“Can I get some water?” I try to distract my lustful thoughts.
He nods, hands me back the nail clippers and collects the discarded nails off his lap. I watch him walk to the kitchen, open up a cabinet, wash his hands and then grab a couple of water bottles. He hands me one as he sits back down. I take a sip and feel his thumb run across my bottom lip the second I take the bottle away. “You’re dripping.” His eyes dance intensely as he stares at my lips.
Embarrassing! His finger stays there and I’m trying to resist the urge to kiss it. My body is tingling all over and before I can register what’s happening, I feel his soft lips. I’ve melted, completely melted. His tongue tastes minty and dances urgently with mine. He’s grabbing at my thigh with one hand. His other is planted firmly at the back of my neck. I completely give in. Any reservations I had before slip away, as I feel him pulling me to sit on top of him. The whole time our mouths never detach. He pulls away and slowly traces his tongue down my neck and sucks softly below my ear. His hands are sliding up the back of my shirt and I’m holding him by each of his ears and kissing him like my life depended on it. I feel his warm touch as his fingers trace their way to my breasts. I still haven’t stopped him. This is so not like me, but I swear I’m under a spell. His slightly rough fingertips graze my nipples through the lace of my bra, he reaches behind me, but before he undoes the clasp, I completely freeze. He looks at me puzzled and I can’t move. Panic starts to bubble inside me. Everything has come to a quick halt.
We hear Natalia and Aiden coming downstairs and I quickly fix my shirt and slide off his lap, returning to where I was sitting before. My swollen lips, flushed skin and hard nipples are a dead giveaway of what happened. Natalia looks at me and I know she somehow knows.
“Hey, we’re going to order pizza, are you guys hungry?” Aiden asks.
Dante looks right at me, “Yea, I am!” I can’t help but smile. I have a feeling he wasn’t talking about food.
Aiden orders the pizza and Natalia starts a movie. Soon she and Aiden are cuddled up in a blanket on one couch while Dante and I sit on the other. He grabs another throw blanket and drapes it across our laps. Our hands meet up underneath and I know he has to feel the trembling in my fingers. I can’t believe he likes me, I can’t imagine why. I’m just happy he does. My insecurities are all swirling through my mind. He’s hot, popular, funny, experienced, athletic and he can have any girl he wants. Did I mention he’s totally hot? I’m none of those things. I’m clumsy, awkward, inexperienced, shy and I usually prefer books over the company of most people. Besides, I have skeletons I haven’t worked through yet. I know he probably does too, but he’s gorgeous and totally worth working through the baggage of his past. Me on the other hand, not so much.
Okay, maybe I’m being critical of myself. I’m not the looker that Natalia is, that’s for sure. It’s not that I think I’m completely hideous or anything. I’ve had plenty of guys who’ve liked me in the past, just none I was interested in. If I had to rate myself, I guess I’d give me a solid six or a low seven. That’s not too bad. If I had to rate Dante, he’d be a ten plus!
He traces circles into my palm, which distracts my thoughts momentarily. I know this all seems too good to be true, but I want to believe that it’s meant to be. I grab his hand and lace my fingers into his, rubbing the tips of his finger nails. I’m thinking he needs a file now. Just as I contemplate getting one out of my purse his phone vibrates. I know because I feel it against my leg— at least that better be what’s vibrating. He lets go of my hand and checks it. I resist the urge to look at the screen and the next thing I know he gets up. I have an inkling of who it might be, and I’m more certain I’m right when he doesn’t come back. The movie ends and I wake up Natalia, who fell asleep halfway through. She says her goodbyes to Aiden and we leave.
***
“Raquel, don’t sweat it. I’m sure he’ll call you and explain.” Natalia tries to make me feel better.
She starts asking questions about what happened, so I give her a play by play because we normally tell each other everything. The nail thing has her puzzled. Hell, it puzzles me. At the time, it just sort of happened. Like we were completely comfortable with each other and what we were doing was totally natural. When I get to the part about us fooling around, she laughs at me for freaking out and then asks the one thing that was in the back of my mind the entire time. “Does he know you’re still a virgin?”
