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’t you watch the episode with that girl standing by the bus stop when a bus pulled over with the escaped prisoners?”
Yeah, I had. Damn him to point that out. It was still daylight, though it wouldn’t be too long until the sun disappeared, so my nerves were getting the better of me.
“Okay, fine, let’s go,” I huffed, annoyed. “But you’re following me home in case someone comes along and tampers with something else.”
I locked my car and climbed into his black Jeep. I was drenched and my lips started to tremble as the cold took hold of me.
Alex turned the heat up in his car and took his scrub top off, wearing only a white wife-beater underneath. I couldn’t help but look, obviously. He leaned over to the back seat and grabbed a Jersey with the name Edwards scrawled across the back and he tossed it over to me. “Here, put this on.”
“No, it’s okay. I’m fine, Alex,” I replied, not very convincingly as my teeth chattered.
“I’m not taking no for an answer. Change into this, or you’re going to catch a cold, let alone the flu. There’s a bad case of this unknown virus making rounds. I’ll turn around.” He spun to face the driver’s side window, allowing me some privacy.
I faced the opposite side of him, slowly pulling my top off. Even my bra was soaked. I undid the hooks and quickly pulled the jersey over me while I swiped off my bra. Not a bad effort in a small confinement. Suddenly, the atmosphere changed as I looked over at Alex, his face was in turmoil. Yeah, okay, I’d let this one go. I was half-naked for a second, and he was a hot-blooded guy despite the wedding band on his finger.
“Better?”
He leaned over and brushed away a wet lock of hair from my face. Suddenly, the car felt hot, the air was charged, my cheeks blushing from the rise in temperature. Whether it was from the heat or his touch, I couldn’t tell.
We pulled up to his house. It was a small cottage in a secluded part of the town, very cute, reminded me a lot of Hansel and Gretel. He opened the front door, turning on the light. I followed him through the hallway as he continued to switch on some lights.
“Samantha isn’t home. She’s in San Francisco for the night babysitting her nephew.” He looked over, watching my reaction. I was relieved. Not that I was doing anything wrong, but there was something about him that made me feel comfortable. I felt my body relax.
“Nice place. It’s very cozy.”
We entered the living room, my eyes drawn to the enormous fireplace nestled against the back wall.
“It’ll do for now. Unfortunately, my wife doesn’t seem to think it’s good enough.”
“I’d love a place like this. But then, again, I love fireplaces. Nothing beats curling up in front of one reading a good book.”
“You don’t sound like a normal teenager.” He laughed.
“Define normal?”
“Well, definitely, not my sister,” he chastised. “I’ll be back in a sec. I’ll try to find these jumper leads. Help yourself to anything in the kitchen if you’re hungry.”
Alone in the living room, I walked over to the mantelpiece to look at the picture frames that sat perfectly aligned. There was one of Alex on his graduation day standing proudly with his mom and dad, another of Alex and Adriana when they were kids. It was adorable. They were both wearing cowboy hats and holding up an ice cream cone with three scoops. It looked enormous compared to them. There were a few others which I assumed were of Samantha and her sisters. The one that caught my eye was the one of them on their wedding day. She looked stunning in her dress. Her face was radiant as she looked into his eyes. Alex was holding her, his eyes a different shade of emerald than what I normally saw. I had no idea how that was even possible.
Despite that, he looked happy, and I reminded myself again to ignore these feelings that were starting to build inside me. My focus needed to be on my grades if I wanted to attend an ivy league school next year.
“I found them,” he murmured, standing close behind me.
We weren’t touching, but the electricity was radiating off him. His slow breaths were blowing against my skin, whooping my body into a frenzy. I closed my eyes, just for a second, allowing myself to live in the moment. His face was inches away from mine. I started to panic because this struggle around him was uncharted territory. Until I understood what these feelings were, I needed to keep my distance.
Thankfully, his phone started ringing and broke us from the temptation. He took the call in the kitchen, talking briefly before hanging up and walking back to the living room, though, this time, stopping a few feet away.
“Sorry, that was Samantha, talking my ear off about her nephew.” His tone is bitter, and I wasn’t sure if it was because of the baby talk or the fact that she called and interrupted us.
“Are you guys thinking about having kids soon?”
I regretted asking almost immediately.
“She wants to, but I think we’re way too young.” He sighed. Clearly, it was a touchy subject.
Why, oh why, did I open my big mouth and bring this up? Now I had visuals of them having sex. I was getting annoyed with myself, and this strange possessive feeling was nagging at me. This jealousy was all kinds of wrong.
“I’m sorry, Alex. I didn’t mean to pry.”
