Torn (Torn Series) (5 page)

“Ah,
I see. Overprotective boyfriend as well?”

I laughed, surprised at his way off base observation.
“Um, no, definitely not boyfriend. He is my best friend though.” 

He frowned at my words, “
You sure about that?”

“Wh
at do you mean?”

“Just that I saw how he looked at you yesterday. It
definitely wasn’t as a friend.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. Logan is just
Logan, he doesn’t look at me any way except as a friend.”

He shrugged his shoulders,
“Whatever you want to believe, but trust me, I’m a guy, I know that look. It’s the ‘I want in her panties.’ look.”

I rolled my eyes at him,
“Whatever. We aren’t like that.”

He stomped out his cigarette and we made our way back into the classroom without speaking. His words worried me. There was no way Logan thought of me like that, we were best friends and nothing more. But what if he was right? I tried to thi
nk of Logan in a different way and failed miserably. Sure, he was extremely attractive, but he was like a brother to me. If he did care about me like that, it would ruin everything.

I thought about all the times I had changed clothes in front of him, and he had never acted like it bothered him. Sure, he would make some kind of smart ass remark, but nothing he said ever indicated it got him worked up. I sat down in my seat and sighed. I hadn’t expected this when I sat down next to Drake. I glanced over at him and he was grinning at me again.

“Now what are you thinking?”

“Nothing really, just that you’re insane with the whole Logan thing.”

He leaned toward me again and whispered into my ear, his breath a
gainst my skin making me shiver, “You want to know how I know I’m right?  Because when I look at you, I do it the exact same way.”

At his words, I felt tingling between my legs and my mouth dropped open in shock. This boy was a total flirt. I starte
d giggling and rolled my eyes as he leaned back and grinned at me.

“You know, when I say stuff like that, I don’t expect the girl to laugh at me.”

“Drake you are such a flirt and you know it, but I hate to break it to you, it doesn’t work on me,” I lied with a straight face. I had known this guy all of two days and he got to me like no one else had. He started laughing again, and I felt the tingles between my legs reappear.                            

“You know what Chloe? I think you and I are going to end up being great friends.”

I couldn’t suppress my grin at his words, “I don’t know, guess we’ll have to wait and see.”

I somehow managed to survive the rest of the class with Drake giving me that smoldering stare of his. As soon as we were dismissed, I dart
ed out of my seat to escape him but he quickly caught up to me, trying to make small talk as we made our way across campus to the cafeteria. As we walked in, I spotted Amber sitting off to the side waving at me like a mad woman to catch my attention.

I laughed and waved back to her
before turning to Drake, “Well, Amber seems to be flagging me down, so I guess I’ll see you later.”

He glanced
at Amber behind me and grinned, “What, you aren’t going to invite me to eat with you? I’m crushed.”

My stomach seized at the thought of having Amber and Drake at a table together. I had yet to tell her about last night, but I knew she’d still be going crazy over him. I looked him over from the corner of my eye and really couldn’t blame
her, he was sex on legs. I glanced back at his face and he was standing there with a smirk on his face, waiting for my answer.

I sighed dramatically be
fore motioning him to follow me, “I guess I can put up with you if I have to.”

We made our way to Amber and I saw her eyes widen and her mouth drop at the sight of him.

“Amber, Drake. Drake, Amber,” I threw my backpack into a seat and turned to Amber, “Now that introductions are over, I’m going to grab something to eat.”

I walked away without glancing back at either of them to get my food. Seeing as Drake was going to be eating with us, my appetite had all but disappeared so I grabbed just a soda and a bag of chips. After showing my I.D. and paying, I glanced over at our table and my stomach dropped at the sight of some bleach blond
e bimbo standing next to Drake and rubbing his arm.

My temper instantly flared and it took every ounce of self-control
I had not to walk over to her and rip her arm off. I made my way slowly back to the table, taking deep breaths and reminding myself I was not the crazy jealous girl I was acting like. I slid into my seat next to Amber, giving her the brightest fake smile I could muster, completely ignoring Drake and the bimbo. Amber raised her eyebrows but said nothing about our company as I asked her about her morning class. It was a pitiful attempt really, next I would be asking her about the weather.

Drake seemed oblivious to my attempts t
o ignore him and his company as he plowed right into the middle of our conversation while Blondie settled herself onto his lap. “So Amber, were you at the party with Chloe last night?”

I raised my eyebrows at the girl
, but she simply smirked at me, assuming I was jealous. She was right of course, but I wasn’t about to let her know that. Amber cleared her throat and I glanced in her direction to catch her trying to hide her smile. I was so busted and I knew she’d be pumping me for information as soon as we were alone.

She turned her gaze to Drake,
“Yeah I was. Why do you ask?”

“I just wondered if you heard us playing, Chloe here seems to think we were the most amazing band she has ever hear
d.”

I snorted,
“Please, I said you were good, but I’ve heard better,” I turned back to Amber, “Please don’t encourage him, I don’t think I can handle it if his ego gets any bigger.”

Drake smirke
d before putting on a hurt face, “Is that what you really think Chloe? I’m deeply hurt, I thought we had something special.”

Amber a
nd I giggled as Blondie leaned in closer to him and ran her hand down his chest. “I’m sure I can think of something to make you feel better.”

Drake pushed her hand away and glanced over at me. “Not now
Chrissy, why don’t you run along, I’ll find you later.”

