7. Reese
7
REESE
It’s funny how the universe works. I’ve spent weeks trying to return his keys to him and never ran into him once. And yet the second I don’t want to interact with him any longer, I see him everywhere on campus.
It’s super apparent Lilian isn’t the only one aware of his reputation. People scramble out of Dane’s way when it’s clear their trajectories are about to cross. It’s as if nobody wants to be within a ten-foot radius of him.
I see the stares and hear the whispers, and it’s enough for me to know that he’s on my list of people to keep at arm’s length. The only other people on that list are my mom and her boyfriend. And there, it’s easy to steer clear of them when there’s a healthy distance of nine hundred miles between us. It’s harder to avoid him when Belford’s a small campus.
“How was the date?” Lilian asks, pulling my attention away from Dane.
She doesn’t see him; she’s just being nosy. She’s always been nosy about my life.
“It was not a date,” I say because it wasn’t.
Caleb and I sat there and watched an action flick. I didn’t care for it as much because the plot had no substance, the lead actor was as wooden as an oak tree, and the fight scenes left a lot to be desired, but Caleb was invested in it. Really invested in it. Maybe it’s just my imagination, but it felt like he was more into it than he was into me.
He never once kissed me, flirted with me, or said anything that would imply it was a date. And it was an empty theater. That screams primo make-out spot to me.
“It was just two friends hanging out,” I say, forcing a carefree smile onto my face. Something that says I’m unbothered and couldn’t care less that nothing happened between me and Caleb.
Lilian’s brows furrow in concentration. I can see the gears running in her head as she tries to figure out a way to frame this non-date as an actual date.
I know my sister’s nosy, but I’m not. I’m a private type—reserved to my very core. I don’t kiss and tell. I also don’t not kiss and tell, apparently. “Are you ready for the car wash?”
My sister’s sorority is doing some charity wash with Caleb’s fraternity taking part. Half the proceeds are going to the local children’s hospital, and there’s been a friendly rivalry brewing between the two Greek chapters as this Friday inches closer.
I’ve volunteered to keep track of the money and update the scoreboards, super thankful that it’s my only involvement in this. Lili’s sorority sisters have spent the entire week talking about bikinis they’re going to wear to draw in the crowd.
Me? Bikini? Risking a sunburn I’m definitely going to get? No thanks.
“I’m so ready,” Lilian says as we set out a picnic blanket by the campus duck pond.
On warmer days, my sister and I will try to have a picnic. Lili will sunbathe, and I will read a book and feed the ducklings with the frozen peas I’ve packed. This had been the first tradition we made here after it took a couple of months for my brain to latch onto the fact that the campus is safe.
The area is breathtakingly gorgeous. Jacaranda trees with pockets of flowers in a lovely shade of purple surround us. An ornate-looking footbridge arches over the pond in a vibrant shade of red. Ducks and koi fish splash among the lily pads, and bees buzz in the air. My phone has taken so many pictures of this spot.
“Chrissy, Jenna, and I are going to wear matching suits.”
“How fun,” I tell her. My attention immediately cuts to a man dressed in baggy clothing swaggering over to Dane. He sticks out like a sore thumb. They both do.
I’m not sure what I’m witnessing, but I watch them discreetly exchange hands right there on the campus quad. A knot of dismay cinches tight in the pit of my stomach, and dread sinks into my bones.
Lilian did say he was seedy, my brain whispers. My heart gives a sharp twist.
“You could match with us,” Lilian offers, drawing my attention back to her.
“Huh?” It takes a second for me to realize what she’s talking about. I barely catch myself before my mouth twists into a deep grimace, sparing her a soft smile a beat later. “I’m okay.”
“Caleb won’t be able to take his eyes off of you.”
My skin flushes with heat. I haven’t told my sister the truth—that I’m afraid to show off the scar below my neck.
I don’t like the attention that comes with it. It never healed properly. I’m not good with makeup, so covering it up isn’t an option. And it’s so noticeably big that everyone always stares at it—or makes a face—which makes it harder for me to want to do anything other than hide.
Then there are also all the well-intentioned questions I get, and I know some people are genuinely concerned when they ask what happened, but they dig up old memories, and I end up having panic attacks. I want to move on from that awful day, but it’s difficult to do so when people inadvertently make it hard for me to do so.
