by Cynthia Hart
“What?” Liz asked, reaching over to grab the syllabus from Rachael’s hands. “Oh.” Liz sighed when she read her way down the paper.
“Yeah. Six-page essay due in less than a week.” Rachael fought the urge to throw the napkin container across the room. “How did we both forget about this? Seriously.”
“Well, it’s not like we read the syllabus every day. Heck, I haven’t even looked at the thing since he gave it to us last month. If it wasn’t for you, I’d be the one failing.” Liz slid the paper back to Rachael.
“How is it that you are barely managing to keep a C in Biology with barely any effort and I’m working harder in this class than any of my others but have an F?” Rachael asked as she ruffled through her bag.
“I don’t know, I guess I only annoyed the Gods of Biology instead of pissing them off like you obviously did.” Liz joked, making Rachael laugh.
“I clearly did something wrong some time in my life to deserve this.” Rachael pulled out her Biology textbook and let it drop to the table.
“You keep that thing with you?” Liz gasped. “Why don’t you just keep it in your dorm?”
“I never thought about that. That’s a great idea.” Rachael smiled. “Where you like me back when you were a freshman?”
“Rach, no one is like you.” Liz picked up the textbook and flipped to the chapter their professor had based today’s lecture around.
“What is that supposed to mean?” Rachael tilted her head and narrowed her eyes at her friend.
“Nothing.” Liz flicked her gaze over towards the bar. “Why don’t you go order us some food, and I’ll get started on the outlines for our essays.”
“Okay, do you care what kind or?” Rachael asked as she got out of the booth.
“As long as it’s food I don’t care.” Liz waved her off with a smile and Rachael made her way over to the bar. She noticed Blake and his friends were standing by the bar talking and laughing. Rachael groaned inwardly as she waited for the bartender to finish putting away various glasses.
“Hey, look who it is.” One of Blake’s friends eyed Rachael up and down.
“Hi.” Rachael gave the group a polite greeting before turning her attention back to the bartender.
“Hello to you too,” Blake said with a smirk, Rachael ignored him in favor of ordering from the bartender.
“Two sandwiches please.” Blake had moved, so he was standing next to Rachael, she tried not to think about how her breath quickened when he was close to her.
“What kind of sandwiches would you like?” The bartender asked, slightly annoyed by Blake and his friend's presence. Not nearly as annoyed as Rachael when Blake moved his hand to cover her ass.
“Uh, one turkey club and the other a BLT. Please, and thank you.” Rachael gritted her teeth when the bartender turned away. Blake smirked at Rachael before squeezing her right cheek firmly. Without thinking Rachael turned and slapped Blake hard against his left cheek.
“Whoa.” Blake cupped his face and stared in shock at Rachael’s hand, before moving his eyes up to meet her face which was brimming with anger.
“Don’t you ever do that again.” Rachael’s fists were clenching and unclenching at her sides. “I know you can be a real dick, Blake.” She sneered his name with disgust and took a deep breath. “You’re a terrible person, but that’s harassment. I don’t know if anyone ever taught you, but you shouldn’t go around grabbing people’s asses without their permission, but now I have.”
Rachael turned to leave, to go back to her booth, or maybe run to the bathroom to cry. She felt so violated and betrayed, betrayed by her body because of how much she liked it. She wasn’t a fan of having people, anyone really, touch her at all but Blake, Blake was different. She craved his touch on her skin, she craved his mouth on hers, she craved him.
“Rachael.” Blake’s voice cut through the fog of Rachael’s mind, she put on her angry face before turning back to face him.
“What now?” She hissed, mad at him for speaking, mad at him for grabbing her ass, mad at him for being so close and not kissing her. God, she was a mess.
“You forgot your sandwiches.” Blake pointed at the plates the bartender had sat down awkwardly in the middle of Rachael yelling at him.
“Oh, thanks.” Rachael felt like a fool, she was embarrassed. She was feeling a lot of different emotions. Actually, she just wanted to sit down and focus on writing her stupid Biology essay. She grabbed the plates of food and hoped that Blake’s friends weren’t laughing at her but instead making fun of Blake for being slapped. It would be good for him to have his ego taken down a notch, that idea put a smile on her face.
