportunity to espouse what a selfish and manipulative person my mother is for ‘trapping’ him and what a ‘burden’ her ‘tricks’ had been for him, and I think it’s clear why I steered away from intimacy in high school like it was my job.

Tristan’s lips covered mine gently as he started softly before deepening the kiss.  When we turned to face each other fully, I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and ran my fingers through his hair.  He tasted better than I could ever have imagined, and he kissed me like he’d been given a cheat-sheet for what would make me feel the best.  I’ve never been kissed so passionately, or held as if I really matter
ed to someone.  Tristan cradled me in his arms like I was precious to him.

We pulled apart at the same time a few minutes later, and because he didn’t let me go, I didn’t let him go, either.  We stared at each other in silence for a few moments, and I smiled shyly at him, even as I felt a blush steal across my face.

He smiled back at me as he continued to stare at me with a look of confusion as the seconds passed before he spoke.  “Holy Hell, Mia…You make me feel…I don’t even know.  Different?”

That was
like the pot calling the kettle black. The way I felt around Tristan was entirely new.  “Right back at you,” I said quietly.

He settled me back onto my feet then and when he didn’t say anything else, I turned back to the puzzle.  Clearly
he was no more ready to deal with what just happened between us than I was.  “If we’re going to finish this thing in a week, we need to get on it.”

He looked surprised, I think because I wasn’t throwing myself at him or having a tantrum because he backed off.  He doesn’t know what my issues are so he must think I’m some kind of freak. 

Looking at me uncertainly, he answered, “Um, yeah.  Sure.  Okay, yeah.  That sounds like a plan.”

I’m not sure how I kept my head on straight for the rest of the night, but somehow, I managed it.  At least I did until it was time for me to leave.  He walked me to my car and when I got to the driver’s side door, I saw that he was staring at me intently.  I did the first thing that came to mind, raising my hand as I said, “High five!”

The look he gave me made me feel silly, but in the end he smiled and high fived me.  “You’re one of a kind, Mia.”

Since he was smiling as he said it I ha
d to hope that he meant it in a good way.  “Thanks… I think?”

“It was
definitely
a compliment,” he answered.

Getting into the car I started it, buckled up and then pushed the button to roll down my window.

“Thanks for tonight.  I haven’t done a jigsaw puzzle in years and, I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but I’m excited about getting it all together.”

He chuckled as he set his arms on my open window.  “So does that mean I won’t have to harass you to get you to come over tomorrow?”

Oh, God, the smell of his cologne was going to make me lose it.  Shaking my head softly I murmured, “I’ll be back.”

Suddenly, the moment turned into something awkward.  I was thinking that I wanted him to kiss me again, but I have no idea what he was thinking because other than saying, “Good.  I want you here,” he was silent as he stared at me.  Finally he shook his head and stepped back.  “Drive safely.  I’ll text you tomorrow.”

As I drove away I realized that my hands were shaking from nervous excitement.  I listened to Eminem’s ‘Recovery’ on the way home as I smiled like a fool and thought about how unexpected Tristan Chamberlain was.  Whether anything would happen between us or not, right then I was just excited to know I could feel something like that.