Misguided Truths: Part Two (Misjudged #4)

by Sarah Elizabeth

  We spend a little time talking about different things, from work to college, and what Mark apparently did to her and the rest of the bartenders when they closed the bar down a couple of nights ago. He supposedly thought that it would be hilarious to lock both her and Layla in the basement while he and the other guys indulged in tequila shots back in the bar. What happened next? Well, I’m not so sure because I’ve been paying far too much attention on Alexis to hear anything else Tessa was trying to tell me. Alexis isn’t looking so happy about something, but I hear Tessa laughing at whatever she just said, and she’s just tapped my arm a couple of times to try and grab my attention back, but it’s really no use. Alexis looks upset, and I wanna know what’s going on.

  I make my way through the crowd, and when I’m close enough I lift my hand out, gently placing it on her left shoulder as I go to lean in, “Hey, where are you going?” She stops walking, and turns right around until she’s facing me. There’s a smile over her face, but her eyes are in no way smiling along with her.

  “I was …” she goes to answer, but stops, and that’s when I see Tessa making her way by us, throwing me a smile on her way out the room. When I focus my attention back on Alexis, she’s no longer smiling, and she instantly turns back away from me. Not yet, beautiful. I place my other hand on her right shoulder which makes her stop again, but this time I walk around her, blocking her escape. Is she trying to get away from me? Yeah, I think she is. “I should go.”

  Her eyes are big; huge in fact. And, yeah, I get what’s going on in that head of hers, “You thought that I was gonna take her home, didn’t you?” Yeah, she really did.

  “No, I just didn’t like what I felt inside when I saw you smiling at her. It was the same way you smiled at me not so long ago.” She drops her gaze until we no longer have any eye contact, and I’m kinda bummed that she feels like this. No, tonight is the night that I’m gonna set her straight. Make her see it’s her that I want, nobody else.

  “There’s no way I looked at her, or any other woman come to mention it, the way I looked and still look at you, Alexis,” I lean in closer, brushing my lips across her forehead before taking a hold of her hand in mine, and leading her back into the room. “Dance with me.” I say over my shoulder, not giving her a chance to decline my invitation.

  I pull her up close to me, so that our bodies are only inches apart from one another’s. I glide my fingers slowly up and down her back, my dick instantly twitching in my pants from having her this close to me again. Man, I’ve missed being able to touch her. She’s watching me, and I’m watching her.

  When her breasts are pushing up against my chest, I grind myself against her some more, gripping at her hips, and loving the fact that she has her whole body against mine.

  I rest my face in the crook of her neck, and start brushing my teeth over her skin, my dick instantly standing to attention when I hear her moan. Yep, I need her closer. I want her to know exactly what she does to me, and so I roll my hips against her. Now, this could be a smart move, or she could totally freak out and—nope. It was a smart move because now she’s pressing herself hard up against me in return.

  I grip her waist, firmer this time, and she keeps pushing herself against me … there. Yep, those things you’re hearing right now? Those are my heavy breaths because I swear I don’t think I’ve been this sexually excited in a very long time, if ever.

  She grabs fistfuls of my hair, her eyes staring directly into mine, and I know I’m not gonna be able to control myself if we stay in here any longer. No. Unless I want the room full of people to see me strip her down naked, and run my tongue all over her body, I think it’s time for us to leave, “Let’s get outta here.” Please say yes. One word, that’s all I need. My heart’s thrashing inside my chest from knowing that if she agrees to come with me, then we’re no longer gonna be just friends. But, if I’m gonna be completely honest here, being friends with this girl has never been an option. I want more. I’ve always wanted more. When she nods, I swallow, hard, before taking a hold of her hand and leading her toward the front door. Am I smiling? Oh, you can bet your sweet ass I’m smiling. I keep my eyes boring deeply into hers when I go to speak again, because there’s really only one more thing left for me to ask. “Your place or mine, beautiful?”

  Chapter Eleven

  What’s this thing in my hand? Well, I’ll tell you. A rose. Yep. A single red rose for Alexis.

