That's a Promise (3 page)

There wasn’t much else to say, and I didn’t want to further humiliate myself by just standing there, so I got ready to tell him a simple goodbye and be on my way. I wasn’t expecting him to lean into me before I could get away, sending my senses into a tizzy with his close proximity and his sensual smell of rain and citrus. I don’t know how I was able to define exactly how he smelled, but it was intoxicating and I didn’t want him to move.

As ridiculous as it sounds, I was practically drooling with him so close to me. I swallowed the excess salivation that was pooling in my mouth, and I made a big gulping sound while I did it, adding to my humiliation. I internally rolled my eyes at my awkwardness, and tried to make myself look more confident by straightening my stance and lifting my head. He was only an inch away from me, and while his height was a little intimidating, I was kind of enthralled by him. Definitely intrigued.

“The soccer team is throwing a party tonight, so I hope you can make a grand entrance that doesn’t involve you sprawled out all over the floor. I’ll see you there, Josie,” he said to me softly and without waiting for an answer to his not-so-much invite.

He winked and walked towards the girl who was waiting impatiently. She eagerly put her hands on him when he came up to her, and I noticed that he didn’t initiate any touching. It made me feel a little better to see his reluctance to put himself all over the girl who knocked into me apathetically.

Who is this guy?
I wondered.
And why the
hell
do I care?

Chapter 3

I finished my walk to the dorm room, and climbed onto my bed so I could lie down.

I pictured the smile and handsome face of the stranger who kept witnessing my clumsiness. That smile. Looking up to see his face, and catching that smile. I couldn’t get it out of my head, and with my heart fluttering like it was at the memory of that smile being directed at me, I didn’t think it would be leaving my consciousness for a while.

He seemed nice enough, but didn’t they all? This guy seemed to elicit some kind of interest out of me, but that didn’t mean I could get stupid about him. I didn’t know who he was. I didn’t know if he liked to use girls for fun, or if his charming personality was simply a façade. I knew when I decided to transfer over to the university that I wanted to move on. I wanted the friendships and the dating that goes along with a college experience, but I also understood that I was different. I couldn’t just jump onto this guy because he had a seemingly genuine smile.

My phone rang, interrupting my daydreaming.

“Hi Daddy,” I said answering the phone.

“Hello, baby girl. I wanted to know how well your classes went today. I just
know
you did great. Am I right?”

I smiled at his enthusiasm. “Yes, it was great. I think I’m really going to like my English class this year. The teacher doesn’t have us reading the boring stuff. I may not be able to make it through my life science class, though. I swear the professor is worse than listening to the pope give a speech.”

I heard him chuckle at my synopsis of the day, and he responded in the only way he knew how. “I’m pretty sure you have never heard the Pope give a speech anyway, but I’ll assume you were just trying to emphasize how boring your professor is.”

“Yes… obviously,” I said rolling my eyes, knowing that he couldn’t see.

“So…,” he said elongating the “o,” “did you meet any cute boys today in class?”

“No Daddy. No cute boys in my class,” I said, trying not to groan into the phone. Technically, it wasn’t a lie. Sexy Stranger Man was not in any of my classes. The one good thing about being an hour away from home was that Daddy couldn’t tell if I was lying or not.

“Alright then baby,” he said not sure if he should believe me. “How are you doing? Are you doing ok with being around everyone?”

“Yeah, I’m okay. As long as I stay in control of myself, I will be okay. I have Dr. Peterson’s number on speed dial, and Seth is always around, so I don’t think you need to worry,” I said trying to ease his concern. “I have to go over some of my school work, so I will talk to you later. I love you!”

We said our goodbyes and got off the phone. I laid there a little longer reflecting on the conversation and the worry that I’ve been trying to hide since I left the house, before grabbing my assignments and getting to work on them.

*             *             *

Later that night when Brooke and I were getting ready for the party that I had finally gotten details about, she started telling me about some new conspiracy theory about aliens. I didn’t like to tell her that her ideas were crazy because in reality, if that was what she believed, then who was I to take that from her? I didn’t think anything in this world was absolute, so I had no right to tell her that her theories and stories were invalid.

