You and I (You and I #1)

by H. M. Irwing

  Chapter 16

  "So this is it!"

  "Yes it is," I replied mildly ignoring the shimmer of excitement that surrounded me.

  "I can't believe you're off to college and that you'll be living there. Day in day out!" exclaimed Emily excitedly.

  I exchanged an amused glance with Cat over the reasons behind Emily's excitement. Mark, Emily's best friend's brother has unwittingly become Emily's latest obsession. Oddly when he came over to castigate her for socking him one in eye she not only found herself sorry for her actions but in love again. It was rather unfortunate that Mark went to the same college as me. I could certainly expect Emily to visit me a lot.

  Cat threw me a wink that clearly said she thought that too. I shook my head at her. I have told Cat that I have met her one and only lover and that I was not remotely impressed with her choice but she had only shrugged indifferently and said, "You did not experience what I did in his hands."

  Ewwwww!

  That was my only reaction. That and an overwhelming urge to puke. Cat didn't take my reaction very well. She had been intentionally snubbing me till now. Now she was happily helping me pack.

  "I can't believe you are going to be a lawyer," she exclaimed excitedly and a little enviously. Cat was the most bookish of us three no doubt she thought it her prerogative to be the lawyer in the house.

  It hasn't been too long since I returned from my weekend away. I have tried not to think about either Jake or Richard. I have kept myself busy and within the bosom of my close knit family. I knew time would help ease the pain and help me heal but that time was still far off. It was why I decided to study law. This was one course that would undoubtedly leave me very little time to regret my decision bemoan my loss.

  I would do as Richard once did and give this opportunity my all. I would pour all of me in and have nothing left over to ponder over what could have been. It was with a whirl wind of action that I went about enrolling for my courses and now here I was packing to leave. To be on my own for the first time of my life. To live on campus and keep my nose grinded in my books.

  I could do this. I placed the last of my belongings in my luggage and then closed the lid of the suitcase to have Emily sit on it so that Cat and I could struggle to zip it up.

  I will do this.

  Only You and I

  Sequel to the

  You and I

  series

  Coming soon

  Only U n I

  By

  H M Irwing

  Prologue

  "Will you paddle your bottom out of here or do you want a visit from my fist in your face?"

  Little twelve year old Emily shouted at poor fourteen year old Mark. Mark was Emily's best friend's brother and the butt of Emily's pranks. I could even call her a bully. She was a bully.

  "I'm going I'm going! Just give me back my spiderman comic," cried out poor Mark fitfully. I almost felt sorry for him.

  "You're too old to be reading comics Marcus Slater! Grow up!" Called out Emily undaunted by the fact that she was bullying a kid twice her size. Mark was tall and lanky and had all the beginnings of turning into your regular built up jock. Thankfully, that time was a little way away or feisty Emily wouldn't have been so feisty at all.

  I turned my gaze away from the squabbling two and started to paddle my own bike away. I headed for the make shift ramp and sped up my cycling. My tires squelching over the wet loose gravel, I pumped hard till I rose up along its smooth wooden surface and was almost airborne. It was as if time had stood still and I was floating in mid-air and then I was crashing back to Earth in a very literal sense.

  "Lucy! What the hell?" Exclaimed a wild eyed Richard coming dashing down the patio steps to crumble to his knees by my side. He grasped my hand and looked me over in agitation.

  I stared up at his wrought-up features and shook my head at his over- reaction. It was just a slight fall.

  "Way to go Lucy," exclaimed Jake running up to me with his hand raised in a high five. I felt my face split into a wide grin and I lifted my own hand happily to slap his. At sixteen, Jake Neel was a lot more tolerable to my mischievous antics then his stuffy twenty year old friend Richard Reeves. I wasn't sure why he would hang out with us as often as he did for he was a real proper pain when it came to doing things the right way. A real party pooper. It wasn't as if he had any fun with us at all not like Jake who really did stuff with us.