  I woke up this morning with a wide smile engraved over my face, and my whole body was encasing hers. And, yes, we were naked. Did I sneak a peek under the blanket? What do you think? Yeah, of course you already know the answer. But, no. We didn’t have sex. We did, however, have an amazing time when we got back to her place from Corey’s party. Yep. She moaned, a lot. I even growled some. I’m not gonna go into details, though, because I never kiss and tell. Well, I kissed, but it wasn’t her mouth my lips and tongue were working. Yep, too much information, and I’m sure you don’t want me to bore you with any more details.

  Where is she now? Well, as far as I know she’s still in bed. I don’t have work, and as far as I’m aware, she hasn’t made any plans for the day so I’ve decided to do something special for her.

  Last week, I was over at her place with Neil, Rye, and Alyssa. We were going through a few things for the music show, and I saw Alexis over by the breakfast bar opening up some mail. She didn’t look so happy, and when she left the room, I headed over to the trash to see what made her look so upset. It turns out that it was the theatre tickets she mentioned not so long back. I know she said she probably wouldn’t use them, and stuffing them in the trashcan proved to me that she didn’t have any intention of going, but I hooked them back out anyways. Why? Because even though we weren’t really on talking terms back then, I thought she was making a mistake, and that she’d come to regret throwing them away.

  They don’t have specific dates or times, and can be used from now up until the end of March, so I called the theatre first thing and booked us in to see a show tonight. Yeah, I know, she might refuse to go, but I thought it’d be worth a try all the same. The show doesn’t start until eight, and so I’ve decided to make the most of the rest of the day.

  The only problem I have is that I need to be able to go back and forth between my building and the lake, and though it’s unlikely, I don’t wanna risk her seeing me. Because it’s a pretty nice day out, I thought a picnic by the water would be perfect, followed by a boat ride, then dinner, and to end the day off we’ll go onto the theatre to watch Starlight Express.

  You might find this a little bit creepy, but I needed to check what size clothing she wears before I left her place. Lingerie? No, but I like your thinking. I wanted to, believe me, because nothing would be more satisfying than seeing Alexis in something small and revealing, but no. I wanted to buy her something nice. I mean, she always looks nice, but I’ve never been great at buying gifts, so I thought something for her to wear tonight would be a good place to start. Nothing too serious, but chicks dig clothes, right? Right.

  In one hand I have the rose, and in the other I have a bag containing a dress I just got from one of the boutiques I heard Alyssa chiming on about one time. Obviously I wasn’t aware at how much those things cost, but luckily I managed to keep some of my last pay check set aside.

  And, now to get her away from campus. How am I gonna do that? Well, you’re about to find out. I sent her a message a little while ago which told her that I’m setting her up on a treasure hunt challenge. Lame? Quite possibly, but you can bet your ass it made her smile. The second one I’ve just sent to her told her to be at her favorite coffee place at eleven o’clock, and to wear her red scarf. She needs to be identifiable or it’s not gonna work.

  There are a couple of kids messing around on skateboards just outside Starbucks, and yeah, I told her to go to her favorite place, but I didn’t necessarily mean to meet me in there, or for her to go in there at all. They’re always way too busy, and I don’t wanna risk her not getting my n
ote. Oh, didn’t I mention the note? Well, it’s a crucial part to her next clue.

  I figure that if she stays inside the café, that’s just by Starbucks, long enough to grab something to drink and read my next clue, then by the time she’s reached her next destination and as long as I’m quick, I’ll have everything set up by the time she heads back to campus.

  “Hey buddy, you wanna earn some extra pocket money?” I ask the one without the baseball cap turned back to front. He narrows his eyes, but walks toward me all the same.

  “Sure,” he answers while his friend walks up behind him. Perfect. This day is gonna go just how I planned it, I can already tell.

  “Alright, here’s the deal. I’ll give you twenty bucks if you wait right by that door over there at eleven o’clock, and hand this rose I’ve got here to the beautiful lady wearing the red scarf. Are you in?” I smile widely at him when he nods. “Then I’ll need you to tell her to take the seat in the far corner right over there.”

  “Okay, I can do that.” Awesome.

