Hooked (27 page)

    
“Hey
,
when did you get here?”  I asked Cash.

     He answered me without taking his eyes off the TV, “Umm, like thirty minutes ago?” 

    
You’ve got to be kidding me.
I know it was immature, but I couldn’t believe he was here and didn’t even say anything to me.  It stung a little bit because I felt like I couldn’t go an hour without talking to him and he was sitting just one room from me and didn’t even say hi.

    
“Whatever,” I said as I walked out. 

    
I went to my room to change clothes since I still had my dress clothes
on
from
s
hopping with mom
earlier
.  As I was pulling on my sweat pants
,
Cash walked in. 

     “Hey.”

     “Hey
,
yourself,” I snipped at him.

     “What’s wrong with you?”

     “Not a thing.”

     He walked over to me and
wrapped
his arms around my waist. 
“Mil?
  Oh man, were you jealous of your brother and your dad?”
H
e laughed in my ear.

     “No, I just figured you’d at least come and tell me you were here.”

     He nuzzled my neck, “I’m sorry, you are right.  I should have come in to say hi to you first and let you know I was here, but in my defense, whenever I walked in the door
,
Eli threw me a controller and we just started playing.”

     “I know it is stupid, I guess I just thought you would be excited to se
e
me.”

     “Sweetheart, I am.  I just got caught up when I first walked in.”

     “I’m sorry too, I guess I just overreacted.  I won’t do that again because now I feel stupid.  I’m really glad you are getting along with Eli and my dad.”

     He pecked my lips and bent his knees so his eyes were the same level as mine.  “So
,
are we good
?”

     “Yes, of course.  Now let’s go eat, I’m starving.”

     We went back into the kitchen and mom was getting everyone something to
drink while dad and Eli were se
tting the table. 

    
“Everything ok
ay
?”
  Eli asked
smirking
his butt off.  “No really, we thought you’d caught him cheating the way he left us to go to you,” he said laughing and looking at my dad.

     “Yeah
,
Cash, did you get it all worked out?”  Even my dad was joking about this.

    
“Yes
,
sir.
  I apologized and your daughter had mercy one me
.
”
H
e grinned at me.

     I rolled my eyes at their banter
,
but on the inside I was gratefu
l that my parents seemed to really like Cash.  It felt like he was really becoming a part of my family.

     School on Friday was crazy.  We all dressed up as our favorite super hero for homecoming.  It was actually fun and exciting to see everyone.  Cara, Jess and I actually made our own costumes earlier because we knew
that there would be a
costume day ahead of time.  Cara being on the yearbook staff really comes in handy sometimes. 

     I got to school early because I had to help Jessica with her out fit.  When I say I had to help her, I mean literally zip her up in it.  I finally found her in the bathroom with her body suit hanging from her hips and a strapless bra. 

    
When I walked in
,
Jess looked at me and said, “Wow
,
Millie, you look hot!”

     “Thanks girl
,
but you are the one that is going to be hot!  Jake will be shocked when he sees you in this!
  I think you make an even hotter Cat Woman than Halle Berry did!  He won’t know where to look with all this leather.”

     “Well
,
he won’t be too shocked because he won’t actually get to see me.  He has class today, remember?”

     “We will get Cara to text him a picture so he can see what he’s missing by being older and in college.”  We both started laughing at my comment.  It was really cool to see Jessica like this.  She seems so light and happy.

     “I’m telling you
,
Cash won’t believe his eyes when he sees you in this.  Come to think of it
,
I don’t think I’ve ever even seen you in anything like this before.”

     “It should definitely be interesting because he came over last night and I didn’t tell him that I was dressing up today because I wanted to surprise him.”

     “Yeah, I
saw
him come home last night around ten because Jake was dropping me off.  I guess they are becoming pretty good friends after that night at Jake and Cara’s
,
because I went inside and Jake text me an hour later and told me he was just getting home because
he had sat out there and talked with Cash.”

     “Dang girls, y
’
all look amazing!”

     We both turned towards the door to see Cara standing there in her Robin costume.  I couldn’t wait to see her and Jason together because he was going as Batman.  When I finally got Jess zipped into her costume
,
it was almost time for school to start.  I went to my locker and Cash was already standing there.  I walked up to him and he already had his arms out to hug me.

     “Well, hey to you too,” I said smiling at him.

     “Umm, I didn’t realize you were dressing up today,” he said pulling me into him and looking around like he was trying to find someone.