  "Here move aside. It’s my turn now," exclaimed Jake excitedly behaving as if he were fourteen like me instead of a stuffy sixteen year old. That was what I really liked about Jake. He never disparaged us for our age like his friends was wont to do. Not stuffy Richard of course but his other friends.

  Richard reached his palm out offering to help me up but I wasn't a child and I didn't need help. So I ignored his offering and rose to my feet on my own.

  "Watch out! Here I come," shouted Jake already in position before he took off across the road at a much greater speed then my own earlier efforts. I squealed even as Richard hauled me out of the way and then Jake was up the ramp and down the other side in a beautiful arc. He finished with a flourish that had me clapping my hands sore in enthusiasm.

  I turned to share my excitement with a beaming smile at Richard but the intense stare that I received in return was unnerving. I gave him a weak smile before I took off in a rush to Jake's side and flung myself into his arms for a congratulatory hug.

  We whopped for joy and then Jake spent the rest of that afternoon training me into perfecting that jump.

  ***********

  Chapter 1

  Present day

  Riiiiinngg!

  I groaned as I lifted my pillow off my face. I was having another morning headache after a restless night of tossing and turning dreaming of my past. I buried my head in my pillow and groaned out loud.

  Richard and Jake.

  It's been over three months since we parted ways but my two loves plagued me still.

  Riiiiinngg!

  The damn alarm went off again. Jarring the dull ache in my head to a flagrant throb. I reach out to slap it shut and this time I rolled out of bed. I tossed the covers aside and did a half-baked effort in folding and tidying up the sheets. I stifled a yawn then begun my usual morning ritual of arming myself to face the world of sin. It was a routine transformation of waking from the sleep of the innocents and building up a façade of empowerment.

  Even though, my world of sin was limited to the variety available at the nearest university campus, I still gave it my all in preparing myself.

  I brushed the long ebony locks of my hair then brushed on mascara to my already dark lashes. I stared critically at my reflection and noticed a flaw in my eyeliner. I reached in and performed the necessary corrections then stood back to admire my efforts. My natural mousy brown hair was now jet black. A result of my traumatic experience in attempting to love two men at once. A very recent attempt from which I was still reeling from the repercussions. It was something I am bent on never repeating. Walking away from the ashes of two failed loves, I had needed a new beginning. A change in identity, to reinvent a new me, to develop a new sense of purpose. So here I was committed to the study of law and to go all black with my hair. Blonde was never an option. Not only did I have two pesky blonds as younger sisters but I also knew for certain that I would never hear the end of it if I were to become the third blond sister. Emily and Catherine Little would have my head in a very literal sense. Nope black was the only feasibly option. It brought out the greys of my eyes even more startlingly so and then there was my never ending need to blend into the black ground and conform. Blond would never allow for that and red would shriek in protest.

  I took a step back to take in my appearance. I looked stunning. The smoky eyes bringing out my greys so that they shone almost silver. Richard Reeves would approve. He had a fetish for all things grey. I batted my eye lid, my long darken lashes blinking away the sudden dampness that thoughts of Richard often inspire. I would get over hi
m. Just as I would get over Jake Neel. I would stand strong and prevail. I took two steps further back and let my gaze drop from my face to run down the length of me.

  My grey top and skinny grey jeans were almost a uniform. I had made quite the stir dressed up in all grey almost daily. It didn't matter to me. I felt a little closer to Richard just wearing the clothes that he picked for me. I smiled recalling my ridiculous shopping expedition with Richard that happened not too long ago even if it felt like a life time away. That shopping trip should never have happened. I should never have let him deplete that branded store of all things that were grey. I had of course returned all those purchases. It hadn’t felt right keeping them. Not if we were never meant to be. But here I was wearing his grey’s still. These were not all the items that I had returned back to the store. Some had been entirely new. Richard had replaced some of the grey dresses with jeans, slacks and more tops. I loved the grey jeans best. Stone washed and slim fit, they embodied the new and improved me. The boxes of clothes courtesy of Richard reached me only a couple of days after I moved into my room at the university campus.

