Hooked (6 page)

     I watched him carefully before I made a move to go up to Jess’ door.

“Shit
,
” he half whispered to himself.  He turned around, opened the door and pulled out a manila envelope and locked the door.  As he started walking towards me
,
he looked up and saw me standing there.  He stopped, squeezed his eyes shut and muttered
,
“Damn it.” 

    
Wow, ok
ay
…I wasn’t expecting that reaction.  H
i
,
maybe hey
,
but definitely not damn it.  His reaction pissed me off
,
so I let him know it.

     “You know, I haven’t done anything to you!  In fact
, I have been what some people consider nice!”  I said as I walked passed him. 

    
When I stomped passed
him,
our shoulders touched.  As irritated as I was right
then,
I felt my breath hitch from his touch.  He grabbed my arm and swung me around to where I was
facing him
.  His gaze was so intense.  I always felt intimidated by it
,
but
this time
I couldn’t look away.  He looked down at
me;
his hand was still touching my arm. 
The warmth from his touch made me tingle on the inside. 
I looked down at his hand and he pulled it away. 

     “I didn’t mean it the way it sounded, you surprised me
,
”
h
e said it like he was being careful. 

     “How else am I supposed to take it when someone sees me and their reaction isn’t a smile and how are you?
Instead, you start mumbling out profanities and expect me not to take offense?”
  I asked him a little more sternly than I normally would have. 

    
I can’t help
it
.
T
his guy is making me mad.  He is short and halfway rude to me
,
but then he looks at me as though he’s studying me.  Well, I’m done trying to figure him out. 

    
Instead of answering me
,
he asks
,
“What are you doing in this part of town
,
sweetheart?
 
I know you don’t live over here.”  Normally, it would have irritated me when someone called me that
,
but for some reason, it sounded good coming from him.

     “And just how do you know I don’t live over here?” I ask raising my voice a couple of notches
,
“I could live here there is nothing wrong with it!”

     He stares down at me for a moment before I look up at him.  When I look up, he smiles at me and it melts me on the spot.  All of the anger I just had for him assuming I’m too good for this part of town evaporated.  His blue eyes sparkled like he knew a secret I didn’t.  I hadn’t realized before how
prominent
his dimples were.  They only showed when he smiled and
i
t made me think he was somehow saving them for me.  I remember seeing or reading that dimples are imperfections. 
Whoever
said that had obviously never
been lucky enough to see
Cash
Davis
.  Get it together Millie, I scolded
myself
.  This boy is implying that I know
I’m
too good for this part of town and I’m over here debating freaking birth defects with myself!

     “I never said there was something wrong with it.”

     “You implied it
,
” I said as I raised my chin so he would know I wouldn’t give in.

     “That’s bullshit and you know it
,
”
h
e said still smiling.

     Dang
,
this boy had a mouth on him.  I blushed, I just know it.  Not that I had never cussed, I just didn’t use it in regular conversation.  I was used to it though
,
because Jessica cussed like a sailor a year ago. 
S
he has cleaned it up
quite a bit, but
she still drops the occasional f
-
bomb when she’s angry.

    
“I’m here to pick up my friend.”  I don’t know why I ended
up giving him the real reason I was there.  He
made
me feel like I wanted to tell him everything about me.  Ugh, how is this happening to me?  I don’t even know him
.

     “Uh huh
,
”
h
e said and started to walk away from me. 

    
I turned around and put my hand on my hip
and asked,
“
And what are you doing in this part of town?” 

     “I live here
,
sweetheart
.
”
H
e
started laughing and walked away from me. 

    
This stupid boy could really be a jerk.  He was starting to get under my skin
and it
really made me
angry
that I couldn’t get one up on him.  He always seemed to be one step ahead of me with his comebacks and no matter how mad I got at him
,
I could appreciate that on some level.

     I walked up to
J
ess’ door and
knocked
.  She opened it with her bag in hand ready to go.  We walked back to the car and as we got in
,
I noticed Cash had the
h
ood to his car up and there were three or four guys around him looking at it. 

    
“He has such a cool ride
,
” Jess said as I was backing up.

    
“Yeah, he told me he lives in your apartment building.”

    
“Yeah, he actually moved in next door.  When I met him earlier today
,
I was going to call you
,
but I just figured I would tell you in person.
”

     “What happened to your old neighbor
,
Ms. Thomas?”

