Hooked (11 page)

*Oh, Jakes.  He gave me a ride from the party so I guess I’m just
gonna
stay with Cara tonight.  C
ya


     As I read the lie she’s trying to tell, I am speechless.  First off, I know her
and Jake have something going on.  Second of all,
she text me from his phone
.  Third,
she lied and told me she was staying with Cara when I know for a fact
that
Cara is staying at Jason’s.  Why would Jess hide this?  I personally think it is awesome.  I lay in bed thinking about Cash and if he is still in jail, Jess and Jake, are they dating? Just sleeping together?
And most of all
,
I think about my dad.  In seventeen years, I have never seen my dad so angry with me.  I know I’ve disappointed him and I think I feel
guiltier
about that than anything. 

CHAPTER
6

     Saturday morning comes too soon.  I wake up and immediately don’t feel well.  My head hurts and I feel like I have been in an accident.  I slide out of bed and decide that a shower is what would help
me.  I get in and it feels wonderful.  I start to relax under the hot water.
  My mind automatically goes to everything that happened las
t
night.  I keep replaying everything in my head.  I am angry at Cameron for trying to take advantage of me.  I know he was drunk too, but I still feel like he was trying to get me to do more than I would have if I hadn’t been drinking.  I am angry at Jess for hiding the fact that she was with Jake.  This
,
I don’t understand.  I think they
w
ould make a great couple.  I mean, I wouldn’t put them together
,
but
they’re
both great people.  If they like each other, they should go for it.  I’m mad at Cash because after everything that went on last night and he ended up arrested, he acted like it was no big deal.  But most of all, I’m mad at myself for putting myself in this position.  Everything bad that happened was because of me.

     When the water turns cool, I realize that I can’t make any of this better.  I have to deal with my dad sometime today.
  I think he has a meeting this morning though.  I decide that I am going to get dressed and find out when he is leaving,
and then
I’m going to Cash’s house. I have to try to make this up to him.

     As I get out of the shower and wrap myself in a towel, I have a sinking feeling in my stomach, what if he doesn’t want to talk to me?  Well, I have to find out one way or
another.  I can’t stand the guilt I feel right now.  I go to my closet and tr
y
to decide what to wear.
  It looks like it is jeans and a
hoodie
kind of day.  So
,
I throw on my clothes and head down stairs.  Eli is on the couch watching SWAT for the millionth time.  I’ll give him this though
,
I have also been known to watch it a lot because of Colin Ferrell.

     “Hey,
where are
mom and dad?”

    
“Dad is at his meeting and mom went grocery shopping
,
”
h
e answers without looking
away
from the
TV
.

     “Well, I’ll be back in a little bit, I have to go talk to someone
,
” I say as I walk over to the door.

     “You’d better hurry, dad sounded ticked this morning.”

     “What did he say?” I asked.

     “Nothing to me, but I heard him tell mom that you will learn your lesson and he is going to make sure of that.”

     “Great,
” I
mumble.

    
“What the heck did you do anyway?  I haven’t heard him that mad since I was playing ball in the house and broke the
living room
window.”

     “We will talk later, I
gotta
go now
,
” I say as I walk out the door. 

     As I drive over to that side of tow
n
, I keep thinking that I wish I could get him something to say thank you/sorry.  It dawns on me that I don’t know that much about him.  I know he likes to work on his car
,
but I don’t know anything about cars, so there goes that idea.  Wait a minute, I know he likes banana splits because that was what he ordered when he came into the
D
airy
Q
ueen.  I know this is kind of corny
,
but it is all I can think of and I don’t want
to
go over there with nothing. 

    
After a quick stop at the
D
airy
Q
ueen, I
pull up to his apartment.   I feel stupid walking up to his door with ice
cream
,
but oh well, I’ve already done it.  There’s a good chance I’d look dumb if I walked back to my car now.  I knock on the door.  My heart starts beating faster when I hear footsteps.  He swings the door open and smiles. 

    
“Hey sweetheart, what made you come over here at,
” he looks at the clock on the wall behind him, “eight o’clock
in the morning?” 

    
I look down at the ice
cream and back up to his face.  I push it toward him and say, “I wanted to bring you this as a thank you.”  He laughs, actually laughs at me.  I look down and then to the side of the apartment and then back at him. 