“Are you smiling so wide because you told off Blake?” Liz asked when Rachael returned to their booth.
“You heard that?” Rachael gasped, she didn’t realize she was so loud.
“I’m pretty sure everyone within a mile heard you,” Liz said before taking a bite of her sandwich. “I was going to go over there, but I was frozen with shock. Who knew you of all people could shriek like that?”
“I was not shrieking. Was I?” Rachael snapped a piece of bacon that was hanging off the edge of her BLT and popped it in her mouth.
“Okay, maybe not shrieking but you certainly were loud.” Liz glanced over at Blake and his friends. “What do you think they do with their time when they aren’t here?”
“I don’t care.” Rachael lied, she was acting as if she hadn’t spent hours thinking about whether or not Blake had a girlfriend, if he had a job, if he did have one she wondered if he liked it. Part of her hope he hates it, just so that there’s something that ruins his day. “Let’s not talk about him. Them, I mean. Let’s focus on this essay.”
“Okay, I’m going to look on the library’s website to see what kind of books they have, and we can run and get them when we finish our food. Sound good?” Liz asked, already pulling out her phone and typing in the library’s URL.
“Sounds fine.” Rachael’s eyes flicked over to Blake and accidentally met his gaze. She slumped in her seat, she couldn’t understand why he always seemed to have his eyes on her. She ate her sandwich in silence, only answering Liz’s questions with one or two-word answers. Rachael’s mind was off some place else, she was lost in thoughts about Blake, about what would happen if she just gave into her desire, if she said “Screw it.” to every reason she has ever come up with not to have sex with Blake. If she just walked over there, ripped off his shirt and-
“Have you heard a single word I’ve said in the last few minutes?” Liz sighed exasperatedly.
“Yes, of course. You were talking about, um. You mentioned something about Biology?” Rachael guessed.
“You don’t get any points for that, we’re working on an essay for that class.” Liz passed a napkin to Rachael. “Do you think that’s too many books to get? I don’t want to be turning pages all night.”
“We’ll look through them closer before we check them out.” Rachael passed the napkin back to Liz. “Personally, I don’t mind if we get a hundred books if that means I can get an A in this essay.” Liz raised her eyebrows at Rachael’s enthusiasm. “Okay, a B. I’m an English major, I’m good at essays!” Rachael came off sounding a little whiny, but she did not care at this point.
“All right then.” Liz tapped the table rhythmically before getting up. “I’m going to run to the restroom, we’ll leave when I get back, okay?”
“Okay.” Rachael agreed, turning back to her notes when Liz walked off.
“Ooh, school work. How boring.” Rachael jumped at the sound of Blake’s voice from across from her.
“When did you get here?” Rachael narrowed her eyes.
“If you keep doing that you’re going to get wrinkles by the time you actually turn 21.” Blake shrugged.
“Shh. Keep your voice down.” Rachael hissed.
“What? No one cares.” Blake said apathetically. “Hey everyone, good ol’ Rachael here is-” Rachael dived across the table, covering Blake’s
mouth with her hand.
“Don’t.” Rachael pleaded. “Don’t, please.” She dropped her hand from Blake’s mouth.
“I didn’t realize that would bug you so much.” Blake coughed, he looked almost apologetic. “Of course, if you want to shut me up there are more interesting ways.” Well, there goes apologetic.
“Oh, gross.” Rachael sat back down and grabbed a napkin to wipe her hand.
“You know, you can slap me and say that I’m gross, but I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one that remembers the other night.” Blake raised an eyebrow at Rachael.
“What are you talking about now?” Rachael sighed as she picked up her pen.
“You know what I’m talking about. It was about three weeks ago.” Blake leaned over the table and dropped his voice to a whisper. “You remember you and me, up against a wall. You had your hands in my hair, practically licking your way into my mouth. My hands traveled up and up your thigh, to the hem of your skirt.” Rachael’s breath had stopped, she was enraptured by Blake’s voice. “I seem to recall you not having a problem with me grabbing your ass that night.”
