He shakes his head at me and lays back down to raise the barbell up over his head. “Yeah it’s hard to find time, I was so in shape in high school, I played soccer and baseball. I feel like such a bum now, I hardly ever work out,” he grunts out as he sets the weights back down. “I do run every once in awhile, I could show you some good spots.”
“Yeah that would be good. Maybe we could get together Friday morning.”
“Yeah that sounds good, I don’t think I have anything going on. So are you taking a date to the next party weekend?”
I pause as I try to remember what exactly he’s talking about, I’m a little distracted at the moment as I watch the muscles in his stomach ripple.“Oh the Halloween party? No, I’m just going with Ally. I’m really not looking to date right now. I’m meeting up with Remy too, she said her and Mark are going together.”
“Bummer. Yeah Marks a good guy he’ll treat Remy right. Now if it was Teddy I might warn her a little bit, he’s a player and doesn’t do the whole dating thing. He’s more interested in the groupies that come out for the band, I’m pretty sure that’s the whole reason he started up the band in the first place.”
I’m not really sure what the ‘bummer’ was about. Maybe he was interested in Remy the other night and Mark swooped in first.
“You don’t see yourself doing that? Trying to make something of the band,” I clarify. “You guys are pretty good and it seems like you already have a really good following.”
He shakes his head and grabs one of the complimentary towels that are stacked up wiping the sweat from his forehead.
“Nah, I’ve written a lot of the lyrics for the songs we do. Mainly using poems that I’ve written over the years. But teaching has been the only thing I wanted to do.”
“Poems?” I lift an eyebrow at him as I jump off the treadmill, wiping the sweat off my face. Every time we’re together I learn something new about him that surprises me. “I never realized you were that kinda guy,” I say teasingly.
“Yeah, my mom has a whole book of ‘em somewhere starting with ones from like first grade. Comes in handy with the ladies though they eat that shit up,” he smirks back at me.
I throw my towel at him, “Oh I’m sure. Now I see why they’re always following you around like lost puppies.”
He takes my towel and holds it up to his nose, inhaling, “Mmm even your sweat smells sexy Leah. I think I’ll have to stash this up in my apartment.”
I laugh and head towards the laundry room, “ ‘kay Chase, if that really turns you on go for it. I’ve gotta grab my laundry and head to another class. See ya.” Maybe I can snag one of his towels while we’re at it.
“See you Leah,” he says as he lays back down and begins lifting weights again.
Chapter 12
Chase
I’m sitting in a coffee shop between classes reminiscing about Leah and the sexy view I had running behind her when I took her out Friday to show her some of the good running spots I had found over the years of being on campus. She had strapped Caleb into a stroller and we took turns pushing it along as we ran. I could definitely get a good workout in pushing that kid around but he sure made it interesting with the comments he made while we ran along the path. Leah and I kept up a steady stream of conversation as we ran along and I was happy to see that she enjoyed running just about as much as me. Every time I was with this girl I learned something new about her that made me fall for her even harder than I already had. Too bad she kept bringing up the whole lets be friends line, isn’t that like the worst thing you could hear come out of a girls mouth?
“Chhhaaasseee?!?!” I hear a voice squeal behind me interrupting my pleasant thoughts of Leah and her sexiness. Oh god please no, it can’t be but I would know that voice anywhere. I slump down in my seat a little bit as if that would hide me. Maybe she won’t see me, right? Yeah right dumbass slumping downs really gonna hide your six foot three frame. “It is you, ohmigawd I can’t believe I ran into you, must be fate or something.” I reluctantly turn around and look at the girl belonging to the high pitched nasally voice. “Hey Ash, haven’t seen you around lately. How’s it been going?” Not that I’ve been trying to avoid her or anything. Not at all. Ashley was one of the first girls I hooked up when we put the band together after Teddy practically pushed me into it. “These girls will do anything you want dude, trust me,” he had said. Yeah anything I wanted but didn’t mean I could get her to leave me alone.
