My Paper Heart (11 page)

Meg stopped stacking and looked directly at me. I tried not to meet her gaze, and it was the same steel blue as Blaine's when he was angry. "I was so worried about my brother, and I really don't want to see that happen to him again."

I nodded, trying to look down.

"I mean it." She pointed a Lee Press-On nail finger at me. "I do not want to see or hear about my brother getting hurt again. I've heard your story Libby. You may have won my parents and my husband over, but hell or high water will any girl ever hurt my brother again. Ya hear me?"

I bit my lip so hard it actually started to bleed as I was nodding furiously. I started to wonder if the only reason Blaine was with me was as a revenge tactic for his ex, but I was almost too scared to bring it up to him. I saw Meg's arms and I definitely knew that woman could do some damage.

∞

Blaine drove me home quite a bit later after my run-in with Meg. I tried to avoid making eye contact with her all night. I was afraid she had learned some voodoo and was going to be poking pins in a doll of me all night.

"Is something wrong, baby?" Blaine reached over the seat and put his arm around me. "You've been really quiet ever since dinner.

I shook my head as I looked down at floor of Blaine's truck.

Blaine sighed. "Meg told you about Julie didn't she?"

"How did you know that?" I turned sharply toward him, well as sharply as I could down a bumpy gravel road.

"I figured the way you were avoiding her after dinner something happened. That was my best guess as to something she would say. My sisters are a little over protective."

A little, I thought, maybe if a little was shanking someone in the bathroom.

"I think she thinks because I'm in a sorority that I am just like her." I spoke barely above a whisper.

"Well I do like sorority girls. Ever since I first saw a
Hustler
in middle school." He smiled teasingly.

I pinched his side and he laughed through a wince.

"I’m serious Blaine. I'm not going to ever do that to you. When I go back up north I'm not going to be like that. You can come and visit whenever you like. I'll even try and bake for you!" I scooted closer to him, trying to get my point across.

He slowly moved his arm out from under me and put his hand back on the wheel, saying nothing.

"What?  Did I say something wrong?" I groaned. "Look, I know I suck at baking, but I can learn!"

"No, Libby. It's not that." He shook his head. "I just was hoping you really weren't planning on moving back to Chicago."

"Well it's actually the suburbs."

"Same thing!" He pulled into Aunt Dee's lot, sitting at the end of the driveway as he turned his lights off and put the car in park.

"Look Libby." He turned toward me.

"If we're going to do this I want this to be real. I don't want just some summer fling, to be that guy that passes the time for you till you get back to your shopping malls and sorority houses." He grabbed my hands and dipped his forehead down into them. "I really don't want to go through that again, and I think your Aunt Dee and Brittany really like you here too."

"Blaine, I don't know what you want me to say. That I'll stay with you in Elsbury forever?  That I will never go back to school?" I moved my hands to my lap. "I really can't do that Blaine."

He sighed and put his head in his own hands.

"But." I moved my hands toward him and lifted his face into my palms. "To prove that I do want you involved in my life in and out of Louisiana, I want you to come with me to my big sister, Kristi's wedding in August. I'm one of her bridesmaids so I really have to go, but you’ll get to see me in a really cute dress. I mean we'd have to get you a plane ticket for Chicago, but I'd really like you to go. I'm not ashamed to have you as my boyfriend. And if you needed to punch Beau in the face, I'd be okay with that to."

I grinned as wide as I could, hoping that would make him feel better.

He took a deep breath. "Well that all depends Libby."

I tilted my head to the side. "Depends on what?"

He leaned in, moving a hand under my dress and sliding it up to my inner thigh. His face had moved to be less than an inch from mine. "How good do you look in that bridesmaid dress?"

Chapter 14

I was really tired of most of Blaine and I's dates being us either going to Sam's, or sitting around Aunt Dee's, so I told him he had to take me out somewhere. Part of that was I was also hoping to get some alone time. We still hadn't had sex, and I was really wondering if we were ever going to.

