“You jump into bed with Clarabelle?” Blake said. “It doesn’t make sense. It’s so like you to go and do something stupid when Alicia is finally warming up to you. Normally, I would cheer you on in this whole Clarabelle thing. She’s extremely good looking, and it’s nice work if you can get it. But why now?”
James groaned. “Why do you care? Why on earth do you both care?”
Liam folded his arms. “We care,” he started. “Because for three years, since the moment you laid eyes on Alicia, we have heard you rant and complain about how Alicia won’t look at you twice because of how awfully you treated other people and she was the only one who called you out on it.”
“And half the time, you were practically talking to yourself! Why does Alicia hate me so much? Why does she think I’m conceited? Why does she think I’m the devil’s illegitimate son?”
“And all of that was always followed by ‘not that I really care.' But of course, you bloody care! You stalked that girl for three years! You stopped being horrible to other people for her! You stopped smoking for her!”
“I did not stop smoking for Alicia,” James replied calmly.
“Yeah fucking right!” Liam interrupted. “You would have jumped off a plane to impress her. In fact, I’m glad that idea didn’t strike you because you would probably have done it and killed yourself!”
“Okay, maybe one year ago, all of this was true. But things have changed.”
“One year ago, Alicia could not stand to be in the same room as you! Last month, you showed up at her doorstep, and she blindly went with you. That shows something has changed!”
“And you’re just going to quit?” Blake asked. “You never quit, James. And on some level, Liam and I don’t care –”
“You don’t?”
“No. Because Clarabelle is –”
“Extremely hot,” supplied Liam.
“And we’re not opposed to you having a girlfriend…”
“Eh, I’m a little opposed.”
“But come on,” Blake said. “After all this time, all this effort, all the rejections and all the new strategies you used to come up with to get her to like you… now that you’re finally making progress, you want to give up?”
“Do you hear yourselves?!” James said exasperatedly. “What you’re saying, it makes me sound like an idiot. And the sad part is, it’s true. That I was willing to jump off a plane to impress a girl who can’t even ‘stand being in the same room as me?”
“That’s not what we…”
“But it’s true! I’m not making progress with Alicia. She will… she will never feel the same way about me. I’ve done pretty much all I can to make myself good enough for her but… she just wants to be friends. If our almost kiss has taught me anything, it’s this. I at least have to try and move on. Alicia – she drives me crazy. But Clarabelle, I like Clarabelle. She doesn’t drive me crazy. I enjoy being with her. I have the right to be happy, don’t I?”
“Alright,” Liam yielded. “But one last question. Are you really over Alicia?”
“Yes,” James said. “Really,” he added at his friends’ skeptical looks. “Can we please get going now?”
He started to walk again but didn’t miss the last, whispered, part of the conversation.
“Yeah fucking right,” Blake muttered under his breath. And then they followed their friend.
Chapter Three
Alicia was trying to put off her impending meeting with James for as long as she could. She knew she would see him at the fresher’s orientation and then she will be forced to greet him and of course, Clarabelle would be with him. She sighed.
She was alone in her room and grateful for the solitude. Jane was unpacking in the adjacent room that she shared with Mia. Hannah was in a room further down the hall. Together, these three girls constituted of her closest comrades, so it felt strange not to be able to share this news with them. For the past three years, she had constantly spent her time hating James Carter until recently (last year), when he had deflated his ego and become a slightly better person. They had got to know each other then. The dorm house was shared by two other girls, Clarabelle and Paige who were roommates. The dorm house was also too huge for six girls who were completely fine with all of them; it was spacious, and no one was in anyone’s way. There was a knock on Alicia’s door before Mia entered.
“I’m going to the orientation with Gavin,” Mia announced. “I’ll see you three there.” Gavin was her boyfriend.
“Hmm,” Alicia responded distractedly. Mia stood in front of her mirror to admire herself. She was a pretty and curvy girl with short, jet black hair. Admired by half the college, Mia was one of the most popular girls. She was a little like Clarabelle, but the two did not see eye to eye.
When Mia had left, Jane and Hannah came to fetch her from their respective rooms. Alicia had no choice but to go along with them. Of the four, Hannah was the angry one. She spoke her mind brutally most of the time, and most people were afraid of approaching her. Jane was the one whose disposition was nearest to Alicia’s. She was calm and understanding, and if Alicia was to share her earlier realization with anyone, it was to be Jane.
When they arrived at the orientation, Alicia could no longer avoid it. James approached her when he saw her, and there was nothing she could do.
And despite everything, despite the terrible day and the terrible news owing to this boy himself, Alicia felt happy to see him. It was as if he had come to make her day slightly better. She smiled despite herself as she hugged him.
“Alright, Alicia?” he asked grinning when she withdrew.
“Eh, I suppose,” Alicia replied. “It’s good to be back.”
“Well, I don’t know. I kind of miss Europe.”
Alicia rolled her eyes. “If you’re coming from an exotic holiday, of course, you won’t be happy to be back. I’m just coming from plain old home.”
“So you stayed in California all the time?”
“For the most part, yeah.”