And she hadn’t changed much in the year and a half since I had broken it off. She was a little shorter than me with long blonde hair and a rack that I know for a fact is fake. She looked like a typical blonde Barbie and had pretty much the brains to match but we had some fun together and she really was a nice girl, just not the right one for me.
“Oh you know Chase, not the same since you broke things off.” Ah the guilt trip even Ashley knew how to play those. She sits down in the seat across from me, plopping down her overly looking expensive purse that I’m sure her daddy bought for her.
“So Chase like I said fate intervened today. I so need a favor from you, please?” She pouts out her pink puffy lips at me. Why do girls think that’s sexy? And what will I be getting myself into if I do any kind of favor for her?
“Remember how you ditched me that one night because something came up with your family? I was totally looking hot all dressed up and then you called me last minute to cancel?” I crook my head at her. Of course I do one of my little sisters, Sarah, had been rushed to the emergency room after falling off a balancing beam at one of her gymnastic things and cracked her head open. Even after explaining the situation Ashley had bitched at me for like a week about standing her up. I ended things with her pretty quickly after that. Not that the situation mattered apparently. I just nod my head at her bracing for what she’s about to ask.
“Well there’s a party tomorrow night and my date cancelled at last minute. Will you pretty please take me?” And now she’s resorted to her little girl voice that I just love. Great. And she’s probably talking about the same party that I was already planning on going to so I know I’ll run into her there.
“Um I don’t know Ash. I have a thing before that so I was gonna get there late and….” She cuts me off with a wave of her perfectly polished nails. “Not a problem Chase. We could meet up, I totally don’t mind being late.” Yeah I know that for a fact, she was never on time for anything with all of the time it took her to get ready.
“Well…..” I try to come up with some kind of excuse without hurting her feelings. Ashley might come off as an uppity bitch sometimes but she can be really sensitive. And I did kind of destroy her when I broke things off. Apparently she thought we were going to get married and have babies together after only being together for about two months.
“Please Chase?” she begs. “You kind of owe me, it took me like a month to get over you and seeing you today totally means you owe me.”
I huff out a breath at this. Of course she’s going to pull that card. “Fine Ashley. Me and the guys are going to be at Kilroys, do you want to meet up there?”
“Ah perfect Chase!” She stands up and plants a kiss on my cheek and I inhale a nosefull of her overpowering perfume. “I’ll meet you there, I can’t wait! Gotta get to class, I’ll see you then.”
Oh great I can’t believe I just agreed to that and who knows how Leah will be when she sees me with a date. Maybe she’ll want to confess her undying love for me when she sees me with Ashley. Nope not Leah, a smirk creeping up on my face as I picture her in my head.
Chapter 13
Leah
I finished up my shift on Thursday around 4:00 and Remy offered to drop me off at home. She was heading over to catch Mark and the bands performance at the same place I had seen them perform and then she was going to meet up with me at the party. My phone rang and I grabbed it out of my purse as Remy drove towards my complex.
“Hey Al,” I answer. “Yup, uh huh, ok, ok, fine Ally. We’ll see, I have final say. NO MATTER WHAT!”
I add forcefully. “’Kay see ya in a minute.” I hang up the phone and look over at Remy who has a confused look on her face. “What was that about?”
I huff out a breath, “Uhh Ally! I told her that I was not dressing up, I really don’t want to go as a naughty nurse or a school girl. But she insists on at least picking out my outfit. We’ll see about that one.”
Remy giggles at me as she pulls up to the curb to drop me off, “Oh Leah it’s just a onetime thing every year, a little dressing up won’t hurt you. Besides you don’t wanna make me look like a total slut all by myself with what I have planned to wear for Mark tonight,” she says with a sly grin.
“Trust me Remy there will be lots of other sluts around. But you have too much class for that, Mark will still wanna do you by the end of the night.” I scoop my purse up off the floor and open the door. “Thanks for the ride Rem, see you tonight.”
“Bye Leah, take it easy on Ally you know how she loves to use you as her own personal dress up doll. And you know she always makes you look even hotter than you already are. She doesn’t try and put you in any of that crazy shit she wears,” she says with a smirk.