“I’ll wear something cute,” I tell her, “but I draw the line at a bikini.”
And before Lilian can try to goad me into doing something I don’t want to do, I cram one of the sandwiches I’ve made into my mouth and focus my attention on the ducks.
“She’s her sister. She’s going to help them win.”
“Reese isn’t like that,” Caleb says, coming to my defense. I smile weakly at him, feeling shy when he glances my way and juts his chin.
“And we don’t need to cheat to win,” Lauren chimes in sweetly, her lips twisted into a carnivorous smirk. “We’re going to kick your asses fair and square.”
“Yeah?” A cool look flashes over Nico’s face. “I’d like to see it happen.”
“Can I go now?” I ask, looking at both presidents.
As thrilling as it is to watch them hate-flirt with each other, I’m starting to burn from standing under the blazing sun, and I can see a line of cars beginning to form that I should deal with before it backs up onto the street.
“Fine,” Nico says stiffly. “But I’m keeping an eye on you.”
“If that floats your boat,” I tell him, beelining straight to the shady tree by the entrance of the parking lot.
“Thirty of that is ours,” one of the frat brothers tells me, as Lilian’s sorority sister hands me a couple of bills that have been collected so far.
“Noted.” I move to stand in the shade. They both watch me intently as I split the cash, scribbling 30 on one side of the whiteboard and 25 on the other.
“Thanks, Little Vann,” Stacy shouts, flashing me a thumbs-up.
“No problem,” I shout back, watching her brazenly push her boobs together as another car rolls up. She tosses me a saucy wink, and I smother my laughter with a shake of my head.
It’s like this for the rest of the afternoon. Both chapters flirt shamelessly with everyone who shows up with their cars and spray their own bodies with water when they’re not trying to sabotage one another with chucked sponges and tossed rags.
Despite the water bottles Lilian keeps supplying me with, it’s still ridiculously hot. I’m sweating from the heat, the cable-knit sweater I’m wearing, and running around collecting money after Stacy and Todd have been called in to help wash the growing number of vehicles.
Unlike the sorority girls and the fraternity brothers, I’m not flirting with anyone. I just ask the girls or the guys? point-blank, and that system hasn’t failed me yet.
I grab another bottle, barely draining half of it, when a vintage-looking muscle car rumbles loudly into the parking lot, drawing everybody’s attention.
I know very little about automobiles, but it’s definitely one of the nicest cars I’ve ever laid my eyes on. It looks like something out of the movies. Sleek, shiny, and cherry red. I can already imagine it racing down a busy street with crazy accuracy and speed.
Setting the bottle on the ground, I make my way over as the window rolls down slowly. “The girls or the— Dane ?”
His dark eyebrow slowly inches up. “I’m the other choice?”
Flustered, I sweep my sweaty hair out of my face. “I meant, do you want to go with the girls or the guys?”
Wordlessly, he spares me a pointed look.
“Right. The girls,” I say. Because duh . “That will be five dollars.”
“I don’t have change.”
“I do.” My words come out tight and clipped, and I wring my fingers as I watch him reach for his wallet.
Suddenly, I wonder where he got his money from when he pulls out a thick wad of cash. Before I can even speculate, he hands me a hundred-dollar bill.
“You don’t have anything smaller?” I squeak, only to be met with an arched brow from him.
Ugh. I’m going to have to break this, and I don’t know if there are enough tens and twenties from the sorority’s profit to do so. I shuffle through the stack of cash, counting and sorting out the ones and fives as he waits. His car idly thrums in the meantime, barely outmatched by the heavy thump of my heartbeat in my ears.
I swear, I usually don’t take this long to count, but my breathing has gone ragged as I force myself to comb through the cash faster.
His hand drums an unfamiliar beat on the door of his car. “Have you decided on your favor yet?”
“What?” My fingers slip, and I lose my count. Dammit. I start over. “It’s okay. I don’t need anything from you .”
My tone comes out way colder than intended, and I cringe when he narrows his eyes. Smooth move, Reese. Piss off the one guy with the worst reputation on campus .
“You’ve already helped with the advice you gave me,” I remind him, wishing my smile wasn’t so nervous. I let out a nervous giggle. “We’re squared.”
