Unfamiliar (10 page)

When she finished singing and the music faded, I pushed open the door and stepped into the room, ready to introduce myself and get to know more about this mysterious girl.

That’s when she stood up and my eyes dropped down to the curve of her ass in those tight jeans because, well, we all know I’m an ass man. And, holy shit, no way! I’d recognize that ass anywhere. I’d spent a good few hours staring at that ass.

“Hailey?” I asked, wondering if I was mistaken and that maybe, just maybe, someone else in this school had an ass as fine as hers.

I mean, Hailey didn’t have short hair. Hailey didn’t wear jeans that tight, that fit her like a second skin and made my eyes skate all over that butt. Hell no.

Yet, as she slowly turned to face me—and those familiar green eyes and rosebud mouth that I suddenly wanted to kiss it because I somehow knew it would be soft and sweet came into view—I knew it was Hailey. The girl who’d had me transfixed for the last few minutes was my Librarian Girl.

Yeah, I wasn’t ready for a relationship, but that didn’t mean that I couldn’t find Hailey attractive.

And, right now I did. Right now I couldn’t form words or take my eyes off her. I stood frozen like a fucking moron because Hailey was amazing. And she probably hated me to the moon and back.

Hailey stared at me in confusion, tilting her head to the side. “Chase? What are you doing here?” Her tone was a little defensive and I couldn’t blame her. I hadn’t been the nicest person to her. If she didn’t like me, it was totally called for.

Oh, shit. I wasn’t saying anything. I had to say something or else she’d think I had mental problems. Hell, maybe I did have mental problems. I was openly admitting that I was attracted to Librarian Girl. Except, she wasn’t really Librarian Girl anymore. She was, she was-I didn’t even know.

“I didn’t know you could play like that.” Okay, so I’d managed to speak. Go me!

A pale flush crept onto Hailey’s face and she looked down at the floor. “Oh, um, you heard that? Yeah, I’m not that great, but I enjoy it so much, you know?” She raised her head and her eyes became bright as she spoke.

I’d never been attracted to a woman as much I was attracted to Hailey at this very second. God, she was beautiful. Everything about her in this moment was perfect.

“You were amazing,” I said, drinking in every inch of her. “And you look amazing. That hairstyle really suits you.”

Her eyes widened at my words and she gave me a shy smile. “Oh, um, thank you,” she said nervously. “Tessa wanted to give me a makeover and I felt like it was time for a change, so I took the plunge.”

I was starting to like Tessa more and more now. Jonathan had picked well.

I also wanted to tell her how amazing her ass looked in those tight jeans, but I restrained myself at the risk of sounding like a complete sleaze. This was good. We had something going here. We weren’t trying to kill each other and I didn’t want to ruin that. And as stupid as it sounded, I really wanted Hailey to like me.

I mean, because her music was so awesome, that’s why. There was no other reason I wanted Hailey to like me. I was just always looking to make more friends who were really into their music, that’s all. That had to be it.

“Well, I think you look great,” I said, raking my eyes over her for the hundredth time in a minute.

Then I kind of stood there awkwardly and stared at her. I didn’t really know what else to say or do. I probably shouldn’t stare, but whatever, I was doing it anyway.

I was pretty sure she noticed the weird way I was gawking at her because all of a sudden she cleared her throat. “Um, I was about to leave so you can have the room if you want.”

“No!” I really didn’t want her to leave.

“No?” She raised a brow at me, looking even more confused.

I couldn’t really blame her for being confused. I was acting like a fucking weirdo.

“I mean, no, I don’t need the room.” What was I saying? Of course I needed the damn room! Wasn’t that the reason I’d gotten up at 7 am and driven to campus? I was not a morning person, so it was a big deal for me to get up that early, yet here I was now telling Hailey that I didn’t need the room? What the hell was wrong with me?

“Oh, I assumed you did.” Hailey’s tone was still shy as she leaned over and carefully placed her guitar back in its case. “That’s not why you’re here?”

At this point, I felt pretty idiotic to say the least, but after hearing Hailey sing, I kinda didn’t want to play the piano anymore—I wanted to spend some more time with the girl who had just shattered every judgement I’d made about her.

“Uh, do you want to grab some breakfast?”

I cringed. Yeah, those words had just come out of my mouth. I wasn’t even sure what I was doing anymore.

Hailey glanced around the room nervously, like she was looking for an out. Oh, great, she was going to reject me. Just what I needed to lower my ego even more after being dumped.

“I’m sorry, I can’t. I uh, have class.” Hailey picked up her guitar case and began heading towards the door. “See you later, Chase.”

In that moment I really wanted to say something, but then I told myself that I was stupid. Stupid for even trying to let someone in. Especially someone like Hailey. I was an idiot for thinking that different clothes and a new haircut could change who she really was.

She would always be stuck up and prissy.

Besides, I had more important things to focus on, like our upcoming show. I couldn’t let a girl distract me.

Hailey

Braxton was going camping with his brother for the weekend—one last float trip before the weather cooled off too much. So I was stuck on campus. I didn't mind though. I needed to fill out some job applications anyway and, honestly, it was becoming uncomfortable visiting Mrs. Douglas. I wondered if that made me a bad person--knowing that her time was running out should make me want to spend as much time with her as possible, but it was hard seeing her like that. I couldn't explain it at all but for the first time in my life, I just didn't want to be there. It just made me terribly sad.

I spent the day looking online for possible part-time jobs, but it was going to be hard to find one within walking distance and since I didn’t have a car because I didn’t have a job, it was a catch-22. My refund check had been a fairly substantial amount and I probably could’ve bought a cheap used car outright, but I wanted to get a job first so I could pay for things like gas and any repairs that would undoubtedly come up with a used car. Having to worry about things like this just intensified the resentment I harbored toward my dad and how much he had screwed me over.