I was always that nerdy girl who preferred to stay at home and read a book instead of going out, but I learned that going out to a party every once in a while made me feel a little free. Seth started taking me with him so I could meet some of his friends, and I slowly learned how to have fun and still be safe.

Brooke loved parties. She was always telling me about parties that she was going to, and what she would wear and do at these get-togethers. That night, Brooke dressed in cute little black shorts and a quarter sleeved silver sequined top. She finished her look with thigh high boots that would make all of the boys drool at her feet at the party. She always knew how to dress to impress, but she always stayed classy about it.

I looked at myself in the mirror as I finished my make-up. I went with some skinny jeans and a white t-shirt underneath a cute faux leather biker’s jacket. Some red high heels helped give me some height, but they almost seemed unnecessary because I would likely be talking them off within the first thirty minutes. I curled my hair into soft waves and applied some smoky eye make-up to my eyes.

I looked good. I felt good. I had dark brown hair with natural chestnut highlights, that fell mid-way down my back, and eyes that alternated between dark olive green and a dark blue. My eyes looked pretty normal, but there was a slight slant to them. I also had naturally tanned skin because of the Philippine heritage that I got from my daddy’s side of the family.

I looked over at Brooke, and was shocked to see her putting extra make-up onto her flawless face. “Whoa Brooke, you looking to get laid tonight?”

“Oh you know how it is. It’s the first school party, so I have to make sure I get the pick of the lottery.”

I laughed. “Do you mean litter? The pick of the litter?”

She scrunched up her nose and shrugged her shoulders. “Sure. Either way, I want to have them all focused on me, so I can choose which one I wanna take to my bed later.” She smiled and winked at me before turning back to her make-up.

I heard a knock at the door, successfully taking me away from a conversation about her bringing someone back to the room. That we shared. Ew. I opened the door, only to find a distracted Seth who was checking out the passing girl’s ass.

“Seth! You can’t knock on my door, and not even acknowledge me when I open it!” I chastised.

He turned his attention back to me and laughed. “Sorry Josie. But did you see her ass in that dress?”

I let out a soft laugh and shook my head at his typical male hormonal response to a woman, and invited him into the room. He leaned in, hugged me, and kissed the top of my head. He leaned his head down to whisper in my ear, “You look really hot tonight, Pussy Cat.”

I smiled up at him, because he always knew how to make me feel good. We may have made it clear that we were strictly friends, but it still sent tingles through my body to hear him tell me I looked good.

“You’re looking pretty good tonight too,” I said back to him. He did of course. Seth always looked good. I had always thought he was attractive because of his looks, body, eyes, and smile that melted souls, but unfortunately, he also knew how good he looked. Sometimes he wore his cockiness proudly, and it annoyed me.

“So, you ladies ready to go? It’s only about a five minute drive from here.”

I checked myself out in the mirror one last time, and I nodded to Seth when I realized I wasn’t going to be able to get much better. Brooke finished her make-up and said she was ready to go too. We all hopped into Seth’s Dodge Ram truck, and went over the party rules, like we did for every party we went to. I was designated driver for the night, so I was in charge of making sure that everyone made it back safely to the dorms.  

We made it to the house that was hosting the party, and I was surprised to see it was an actual house. I assumed it would be a run-down apartment or town house. This house was a cute yellow house that was two stories and looked slightly Victorian. It was so cute, and I was instantly grateful we weren’t going to a party in a crappy environment. We got out of the truck, and Seth stood next to me while I admired the house.

“You ready?” he asked.

“Of course!” I replied with a smile.

He smiled, wrapped his arm around my waist, and walked Brooke and me into the house. The music was pumping, and the party was already in full swing. Everyone had a cup or a beer in their hand and were dancing and talking loudly to one another. There was a DJ booth set up in what I assumed was the living room, which had been cleared out so that it could be a makeshift dance floor. We squeezed through the throng of people, and made it to the kitchen area where people were getting their alcohol and where a beer pong tournament was in full swing.