  I sighed looking at my image in the mirror. It was ironic that what I saw was the real me. Ash grey me. The grey clothed image I present invoked all sorts of reaction here. Some outright ignored me and other mocked my evident indecision saying things like the law is black and white with no place for greys or are you so obsessed with 50 Shades of Grey. The jokes were plenty and mostly right on the mark. I was afterall sitting on the fence about Jake and Richard.

  I bent down to grab my satchel and my stack of books. I have a routine planned out for each day and they all start and end in the library. I fit in a trip to the campus gym as well and my usual three meals a day but that was the extent of it. Each day was all studies and not much else. Blakeney University was a smaller specialist education centre that focused entirely on the legal fields. Everyone here was studying law. The various specialist fields offered included international law, maritime law, civil, criminal and so on. I hadn't decided on my specialist field yet. I had this first year to decided so I would take all the time I could in being certain.

  Rap! Rap!

  I rushed to answer the door slipping into my flat grey pumps along the way.

  "You ready?" Mark enquired quirking a brow at me. Mark was ahead of me by a year because he took the skip a year exams at school. Mark was all set towards specialising contract law.

  "Yes, thanks," I said falling into step beside him. As usual it was a quiet trip to the library. But it was a comfortable silence or at least it usually was. Today Mark decided to speak.

  "I'm thinking of asking Emily out to that party this weekend," Mark blurted out of nowhere.

  “There’s a party this weekend?” I questioned easily. I may be the socially impaired but Mark was nothing of the sort. He was the epitome of the social butterfly. Flitting from one party to another. Which was really odd for it was a total contrast to his normal more sober self. The self that got along just fine with me.

  “Emily who?” I asked grinning knowingly at him. Who knew which butterfly he was flitting after now? Not that he flitted after many. In fact this Emily was the first I’d heard of.

  “Emily Little.”

  “Hey, we share the same surname. Wait till Emily hears…” I trailed off suspecting the worst. I turned to stare hard at him the feeling of butterflies rifling through my belly turning my expression sour.

  “Emily!” I gasped then said again, "You and Emily?"

  I just couldn't get my head around it. It was as weirdly incomprehensible as one of those sci-fi flicks that's always on tv.

  "But weren't you and her like enemies not too far back. She did sock you one that left quite a bruise if I recall. Very recently too," I reminded him earnestly. Mark had to be pulling one on me. Was it April fool’s day already? I liked Mark a lot… as a friend and I didn't want him to get hurt. Being around Emily would more than hurt. Emily is my sister but she was known to be the most fickle female around. She changed the focus of her affections as often as… I grimaced at that analysis for I really wasn't much better. It must run in our genes. So when Emily declared her undying love for Mark not too long back I thought nothing of it but now....

  "Just what happened that day when you came over to confront Emily for punching you in the face?" I asked conversationally hoping to sneak out some information that Emily hadn't been all that forthcoming with.

  "We kissed," Mark blurted out almost dreamily. I watched him turn several shades red and shook my head despairingly. The boy had it bad. Ahem...the man I mean. It was odd thinking of him as all grown up but he was just as I was… only Emily, wasn’t.

  "Wait a minute you kissed my under aged sister?" It was my turn to flush red, only mine was in pure anger.

  "It was only for a moment...or two...but I've waited since. This weekend she will be of age to come with me," Mark pacified me. I was temporarily mollified until I recalled that my pesky sister was turning seventeen this weekend and not eighteen. She was still an official minor! Mark would know that! He was studying law for goodness sake.

  But even as I turned to berate him, to give him a tongue lashing that would no doubt blister the skin off his ears, Mark was already scurrying off at rapid speeds towards the library. I picked up my pace and chased after him.