    
“You know, I just wanted to say thank you and make sure you were ok
ay
, you don’t have to be a jerk!”  I say sternly. 

    
He holds the ice cream in one hand and holds the other hand up
.
“
Y
ou
’
r
e
right, I’m sorry.  This was nice of you
,
but very
unnecessary
.  Let me put this in the freezer, come on in
,
”
h
e
says as he walks toward the kitchen. 

     I’ve never been in his apartment before
,
but I already know where all the rooms are because it is exactly like Jessica’s
,
except it has less stuff.  It’s bare
,
but clean. 

    
“Sorry, we have only been living here a
couple of weeks
,
so there is not much to look at.”

     “No, no
,
it’s great
,
” I say just to be polite.

     “You southern girls are funny
,
”
h
e says sounding amused.

     “How’s that?”  I asked curiously.

     “I’ve never had anyone bring me ice cream as a thank you for going to jail.”

     “And just how many times would that be?”  I ask still holding eye contact.

     “A couple
,
”
h
e says sounding steady with a shrug.

     “Are you proud of that?”

     “Not really, just answering your question.”

     I look around and realize we are alone.  “Where are your folks?”

     “Well, my dad took off about oh, four years ago to get bread and never came back,” he says and pauses, then adds
,
“and my mom is at work.”

     “Oh, I’m sorry about your dad.” 

    
He chuckles at me and says, “You sure say
you’re
sorry a lot.”

     “I’m
sor
---ugh, well, I can’t help it
,
” I say losing my patien
ce
.

     “It’s cool, I like that about you.”

     “Do you have any brothers or sisters?”

     “Not that I know of.” 

    
He started walking toward me and
I got really nervous.
  How could he be so crude and sarcastic and make my insides go gooey?  I wasn’t attracted to that
,
was I?  If the feeling I’m having right now is any indicator, I guess I am.

     “Where’s your room?”  I ask a little too loud and fast.

    
He cocks one eyebrow and holds his hand out showing me which way to go.  I start down the hallway.  I knew which room was his before I opened the door.  Something just told me it was his.  I opened the door and looked back at him just to be sure.  He smiled and nodded at me and I opened the door.  The first th
ing I noticed
was the smell.  It
smelled so good, like him
, a
mixture of cologne and him.  I couldn’t really describe his scent
,
but I knew I’d never forget it.  His room was really simple.  His walls were tan with a
navy
blue comforter.  He only had a dresser with a small
TV
and a small desk in the corner and he had nothing on the walls, no photos on his desk, it was bare.  It was however, neat and clean, the total opposite of mine.  It kind of surprised me actually.  I looked around and took it all in.

     “What are you thinking?” he asked me. 

    
I turned around and faced him.  “Nothing, I was just looking at everything, trying to get a better idea of you.”

    
He walks toward me and I realize we are here alone.  Me
,
being me, I am the one who asked where his room was because I thought he was going to kiss me in the living room.  Now
,
here we are in his freaking bedroom because I can’t think fast on my feet. 

    
He put his hands on my hips and whispered, “Come here.” 

    
I tilted my head up and he kissed me.  I felt like I was floating.  He was the best kisser.  It was like he knew exactly what he was doing.  I broke the
kiss
and looked up at him.  We stood like that for
a minute
before I asked him, “Was my dad mean to you last night?”

   
“Well, I doubt we’ll be having a drink when I’m twenty-one.”  He smiled and tried to kiss me again.  I pulled away. 

   
“What do you mean?” 

    
He sighed and said, “Look Millie, he was just doing his job.”  He bent his knees a little so he could look me in the eyes.  “Let’s not talk about this right now
.
I’ve wanted to kiss you
ever since I saw you last night.”

     “Why?  I didn’t think you liked me very much.  You’ve been kind of rude when we talked before.” 

    
He took his hands from my hips and turned his back to me.  He put one hand up and took off his baseball cap and tossed it on the bed.  He put the other hand through his black hair and turned around to face me. 

   
“Come here,” he said softly.  He sat down and patted the spot beside him.  I walked over to him and sat down.

   
“Look, I…I didn’t really want to move here…to Tennessee.  I was forced to be here.”  He looked serious as he spoke. 

   
“Why?” I asked him.