“You must have had too much to drink and aren’t remembering correctly. It wasn’t me.” Rachael denied when she came back to her senses.
“All right, fine, suit yourself.” Blake shook his head as he got up from the booth. “You know.” Blake turned and put both hands on the table. “I couldn’t help but notice that you’re doing a paper on evolution. Toss out your outline that’s all about Charles Darwin and write it on the work of Mendel, Lamarck, and Cuvier. It’ll be more creative and less of a snooze.” Blake turned to walk back to his friends by the bar.
“Who in the world are those people?” Rachael asked, racking her brain for anything about those names.
“Exactly.” Blake sad over his shoulder, not stopping in his stroll. Liz came out of the bathroom just as Rachael remembered something about Mendel and plants that she read about last year.
“Ready to go, Rach?” Liz asked, picking up her bag.
“Yeah, but I’ve changed the topic of my paper somewhat. It will probably take me longer at the library, do you mind?” Rachael started throwing things into her bag quickly. “I forgot to pay for our sandwiches, so I’ll meet up with you. Do me a huge favor and look for books on Mendel, Cuvier and – what was his name? - Lamarck.”
“Who are those people?” Liz asked as she typed the names into the notes section on her phone.
“I’ll explain later.” Rachael rushed Liz along, only going up to bar after Liz had left.
“Don’t worry about paying for the food ordered, I took care of it,” Blake told Rachael when she got to the bar.
“Oh, thank you,” Rachael mumbled, she was starting to get flustered.
“It’s no problem.” Blake held his hands up and shrugged. “I don’t mind paying for a pretty girl’s sandwich once and awhile.” Rachael blushed a deep crimson. “And you know, I guess I don’t mind paying for your BLT either.” Blake joked.
“Hey!” Rachael playfully punched Blake’s arm. “I’m pretty.” Rachael huffed and crossed her arms.
“If that’s what you think, who am I to tell you you’re wrong.” Blake shrugged again with a smile on his face.
“Why do you do this? You’re nice one minute and a jerk the next.” Rachael sighed.
“I’m a jerk all the time that sometimes does nice things.” Blake gave Rachael a look. “Don’t get it twisted, okay?”
“I’ll make sure not to.” Rachael resisted the urge to roll her eyes. “Who were those guys that you said I should write about in my paper, anyway?”
“Those guys?” Blake asked with a raised eyebrow.
“You know, Lamarck, Mendel, Cuvier.” Rachael rattled the names off.
“Good, you remembered them!” Blake clapped his hands together. “I was worried there was a problem with your memory for awhile there.”
“Why do I even talk to you? You always find a way to annoy me.” Rachael was getting ready to stomp away when Blake stopped her.
“You know, if you want some help on that paper, come back here around midnight. I’m sure I can be of service.” Blake offered with a bow.
“No, thanks.” Rachael declined. “I’m sure I’ll do fine on my own.”
“Well, you’ve done so well so far, so I guess you’re right.” Blake tilted his head, trying to gauge how much he pissed off Rachael this time. To his surprise she didn’t even respond, she just walked away and walked out.
Chapter 3
Rachael waited for the door to shut behind her before she started to stomp. Blake was being a jerk again, she didn’t know how he knew about her poor performance in Biology, and she didn’t know why he felt the need to throw it her face like that. She knew one thing for certain she was not going to the bar tonight at midnight. She would write a stellar essay all on her own.
It took Rachael awhile to find Liz in the large library, part of her was worried that Liz was fed up with waiting on her and left already. Thankfully, Rachael eventually found Liz in time to help her with the large stack of books she was struggling to see over in her arms.
“Here, let me give you a hand,” Rachael said as she took some of the books from her friend. “Were you able to find anything on the people I asked you to look up?”
“The Mendel, Cuvier and Lamarck guys? Yeah, two books. I think they’re in my stack, hold on.” Liz walked over to a table, set the books down and started scanning through the titles.
“Two books?” Rachael gasped. “In this entire library?” She really hoped Blake wasn’t sending her on a wild goose chase.
