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Three
Insanity
Byron
There was no mistaking it. Here it’d been over a week since he’d last heard that sweet laugh at his brother’s signing, almost as long since he’d even thought about it, and he didn’t even have to look to know it was her. Before he’d heard it, he’d been standing in the line at Starbucks, as usual lost in thought about things he wished he could just forget about. It’d been over a year since his mother’s untimely death and if anything, instead of getting over it he felt more bitter any time something inadvertently reminded him of her. The morning had started off like so many others ever since he’d accidently been once again forced to remember. He’d been in as foul a mood as he so often was, yet now the corners of his lips were already twitching upwards in that way that’d been so foreign to him for too long.
He’d question whether or not it was actually her but there was something too distinct about the sweet laughter that there was just no mistaking. Against his better judgement he glanced in the direction of the laughter. Almost as instantly as he’d started to give into the temptation of possibly talking to her this time, the idea was squashed. Their eyes met for just a second, but it was long enough. Long enough for her to obviously recognize him as the creeper from that first day because just like that day, that sweet smile instantly flattened at the sight of him.
Byron turned away immediately, to his surprise he was up next at the counter and he moved forward. It took him a second to remember what he had every morning but then he did, and he placed his order. Annoyed that he hadn’t thought fast enough tonotorder anything and just walk out ASAP, he was tempted to just walk away now. Instead, he stood there, feeling inexplicably awkward as fuck as he waited for his drink. Like that first day the laughter had lessened considerably. Byron wouldn’t dare look her way again.
Not only had she clearly remembered him and how he’d been gawking at her that first day, but there was a dude with her this time. There were others with them at the table she sat at—girls—but they were all a blur the moment his eyes had met with hers. Like the first time he’d seen her, even as she’d laughed so unabashedly there was still that air of nervousness in those big brown eyes when they’d met with his. He’d like to think she was just shy, or like him she’d felt so oddly struck she wasn’t sure what to make of it. But there was still the very real possibility that he’d just crept her the hell out again.
Byron hadn’t even realized her laughter had him smiling big and goofy again, until he saw the guy with her, and his smile instantly deflated. She’d been smiling big at the very moment as she wiped something off the guys lip with her finger. It’s when she noticed Byron staring at heragain, and her smile flatlined as well. Albeit not so instantly this time but the unease in her expression hadn’t been missed.
All Byron needed now was to be caught glancing her way again. For all he knew she may’ve already alerted her boyfriend about Byron and where she recognized him from. Maybe the other girls with her were the same as the ones with her the day of the signing and they were all whispering about it now too. If Byron did get caught looking over there again it’d be all her boyfriend would need to make a show oflooking outfor his chick. Byron was in no mood to start off his day with some freshman punk getting in his face over a girl he didn’t even know.
It felt like an eternity, but they finally called out Byron’s name and order. He took it and stalked out of there without so much as a glance back. For a moment as he drove to work, he wondered if the guy with her was who she’d stood in line for so long to get things signed for. Beast’s remark about thelittle girlsgetting things signed for their daddy’s and boyfriends hadn’t been forgotten.
Annoyed that he’d let this girl, thiscomplete stranger, take up even another one of his thoughts, he shook it off before he even got to work. The rest of his workday went on smoothly and he’d all but forgotten about that morning’s petty incident.
Until he got to the gym.
Byron headed to 5thStreet after work for a much-needed workout. He’d been trying to get in there as often as he could to work off some steam since Beast insisted it was the best way to do so. Though Nine was always quick to point out better ways towork offsteam.
Admittedly Nine did have a point and Byron did work off steam in other ways often enough, but it never gave him the same feeling of accomplishment a workout at the gym did. He’d been about a half-hour into it when he heard it. That now exasperatingly familiar laughter
“No fucking way,” he muttered refusing to look up or around for her.
What were the odds he’d be running into her again on the same day? But after hearing it again he was almost certain. Almost. Because unlike that morning when there wasno questionabout it, there was something slightly off this time. The genuine sweetness he’d been so inexplicably sucked into before, was a bit more smoldering this time.
Unable to fight the temptation, he looked up just in time to see her smile big at the muscle-head who towered over her. There was another couple with them. The guy she was addressing was clearly enjoying herflirting. Byron had barely looked at her long enough that morning to notice her clothes. All he remembered was there was nothing that stood out about it. If he’d had to guess, she was dressed in normal casual classroom attire.
Now she was in workout gear. Tight, body hugging black training leggings and an equally tight bright pink crop top. Just like the first day when he noticed she was petite in stature; the womanly curves contradicted any assumptions that she was really just alittlegirl like Beast had suggested. Sure, she was young and her wide-eyed reaction to being gawked at by a total stranger, had been somewhat proof of her possibleinexperience. Though at the moment she looked anything but shy or innocent.
For a second, he considered the possibility that thiswasn’ther. He’d only ever seen the girl twice and both times he hadn’t allowed himself to look at her too long. Even the other girl with her didn’t look like any of the other girls he’d seen her with at the signing. And this guy she was so shamelessly flirting with wasnotthe same one whose lip she’d wiped something off from just that morning.
