Crushing on the Bully (3 page)

“I might next semester if I can save up enough money,” Clarissa nodded.

“You couldn’t get a grant?” Skull asked.

“No,” Clarissa shook her head, “My parents fall in that weird income bracket, meaning they don’t make enough money to send me to college, but they make too much money for me to get a grant. So basically, the middle-class-screw-you bracket.”

“You’re spunkier than I thought,” Skull laughed.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Clarissa asked.

“Nothing, Bookworm, nothing at all,” Skull said.

“Why do you call me that?” she asked. The nickname was getting old quick.

“Because you always have a book in your purse,” Skull laughed.

“How do you know that?” Clarissa asked and arched a brow. Had he been spying on her?

“I can see the outline of its spine,” Skull laughed.

“It’s my turn to ask a question now,” Clarissa giggled.

“Nope, you just asked one, it’s my turn,” Skull said.

“That one doesn’t count. It just was to make sure you weren’t some sort of creepy stalker,” Clarissa said, “So I should get another one.”

“Go ahead, Bookworm, you can ask me whatever you like,” Skull said.

“Does your family live here?” Clarissa asked.

“My mom does, but we don’t talk anymore,” Skull said and crossed his arms.

“Why?” Clarissa asked.

“Come on, we need to get going if we’re going to beat the storm back to town,” Skull said.

Clarissa looked up the sky and found it to be much darker than when they left the mall. Big fluffy gray clouds hung low to the ground and gave Clarissa goosebumps. She slid onto the seat behind Skull and wrapped her arms around his chest once again. The wind was much cooler than it had been on the trip out and Clarissa was glad to snuggle into his back.

Clarissa wished that the storm would have held off a while longer, because she wanted to know more about Skull. Instead of asking about his family, she should have asked him his real name. Clarissa decided once they were back into town she’d do so. It felt too weird calling him Skull.

It didn’t occur to Clarissa that Skull might have used the storm as an excuse to evade her question until they were well on their way. As the highway blurred by she wondered why Skull no longer spoke to his mother. Was it simply because he had changed his name and become someone she no longer recognized or was there something more?

Clarissa found her fingers absentmindedly playing at Skull’s chest. He didn’t complain or tell her to stop so Clarissa continued to explore the contours of his chest and stomach as he drove. She traced the well-etched lines of his muscles. They weren’t the muscles some guys had from being obsessed with working out, but the lean muscular build that came from hard work.

Clarissa almost kissed his neck, but stopped herself. She didn’t want to distract him while he was driving and certainly not when they were without helmets. If she was going to keep getting on the bike with him, she was going to have to buy a helmet. Maybe she’d buy one for him too, but would he wear it? She’d worry about getting him to wear it after she figured out how she was going to pay for them.

As they turned onto South Avenue Clarissa could hear the rain chasing them. Skull throttled up and she squeaked, fearing that his fast driving and the oncoming rain were going to be the death of her. Clarissa let out a sigh of relief when the bike came to a clean stop in her parking lot. Lightning lit up the sky and thunder roared right on its heels.

“Come on,” Clarissa laughed and grabbed his hand, “Let’s get inside. You don’t want to drive in this weather.”

Clarissa didn’t tell him that she didn’t want him driving in this weather, especially since he didn’t have a helmet. She hadn’t known him long enough to worry about him or so she told herself.

“Ooh!” he teased, “I’m being invited into the library.”

Clarissa was confused for a minute, but then frowned when she realized he was making yet another reference to the fact she liked to read.

“Cut it out!” Clarissa said turning on him, “Stop calling me bookworm and stop acting like it’s a bad thing I like to read!”

“I just think you could be doing more interesting things,” Skull chuckled.

“Like what?” she asked and rolled her eyes.

“I’ll tell you once we get inside out of the rain,” he said.

Momentarily distracted from her anger, Clarissa remembered that the rain was pouring down upon them. The soles of her shoes were squishy against her feet and her clothes were plastered to her body. She looked up at Skull and blushed. The sight of his black hair dripping water and his t-shirt plastered to his well-muscled chest caused Clarissa to rub her thighs together and bite her lip. Maybe she shouldn’t have invited him inside. Maybe he was getting the wrong idea about her.

“Are we going inside or not?” Skull shouted over the rain as its torrents grew louder and heavy streams of water pelted them.

“Come on,” Clarissa said and turned to go inside.

The lobby of Clarissa’s apartment building was normally kept cool, but today it was freezing. She was soaked and the cool air playing on her skin made her nipples hard. Clarissa quickly began the familiar sprint to the elevators, but nearly slipped. Skull’s hand wrapped around her arm and didn’t let go until she had her balance. Clarissa felt her blush deepen.

“Stop it!”
she told herself,
“Be an adult about this. You’re no longer a giggling teenager. You’re a grown woman. You can a boy, no I mean, a man in your apartment without acting like a total fool.”

She pressed the white button with the bold black arrow pointing up and crossed her arms as they waited, hoping that Skull hadn’t noticed that her nipples were hard and pushing against the fabric of her bra and shirt. One of the little peaks sent sparks of pleasure through her when she shifted her weight and her arms brushed against it. She bit her lip and mentally shook herself.

