Wrecked Book 2

by Hanna, Rachel

  “That sounds perfect,” I told him, smiling brightly. “But then, what should I do for this one?”

  He scratched his chin, thinking it over. “Well, I think you need to sit down and think a little smaller. You’re a bright girl and very passionate and determined about learning. I like that and think those are commendable qualities in a student; however, I feel as though maybe sometimes you’re too busy looking at the bigger picture. You’re thinking about too many things. For this one, I want you to pick a narrow, highly specific topic to work from. If the essay evolves from there, fine,” he spread his hands to indicate that he didn’t care if that happened. “But I want you to start small. Think micro, not macro.”

  I nodded my head. Micro, not macro. “Okay, Professor.”

  He offered me another smile. “Good, good. I’ve got a few ideas here that you can look over for inspiration, but don’t worry if you don’t pick a topic today. You’ve got time to come up with something and you’re welcome to e-mail me or come in to see me any time.”

  I nodded again.

  We spent the rest of my lunch hour going over potential topics for my essay and by the time I left, I had several promising ones. I was going to pick one when I got home and start doing some research, thinking that since I was now a little behind given my too broad original topic, I needed to spend a little more time working on it.

  It also gave me a very legitimate excuse to avoid any get togethers with friends and meeting with Logan that night.

  It was so perfect, I almost thought I’d planned it all.

  I breezed through the rest of my classes that day with little event. Nothing exciting, like boys rolling into me or strange, cryptic texts from my mother or a strong, defined arm blocking my way to the classroom.

  Nothing. Just boring old classes.

  I stayed for a little bit after Ethics to talk with Professor Keith again. I told him which topic I was leaning towards, and he agreed that it was one of his favorites, too. As I was leaving, I noticed that several girls were glaring in my direction, and remembered once more that Professor Keith was one of the more popular teachers.

  I waved it off, though, and made my way towards home. I waited at the edge of campus for Kass to meet with me, so that we could walk home together. Briefly, I thought about avoiding her and just walking home on my own, but I liked the company and she hadn’t been privy to my crazy outbursts yesterday, so I didn’t think there was any harm in walking with her.

  But as time passed, I was beginning to wonder if she was interested in walking with me. I waited for nearly thirty minutes, arms wrapped around myself for warmth, when I got a text message.

  I froze, thinking it was another warning about Miranda and debated for a full minute on whether or not I wanted to answer it. When I received a second text, I decided I had to.

  When I unlocked my phone, I found that it wasn’t my mom at all and there was no mention of Miranda. It was from Kass.

  Have a date with James! Don’t wait up. Details tomorrow lady!

  I let out a relieved breath. Thank goodness.

  The second text was from Kass also. Don’t be mad. Won’t ditch you tomorrow.

  I shook my head and smiled. I sent her a quick text back telling her I was fine and definitely not mad. Wishing her a good time, I slipped my phone back into my pocket and realized that I would be walking home alone after all.

  One foot in front of the other. At least it wasn’t a long walk, I reminded myself, and more than that it wasn’t raining. I’d decided that that was the main factor in deciding whether the walk home was going to be bearable or not.

  It was one thing to walk home while it was cold. It was another thing entirely to walk home when it was cold and wet.

  I walked for a couple of minutes, focusing mostly on my paper topic, when Old Main came into view. Frowning, I couldn’t help but think of Logan. Was he waiting for me? I glanced down at my watch. Fifteen until seven. So he probably wasn’t there yet, but he was definitely on his way.

  And she was on her way, too. On her way home.

  No, "sorry I’m not going to make it". No, "hey, don’t waste your time, I’m not coming". Nothing. Just silence and not showing up.

  “That’s a pretty shitty thing to do,” I mumbled to myself, my eyes still locked on Old Main.

  I stopped, turning so I was facing it, and just stared. All I could think about was Logan and how serious he had been earlier that day. I’d spent all day avoiding him and avoiding the topic of him. I didn’t want to think about him asking me to come see him, or the way he looked at me or made me feel. I didn’t want to think about what had possessed me to kiss him in the hallway that day…

  But those were the things I couldn’t help but think of. He occupied so much space in my brain, that I wasn’t sure what to do anymore.

  With a sigh, I closed my eyes, and turned around. “I can’t believe I’m going to do this.”

  Walking back the way I came, I headed back towards campus so that I could loop around and head to Old Main.

  Chapter 3

  I walked quickly, glancing down at my watch every minute it seemed. It was five until seven and I wasn’t sure I was going to make it. Although Old Main was easily seen from most places on campus, it was actually on the north end and meant that I had to walk quite a ways in the opposite direction of my house to get there.

  When the building was finally just ahead, I let out a breath of relief and half jogged the rest of the way. When I made it to the steps, I found myself standing alone. My heart sunk in my chest, and I realized that he wasn’t here.

  Had I been played?

  “I didn’t think you were going to show,” came Logan’s smooth, rich voice from behind me.

  I swiveled around to face him, a little surprised and a little relieved all at once. I found myself fighting back a smile that might match the one he was wearing.