Breathing a little easier and not understanding why, he’d just about convinced himself of it now. Byron had definitely been wound way too tight lately. So much so, he was letting stupid shit like this boggle his mind. Like any of this should matter to him in the first place. But that’s all it was. He’d forced himself not to think about it all day and now the first girl that even resembled or sounded like her he convinced himself it was. He’d been mistaken, and he was sure of it now, this wasn’t her.
And then their eyes met, and he froze.
There was no denying it now. This wasn’t someone who just resembled her. Thiswasher. Feeling like an idiot for having been caught staring, yetagain, Byron sucked in a breath waiting for the inevitable. For her smile to flatten and for that wide-eyed stare. For the third time he’d been caught and now on the same day in two different places. He wouldn’t even blame her if she saw fit to call security on someone, she no doubt thought was stalking her now.
To his utter surprise her smile didn’t wane this time like it had all the other times. Instead, it remained, and her teeth sunk into her bottom lip. It was subtle and not quite as blatant as some girls, but she fluttered her lashes at Byron. He actually turned around to check if she might be doing all this on someone else’s account. Glancing back at her again Byroncould notbelieve the reaction his entire body had to this girl. His insides were doing the thing he hadn’t felt since way back when he’d first discovered girls and flirting.
It wasn’t until the guy said something and she turned to him laughing again that it all abruptly came together for him. She’d been having coffee and laughing it up with some dude that morning, flirting with this meathead now, while at the same time fluttering her lashes at Byron
Doesn’t matter what kind of reputation they get because once they’re done with school, they go back to mommy and daddy with a clean slate, and never look back.
As disappointing, as the awakening slap of reality was, Byron welcomed it. What this girl’s laugh, those eyes, and a fucking smile had begun to do to him without him knowinganythingabout her—not even her name—wasridiculous. He refused to even glance at her now, especially as he continued to hear her laugh but in thatdifferentway. That he could be so aware of the minor difference in a laugh from a person he knew nothing about, was beyond exasperating.
Only thing Byron could think now was that hehadbeen way too wound up lately. He needed a release and maybe Nine was right. It’d been a while. With no desire to stick around and continue to listen to that laugh he knew would beimpossibleto ignore now, he grabbed his towel and keys and started out.
Like an idiot he was once again incapable of walking by her without giving into the temptation of looking at her one last time. Even as she continued to carry on with the other dude she still turned to Byron and not so casually took him in from top to bottom, smiling sweetly the whole time. Then just like that, she turned back to the other guy and indulged him with that same sweet smile. As if she were used to throwing that smile and lash fluttering gazes around like nothing.
It wasn’t until he was in his car that he realized how tensed up he’d gotten.What the hell?Rolling his neck, as he turned on his car, he glanced into the rearview mirror at his still disgusted expression. He just couldn’t make up his mind what he was more disgusted with. Her behavior in there or his unreasonable reaction to it. Why the hell did he even care?
As he drove back to his place in complete silence because he wasn’t even in the mood for the radio, something else dawned on him. Not since Lizzette, had he ever felt anything remotely close to the unreasonable yetseethingirritation he was feeling now. Not even when he’d ripped into the guy making out with Barbara. In hindsight, he knew now without a doubt his reaction that day had everything to do with his ego than anything else.
Easing up the grip-of-death he had on the steering wheel, he was doused with a sudden and unwelcome realization. One that had him choking up suddenly. What he was feeling right that second had nothing to do with the random girl he’d become so fixated with for no other reason than her sweet laugh. Lizzette young sweet and completely innocent, despite their being each other’s first everything.He’dbeen just as innocent as she was back then. The entire experience with her had taken him by storm. It’s what this girl sweet laugh was bringing back to him now.
Sure, he’d felt the similar gut tightening irritation he felt today since Lizette because of Barbara. But not that other emotion the sweet laughter brought on. He hadn’t allowed himself to think of Lizette in so long he’d completely suppressed all the memories he’d had of her. Her sweet innocent laugh and those wide-eyed stares she so often wore. More importantly what they did to him.
When he’d fallen into that deep depression after his mother died, he’d pushed all and any memories of both his mother and Lizette even further into his subconscious. With reminder after reminder lately Byron had become such a miserable bastard Beast had even proposed he seek therapy again. He’d done so when his mother had first passed. Though at the time Beast said it’d been at his wife’s suggestion. But his brother had agreed with Byron then that psychiatrists were all quacks. This time he seemed to be agreeing with his wife, that maybe itwoulddo him some good. Thathadto be it. It’s the only thing that could explain this. Even women he’d actually been in somewhat of a relationship with since Lizette had never had this effect on him. How in thehellcould one he’d yet to even formally meet—one he didn’t know the slightest thing about—be doing this to him?
The visual of those fucking beautiful eyes going so quickly from his to that other guys assaulted him suddenly. His fist slammed against the steering wheel with such force he heard it crack. Breathing deeply, he felt his heart thud against his chest, as the shock of what he’d just done sunk in.
“Well shit,” he muttered under his breath. “Maybe itistime your psycho ass considers seeing a shrink.”