“I don’t know. He never asked and I never brought it up.” I tell her.
“I’m sure he has an idea. You damn near have a heart attack from him touching your hand,” She laughs and I stick my tongue out at her.
My phone buzzes in my pocket. I can’t pull it out fast enough, but it’s only my mom asking if I’m spending the night at Natalia’s or coming home. I decide to go home and wallow in my grief over what happened tonight. Besides, Natalia has to work this weekend and I need to put in applications and find myself a job.
CHAPTER 5
The weekend goes by and not one word from him. I could send a text, but I don’t want to be a bother. I figure if he wants to talk he would contact me, so I decide to give him space. Instead, I drive Malachi and Nat nuts all weekend stressing about what it could mean.
Monday comes and my nerves are on edge. I’m excited to see him, but he better have a damn good reason for disappearing without a word. I hurry to the tree at lunch, but when I get there, there’s no sign of him. Lunch is halfway over when I finally ask Aiden where he is. He says Dante had stuff to deal with but he doesn’t elaborate. By the end of the week when there’s still no word, I can’t take it anymore and I send a text.
Wanted to say hi. Hope everything is okay. ~ R
Still no response. The next weekend comes and goes; no Dante. Nat hasn’t gotten any more information out of Aiden than I have. I’ve nearly gone crazy trying to figure out what happened. I began to think I misread things. Maybe I imagined him liking me because I was so busy falling head over heels myself. I probably looked like an idiot to him. The stupid girl who made him clip his nails. Oh, my God! He probably thinks I’m a freak! He has a reputation; maybe he was just having fun with me. I’m sure I made this out to be more than it really was. Maybe he doesn’t know how to tell me he isn’t interested and feels bad about that, since I’m Natalia’s best friend. I should text him and let him know I have no interest in him. He isn’t obligated to talk to me, I certainly don’t want to make things so awkward he can’t come to school. Oh, God, what did I do?
I decide to talk to Natalia and Aiden about it at lunch.
“Hey Nat, Aiden, can I talk to you guys?” I shift from one foot to the other, clasping and unclasping my hands uncomfortably in front of them. I need to stop or they’re going to think I have to pee or something.
“Yea, what’s up?” Aiden says peeking from behind Natalia’s hair. She moves out of his arms and sits beside him, motioning me to sit.
“I wanted to say, I’m sorry. I don’t know if Nat or Dante filled you in.” I say to Aiden as I move to sit next to Nat. “Dante and I sort of hooked up, not like hooked, hooked up, but kissed or whatever, that night we all hung out.”
“Yea, I told him.” Nat looks like she’s trying to decipher what’s going on.
“Well, I don’t want him to get the wrong idea. I know he hasn’t been coming around and I hope it’s nothing I did,” I pull at the grass underneath me. “I don’t expect anything from him. I hope he isn’t avoiding me because he thinks I’m going to be bugging him or something. I mean, I only texted him because I was worried. But, I won’t bother him anymore.”
“Rock, stop it! You aren’t bugging anybody.” Nat puts one arm around me and squeezes.
“Rock, Dante has things going on. He isn’t trying to avoid you. Believe me, he wouldn’t stop coming to school because he hooked up with some girl. Otherwise, he would have had to change schools completely by now.” Aiden laughs and quickly regrets saying it, when Natalia elbows him in his side.
<
br /> “Not helping!” She says to him.
“Oh, God, right! I didn’t mean I was that important or anything, okay—” I stop myself, “I’m glad it isn’t my fault. I hope everything is okay with him. I've got to go.” I quickly hug Natalia and wave at Aiden. Rushing to my next class, I could kick my own butt for being such an idiot. I can’t believe I assumed it was about me. Of course I’m just some other girl he hooked up with. Whatever is going on with Dante has nothing to do with me. I got so caught up in my head with how much I liked him and made so many assumptions. We all know what happens when you assume and clearly, I’m living proof of that.