They fell into a casual stroll as they caught up on summer vacation happenings, but then, Clarabelle appeared on his side. She slipped her hand through his and stood on her tiptoe to kiss his cheek. Alicia forced herself to smile.
“We’re dating,” Clarabelle suddenly told Alicia. She, like everyone else, knew about the history she shared with James.
“That’s nice,” Alicia said smiling.
“That’s nice?” Clarabelle replied.
“That’s nice.”
“I was expecting a little surprise.”
“Surprise? What’s surprising in two extremely similar people finally settling down for one another?” Alicia found herself saying. “Not at all. Come to think of it, it couldn’t have ended up any other way.” James frowned, and Clarabelle looked confused. Alicia touched the summer hat she was wearing. “I’ll see you around,” she said.
And before any of them could stop her, she turned around and started to walk away as fast as she could.
Clarabelle stared after her but quickly turned her attention to her boyfriend. She noticed that he was still looking in the direction that Alicia had disappeared in. She waited for him to notice her and when a few moments passed, she took his hand in hers. That made him look around, looking slightly startled as if he had forgotten she was there.
“Sorry,” he muttered.
“Let’s go,” Clarabelle said softly. With one last glance at Alicia, James smiled, and they started to walk.
The truth is Clarabelle was extremely insecure about the history James and Alicia shared. She, like everyone else, knew that James had adored the girl for three years and she had constantly turned him down every time he had approached her. He had been somewhat of an idiot. Since no girl beside Alicia had ever turned him down, he had thought there must be some way or another to make Alicia come around. Alicia was possibly the only girl in college who would turn James Carter down, and that always made Clarabelle curious, but she didn’t know Alicia well enough to ask
her why she never dated James. Somewhere around last year, James had stopped pursuing Alicia and eventually, they had ended up being friends. But Clarabelle wasn’t stupid. In fact, she was extremely intuitive. She could always tell what people tried to hide. And there was something about Alicia that was bothering her.
But she had other things to worry about. She wanted to see how the new Paige will react when she meets James. The old her had never so much as said a word to James Carter. She always got extremely nervous and fidgety around him or any good-looking guy for that matter.
Clarabelle got to see her reaction exactly half an hour later. She was hanging out at the drinks bar with Blake, Liam, and James when Paige approached them. That was a surprise to Clarabelle because the old Paige would be too shy to do that. Moreover, she was accompanied by Stephanie and Tiffany, the two gossips of the college who had never thought too high of Clarabelle because of her reputation.
“Hi, guys,” Paige had said smiling.
They all responded in kind. Blake looked confused. “Have we met before?” he asked.
“This is Paige, Blake,” Clarabelle said. “My best friend, Paige.”
Blake continued looking blank.
“She was with us when we went on the road trip last semester,” Clarabelle explain.
“Well, there were loads of people on the trip.”
“He’s a jerk,” James said. “Ignore him.”
Paige smiled. “No, he’s right. I never introduced myself. I’m Paige.” She held out her hand which Blake took.
“You’re Clarabelle’s best friend?”
“Yes.”
“And you’re always with her?”
“Most of the time.”
“And I’ve never seen you?”
“Blake, shut up,” James said rolling his eyes. “Paige, you don’t have to listen to him.”
Paige giggled. Clarabelle was surprised. This was completely un-Paige like behavior.
“Doesn’t Paige look great, James?” Tiffany said.
“She looks lovely,” Stephanie added. “Funny how much one summer can change a girl.”
“What do you say?” Tiffany pushed.
“Err, yeah, I suppose,” James replied.
“Well, we should get going,” Paige said to the two girls. “Don’t want to keep our dates waiting. See you, Clarabelle, boys.” She winked at Blake as she walked away. Clarabelle was too shocked to speak. This wasn’t Paige. Paige was the shy girl who could never so much as speak a word to these three boys considering their popularity and good looks. And did she just say dates? What had happened to her?
James caught up with Alicia as the orientation was ending. By this time, Alicia had seen enough PDA between James and Clarabelle, and she was positively heartbroken.
“Hey,” James called. “Let’s get out of here. I haven’t properly talked to you in ages.”
“Where do you want to go?” Alicia asked coolly.
“Anywhere but here.”
Alicia shrugged and led him out into the wide lawns outside the building where the orientation was being hosted.
“Are you alright?” James asked at length. “You seem very quiet.”
Alicia knew he was right. On normal days, they never ran out of things to talk about but today, there was nothing she could think of that did not involve Clarabelle and James, holding hands, walking together, kissing.
“I’m fine. I’m not in the mood to talk.”
“We could go back inside…”
“No, we’re not going back inside,” Alicia said harshly, wanting to oppose everything he suggested at this moment.
“Is something bothering you?”
“No. Just leave it.”
“Come on, Alicia,” James said, sounding more confused than ever. “Do you really hate Clarabelle so much?”
“What?” Alicia said, stopping in her tracks. James stopped too.
“You’ve been acting strange all day, and I’m sorry but ‘that’s nice’? Is that all I’m going to get? Not even a congratulation?”