I wave over my shoulder, “I know. Bye Rem.” And jog up the stairs to see what Ally has in store for me.
*****************************
“You sure this isn’t too short,” I say as I look back at my reflection on the floor length mirror in Allys mirror, tugging down at the hem to see if it will go any lower. I guess I needed to make sure I didn’t bend over at all tonight or everyone would be getting a whole lot of Leah.
Ally slaps at my hands, “No, now stop it. You look sexy, not slutty. There’s a huge difference. Chase won’t be able to keep his hands off of you.” She slaps my hand again as I try to pull up the black corset top that has my barely c cups pushed up and adding at least two sizes.
“Ally I told you, Chase and I are just friends. I’m not even sure what time he’ll show up.” She plops a silky black witch’s hat on my dark brown ringlets that just fall past my shoulders. “There. Can’t get in the door without a costume.”
“Oh we wouldn’t want that,” I grumble.
Ally ignores my moodiness and finishes putting her costume on. After my complaining of her and Skylar sounding just like Sonny and Cher when I had to listen to their singing the whole way to and from Allys parents house, they thought it would be a perfect couples costume. Well more like Ally, I’m pretty sure Skylar went along with whatever she said. She slid a dark long wig over her hair that was streaked with orange in celebration of Halloween. “Sky should be here in a few minutes to pick us up. Here these go with the outfit.” She shoves a pair of laced black boots with a pointy heel that are cut off at the ankle.
“Have fun Caleb and be good. Remember you get to go trick or treating tomorrow!” This would probably be the first year that Caleb would actually be interested in going out for candy and he had picked out his Spiderman costume almost two months before Halloween was even here. They had already had their Halloween party at his daycare and came all hopped up on sugar so I would need to make sure I limited his intake.
“Bye bye Mommy. Me and Rissa will be good. And I can’t wait to get lots and lots of candy!” He squealed out the last part and I rolled my eyes at his excitement for the candy. I would definitely need to find a good hiding spot from him and Ally.
“We are so going to hit up all the awesome houses for candy little dude.” Ally says as she leans down to hug Caleb. I’m pretty sure her and Skylar are just as excited to go with us. “Kay lets go. We’ll meet Sky out at the car. I told Tara I would try and get there a little early to help with some drinks.”
We ran down the stairs and met Sky at the bottom. He looked like Sonny to the T with a flowered long sleeve shirt on a tan leather vest over it. He even had grown out a small mustache. Ally beamed at him and threw her arms around him. “Wow you look great. We are the perfect Sonny and Cher. Don’t you think L?”
“Yes but please don’t serenade me in the car. I think I had enough the last time.”
“Hey Leah,” Skylar says as he places a kiss on Allys forehead. “You look great, Ally was nervous about you agreeing to what she had in store.”
“Thanks Sky,” I say as I pull on my skirt for the millionth time, I’m sure I’ll be doing that all night. “You don’t think it’s too revealing do you?”
“Seriously Leah?” He looks down at Ally like he’s looking for permission to answer me and she gives him a nod. “I mean I love Ally and all I don’t really need to look at other girls. But if I did you would definitely be number two in my book after Ally of course. But you don’t look like one of those skanks I’m sure we’re going to see a lot of tonight.”
I guess that was sort of a compliment in a weird Skylar kind of way? “Uh thanks Sky.”
We drove back over to the area near campus where we had gone the night we had went out for our first party. That block was close to campus and consisted of oversized houses that could be filled to the max with tenants. Skylar easily found a spot on the street that was close to the house that we were going to since we were arriving a little early.
“Can you help bring some of this stuff in Leah?” Ally asks as she motions to the trunk that is filled with boxes of alcohol.
“Yup no problem,” I say as I heft out a box filled with various bottles and follow Ally up the path that leads to the front porch.