I decided I better at least look somewhat attractive. After less than a month I had reverted to just wearing shorts and t-shirts around Blaine when I wasn't in work clothes. I thought that might have something to do with him not wanting to sleep with me.

I took a long shower, tried to straighten my hair, but with the humidity it was doing no such thing. I took so long getting ready in the bathroom that Britt was pounding on the door for almost five minutes straight telling me she really had to poop.

When Blaine finally came to pick me up, around seven, his eyes looked like they were going to pop out of their sockets. I tried to hold his gaze as he eyed me from the bottom of my black stilettos, up my low rise jeans, to my black satin halter top. Needless to say, if something didn't happen tonight it was definitely a waste of a cute outfit.

But I guess Blaine didn't get the memo about looking sexy. He was in his usual attire, a black shirt with a fleur-de-lis emblem, cargo shorts, and tennis shoes. I guessed we weren't going anywhere too fancy. I waved goodbye to Aunt Dee and Britt, slung my purse over my shoulder, and headed out to Blaine's truck.

"Damn, is all I've got to say," Blaine whispered, before closing his door behind him in the truck.

"I take it you like my outfit." I smirked, stretching my shoulders back in an attempt to stick out my barely-there-chest a bit more.

He made a Scooby-doo voice, shaking his face as he did so. It was like something out of a cartoon, I couldn't help but laugh.

"So where are we going tonight anyways?" I traced my fingers on the back of his earlobe when he started down the gravel path from Aunt Dee's house.

"Well a couple of my buddies wanted us to meet them at this pool hall outside of town," Blaine replied meekly.

"And you told them no, right?" I kissed his favorite spot, right where his neck meets his shoulders.

"Well..."

I pulled away and just stared at him, narrowing my eyes. "Okay, let me ask again. You did tell them no, riiiiight?"

He groaned. "Libby baby, they really wanted to meet you. I promise after a couple games of pool you and I can just go somewhere alone. Okay?  I promise baby." He reached his arm out to put around me and I brushed it off.

"You owe me big sir! I don't wear these stilettos just for anything!" I lifted my leg up over my head.

His blue eyes darted over toward me. "Now you're just being a tease."

∞

The pool hall wasn't much more than a smoky bar that looked like an oversized green trailer.

"You promise we can go somewhere to be alone after this?" I pouted out my bottom lip as Blaine closed the door to his truck behind me.

He leaned both his hands against the truck, on either side of me, and pressed his forehead to mine. "I promise tonight won't be a waste of your heels." He looked down at my chest. "Or your push-up bra."

"Hey, I am not wearing a push-up bra!"

He grinned at me, we were eye level, and I was almost even taller.

"Libby, I've known you a month now, and after staring at your chest just about every day that I've known you, I think I know when you have a push-up bra on." He nuzzled my cheek in an attempt to muffle his laugh.

"Damn boy, finally you make it!" A short stocky guy in a backwards red hat smacked the back of Blaine's head, causing Blaine to knock forward. He caught himself with his hands before our heads butted.

"Well damn, I think if I had a girl like that I would probably have taken even longer,” a really tall black guy in a Tulane shirt chimed in.

"Come on guys." A guy that looked about five years older than the rest of them with a full red beard put his arm around the other two boys. "Give Blaine a break. We've already cock blocked him enough."

Blaine turned toward the three guys, sliding an arm around my waist. "Alright now that you've embarrassed the hell out of me, meet my girlfriend, Libby."

He pointed to the short stocky guy. "Libby, that's Ryan, we played baseball together in high school." He then pointed toward the tall black guy. "That's Don, he thinks he's too good for us now that he goes to Tulane, but we can still kick his ass."

"Hey!" Don chimed. For a black guy he had a really high sing-songy voice. I didn't think he was at Tulane on any sort of a sports scholarship with a voice like that.

"Really Don, you can't deny it." The third guy looked at Don, and then extended his hand toward me, trying to grab my attention with his eyes. "And I'm Jackson. I've worked with Blaine on the road crew for forever."

"Yeah that's why he's good at the wise cracks, he's had centuries to practice them," Don quipped.

"Hey!" He turned back to Don. "I'm not too old to still kick your ass."