I applied for on-campus work-study jobs that were still open even though they only paid minimum wage--unfortunately, I couldn’t afford to be picky. Starting Monday I’d be working at the Child Development Center every day in between my classes. I wasn’t even sure if I liked kids, but a job was a job and it would have to do until I could find something that paid better.

Set the Flames
was playing at
Duke's
again tonight, and even though I swore up and down I was never going to that bar again, Tessa somehow managed to talk me into it again. I swear that girl had crazy powers of persuasion.

I even decided to wear the red dress that she’d tried to convince me to wear to the first
Set the Flames
concert we went to. Again--crazy powers of persuasion. She also kept using that Girl Code thing against me.

I kind of wished that Braxton was here to see me in it. I felt different tonight. I couldn't quite put my finger on the difference, but there it was. If I had to pick a word to describe it I supposed I would pick
sexy
. Which was definitely a new sensation for me.

When we arrived at the bar, I wasn't sure if the timing was just perfect or if his eyes had been on me from the moment I walked in, but I spotted Chase giving me a hard stare before quickly shaking it off and acknowledging me with that dumb head nod of his and then returning his focus to the guys. He and his bandmates were apparently having a heated discussion because even at this distance, I could tell he was not happy about something.

“Chase looks pissed,” I commented to Tessa.

“Hmm?” She looked over at him. “Oh, it looks like Deuce isn't here yet.” Her eyebrows pulled together in confusion.

“Maybe he's just running late?” I suggested.

“Even so, I bet Chase is pissed. Jonathan said that he's been missing a lot of practices lately.”

“That’s not good.”

“No, it's not. Let's go see what's going on.”

“I don't know...”

“C’mon.” She dragged me along.

“What's up?” she asked Jonathan when we got close enough.

Chase was the one who answered. “It's Deuce. The asshole can't make it tonight. Apparently something 'came up'.”

“What are you going to do?”

“We can't play without him so we’re pretty much screwed,” Jonathan said. He seemed irritated but not nearly as angry as Chase looked.

“This sucks. Wait a second,” Tessa started. She looked at me and smiled slyly before telling the guys, “Hailey can play.”

“What?” I choked out, at the same time Chase said, “No way.”

“What, she's actually pretty awesome,” she continued.

I elbowed her severely. What the hell?

“Yeah, but it's not like she can just learn the entire set in the 15 minutes before show time,” Chase argued. I had to stop myself from disagreeing with him. I could easily learn the set, but I didn't want to so I just kept my mouth shut.

“True, but she can play by ear so I'm sure she could catch on quickly, and besides, you are pretty in a pretty desperate situation right now, so I'm not really sure why you’re not jumping at this opportunity. Either you cancel the show or you give her a chance and maybe pull it off.”

“I'm not blowing this chance by letting in some chick who thinks she's a rock star because she can play a few Taylor Swift songs.”

Now that just pissed me off. I knew he’d heard me play the other day. Before I knew what I was doing, I grabbed Chase's guitar.

“What are you doing?” he asked as I plugged it into the amp and glared up at him.

“Taylor Swift, huh?” I snapped.

He seemed amused by my attitude. “Show me what you got, Princess.”

So I did. My heart started pumping erratically and it felt like all the tension I kept locked up inside of me was releasing into the chords as I played the most complex riff I knew. I was definitely showing off which wasn't something I typically did, but I just couldn't let Chase get away with dismissing me like that.

I couldn't help but smile smugly when I saw the look of shock on all of their faces, well, the band's faces anyway. Tessa just looked proud.

“What the hell was that?” Chase asked. “I thought you played acoustic guitar?”

I just shrugged like it was no big deal but I was beaming on the inside. “Maybe there's more to me than you think,” I said coyly.

“And you can play by ear?” Jonathan asked.

“Um, yeah. It's not hard,” I said arrogantly as I returned the guitar to Chase.

“Chase, man, what do you think?”

Chase wasn't looking at Jonathan though. He was looking at me in a very unfamiliar way. I couldn't describe the way he was making me feel because I had no words. I had never felt like that before. It was like a star had suddenly imploded in my chest, warming me from the core. My heart sputtered before picking up full force until I was absolutely convinced that it would fly right out of my chest.

What the hell was happening to me?

“Um, I'm--uh-- going to use the restroom,” I stammered as I backed away slowly. It was like Chase's eyes had a lock on me and I couldn't look away.

“I'll come with,” Tessa said, grabbing her handbag. “We'll be back, boys.”

Tessa linked her arm through mine and we maneuvered our way through the sweaty bodies that danced to the music in the smoky haze of the makeshift dance floor.

Once we were in the small dirty bathroom she locked the door behind us. There was only one toilet and it wasn't enclosed in a private stall.

“Um, Tessa? I can't pee in front of you.”

“What? I didn't think you really needed to pee. I thought 'going to the restroom' was Girl Code for 'I need to talk to you privately'.”

“Well, I sorta do but I actually do need to pee first.”

“I'll face the other way.”

“Fine.”

She turned around and closed her eyes, but I still turned on the sink for good measure.

“Nervous bladder?” she asked.

“Shut up.”

Tessa laughed. “This is going to be great. I'm glad you at least wore something fun tonight since you'll be on stage.”

“This is probably a huge mistake. I don't even like the kind of music they play.”

“That doesn't matter. It's not like this is going to be a regular thing. You're just helping out some friends.”

“They aren't really my friends.”