  “When you see her finishing up, I need you to head over to three zero four five on Tenth Street and wait for her to arrive. When she does, then I need you to hand this to her,” I continue while handing the bag over to him. He shrugs his shoulders, and once he’s taken a hold of the bag, I pass him the rose. Will she know what’s inside the bag? Nope, because I had the clerk in the boutique mask it up for me at the counter. Yeah, I can be pretty smart when I wanna be, but you wanna know the best part? I know she’s gonna be impatient to know what’s inside, but I’ve told her in one of the notes that she’s not to take a peek. It’ll make her go crazy.

  I grab my wallet out from the back pocket of my pants, and hand him a twenty dollar bill, “Thanks buddy.” I pat him on the shoulder a few times and go to walk by him, but when he clicks his fingers, I pause by the entrance to the café and turn back around. “You want me to run through that again?”

  “You said twenty bucks,” he says, walking over to me. Why am I getting a bad feeling about this? “I’m doing two things, so technically you owe me forty bucks.” Huh. You know who he reminds me a lot of at his age? Rye. Alright, no. Me. He’s me at the age of ten. I should’ve asked his friend over there to help me out instead.

  He’s already lifted his hand out in front of him, waiting for me to pay up some more. I guess he has a point, “Fine. Forty bucks.” I concede, shaking my head when I see him smirking right at me. “Just so you know, I’ll be keeping my eye on you to make sure you do what I’m paying you for.” Will I? Well, I’ll make sure I see Alexis walk into the café, and then I’ll really be needing to head back to the campus to set everything else up.

  “Is she hot?” I pause in the doorway when I hear him ask me this. “I just wanna be sure you’re not wasting your time or cash, that’s all.” Yeah, I’m sure that’s the only reason. Doesn’t he know that I was ten years old once myself? Exactly. He’s more like me that I originally thought.

  “Oh, yeah, she’s smoking hot, but keep your hands to yourself, alright buddy?” I laugh when I see him shrug his shoulders, and then I go to put the next part of my plan in place.

  ***

  Alright, everything’s set up. I gave the waitress inside the café a twenty dollar bill to cover Alexis’ breakfast, and I also left a couple of clues for her on the corner table. I saw her take the rose from the kid, and then made my way back to campus. The champagne is chilled, the food is all prepared and set out. What next? Well, now I’m gonna head back up to the dorm because I saw her head inside her building a couple of minutes ago. We’ve messaged each other a couple of times, and I told her to check her bed for the next thing. What’s on her bed? Nothing. But, I needed to make sure I’d be done, and I am.

  When I step inside the dorm, I send her another quick message, telling her to come and meet with me. Did I tell her where? Nope. But, she’s gonna see me as soon as she opens up her—yep, she sees me.

  I smile when she stops abruptly on the other side of the doorway, “Hey, beautiful.” I say, and lean forward to place a kiss on her cheek while grabbing a hold of her hand.

  “What’s in the bag?” She asks as I lead her toward the main door. I told you, didn’t I? Didn’t I tell you that she’ll be going crazy not knowing what I bought for her? Am I gonna answer her? Nope. I glance over my shoulder, and throw her a wink as I pull her with me out the dorm, and back outside the building.

  Once we reach the bottom step, I turn around and pull her to me, wrapping my arms around her waist, “Are you ready for your next surprise?” When she nods her, I bring my hands higher, and brush my fingers through her hair. Next question. “Do you trust me?” I cock my head to the side as I ask. She nods again, and I’ve gotta tell you, I’m relieved at this because I swear I thought I just saw her hesitate for a brief second.

  I walk around until I’m standing right behind her, and lift the scarf from around her neck, placing it over her eyes instead. Yep, she definitely can’t take a peek now, “Brandon, what are you doing?” She tries to turn around, but I place both of my hands on her waist once I’ve tied a knot in the back, stopping her. Isn’t it obvious what I’m doing?

  “Making sure it’s a surprise. I don’t want you to see where I’m taking you.”