“You think this is about Clarabelle?” Alicia said. Well, it kind of is about Clarabelle but for entirely different reasons. “You want me to throw a party to celebrate your relationship?”
“That’s not what I –”
“Why didn’t you tell me you’re dating Clarabelle?” Alicia burst out before she could help herself.
James didn’t meet her eye. “It didn’t come up.”
“It didn’t come up? We spent days in constant company of each other before you went away on holiday and yet you’re making that pathetic excuse? Give me something better than that, James.”
“Alicia…”
“All those days that we met and you couldn’t spare one moment to tell me you’re practically engaged to my dorm mate.”
“I’m not engaged…”
“Oh, close enough!” Alicia snapped. “It wouldn’t have taken longer than two seconds to tell me. Alicia, I’m going to Italy on vacation, and I got the internship I applied for. Oh, and – I’m fucking Clarabelle Angie, so that’s always fun –”
“Alicia…”
But she was already walking away. James called after her two times, but it was as if Alicia was deaf to his shouts. She walked away and found Jane somewhere inside the hall, talking to a few freshmen students who wanted to join the soccer team. Jane was the captain of the soccer team. Alicia told her she wasn’t feeling well and had decided to go back to her dorm. With that, she departed.
This day couldn’t get any worse.
Chapter Four
James Carter was kind of impatient. No, scratch that. Impatience was James Carter’s defining characteristic. He wasn’t one to wait around for things to happen or for people to come around. In a way, he was like Clarabelle. He always went after what he wanted and – as luck would have it – he always got what he wanted too. So, in freshmen year, when Alicia Turner did not seem the least bit interested in him, James was extremely aggravated. He was normally very lucky when it came to women. His first two years of University were a blur of women and sex, but the one thing that remained constant was the strange allure of Alicia Turner. No matter how many times he asked her out, Alicia was adamant that he was the worst person to walk the face of the earth, ever, and that she would not date him even if he were the last man remaining. In junior year, everything changed when he decided that he would stop chasing Alicia Turner.
Impatience was his defining characteristic, but he had been acting very out of character when it came to waiting for Alicia Turner to come around. It was just not going to happen, and it took him two years to realize that. He stopped chasing her and somewhere along that, he stopped a lot of other things too. For one, he stopped being terrible to other people and became more considerate towards their feelings and that definitely had a lot to do with all the reasons Alicia had given him for rejecting him (you’re so arrogant…you think you’re entitled to any woman you wish for…you have no consideration for anyone’s feelings besides your own and your friends’…you’re the worst human being ever). For another, he stopped smoking, and that may or may not have something to do with Alicia’s disapproval. He also stopped sleeping around with women all the time, but that didn’t have much to do with Alicia. It was because he lost interest. And though he would never admit it, he was always comparing any woman who came along to Alicia at the back of his head.
Somewhere along the time of his transformation, he had ended up being friends with Alicia and, though he would never admit it to anyone, not even Blake, that had made him fall for her even more.
Clarabelle was his last effort to get over Alicia, and if this didn’t succeed, he would have to accept that he would suffer from unrequited love for the rest of his life. Clarabelle was medium height and slim; Alicia was slightly taller and athletically built. Clarabelle had a positively lovely smile; Alicia’s was more natural. Clarabelle had short, blonde hair; Alicia’s were long and brown. Clarabelle was fun to be around; Alicia drove him
crazy most of the time. Clarabelle didn’t care much for things going on outside her own life; Alicia had strong opinions on everything ranging from politics to the weather. Clarabelle was interesting, but with Alicia, he could talk about anything and everything.
He shuddered when he realized he was comparing the two. This was not good at all because he was supposed to be getting over Alicia. He thought about Alicia’s strange reaction to the news of his dating Clarabelle and wondered what it meant. He understood because he would have been mad if two of his good friends were dating and didn’t tell him about it.
His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a knock on his door. Since he shared the apartment with Blake and Liam, he assumed it would be one of them, and he was annoyed that someone would be disturbing him at 12 am, but that annoyance quickly disappeared when he saw that someone was Alicia. She peeked inside.
“I’m sorry if I’m disturbing you,” she said in a low voice which would technically be suitable for this time of the night. “Liam let me in.”
“No, not at all,” James said. He was sitting with a book on his bed with the covers pulled over him. The lights of the room were soft and glowing. Alicia closed the door behind her and came inside. She looked around and smiled. Alicia had always loved the interior of his room; in fact, she had helped him design it. The soft, black and gold carpet was picked out by her. The dim lamp glowing on his side table was a birthday present from her. They had designed the bedroom setting together. It only made sense because Alicia was majoring in interior design and took pleasure in making rooms look beautiful and he never argued with anything that gave her happiness.
Alicia joined him on the bed and pulled her legs up under her, facing him. They sat in silence for a few minutes; this was completely normal for them considering she had pretty much lived with him for a good part of the previous semester when she was going through a tough time.
“I’m sorry about the way I reacted today,” she said at length.
The Campus Jock: A College Bad Boy Romance Page 2