  “Well,” I began. I was about to tell him that I didn’t think I was going to show, but changed my mind at the last minute. I was afraid that I would have to then explain why I wasn’t planning on coming—and then why I changed my mind. And that seemed like a really bad idea. So instead, I said, “I thought we should clear things up tonight before you actually make me late to class one of these days.”

  His smile didn’t falter for even a moment, even though I put a little bit of acid in my tone.

  “Okay, you’re right,” he said, not near as nervous as I had thought he might be. “We should settle this tonight. If you’re not impressed, if you think this is just a complete waste of your time and you don’t have any fun at all, then I’ll leave you alone. Period.”

  I narrowed my eyes at him. “Fun? What are you up to?”

  His smile widened. “Come with me, and let me show you.” He offered me the crook of his arm.

  I hesitated.

  “Give me a chance,” he pleaded with me not for the first time.

  The girl I was supposed to be was supposed to tell him no, to go home and never look back. But then, the girl I was supposed to be never would have met with him to begin with. So instead of walking away, I looped my arm through his and let him escort me around the corner.

  When we walked along the side of the building until the back corner came into view, I started to frown a little bit. I glanced over my shoulder, looking back towards the front of the building and the rest of the campus, but I didn’t pull away from him.

  He felt warm next to me, solid and strong, and whatever I was pretending to be, I couldn’t deny that whenever I was near him I felt something.

  “What are we doing?” I asked, my voice quiet.

  He glanced over at me, grinning now, and just gave me a wink. “You’ll see.”

  When we reached the back of the building, he let my arm slip from his, leaving me with a cold feeling suddenly. He knelt down near the wall of the building, tapping at it a few times. It took me a moment, but when he cracked it open, I realized that it was a window into one of the basement classr
ooms.

  Glancing around to see if anyone was watching us, I knelt down beside him and whispered, “What are you doing? We could get in so much trouble for this!”

  He placed his index finger against his lips, indicating for me to be quiet, and then sat down on the ground, his feet pushed through the now open window. “Follow me.”

  I straightened up and folded my arms across my chest, shaking my head. No. Definitely no. There was no way I was going to do this. We were definitely breaking into a building on private property, and whether we were students or not, that would carry some serious repercussions if we got caught.

  And breaking and entering was most definitely not part of the good girl image I was cultivating.

  “No way!” I told him sternly, incredulous that he would even ask me to do this.

  Holding onto the top frame of the window, he looked back at me. “Addy, c’mon,” he said in a soft, quiet voice that wasn’t mocking or teasing or threatening. It was soft, tender almost. “I won’t let anything happen. You won’t get in trouble for this, I promise.”

  I hesitated for a fraction of a second longer, then I let out a sigh and let my arms drop down to my sides. “This had better be important,” I muttered to him, glancing around once more to see if anyone was coming.

  He grinned widely at me. “It is. Very important.”

  Using his grip on the top of the frame, he swung himself down and through the window. I heard him land with a thud and rushed over to him quickly, kneeling beside the window to try and peer inside. It was dark, and I couldn’t really see anything, but there was enough light filtering in from the outside through the window that I could see him standing right beneath it. He seemed alright, but I called down anyway, “Logan? Are you alright?”

  “I’m fine,” he answered. “Come down now. I’ll catch you.”

  I hesitated. I wasn’t supposed to be doing this, but as I glanced around one last time, I couldn’t deny the thrill that rushed through me and the smile that crept across my face.

  Before my more reasonable half could tell me what an idiot thing I was about to do, I knelt down again by the window. I turned around though, knowing that I wouldn’t be able to count on upper arm strength to swing myself inside like Logan did. Laying on my stomach, I slid my legs through the open window. When I was bent in half, I started to wonder how I was going to get down, when I lost my grip.

  With a tiny cry escaping my throat, I braced myself for the fall.

  But instead of falling, two strong arms caught me around the waist and I fell against Logan’s strong, hard chest. For a moment, we stayed like that. His arms wrapped around me and my back pressed up against his chest. I realized that for only the second time, his hands were on me. They were pressed to my stomach, holding me so that I wouldn’t drop.

  Apparently, the only time he was okay with touching me was when I was falling…

  When I turned my head over my shoulder to look at him, I saw his eyes staring down at me. “Thanks,” I whispered in a small voice.

  He leaned forward slightly and I felt my eyelids begin to flutter closed. I thought for a moment that… well, that maybe he was going to kiss me. But then he pulled back, his hands snapping quickly away from me.

  Once again, I noticed his absence immediately. I felt cold and shaky. I heard him moving around behind me, fiddling with something. As he did so, I took a moment to straighten up. I pulled down my shirt, which had been rucked up by my fall, and tried my best to smooth down my hair.

  When I heard the familiar flick of a lighter, I spun around and let out a small gasp.

  One of the long teachers tables had been set up off to the side with three candles, which he’d just finished lighting, a table cloth covered it and set on top were boxes of candy and a bucket of what looked like popcorn. Across the back wall was a pull down white screen.

  The desks had all been cleared away from the room. On the floor was what looked like a couple of foam mats covered with several blankets. Several pillows were thrown on top as well. From the wall with the window we’d just slipped through was a projector. It was one of the older ones, definitely owned by the school, and I couldn’t help but wonder how he’d gotten a hold of it.