Brooke went right to the vodka and took a shot. I grabbed a water bottle, and Seth grabbed a beer. After Brooke took her shot, she quickly lined up a second shot to follow. After she downed her third shot, she grabbed my arm and shouted to me, “Let’s go shake our asses!”

I laughed at her, but acquiesced because I was ready to get lost in the music and have some fun with my friends. I turned to tell Seth that we were going to dance, but noticed him already chatting up a cute redhead. I eventually caught his attention and I motioned to the dance floor; he nodded to let me know he understood, and went back to talking to the girl.

Brooke and I made it through the large mass of people, and started dancing to some rap music that they were blasting through the speakers. I loved dancing to this type of music, because even with my lack of coordination, I didn’t have to know how to dance in order to shake my booty. I threw my arms up in the air and let the music move my body. We had been dancing with each other through a couple songs, when I felt a heavy hairy, unwanted arm wrap around my stomach.

An arm wrapped around my stomach, and the other pushed my shoulder towards the back exit.

I immediately felt threatened, but didn’t succumb to the fear this time. I turned around, and before he even saw it coming, I threw a punch right into his nose. I would probably regret it later, because it hurt like a bitch, but I would never regret my impulsive decision to not let some guy think he could just put his hands on me without asking.

He was shocked, and put his hand to his nose where I punched him. I recognized him as that blonde guy from my class who winked at me, and I enjoyed watching him act like a little girl.

“What the hell?” he screamed at me.

He raised his arm in what seemed like an attempt to slap me, but I would never know for sure, because someone pushed his arm away and shoved him away from my personal space. I watched as my protector punched the disgusting man in his mouth, clearly angry.

“Get the hell out before I break your fucking nose, Josh!” he yelled to the now bloody Josh. I recognized the voice, and realized that the guy who just saved me from a huge headache in the morning was none other than Sexy Stranger Man, the one who knew my name and kept witnessing people trample over me.

He turned to face me and checked over me as if to make sure that nothing was wrong with me, rather than anything sensual. I started checking him out while he was looking over me, and I realized that he definitely lived up to my memory of him from earlier. He was still in dark jeans, but he changed his shirt to a black fitted t-shirt that had a Fly Society logo on the front.

Brooke took that moment to snap out of her shock and informed the stranger, “Don’t worry. She did more damage to him than he would have done to her.”

He smiled at that and looked back at me. “Are you okay, Josie?”

The concern in his voice was a little surprising, but I didn’t mind having someone care about my safety. “Yeah I’m fine. My fist hurts a little, but I should be okay.” I shook out my fist and examined it quickly to make certain that nothing was cut.

“Good. You might get a bruise, but it looks like you’ll be fine,” he said looking at the hand that I had just examined. He looked back into my eyes and smiled. “Are you up for dancing with me?”

Mariah Carey’s “Touch My Body” started playing on the speakers, and knowing I wasn’t ready to stop dancing, I nodded my head. I agreed to dance with him because he proved to me in two seconds that I was safe while he was around.

He didn’t touch me while we danced, and it spoke volumes to me about his respect. I could feel my desire for him pulsing like a current in the distance between us. I moved myself closer to him, swaying my hips in the process, leaving only an inch of space between us. I looked up at him and his dark brown eyes seemed to smolder even darker than they already were. My breathing increased, and I could feel my insides clenching in all the right ways.

“What’s your name?” I asked him.

“Well some like to call me their knight in shining armor, but you can call me Blake,” he said, smirking. Ugh, his name was as sexy as that smirk he kept directing towards me.

“Well
Blake
, how is it that you know my name, and I am just now learning yours?”

I held my breath with anticipation as he moved his hand towards my neck, but he touched the chain that I had, instead of my skin. He used one finger to lightly trace the chain from the top of my neck to the middle of my chest, where my name was written on a pendant. I immediately felt stupid for forgetting that I wore a necklace that broadcasted my name.