  “You’re blindfolding me?” Well, duh. “Brandon I don’t …” Oh, I do. I think it’s a great idea. Now, I need something that’s gonna distract her so she’ll forget about her temporary loss of vision. After last night, I think I have just the thing. I press myself against the back of her body, and rest my chin on her right shoulder, blowing soft breaths over her ear.

  Yep, that seems to have worked. The only thing she’s doing now is breathing erratically. My work here is done, “Good girl,” I laugh, and then start to nibble her earlobe. Okay, it’s time to move onto our next destination. “Alright, can you see anything? Anything at all?” I ask, and feel happy to know that she doesn’t when she shakes her head in response.

  I place my hands on her shoulders, and start spinning her around. Huh, this is kinda fun. She’s squealing like a total girl, though she still sounds kinda cute. Maybe we could just do this all day instead because she’s pretty entertaining to watch, “Brandon! Cut it out! I’ll fall!” I grip her waist when I see her become unsteady on her feet, and she places her hands on top of mine, but instead of keeping them there, she’s trying to take mine off of hers.

  “I’m making sure you don’t know which way we’re heading, that’s all,” I start to laugh, and then spin her around another couple of times before leading her—Oops. Yep, she just fell on her ass. “Oops.”

  “Yes, oops!” I grab a hold of her arm, and pull her back onto her feet, watching as she brushes her hands over her dress a few times to straighten herself up. “You’re a jackass!”

  “But, I’m your jackass,” I counter her, and place my arm firmly around her waist before steering her in the direction of the lake. She can’t see me, but I’m watching her as we walk. She’s biting down on her bottom lip, and though I know it’s because she’s nervous, seeing this makes me think back to last night when she had my dick in her— okay then.

  “How much further is it?” She asks, and I think she’s gonna be pleased to know that we’re already here. It wouldn’t have taken so long if she didn’t keep losing her footing every couple of steps, and I think that I’ve actually lost count of the amount of times I had to catch her before she landed on her ass again. Did I laugh? Oh, come on. It was pretty damn funny, and to be honest, I liked the fact that I had an excuse to keep putting my hands on her.

  “We’re here,” I answer, and I inhale a deep breath before turning her around so I can untie the blindfold from her eyes. I notice that she blinks a few times while her eyes adjust to the sunlight, and watch as her mouth falls open when she sees what I’ve been up to all morning. I think it’s safe to assume that she’s a little taken aback, “Here, come and sit down.” I say, and usher her toward the blanket that’s laid out in front of the lake. O
ur lake. This is our place now. It’s special because it’s pretty much the first place we met, so it seems like the perfect setting for us to have our first date.

  “Brandon, this is …” Wow, I think I’ve actually managed to render her speechless, and the wide smile that’s now etching over her lips is telling me that she’s happy with what I’ve done for her. She sits down, crossing her legs over, and I keep watching her. I can’t seem to be able to take my eyes off of her whenever she’s around.

  “That’s why I had to get you away from campus. If you’d have seen me going back and forth with it all then it wouldn’t have been a surprise.” I explain to her with a shrug of the shoulders before grabbing two of the flutes from off of the blanket beside me. Alright, I need to tell her. We haven’t talked about last night yet, but it was one of the best nights of my life, and I want her to know for sure that I’m not playing games. If we’re gonna do this, then it’s gonna be as a couple. Boyfriend and girlfriend. Yep, I wanna have a relationship with this girl. “Last night was—”

  “Nice?” Huh. I hate that fucking word. Even more than I hate beef jerkys. Well, I guess I should’ve prepared myself for a response like that. And, I guess she has every right to mock me after I used that same word to describe our time together back at the ball.

  “You’re never gonna let me forget that, are you?” I break my gaze away from hers, and wince as I pour us both some champagne. Alright, I think she knows that I was expecting maybe something different to leave her mouth than that word, but I’m gonna try again. “Alexis, it was—” Remind me the next time I plan on spending some alone time with my girlfriend to be that I should always switch my cell phone to silent. Always. I think it’s safe for you to assume that I’m feeling pretty pissed right about now. I grab my cell, ready to curse at whoever’s on the other end of the line, but when I see Brad’s name flashing on the screen, I know I’ve gotta take his call.