     “Yeah, we thought it would be fun.  Do you not like it?”

     “I freaking love it, I have never seen a more beautiful or sexy
S
uper
G
irl, I’m just not feeling like kicking a bunch of as—uh
,
butts today with all the guys looking at you.”

   
“Oh
,
stop it.  They won’t be looking at me and you’re just a party pooper.”  I knew he wasn’t going to dress up today.  He had on his regular jeans and a blue
T-shirt
.

    
“Really?
  I think you should look again
,
Mil,” he said stepping back from me.  I looked up at him and started laughing.  He had on a blue
S
uperman logo
T-shirt
.

     “I can’t believe you kind of
,
sort of dressed up.”

     “Well, you always tell me I’m anti
-
social, so I decided to make an effort.”

     “
Aww
, that’s so sweet,” I say going on my tip toes to kiss him
.
“
I’m actually impressed with your shirt.”

     “Well, maybe you could show me how appreciative you are.”

     “I just did with a kiss,” I say smirking at him.

     “You know what I meant,” he said rolling his eyes at me.

     “Of course
,
I do
.
Y
ou are just to
o
easy to tease,”

     I tickled his rib cage and he grabbed my arms, picked me up and threw me over his shoulder and started carrying me down the hallway.  I started hitting his back and yelling at him.  “Cash stop it!  Please!  I mean it, put me down!”

     “Sorry babe, the only thing I remember you saying was that you liked being teased.”

     “No
,
I didn’t, ok
ay
, ok
ay
, I get it
…yo
u proved your point!  Cash
,
I’m serious my panties are showing! 
Stop!”

     He s
topped and put me down laughing.
“Alright, alright, don’t get so worked up, nobody saw anything.”

     “Ugh, you know stuff like this embarrasses me.  I don’t like all this attention,” I said looking around at the crowd that was watching us.

      “I know
.
W
hy do you get so embarrassed?  They are just people that we don’t even know that well.  It doesn’t matter what they think.”

     “I don’t know why, I just don’t like people looking at me.  I’m perfectly happy just being in the background.”  He just shook his head at me and grabbed my hand as we walked towards my class.

     Lunch was a sight to see.  At our table alone, we had Batman, Robin, Wonder Woman, Cat Woman, Spiderman, Super Girl, and last
,
but not least, a Super Man
wanna
be.
  We all just sat there and talked about the game later that night and the after
parties.  Jess told me that there was supposed to be a huge party at one of the hotels in town.  I guess a couple of people had already rented rooms for the night.

     “How are you doing your hair tonight, Millie?”  Cara asked around the other conversations.

     “I’m not sure yet, I guess I’ll just wing it,” I said not really concerned about it.

     “Wear it up,” Cash said surprising me.

     “Why?”

    
“Because
,
I’ve never seen you with your hair up.”

     “You see my hair in a ponytail all the time, it’s the same thing.”

     “No
,
it’s not
,
because you don’t have on a dress any of those times.”  Everyone laughed at us because we were debating my hair.

     “You two are like an old married couple
,
” Jason said from across the table.

     I looked down and pretended he didn’t just say that.  Cash jerked my hand under the table to let me know it was ok
ay
.  I’m starting to really love that about him.  He’s so protective of me and it’s a really secure feeling to know he’s got my back all the time.  It’s like we have our own language without even talking.  I smile up at him and we get back in the conversation at the table.

     Cash ha
d
to work for a couple of hours after work
,
so I told him I would just have Jess pick me up and I would just meet him at his apartment and we could leave from there.  My mom wasn’t too happy about this arrangement
,
but I promised her plenty of pictures.  It didn’t take me too long to get ready.  After I got out of the shower
,
I put my lotion on thinking about what underwear I was going to wear.  I shook my head at this because I have never really cared before
,
but I knew that Cash would probably see them and I didn’t want to be wearing granny panties when that happened.

    I went ahead and dried my hair so I could put my rollers in.  Cash said he wanted me to wear my hair
up, so I thought I would do a French
twist.  I did my makeup while I was waiting on my hair to finish curling.  I kept it light, I wanted to be myself
,
but a little more dressed up than normal.  I was afraid Cash wouldn’t recognize me if I showed up looking like a rock band from the 1980’s.  My hair actually turned out great and considering this was my first attempt at a French twist
,
I was happy
with the outcome
.