Needing You (7 page)

We hung out numerous times and I did find out he works with some friends at a garage. He is putting together an old Chevy he informed me. I’m not much of a car person so it means nothing to me, but great for him!  He also helps out at an old boxing gym to help train both kids and adults.  He said it’s more fulfilling to see the guys you train go out into the ring, rather than be the one out there yourself.  Can’t say I’m upset by that, if he was in the ring, I would probably be a wreck.  Then again, considering the last time at PowerTrips, I may not even watch the damn thing.

Luckily, there haven’t been any more fights lately at work, thank goodness.  But I know ones coming up within the next month or so because Eddie was talking about it.  I will just have to deal with it when that time comes.  It sucks; as much as I was excited for the fight, it just triggers too many painful sounds and memories. 

I have met a couple of Tucker’s fraternity friends, but usually it is in passing.  We usually hang out at my place or walk around campus. I’m not sure if Tucker is afraid or ashamed to take me to his frat house, but I don’t dare ask.

Parker, Declan, and Natalie have been on my case since I started hanging out with Tucker and they were surprised because Tucker doesn’t have friends that are girls.  But that’s what we are…friends. Tucker has never tried anything on me and though there are times I wish he would, I know its better that he doesn’t.  I could never be the girl he would want or need because I can’t give him the things he would want. So hanging out as friends is the best thing for the both of us. 

Since we started hanging out, he makes no secret of it at school because he waits for me after some classes, walks me to the next one, we have lunch together quite frequently and well I have now had numerous girls try to befriend me just to get closer to Tucker.  I find it rather funny, Tucker doesn’t.  I tend to ignore the majority of the girls because no way am I being used like that, but at times I just wish one of them would want to be my friend.

Spring break is coming up and obviously I have no plans, but to stay at my apartment and hang out.  Probably work a good bit too, but it will be nice to not have to think about school for a short while.

Tucker is coming over tonight to hang out. We started making fun of this stupid reality TV show and now it’s a habit that we watch it and make fun of it while it’s on.  It is ridiculous and most of the time I’m laughing so hard I think I may pee myself. 

I order Chinese so it should arrive about the same time that Tucker gets here, this way hopefully I can pay before he gets the chance to.  See, I can be sneaky if I need to. There’s a knock at the door and I go to answer thinking it’s the Chinese only to see Tucker standing there holding the Chinese I ordered, damn him.

The smile on his face tells me he caught on to what I was trying to do, but clearly failed at.

“Nice try, I ran into the delivery guy at the main door and asked if it was for your room, he said yeah so here I am delivering our food! Thanks though,” he says with a sexy smirk.

“Well I hope you’re hungry because I am,” I say as I am emptying out the bag on the table.  I get silverware out and head over to the couch with some of the food and Tucker follows behind me with more food.  With the amount of food I ordered I could probably feed a small army, but I can never decide on what I want, so I get it all. The leftovers never go to waste.

“I can see that it looks like you bought the damn place out,” he says with a laugh.

“Ha ha ha, very funny. I just couldn’t make up my mind.” I say.

He’s still laughing, “Obviously.”  I stop talking and start feeding my face because damn the food smells so good and I am starving. I love my Chinese food.

I turn on the TV because I know the silly show is coming on shortly and Tucker just smiles and laughs at me some more.  So what, I may be predictable, but who cares. After we finish our food and are stuffed to the hilt, we sit back and watch the crazy television show. When a commercial comes on, Tucker turns to me and asks, “What are your plans for Spring break Harp?”

“Just staying here, I’ll probably pick up some more hours at PowerTrips and just hang out around here,” I say. I hate being asked this question because majority of the school are leaving for trips, fun vacations, going home, or something fun and to me this is my home, this is all I have now. I can’t afford to go on a vacation because I need to save the money to pay for school and for small things here at the campus. I mean I could probably squander some, but I rather save everything than have nothing later. So I go without the vacations and trips.  I see Tucker looking at me so I guess I might as well ask him his plans. “How about you, what are your plans?” 

“I’m not too sure yet. Some of the guys want to go camping, while others want to get to a beach. So we’ll see,” he says. 