She pouted as she stood up.

“Fine Drake, be that way, but you know where to find me,” she said as she leaned down and kissed him deeply on the lips, staying attached far longer than necessary in my opinion.

I felt my stomach tighten and I had to look away from them before I did something stupid. She finally pulled away, smirking at Amber and me before stalking away swinging her hips extra hard. Unable to contain myself
, I glared daggers at her until she was out of sight. I glanced around the table to Drake and Amber once she was out of sight, and both of them were staring at me.

“What?”
                                                                                                               

A
mber coughed as she tried to cover a laugh, “Nothing sunshine, not a thing. Anyway Drake, I had no idea that was you playing last night. You guys sound insane, I loved it.”

I nibbled on my chips as they talked about the band, stealing glances at Drake when he wasn’t paying attention.

“So how did you guys meet anyway?” Amber asked, turning her attention to me.

I wasn’t planning to tell her about the incident after the party while
Drake was around so I shrugged, “I had to sit by him in my morning class yesterday, and the one today. I was desperate for human interaction so I ended up stuck with him.”

Drake grinned
at me, “She’s lying. I saved her ass last night, literally. So she was groveling at my feet this morning.”

Amber glanced between us,
“What happened last night?”                                                        

I was going to kill Drake for telling her.
                                                                                                 

“Well, I was walking home from the party last night and the heel of my shoe got caught and broke. Due to my natural grace, I fell down and Drake helped me up and gave me a ride home.”

“Wait a minute! You broke my shoe? Just when were you planning on telling me about that?”

I couldn’t help but laugh at her missing the part about Drake giving me a ride home and skipping right to her damaged shoes.

“Sorry Amber, I’ll buy you a new pair.”

“You better! Until then, I’ll just borrow those awesome black pumps you have. Actually, I was planning on dragging you to that club down on 5
th
street tonight, I’ll wear them then.”

“I can’t go tonight, I’m hanging out with Logan after he gets out of class.”

“Oh, come on! You can hang out with Logan anytime, come with me tonight, we can get our dance on!
Pretty please?” Amber stuck her bottom lip out at me and gave me her best puppy dog eyes.

“I don’t know Amber, I already promised him. I guess I could check and see if he wanted to come too, let me text him and see.”

I reached for my bag and started digging through the contents trying to find my phone. After a few minutes and a few muttered curse words from being stabbed by random objects, I pulled my hand out defeated.              

“I must have forgotten my phone in my room. I’ve got some time before my next
class, I’ll run and get it.”

Amber clapped her han
ds and threw her arms around me, “Thank you! I know he’ll say yes, he can’t deny you anything.”

Drake coughed and we both looked up to see him watching us with an amused look on his face. “He can’t deny her anything? He sounds more like a whipped boyfriend than a best friend.”

Amber looked at him like he had grown a second head, “Logan and Chloe? Have you lost your ever loving mind? They might as well be brother and sister. The day they get together I’ll give you my favorite pair of Chucks.”

“Whatever you say, you know them better than anyone. So am I invited to this club tonight or are you two going to completely ignore me like you have been for the past five minutes? M
ention shoes and you’re gone.”

“Rule number one, never get between a woman and her shoes, and yes you can come keep Chloe
company tonight, I’m sure she doesn’t mind.”

My cheeks flamed
at her words, “Listen, I’ve got to go get my phone, but you’re welcome to come with us if you want.”                           

I stood and started to grab my ba
g from the chair, but he got to it first and threw it over his shoulder.

“I don’t have class until later, I’ll walk with you.”

I nodded as I quickly turned away from him, trying to hide my grin. He was seriously carrying my bag for me and he was going to walk to my room with me. Where we would be alone. With my bed. My stomach twisted from the nerves, but I quickly pushed it aside as we left the cafeteria and made our way toward my dorm. He was just being friendly, and from the way that blonde Crissy had hung all over him, he had much better options than me. Why would he ever go for plain Jane me when he had
those
kind of options?

We walked beside each other in silence for a
few minutes before Drake spoke. “So do you like to go to clubs and parties or does Amber force you?”

“She usually has to force me to go, but once I’m there I have fun. I mean, I like to party and dance, I just don’t like being in crowds, especially with a bunch of super drunk people.”

He nodded his head in agreement, “I can understand that. This might sound stupid since I’m in a band and all, but I hate crowds too. But without crowds there would be no reason to perform. Plus, with crowds come groupies, and you’ve got to love the groupies.”

He shot me a sly smi
le and I nodded, “Exactly, I mean how could you be a man whore with no groupies?”

“Hey now, I’m not that bad. It’s not my fault they show up in next to nothing and flock to me. I mean, look at me, can you blame them?”
             

I
rolled my eyes, “You really are full of yourself aren’t you?”

“Always.
You know, the groupies are great and all, but they aren’t the ones that really catch my attention.”

I glanced up at him and noticed the serious expression on his face.
              “Oh really, and what kind of girl really catches your attention?”                                                                     

We had made it to my building by this time and he was standing in the doorway, blocking my entrance. The serious look was still on his face as he stared at me.

“The ones who don’t try, who don’t fall all over themselves with me, and aren’t impressed because I’m in a band. But they also have to have a sense of humor, and give me attitude right back when I give it to them,” he cleared his throat, “Of course they have to be smoking hot as well, or the rest is just a waste.”