"Bring it on old balls!" Don made a motion with his hands like, come and get me.

"You got it choir boy!" Jackson went straight for Don's knees. Before I knew it the two were wrestling in the parking lot.

That only lasted about 30 seconds though, before Blaine broke it up.

"Come on guys, let's play some pool."

∞

Now being in college, and having an older sister that I could pass off as, of course I had a fake ID. But in a small town bar, I don't think I was carded even once. The boys ordered rounds of beers at the pool table, and I don't think the waitress even batted an eye.

It could take a bit to get me drunk, especially with beer, but after about four beers I was feeling pretty tipsy. I was trying to point the stick straight, Blaine was behind me trying to show me how to aim the cue.

"I bet you Blaine is used to seeing her from this position." Ryan cackled and the rest of the boys joined in. I think they had a few even before they came.

Blaine whispered in my ear. "Shh don't listen to them, we're losing pretty bad, I'll help you make this shot."

I whispered back, slurring a bit. "Then will you make a shot on me?"

I guess it wasn't that much of a whisper because Jackson yelled, "I HEARD SHOTS."

I totally fumbled with the cue stick and cracked the cue into the ball, making it ricochet off of the side of the table. I just laughed like a drunken school girl falling onto the table along with my cue stick.

"Oh shit," Don muttered.

"What?" Blaine took his hands off of me and looked to the side. Then I could feel his steel grip on my back. Something he saw made him very angry.

"What is she doing here?" He spat between clenched teeth.

I slowly got up from the table to look and see what all the boys were staring at.

Two girls sat at a small table across from the bar. One of them was really pretty and petite, something I would never be. She had almost all small features, except for a ginormous rack, which she made sure to show off with a very low cut shirt. Her hair was very straight and brown, I envied that with humidity. She took tiny sips out of her drink in a rocks glass and laughed with the girl next to her.

"Five Tequila shots." The little mousy waitress squealed holding a tray in the middle of us. The boys were snapped out of their stare fest to turn their attention to the waitress.

Jackson plopped a fifty on the tray. "Keep em' coming."

I got out the salt shaker and began to pour it on the back of my hand, but before I could even finish Blaine had taken his shot, not waiting for the salt or to take the lime afterwards.

"I'm going to step outside for a minute." He patted my back, and just continued out to the door without even looking at me.

I whirled around and turned toward the guys, who were huddled together talking. "Um, did I miss something?"

"Uh..." Ryan just froze.

"Well?" Don broke away from the group and came closer toward me. "See the little brunette over at the table with the big red head." I glanced over my shoulder, pretending to pick something off of my shoulder and saw that the brunette was doing the same thing. She quickly turned back toward her friend in order to not make eye contact with me.

"Yeah." I turned back toward Don. "What about her?"

"Well." He rubbed the back of his clean shaven head. "That would be Julie, Blaine's ex."

Oh, wow.

Ryan scooted in between us with Jackson close on his heels. "Yeah I thought that bitch said she'd never come around here again."

"Well I guess we'll just have to make sure she knows what she's been missing." I didn't bother licking the salt off of my hand and downed the shot, motioning to the waitress for another.

Blaine finally came back in after about my fourth or fifth shot. I had kind of lost count. I really wasn't expecting Julie to be that pretty, and I was hoping Blaine wasn't having second thoughts about me after seeing her again.

"Hey Blainey!" I slurred, jumping into Blaine's arms when he came back to the table. "I was afraid you would never come back!" I swayed back in forth in his arms, holding him tight.

"Um, Libby are you okay?" Blaine pulled me away and held my eyes with his. I noticed his eyes were blood shot. I didn't know what he had been doing outside, but whatever it was, I figured this Julie bitch had to pay.

"Honey, can you go get me a drink?" I drew a circle on his chest with my finger.

"Are you sure you need another drink?" He kept trying to lock eye contact with me, but I wouldn't let him.

"Please, honey. No more beer though, rum and Coke?" I gave him the puppy dog eyes, batting my eyelashes in the process, a double whammy.