“Have fun on whichever one you decide to go on,” I say meaning it.  He deserves to have a fun getaway. 

“You can come along, that is if you want to,” he says a bit shyly.

“That’s okay; you go and have fun with the boys, thanks anyway though,” I say with a smile.

“How will you cope through six days without me?” Tucker asks with a fake sad face. 

“Oh, I’m sure I’ll survive,” I say with a laugh.  Tucker throws a pillow at me and luckily I catch it and then throw it right back and it smacks him on the face. Score! This escalates into an all-out frenzy where Tucker is now chasing me around my apartment.  I keep dodging him and throwing pillows and clothes in his direction, anything that can help me escape!  I run into my bedroom and am on one side of the bed and Tucker on the other; I go to move but stop and start running the opposite way to have Tucker turn and run after me; I jump on the bed only to get tackled down on the bed.

We are laughing so hard and breathing fast. Tucker has me pinned and is looking down at me like he wants to kiss me, but doesn’t. He falls beside me and lies on the bed with me, and we just stare at the ceiling fan. For a split second I wonder what it would feel like to kiss this man, to cuddle beside him at night and wake up with him still beside me. I know I shouldn’t feel this way and I will never act on it, but I can dream right?

When our breathing calms down, we finally decide to go back out to the living room and hang out.  Neither of us mentions the small moment we just had in the bedroom.  Instead, we start watching the TV and then our normal banter follows.

It’s close to midnight when Tucker leaves and here I am lying in bed constantly thinking of the sexy man who just left my apartment.  At least I know I’ll have good dreams tonight!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well, I work tonight and tomorrow and King Dread is playing on Saturday, some other band is playing tonight.  I never heard of them, but I hope they’re good.  I saved a bit from working at PowerTrip’s and I could afford to go somewhere during spring break but decide against it.  I figure I will talk to Eddie about working during the week, but unfortunately, it won’t be tonight. Eddie had some personal issue to take care of, so he’s not here tonight.  I hope tomorrow I can tell him.  I see Colin running around tonight; he takes his job seriously especially when Eddie’s not around.  I have never seen that man more than I have tonight; he’s going a little overboard with it.

The band starts around 10 p.m. and I must say this band is horrible.  Ugh, I am not a fan and they cannot sing.  I am pretty sure I already heard some boo’s coming from the customers.  I look over at Marcus because Natalie has the night off and he is laughing while asking where the earplugs are.  I do not know how I will be able to stand here and listen to this racket for three to almost four hours.  The band has only been on stage for about an hour and I already see a bunch of customers leave the bar and this is not good for business. Colin looks freaked out, so clearly this never happens. Marcus tells him to let them go now and just hook the jukebox up for free tonight.  That way we won’t lose all of our customers.

Colin agrees, pulls the band offstage and sends them packing and then lets the crowd that’s still here know the jukebox is free tonight to go ahead and select some music. I’m not sure which makes the crowd happier, knowing the band is done or that the jukebox is free, but if I had to guess, I would probably say the former of the two.

It’s only 11 p.m. and the bar is pretty steady now which surprises me, but apparently once the band left more people came. Hey, more money for me!  I see Tucker here with his frat guys and two blonde bimbos are trying to sit on his lap.  I can’t figure out which is more comical, the fact that they are both trying to sit on his lap at the same time or that they are both dumb enough to think he’s going to let them.

Finally, one of them does score a seat in his lap and for some reason.  I feel a strange pang of jealousy rush over me.  Wow, this doesn’t happen.  I have no right to be angry or jealous because Tucker and I are just friends, but damn if I don’t want to walk over and rip Barbie off his damn lap.  I decide now would be a good time as any for my break.  I tell Marcus I’m heading outside for a break and will be back shortly, he waves me off and on my way out past Davie; I snag a cig and make my way out the side door. I haven’t had a cigarette in a while, but I need to calm myself down so this is what I do, I smoke.  I take my first hit and then hear, “You know that will kill you right?” I turn to look at a smoldering hot Tucker.

“Yes, I know and I don’t do it often, but every now and then I need one.” I tell him.