“Thanks for catching me,” Clarissa grinned, trying to think of anything but how cute Skull’s dimples were.

“Not a problem,” he laughed, “I think they laid slip and slide tiles in this lobby.”

Clarissa giggled and watched the light change from number to number, indicating where in the building the elevator was. She bounced on the balls of her feet, impatient to strip off her wet clothes and wrap up in her cotton robe.

The elevator doors finally opened and Clarissa quickly entered the small box, with Skull following. She pushed the shiny number four button and closed her eyes. Clarissa didn’t like elevators. There was something about the small metal box moving on a series of cables that made her nervous. How come with all their technology engineers couldn’t invent something better. Okay, they had, but Clarissa didn’t like escalators either. She didn’t open her eyes until she heard the elevator doors open. Clarissa glanced at Skull thankful that he hadn’t made a jab at her about her dislike of the elevator.

She kicked off her shoes and carried them down the hardwood hallway. Clarissa didn’t want to risk slipping again. Her wet feet felt much more stable the soles of her shoes were. She unlocked the door, but stopped Skull from passing.

“No wet shoes on my carpet,” she said, “I plan on having my security deposit returned to me at the end of my lease.”

“You know no one ever sees that money again, right?” he asked, but knelt down to unlace his boots anyway. Clarissa waited somewhat impatiently as he took off his boots.

“Leave them in the hall,” she said pointing to the spot where she had already set her own flats.

“Do you know how expensive they are?” Skull asked.

“No one wants to steal your boots,” Clarissa said and rolled her eyes, but she couldn’t help to grin. She was the female and that meant she should have been the one obsessed over her shoes, but it was sort of cute to watch Skull worry about his boots, “They’ll be fine, I promise.”

“Fine,” Skull sighed and reluctantly sat his boots next to Clarissa’s flats.

For a moment Clarissa almost changed her mind and told him to just throw them into the kitchen, that floor was tiled. What would her neighbors think when they saw a pair of boots, that clearly belonged to a man, sitting outside of her apartment? She didn’t have much time to dwell upon her worries, because Skull was already walking into her apartment forcing her to quickly follow behind him.

“You can dry off in the bathroom,” Clarissa said as she shut and locked the door, “Towels are in the cabinet on the right. I’m going to my room to change.”

As Clarissa peeled off her wet clothes she felt her body warming. She had forgotten to grab a towel before heading into the bedroom so she made do with the small towel she had used on her hair this morning. She dried quickly before slipping into a clean and dry pair of jeans and a light blue tank top. Clarissa rubbed her nipples to ensure the tiny nubs lay flat and didn’t peak up visibly through her clothing.

After a few minutes of digging through her closet she slipped into her favorite black fuzzy house shoes, but quickly changed them out for a pair of ankle socks. Clarissa knew that the fuzzy slippers would only give Skull a reason to tease her. So if he was such a pain in the ass and a bully, why had she allowed him into her apartment? Clarissa told herself that she was just being nice, but she knew it was more than that. She was more than a little attracted to the jerk.

“Oh my God!”
she mouthed to her pale reflection in the mirror as she ran a comb through her brown hair,
“I’m becoming one of those weird girls who fall for the bad boys, but more than that I’m falling for the bully. Is this like Stockholm Syndrome or something?”
Clarissa shook the thought away, “Stockholm Syndrome is something differently entirely. He hasn’t kidnapped me or anything.”

Clarissa laughed despite herself and sat the comb back on the dresser.

“What are you giggling about in there?” Skull’s voice called from the other side of the door and startled Clarissa. Lost to her own thoughts she hadn’t heard him leave the bathroom.

“Nothing,” Clarissa said, trying to sound more composed that she felt. It had been a while since she felt this giddy about anything, but she couldn’t let him know how much liked him. Guys like him always used it to their advantage and Clarissa refused to be anyone’s pawn. She glanced at her reflection one last time and headed out into the living room. Skull was sitting on the sofa and for a moment Clarissa wasn’t sure what she was seeing. When her eyes finally made sense of the scene in front of her she had to fight back a giggle fit.

Skull was sitting on the sofa in her fuzzy black robe.

“Hey, do you think I can throw my clothes in your dryer or something?” he asked.

“Yeah, sure, it’s this way,” she said and walked away. Now that she was facing away from him she let herself crack a smile. His tall, muscular frame stretched the fabric of her robe at odd angles and only came down to his knees, although when Clarissa wore it the hem trailed along the floors.

Clarissa walked into the laundry room without thinking and turned to find herself closer to Skull than she trusted herself to be. She looked up at him and gave him what she hoped was just a friendly smile.

“You do know how to work a dryer, right?” she asked.

“Duh,” Skull rolled eyes and swung the door to the dryer open.

“Be careful!” she warned.

Clarissa was always a little nervous when other people touched her expensive belongings. You never could tell when one just might break down and if someone else was to use it, she knew she’d blame them. If something of hers broke, she wanted to be the only one to blame. She silently prayed that the dryer would survive and led Skull back into the kitchen.