No more stressing about boys for me. I need to focus. Besides, I heard a few of the people from the nursery talking about a mission’s trip to Mexico later this year. I want to go, but if I’m going to have any chance at that I need a job first. School, work, my future, that’s what I need to be concentrating on. Not Dante, not pursuing him, when all I am is another one of the girls he hooked up with at this school.
CHAPTER 6
Natalia put in a good word for me at work and soon after, I was able to get hired on as a hostess. I’m ecstatic to start earning money for the trip. I start work on Friday and things actually go pretty good. A few people I recognize from school come in and I greet them at the door. Shaun’s with them and I talk to him for a while as he waits to be seated.
Little by little Shaun and I start hanging out more and more at school. Despite Dante’s clear dislike for him, I find him to be quite nice. He makes it a point to walk with me to English and even starts sitting in the desk beside me, where Dante used to sit. He loves to joke around and since I love to laugh, we hit it off pretty well. It’s also quite possible he’s actually interested in me, but my heart is still hung up on Dante and I make that clear to Shaun quite often. He knows Dante and although he thinks I’m out of my mind to even give someone with his reputation the time of day— apparently the dislike goes both ways with these guys— he listens and gives me honest advice when I need it. It’s nice to make friends with a guy, since I don’t get to see Malachi that often anymore. Shaun kind of fills that void for me.
***
It’s been a couple of weeks and life has continued. Even with Dante gone, it’s all I can do to keep him out of my head.
Things get a little hairy on Friday night when Shaun and I decide to have dinner together. Just before he’s supposed to pick me up I hear my phone vibrating.
Hi Raquel, miss me yet? ~D
Dante? ~R
Yes ~D
This isn’t the number I have saved in my phone for you? I haven’t heard from you in weeks. What happened to you? ~ R
I had stuff to deal with. I’ll be back this week. Hey can you meet me tonight? ~D
Seriously? That’s it? Stuff? What about school? I can’t. I’m sorry, I actually have plans. Tomorrow? ~ R
I can’t, I have plans. Where are you going tonight? ~D
Dinner, a friend is taking me to that steakhouse at the mall. You never answered me, what happened to you? ~ R
A friend? A boy? You didn’t answer me, did you miss me? ~D
Crap why did I tell him that?
A friend! A boy, just a friend. I was worried. ~ R
You missed me! See ya ~D
When?! ~ R
Just like that, he disappears again. What is with this guy? And why won’t anyone tell me what happened, or where he’s been all this time? He didn’t even apologize for disappearing that night. And why did he change his number?
***
Shaun picks me up and we go to the restaurant. It’s crowded and the wait time is long since it’s a Friday night. We get our pager and decide to sit outside and talk while we wait. Shaun’s cracking jokes while we people watch, when my phone buzzes in my purse. I ignore it, but about three minutes later it buzzes again and I sneak a peek. It’s Dante!
“I’m sorry. I have to check my phone. It’s going off like crazy.” I apologize, unable to resist seeing what he has to say.
“No worries, go ahead, I understand.” Shaun says and pulls out his own phone.
Raquel, I thought you said it wasn’t a date. ~D
What? I text him back as fast as I can.
What are you talking about? I’m not on a date. I’m having dinner with a friend. ~R
Well, you’ve never worn a dress when we’ve hung out. ~D
I look around, but there are so many people. Is he watching me?
First of all, how do you know what I am wearing? Second, we have never gone anywhere that warranted me wearing a dress. ~ R
I had to go to a store here. I can’t help it if I happened to see you sitting there with your “friend” aka The Douche ~D
Oh. I’m sorry. You got to admit that is a little creepy. Where are you anyway, Creeper? LOL Why didn’t you come say hi? ~ R
Nah, it’s ok. You look good in that dress. You should wear a dress next time we meet up. Can you get away for a second? And me, a creeper? Never that. ~D
That would be rude. I can’t do that. ~ R
I’m sure you could if you really wanted to. Tell him you have to go to the bathroom and go to the one inside the restaurant. ~D xo
Damn! How can I say no to Dante? I’ve missed him and— Oh, who am I kidding, I can’t say no.