“And why would you need one tonight?” he asks all serious.

Shit! I can’t tell Tucker because I was being a jealous schoolgirl when I have no right to be. Ugh….what to say what to say. “I just did okay, the band gave me a splitting headache and I just needed something to calm me down,” I finally say.

“Sure Harp if that’s the excuse you want to use,” Tucker says with a smug look on his face.

“What are you talking about?” I say with a slight tone.

“So it had nothing to do with the two girls who were vying for my attention or the one that sat on my lap?” Tucker says calling me out.

Damn it, he caught me but ugh I cannot tell him I was jealous, God what would he think of me then. I’m not that type of girl.

“Tucker, I don’t get how girls are just so stupid, they know you would only want one thing and yet they fight for your attention. What makes you attracted to girls like that?” I ask in a serious manner.

“I never said I was attracted to those girls or girls like them. They served a purpose and that’s it,” he says honestly.

I have no idea what to say, so I say nothing and take another drag off my cigarette. Tucker continues, “Harp you shouldn’t smoke and you have no reason to want to smoke.” Tucker walks over to me, takes the cigarette out of my fingers and puts it out in the ashtray.

“I know,” I say in a grunt and stand up. I guess I should be heading back into work in a few anyway.

“I’ll walk you home tonight.” Tucker states rather than asks.

“Sure, you didn’t drive tonight?” I ask surprised.

“No, it’s supposed to be nice this evening plus I knew I was going to drink,” he says.

“Okay, I’ll meet you after I’m off work. I should be getting back now though,” I say.

Tucker holds the door open for me and I head back into the bar. He resumes his seat at the table with his friends.  I don’t see Tucker for the remainder of the night because I am kept pretty busy with the group from a bachelorette party who sits right by my end of the bar.  They keep coming up and ordering crazy concoctions, but hey they are tipping pretty nice so no complaints from me.

The rest of the evening goes by and after restocking the coolers we head out for the night. As promised, Tucker is standing by the side of the building, but unfortunately, this time he is not alone.  Of course there is a chick talking to him, but this one’s beautiful looking. She has long, curly auburn hair and a body to die for. I have no idea how she can walk in those shoes, but damn if she doesn’t look good in them.  I would probably break my neck just trying to stand in one of them.  Well now I am at a standstill, clearly Tucker seems happy to talk to her because they are laughing and having a good conversation it seems and I don’t want to interrupt something.  So I decide to walk around the building to bypass Tucker and his newfound friend and head home.  No point in ruining his possible night. 

I walk the short distance home and decide a shower is best even though my feet are yelling that they hate me right now, but the hot water does the trick.  I pull on a pair of shorts and a tank top and throw my hair up in a sloppy ponytail to get ready for bed. As I am getting ready to sit on my bed there is a pounding on my door. What the hell!  I open the door to see an angry looking Tucker. He storms into the apartment and just looks at me. “How the hell did you get home Harper?” he all but yells at me.

“I walked home,” I state.

“Why didn’t you meet me like we planned? I waited and waited, what the hell?” he says angrily.

“You were talking to someone and I didn’t want to interrupt so I just walked home. Its fine Tucker,” I say.

Before I register what the heck is happening Tucker has me enveloped in his arms and is hugging me.  A serious hug,
mmm
he smells good too!  “Harper you had me fucking worried, next time interrupt. I told you I would walk you home, my plans weren’t changing. Don’t pull that shit again,” he says.

“I’m sorry; I just didn’t think it was a big deal,” I say sadly.  He squeezes me tighter in the hug

“I keep telling you it’s not safe to walk by yourself late at night. I’m not kidding, don’t do it again,” he states sounding worried.

“I promise I won’t, sorry Tuck.” I say giving into him

Finally Tucker puts some space between us and then says, “Well now that I know you are safe and sound at home I will head out, just don’t pull that bullshit again.”  I roll my eyes and then say goodnight to Tucker and lock the door then head back to bed.

I sit and think about that hug over and over again and the smell of him. Don’t get me wrong, I have been close to him but never in a hug and not that close. I could feel he has some serious muscles going on under that shirt and damn I would like to have a look.