AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yeah.” She looks up at me. “Thanks.”
“Anytime,” I say, and I mean it. I barely know Tara, or at least the person she is now, but I feel this need to protect her. I was that way with Haley too. I think it’s from watching Dean with our mom. He was always trying to protect her from Dad. I developed that protective instinct and now it’s so ingrained in me that I don’t even think about it. When I noticed the wind was almost knocking Tara down, I instinctively took her in my arms to protect her from it.
When we get back to her building, I walk her up to her apartment. I’d like to spend more time with her, but she toldTroy she’d bring him pizza when he got off work, which means she has to leave soon.
“Today was fun,” she says as I stand by her door, ready to leave. “Thanks for showing me your school.”
“I wish we’d had time to do something else. Something more exciting than walking around campus.”
“Maybe next time.”
“Are you saying we’re doing this again?”
“We have to. I owe you for lunch.”
“You don’t owe me.”
“Maybe I want to,” she says, smiling at me.
Is she flirting, or am I misinterpreting it? I’ve been getting mixed signals from her all day. Sometimes I swear she’s flirting but then wonder if I’m imagining it because it’s what I want.
If Tara was single, I would’ve wanted today to be a date, assuming she likes me as much as I like her. I’m surprised I have such strong feelings for a girl so soon after breaking up with Haley. Maybe Haley and I weren’t as close as I thought. Maybe we were drifting apart for months now and I just didn’t notice or wasn’t ready to let her go.
“I’ll text you next time I have a day off,” Tara says. “See if you’re free. If that’s okay.”
“Yeah, or you can talk to me before then. I don’t have a lot going on yet since classes just started.”
It’s not really true. I’m already behind on homework and studying and I need to get a job. But I also want to see Tara again.
“Then maybe I’ll call you this week.” She smiles. “Unless you’re dating that girl. She probably wouldn’t like me calling you.”
“You seem really sure I’ll be dating someone. You keep bringing it up.”
She shrugs. “Guys like you don’t stay single for long. And being at college, you’re surrounded by girls.”
“Most of them don’t want to date tech nerds.”
“You’re smart. That doesn’t make you a nerd. I think smart guys are sexy.”
There she goes again, making me wonder if she’s flirting or just making a comment.
She checks her phone. “I didn’t know it was this late. I need to hurry up or I’ll miss the bus.” She glances down at her dress. “I should change into something warmer. Could you unzip me?” She turns so her back’s to me.
She’s a friend. She has a boyfriend. Stop thinking of her in a sexual way.I tell myself that as I take hold of the zipper and slowly slide it down her back.
“Okay, you’re good,” I say, noticing I’m breathing harder. No matter what I tell myself, I can’t see Tara as just a friend. I’m attracted to her. I admit it. And I’m having feelings for her.
She slowly turns around. “Thanks.”
Our eyes meet, and I get this urge to take her in my arms and kiss her. I can see myself doing it, my mind already imagining what it’d be like. But I can’t. She’s with Troy. She wants him, not me.
“Well, I should get going,” I say.
“Bye, Jake.”
“Bye.” I go out the door, then stop and turn back. “Tara.”
She was about to close the door, but opens it again. “Yeah?”