  "You!" I started to say immediately, as soon as I caught up to him but he only turned around to cut me short with a," Shhhh!" I stared dumbly at his fingers pointedly placed on his lips then looked about me. We were in the library. The sneak! He planned this... waited till I was just in its vicinity before dropping the bomb on me. Now here I was suffering from the backlash with no recourse for retaliation. Well not for long. The library session wouldn't last forever. I would stalk him till the very end and use this time to gather ammunition. I threw him a nasty glare before marching off to perch on my usual seat.

  "Excuse me but I was sitting there."

  "Bugger off! This is my usual spot," I snapped without looking back. I was beyond angry over Mark's deception.

  "Excuse me?" The polite words were an antithesis to the tone that carried it. I raised a brow and turned to shoot my-you don't want to go there look at the dude behind me.

  Steely ice blue gaze beamed icicles down at me. I took in the Armani suit on his tall broad shouldered frame and knew instantly that I was deep shit in trouble but when on a downhill run without breaks one has no recourse but to dive face first nose deep in the mud so I said," Possession is nine tenths of the law and my bottom," I said pointing to that part of my anatomy, "has already commandeered this seat!"

  I returned the stony stare with interest till he replied mildly, "But my things were there first."

  I looked about the table before me and noted his things were indeed scattered about. Laptop, mobile and various assortment of electronic gadgets then there was the pile of books as well. I turned to take in his appearance again. Was he some kind of lawyer?

  "Mr Stanton? Is something the matter?" The question came from a tall blond suited up in ridiculously short skirt and impressively high heels. I watched painfully as she tittered her way over wavering precariously on the edge. I turned to see if the gorgeous stranger was in the least bit concerned about our new arrivals precarious steps forward but his expression was bland. He was indifferent.

  "I'm fine Stacy. Nothing I can't handle," replied Mr Stanton mildly. I think he sadly missed the danger Stacy was in. Was it really worth it risking life and limb perched in heels that high if the target audience was entirely oblivious to the efforts? I sent Stacy my most pitying glance even as I steamed from Mr Stanton’s insinuation.

  I did not need handling as he put it. But I did need to get on with my own studies and this squabbling over a chair in a fairly vacant library was beyond silly.

  "No need to handle anything. I'll just sit elsewhere," I muttered tiredly. It was only the start of the day and already it was littered with...

  "Excuse me!" I exclaimed over
the presumption as a large hand clamped over my arm. My eyes rose swiftly to clash with bemused blues.

  "That's better. Fiery you is better than timid you and for future reference don't throw legal jargon at an established lawyer not when he might be your future bread and butter. Call me," he said, his British accent thick and snobbish. Then he was lifting a hand and flicking a business card to land right on my pile of books. I simply glared at him then grabbed my belongings and moved out of his way.

  I sort of had an idea now over just who he was. He was likely a representative of the larger firms out to recruit trainees to work in their firm while completing their degree. I could use the cash from that. I didn't mind being a gopher but I wasn't sure about being his gopher. Still it would gain me some experience and even secure me a job once I graduated. It warranted some consideration but for now I needed to focus on Mark and Emily. They deserved to get clobbered by me first.

  I took a seat in a remote corner and blocked out all from my thoughts as I opened the book before me and sunk into the technicalities of the law of Tort. The noise of rustling papers, pages turning and pencils clattering tried to break through my concentration but I persevered and shut them all out.

  My alarm rang and I put down my pen and started to pack up. I didn't use lap top to jot down my notes as most did these days. I was still a little old fashioned that way although I used it well enough for research.

  I slung my bag on my shoulder and turned to note Mark had already scrambled off. I sighed in disappointment.

  "Tough day?"

  Mr Stanton fell into step beside me as I made my way to class. I shook my head," No more than usual." It was the truth each day without Jake and Richard was a struggle in itself.

  "Come work for me," Mr Stanton repeated his earlier offer.

  "Mr Stanton-"

  "Call me Barry."

  "Barry? Seriously?"

  "Yes. What's wrong with Barry?"