Ok! Hold on ~ R
After apologizing to Shaun for being on my phone, I hurriedly excuse myself, explaining I need to use the ladies room. I half run and risk breaking my neck in my heels and there he is. He’s watching me as I walk up, leaning against the wall in his jeans and the army green shirt he’s wearing is clinging to his physique nicely. Yummy! As soon as I’m in reach, he pulls me into his arms. He kisses me like he did before, fierce and passionate. I feel the familiar spark of energy running through me as my knees grow weak.
I have to force myself to come up for air, before I lose consciousness, “Did you really need to go to a store here?” I playfully scowl at him.
“Yes, but I also really needed to see you, so I kind of went out of my way. There was a closer one. I wasn’t sure I’d run into you, but I took a chance. Must be fate.” He grins.
“Creeper!” I tease him.
“I got your creeper!” He laughs and kisses me again, pulling me into his body.
“I got to go, Shaun’s waiting for me. I don’t want to keep him.” I attempt to push off of his chest.
He growls into my mouth, and kisses me once more, with my hair tightly wrapped around his hand and then he lets me go. My eye is twitching again, Oh, God. Why did I just find that completely hot? “Don’t wear dresses like this for other guys anymore.” He snaps the strap of my dress. “Go ahead and go, but text me when you leave, okay?” He quickly kisses my lips one more time and I interlace my fingers in his hand.
“I thought you liked the dress.” I say, smoothing the pink skirt with my hand. “And yes I’ll text you, tonight when I get home.”
“I do like the dress! I don’t like you dressing like this for other guys. Even guys who are just friends, and I said text me when you leave, not when you get home.” Is he serious? He wraps his arms around me, never letting go of my hand. Instead my arms are wrapped behind my back, trapping my body against his and his kiss gets even stronger as he backs me into the wall. I free my hands and finally push off of his chest in a daze.
“I’ll text you. Bye, Dante.” I kiss him quickly one last time before peeling myself away and before I head into the restroom, I look back and add, “Okay, maybe I missed you a little. Just a little.” I pinch my fingers together. I see his mouth drop open slightly, before his lips slip into a devilish grin. Turning on my heel I quickly rush into the girls’ restroom. I need a minute to gather myself. When I come back out Shaun’s standing there waiting and I nearly bump into him.
“We got our table, are you okay?” He looks me over.
I make up a lame excuse and pray to God he didn’t see Dante leaving. It’s everything in me not to rush through dinner.
***
As soon as I get home I text Dante.
Hey Creeper! ~ R xo
I set my phone down and began to get ready for bed. My phone buzzes and I run back to my bed, collapsing on top of it. It’s Dante calling from his old number, so I pick up.
“Hello Creeper?” I laugh into the phone.
“Who’s this?” A female asks.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I thought this was—” I’m a little dumbfounded.
“I asked who this is!” She interrupts me.
“It’s Raquel, who is this?” Clearly it’s not Dante.
“Stop calling my boyfriend, Raquel! I don’t know who you think you are, or what you think you’re doing, but you need to stop! He has a girlfriend! Whatever it is you were thinking about doing with him, you can forget about it!”
She hangs up on me before I can say anything more and I sit there stunned, my phone falling to the floor beneath me. I stare at the grey carpet below me, as I lay back across my bed. That must have been his ex, or maybe she was never his ex. He lied to me. Oh, God, what did I get myself into? I feel panic building in my stomach and resist the nauseous feeling it creates. The last thing I need is drama at school. Been there, done that. I don’t know if I can survive it a second time. I feel like I should talk it through with Nat or Malachi but it's late, so instead I remove my clothes and curl up in bed. How could I have been such an idiot? I smack my hand to my forehead and yank my pink cover up over my face. Why did I let myself fall for him, when I knew he was going to be trouble? Like I had a choice, who am I kidding? Dante cast his spell on me from day one. It all seemed so inevitable that I was going to get hurt. I surrender to the ball in my throat, the pain in my gut and let my tears accompany me to sleep.
Breaking Down (The Breaking Series) Page 4