The inside of the house had been transformed from a grubby frat house to a semi-decent looking haunted house. Cobwebs covered most of the surfaces, fake blood was streaked across the mirrors, orange lights were twinkling all throughout the room and fog machines were starting to flow giving the house an eerie feeling. Two makeshift bars were set up on either side of the large open living room that opened up to a kitchen and dining room. The dining room consisted of a table set up for beer bong and all other furniture had been cleared for a dance floor. A dj was setting up his equipment in the corner.
“Hey guys! I love your costumes! Thanks so much for bringing all of this, I hope it’s enough.” A girl that I recognize as one of Allys friends from her sorority says as we come in and sure enough I can already add my naughty nurse to the list. I wonder how many of those will be repeated tonight.
“No problem Cassie. It looks awesome in here, you need help with anything else?” Remy asks.
“I think we’re good for now. We might need a little help on some of the bars later if you don’t mind.”
People slowly started to trickle in as the night got later. The dj cranked up the music and Ally and I moved to the dance floor while Skylar joined in on a game of beer pong. We danced along to the music for awhile until the floor started getting a little crowded and hot. I leaned over and shouted in Allys ear over the thumping music, “I’m gonna pee and grab a drink. You need anything?”
“Nope I’m good, I think I’ll head over with Sky for a bit. Meet us over there when you’re done.”
I make my way through the crowd of people and wave when I spot Remy who just walked in with Mark. It looks like Mark came straight from the bands performance, decked out in jeans and a simple shirt but Remy looks cute in a short sequined white dress adorned by a set of angel wings and halo. She looks purely angelic with her creamy white skin and red hair that’s down and loosely curled. I motion that I’m going to the bathroom and head towards the hall where there’s a small line formed.
I lean my hip against the wall as the line inches forward and I’m next in line. Why did it seem like there’s only one bathroom available at these things?
“Hey Leah,” I hear whispered in my ear over my shoulder by a familiar voice. I turn around and look up into the turquoise eyes of Gage. It’s the first time I’ve ran into him since he met Caleb. I tried texting and calling him a few times but none of those were returned. Obviously he was interested in being more than just friends with me but Caleb had halted those ideas. I figured I would probably run into him here since this was the frat house he lived in.
<
br /> Gage grabs my hips lightly and his eyes roam up and down my body. “Wow you look fuckin’ hot.” He says as he leans in closer to me and I can smell the pungent smell of alcohol already heavy on his breath. I take a step back willing the bathroom door to open. Of course that’s not gonna happen anytime soon.
“Uh thanks Gage. How have you been?”
“Horrible,” he gently pushes me against the wall and places his arms on either side of my body, pinning me in. “I can’t stop thinking about you and your not helping me at all with this outfit on.”
“Well I did try and call you a few times, I was going to explain about Caleb, not that I really need to but…” He interrupts my rambling with a finger to my lips. “Less talking Leah,” he mumbles out through half lidded eyes. He grabs my hand and places it on the bulge near the front of his jeans. “Wanna head up to my room for a little more privacy?” I remove my hand quickly and push my hands against his chest.
“Seriously Gage? I’m not interested in that, especially with you.”
He leans down to kiss me, his hot breath suffocating me as he comes closer and I turn my head right before he touches my lips so he’s left with my cheek.
“C’mon Leah don’t be like that, I know I was turning you on, I can tell you’re a little slut with that kid of yours. Let me take you up to my room, I can show you how much of a man I really am,” he says as he flattens me against the wall, grinding against me and sliding my skirt up as he begins to work his fingers up my thigh.
I slap at his roaming hands but that just seems to get him more excited and even more grabby if that was possible. Apparently the unwilling turn him on. He may be freaking wasted but that doesn’t give him the right to basically try and rape me in the hallway.
“Gage get the fuck off of me,” I silently thank Ally for the pointy heeled boots she picked out for me and stomp the heel into the top of his foot with all my might.
“Oww WHAT THE FUCK LEAH?” He shouts out as he stumbles back against the opposite wall. I bring my knee up to his groin and thrust up between his legs. “Guess you won’t be using that tonight, what a shame.”
Chasing Leah (Journey Series) Page 8