     “She went in the nursing home
a couple of weeks ago.
He
r
son said he didn’t want her to be unattended anymore.  When you told me today at school that you had met the guy from the
D
airy
Q
ueen, I wasn’t expecting him to be my neighbor.”

     “Yeah, me either.”

     “He’s really nice and he
knows
a lot about cars and stuff.  He is actually the one that told Anna what was wrong with the car.  He drove her to the garage and helped her drop it off.  She said he probably saved her some money because he was the one that talked to the mechanic.”

     Hmm, I thought.  Why is he nice to Jess and Anna and not to me?  I didn’t voice this to Jess
.  I
nstead
,
I turned up the radio and we listened to
James Morrison
all the way to my house
.
I was so rattled by my thoughts, I needed his mellow tone to soothe me
. 

     After dinner, Jess and I both did our homework and took our showers so we wouldn’t have to fight Eli for the bathroom in the morning. 
After
we got ready for bed
,
we talked about school and she
brought
up Cash again
,
but I didn’t really have a lot to say.  I didn’t know what to say.  Should I tell her that I felt drawn to him for some unexplainable reason
,
but he doesn’t like me
even though
he does not even know me?  So, I did not really respond.  She quickly changed the subject to Cameron’s bonfire Friday night. 

    
“Yeah, I’m excited
,
but I have no idea as to what I’m wearing
,
”
I said hoping to get some insight from her.  She always seems to know the perfect outfit to suggest.

     “You should wear your jean skirt and your black sleeveless top.”  She gets excited when
she’s
telling me this.  “
You’re
going to look so hot
.
Cash won’t be able to resist you.”

     “I don’t know about that, he doesn’t really act like he likes me
,
”
I finally admit.

    
“What do you mean?
”
  She asks curiously.

     “I don’t know.  I mean
,
when you talked with him today, was he like really short with you?”  I asked hoping she said yes.

     “No, I thought he was actually pretty cool.  I me
an
,
he has these asshole vibe
s
, like he could be, but he was nice to me and Anna.”  She shrugged.  “Maybe you took what he
said wrong
or something
,
”
s
he said trying to make me feel better.

     “I don’t know, I’m having trouble reading him.  I don’t know if I should continue to try to be nice or just leave it alone and forget about it.”

     “Hell
,
no girl!
  If he is being a jerk to you, you just pretend like he doesn’t exist.  Play hard to get.  We don’t chase boys, they chase us!  Period.”

     “Okay, I like your idea.  So
,
I just act like I’m not phased and he chases me
,
”
I yawned as I said it
. 

    
M
y last thought before I fell
asleep
,
was
that
it doesn’t matter how hard I act like he doesn’t exist, I most definitely know when he is near.  It is alm
ost cosmic.  It’s like I can fee
l his
presence
inside my bones, he doesn’t even have to say anything.  I’m not confident this will work out, but if Jess thinks it will work, it’s worth a try.

    
The rest of the week went by at a pretty normal pace.  I had finally gotten my homework schedule down and it wasn’t that bad.  As long as I did some of it in study hall
,
it wasn’t so bad at night.  Eli wasn’t home most nights because of football.  His team was practicing a lot.  Dad was working nights right now
because one of the
Sergeants
on second shift was out with his wife on maternity leave.  I really don’t think my mom cared though.  Every night
,
she was able to read her books without interruption. 

     Wednesday, I asked mom if she cared if I spent the night with Jess.  Cara and I were going to spend the night tonight and figure out all the
details
for Friday night’s bonfire.  We were picking out outfits and doing our nails.  Not that I had nails
,
but I could at least put a clear coat on them and do my toes.  Mom said that was fine as long as I had my homework done.  I packed a bag and three or four potential outfits. 

     By the time I actually made it to Jess’ apartment, it was already dark.  Man, I hate walking up to her building in the dark.  People just hang out on every corner.  I think that is what is so intimidating because they are in such big groups.  I get out of my vehicle and run up the walk to her door.
  Right as I am about to knock, I hear Cash say
,
“
D
amn it, we don’t have the money for that!  Just go to bed and you’ll feel better in the morning.”  Right then, his door opened and he stepped outside lighting a cigarette as he did.  I looked up at him.