“Yup.” Liz nodded. “I guess your guys aren’t very well known.” Liz picked up two books and set them on top of the stack in Rachael’s arms. “Where did you hear about them anyways?”
“Oh, you know.” Rachael shrugged as she set down the stack of books. Rachael wasn’t sure if she should tell Liz that she got the tip from Blake or not.
“That’s very descriptive. Cleared everything up, answered all of my questions. Thank you.” Liz’s voice was dripping with sarcasm.
“Sorry.” Rachael shrugged. When she sat down, she picked up the two books she needed and started flipping through them.
“So, you’re not going to tell me why you’re doing an essay on scientists hardly anyone with a life knows?” Liz sat down across from Rachael.
“That’s very rude.” Rachael flipped a page in one of the books. “Smart people have lives.”
“Fun lives.” Liz clarified as she picked up a book.
“Smart people have fun. I think you’’re forgetting that I am a smart person. Just not in Biology.” Rachael took out her notebook from her bag and started jotting things down. She couldn’t believe how fascinating Mendel was, she hoped the other two were half as interesting.
“When was the last time you had fun?” Liz asked, Rachael debated whether or not the look on Liz’s face would be worth telling her that she made out with Blake three weeks ago.
“Studying is fun for me,” Rachael replied, she could never tell anyone, especially Liz what happened between her and Blake. It was too gross, too embarrassing, too good. Rachael hit her head against the table with a groan.
“Everything all right over there?” Liz poked Rachael’s shoulder with her pen.
“Yeah, fine. Just this essay.” Rachael lied, waving her hand over the books in front of her.
“Wow, we’ve barely got started, and you’re already banging your head on the table. This essay is going to ruin you.” Liz gasped.
“I’ll just dive in head first, the sooner it’s done the better, right?” Rachael said, desperate to get her mind away from thoughts of Blake. Liz didn’t respond with any more than a nod, picking up a new book and flipping to a random page to start reading.
Hours past as Liz and Rachael worked on their essays, Rachael checked the time and subconsciously noted that there were only four hours until midnight. That was when Blake wanted to meet up with Ra
chael at the bar, she was sure she wasn’t going to go, but she got more and more curious as the time went on. She wanted to know his story, why he acted the way he did and said the things that he said.
“Hey Liz.” Rachael started. “I have a question, I don’t even know if you know the answer or not but well.” Rachael coughed, now or never. She had to decide if she was really about to bring Blake into this conversation.
“What is it, Rach? You look distressed.” Liz reached over the table and grabbed Rachael’s hand. “You can ask me anything. You know that.”
“It’s nothing big, just something that’s been playing on my mind lately.” Rachael tried to relax her posture so Liz could see that it wasn’t a big deal. “What do you know about Blake? If you know anything, I mean. I understand if there’s nothing, I mean it’s not like you guys are friends or anything.” Rachael was babbling off the words as they entered her head.
“Rachael, stop.” Liz interrupted Rachael so she could answer her question. “I don’t know much about Blake. He was a senior my freshman year.”
“Wait, he was a senior? I heard he dropped out, why would he drop out when he was so close?” Rachael leaned forward in her seat as even more question started flying through her head.
“I don’t know, that was kind of the topic of discussion that year. He just dropped out of his classes in early November, he was a pretty popular guy, no one knew why he decided to leave.” Liz leaned back in her chair and scratched her cheek as she tried to recall the rumors from years ago.
“Well, what do you think happened? He seems intelligent, it couldn’t be because the classes were too hard.” Rachael’s mind was swirling with possibilities.
“No, you’re right. Bake isn’t the type of person to quit. He likes challenges.” Liz said as she gazed out the window, Rachael couldn’t tell what was on her mind. She seemed so lost in thought.
“How do you know? You sound so certain.” Rachael tilted her head as she stared at her friend.
“You know how it is.” Liz sighed and shook her head, she turned back to Rachael. “When someone is popular, it’s almost like everyone knows them. He was at all the parties and spent a lot of time at the library. People talk to him, and then people talk to other people, and before you know it, everyone knows everything.” Liz shrugged, chewed on her lip for a few seconds before speaking again. “You know, there was a rumor floating around that he was cheating.”