  How he’d managed to set this all up, really.

  “What is all this?” I asked, looking around with a small smile on my face.

  “Do you like it?” he asked.

  I nodded. “You set this all up for me?”

  He shrugged his shoulders, his smile almost shy as he scratched at the back of his head. “Well, you said you wanted something serious… I thought maybe that meant we should start with a first date.”

  Giving a short laugh, I said, “You could have just asked instead of doing all of this.”

  “You didn’t seem like you were going to give me a chance,” he pointed out. Then he grinned. “And if you would have, I still would have done something like this.”

  “What, do you have a problem with classic theaters or something?” I teased, moving to the table that was littered with theater goodies. Red vines, milk duds, M&Ms, and of course popcorn. Even a couple of sodas.

  He walked over to the back wall to fiddle with the projector. “That’s just so ordinary,” he explained. “Everyone takes someone to the movies on their first date, you know? I wanted this to be special. I knew I’d only get one shot and I had to make it count.”

  I frowned slightly, looking over at him. One shot. Was that what I was doing? Was I giving him a shot to prove that he was dating material? Was this like an interview and if I didn’t think he made the cut, I’d never speak to him again?

  The thing was, some of that had to be answered with yes. If he wasn’t boyfriend material, I couldn’t risk dating him. My schooling was important and so was my reputation. I had to keep it up. I’d made a promise almost four years ago now and I couldn’t take that back, no matter what.

  Not even if I was starting to really like this crazy boy who was trying so damn hard…

  “Well, consider me impressed,” I told him, grabbing the bucket of popcorn and moving to the blankets to sit down.

  He got the projector working and came to sit beside me as the opening credits appeared on the screen. “So does that mean there’ll be a date two?” he asked, grinning.

  I couldn’t meet his gaze. Would there be a date two? I didn’t know. If they were more dates like this… which given that it was Logan, they probably were, then I didn’t think there could be a second date. I couldn’t keep breaking the rules.

  I convinced myself that this was a special exception. That somehow, this was okay because I wanted to give him an honest chance so that he wouldn’t feel as though he had to keep pursuing me simply because I’d said no from the get-go.

  No longer a challenge, right?

  Of course, I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t because I craved being near to him and all of me was completely enjoying things so far.

  But that didn’t mean a second date was possible, did it?

  I didn’t know, but I didn’t want to ruin the mood—and until I made a decision, I didn’t want to ruin the possibilities. So I said, “We’ll see. Depends on what movie you picked.”

  Logan laughed at me, and fell back onto the pillows, his arms folded back behind his head. “I think you’ll really like it.”

  I remained sitting up, feeling a little… uncertain about laying down on a makeshift bed with him in the dark, but as the movie started playing I quickly found that sitting up was uncomfortable. When the title appeared on the screen, I lay back beside him, resting my head on the pillows. We weren’t touching, but we were close. Very close.

  “Casablanca?” I asked, amused.

  Logan didn’t say anything, just grabbed some popcorn and chewed. I could see a grin though and knew that his choice was to create that old time romantic feel.

  It worked.

  For nearly twenty minutes, we both just watched the movie and ate popcorn. I couldn’t deny that I was aware of hi
m. Completely. I could feel his body heat radiate, wrapping me up in tendrils of warmth. Although it was dark, the candlelight and the light from the movie was enough to make out his expression.

  It was calm and content. He was definitely having a good time.

  After a while, I got up. He sat up as soon as I did, tense. “Where are you going?” he asked, and I realized that he was worried that I was going to leave. That I wasn’t having a good time.

  I smiled at him reassuringly. “I’m just getting a soda, want one?”

  He let out a sigh of relief and shook his head. “I’m good.”

  “You sure?” I asked lightly. “I won’t share mine if you say no.”

  He gave a laugh. “No? That’s not very nice.”

  Smiling, I gave him a wink. “Well, maybe I’m not a very nice girl.”

  Holding an unopened coke, I moved back to the blankets, but I underestimated where they were and my foot caught. With a cry of surprise, I slipped, tripping. I dropped the can of soda, letting it roll away from me. I planted my hands out, palms first to catch myself and found that I had landed right on top of Logan’s warm body.

  I was practically straddling him, one leg between either of his and the other pulled up near his hip. Our faces were inches apart, so close that I could smell the popcorn and what might have been a mint on his breath.

  He felt hard, warm, and tense, like he always seemed to whenever I found myself pressed against his body—which seemed pretty often lately.

  I stared down at him, surprised and his own stormy blue eyes looked up at me, equally as surprised. He looked ready to say something, maybe to ask if I was alright, but before he could I leaned down and pressed my mouth over his.

  Last time I’d kissed him, it took him a moment before he responded, but this time his reaction was instant. He kissed me back, moving his mouth against mine and letting his tongue slide along my lips until I opened them. We deepened the kiss again, and I pressed closer to him, letting my hands move so that I was braced on my elbows and forearms instead. It meant that my chest was pressed against his and that our hips were touching.