AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I had to fly back home in two days for Christmas, but at that moment I was listening to my date blabbing about her last class for the past twenty minutes. She was the only girl I asked out since I moved here. It was our first date. I needed to go back home knowing I tried to move on. No matter the outcome.
My date helped me understand that endless talking wasn’t something only high school girls did as I used to think. It was a girl thing. Period.
When she finished her story she looked at me with anticipation.
“What do you want to do now?”
“Head back to my room?” I shot out immediately. She blushed and I clarified. “I mean I will take you to yours first. I’m tired.”
“Oh, okay.”
I couldn’t miss the disappointing look on her face. It made me feel like a douche but I just didn’t feel any attraction between us.
“Sorry, I talk too much,” she added.
I thought about Clementine and our secrets and soundless interactions.
“Don’t apologize. It’s not a bad thing. At least I know what you’re thinking.”
She stopped in front of her building’s entrance and looked at me with a smile. She seemed kind and warm. A regular girl. Not a cheerleader with a nasty attitude or someone broken to the point of self-destructiveness.
“You’re not going to ask me out again are you?” she asked with a friendly expression on her face. “It just isn’t there, is it?”
“What isn’t?”
“The attraction,” she shrugged. “The chemistry. Whatever you want to call it. It’s not there,” she pointed to the space between us. I nodded.
“I’m sorry,” I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. “You are sweet and totally hot. I’m just not available I guess,” I paused, then squeezed her hand. She squeezed mine back, and that was it. The summary of my dating life post Clementine Hartley.
I waited until she got inside her dorm and took a walk around the campus. It was cold, but I needed the fresh air. I checked my phone. I had messages from Chase and Hannah, who were also coming home for the holidays. Nothing from Clementine. Not that I expected her to text me, but every time I looked at my phone, I noticed she hadn’t.
Two days later Hannah literally dragged me out of my house barely an hour after I arrived. She insisted we had to go eat waffles at this new place I had never heard of. She was way too excited, talked louder than usual, and just couldn’t stay still. I thought it was some kind of mixture between her being back home and the whole Christmas spirit thing. She looked like a girl who loved Christmas.
“You need to get laid, Spencer, it will calm you down a little.”
“Fuck off,” she said with the biggest smile I had ever seen on her face as we entered the coffee shop. That was a bit of a stretch because my back was pressed to the door. The line was huge. I huffed.
“Do you have to eat a waffle here? Look at the line.”
On the bright side, all the tables were empty, and I quickly noticed people were taking pies and cakes to go.
“Do I?” she pushed herself up on the tip of her toes and looked ahead. “You tell me, Cole.”
My gaze followed hers. Standing behind the counter, laughing and selling pies, was the most beautiful girl in the world. Hannah started jumping and waving like she was trying to get the attention of the astronauts in the International Space Station from down here. And, of course, Clementine noticed us seconds later. She smiled at us with the sincerest smile I had ever seen on her face. Her eyes were shining from across the room and her cheeks reddened, but she didn’t try to hide it.
I was standing like a piece of wood. She was working? I thought she went to school. What was that about?
“Excuse me,” Hannah slapped my hand playfully. “I’ll go kiss my girl. Don’t move.”
Like I could. I was mesmerized. But Hannah’s words stung a little. She could go kiss Clem and call hermygirl, while I was standing in the back of the line with the strangers.
Hannah returned a minute later and dragged me to a table.
“I ordered you a waffle,” she said.
“Of course you did.”
We sat, and I watched Clementine joke around with the customers. She looked so open and free. She laughed out loud. She didn’t try to hide her emotions. It was like looking at a different person.