His expression is inscrutable. The blues of his irises are unnervingly frosty. I feel inexplicably trapped under his piercing gaze, and I force my mouth to curve into another nervous smile.
“Are you two together now?”
“What?” My whole body erupts into flames while I motion for him to keep it down, offering him a shake of my head as I cling to the hope that Caleb wasn’t in earshot to hear any of that. “No.”
“Then we’re not squared,” he says, casually shrugging a shoulder.
“What do you mean, we’re not squared?” I choke out. “Do you think I have to land the guy for us to be squared?”
“Yes,” is his blunt response. “If you’re not gonna use your favor for anything else.”
“Then we’re never going to be squared,” I say, a wave of frustration crashing over me. I lose my count again and have to start over for a third time.
“Here’s what you need to do,” he says, and my attention lifts from the cash to him. There’s a tightness to the line of his jaw as he furrows his brows in deep concentration. “Come closer.”
“ What ?” I gasp. “Why?”
“He’s the jealous type,” Dane says, and I have to laugh. Caleb is not like that at all. “What? I’m serious. Should have seen how he glared at me while you were talking to me that day.”
My breath catches, and my heart begins to pound like a kick drum. The urge to sneak a peek in Caleb’s direction is strong, but my eyes remain focused on Dane instead.
“You want him to notice you, right? Make him notice you.” He props his arm on his rolled-down window and leans slightly out of his car. “If you want to get the guy, make him realize you’re not gonna be around forever waiting for him. Now come closer.”
“Closer?” I repeat, bending down slightly, so that we’re at least eye level. There's still a foot of space between me and his car door, but it does little to settle my stumbling heartbeat.
His blue eyes gleam with amusement. “Closer. I don’t bite.”
I move just a fraction closer. An inch, at most.
“Now touch your hair.”
My head pulls back as I blink. “What?”
“I’m serious. Touch your hair,” he demands, the amount of focus in his gaze steadfast and unwavering. “You need to sell this?—”
“This seems a bit much,” I tell him, my mind barely adjusting to the fact that we are having this type of conversation. I almost pinch myself just to make sure this isn’t some weird dream. “And someone is waiting in line behind you.”
I glimpse over to see a tan sedan idling behind his car.
“Who gives a shit?” is his resounding response.
“I don’t like to keep people waiting?—”
“Then hurry the fuck up,” he says impatiently. “Come closer, touch your hair, and laugh like I said something funny.”
“This seems really excessive, though,” I reiterate with a slight frown, folding my arms across my chest.
He lifts a brow, his mouth twisting into a wild smirk. There’s a fresh cut alongside the bottom of his lip. I don’t even want to ask where it’s from.
“But it’s working,” he declares, his tone dripping with amusement. “Your boy is murdering me with his eyes as we speak.”
“What?” I finally peek over my shoulder to see Caleb staring at us. He’s not the only one looking. Half of Lilian’s sorority and a couple of frat guys are, too. Even Lilian.
“You’re welcome,” Dane says smugly, his car rumbling forward as he steps on the gas.
“Wait,” I call out, and his vehicle abruptly halts. The sedan behind him honks. Whoops. “What about your change?”
“Don’t need it. Keep it. Donate it to the kids. Whatever. I don’t care what you do with the money.”
He waves me off before he drives his car toward the group of girls, leaving me standing there, gawking at his taillights. Swallowing hard, I glance at the hundred-dollar bill still in my hand. With haste, I neatly stack it with the sorority pile and turn my attention to the sedan that pulls up.
“What did he want?”
I freeze at the loud voice behind me. My heart seizes in my chest. Bile lurches up my throat. The palms of my hands turn clammy as my mind flashes back to that awful night. I almost touch my scar, swallowing a lungful of air instead.
Caleb appears in my periphery, but he’s not looking at me. He’s got a curious expression aimed at Dane’s car. With a too-bright grin, I wait until my nerves subside to answer. The few seconds feel endlessly long.
“We were just talking,” I explain, then hesitate. It quickly occurs to me that I can’t exactly tell him what Dane and I were truly up to. Then I realize how absurd it is that Dane, the Dane Kingsley my sister warned me about, has just tried to help me get with Caleb. Even though his suggestions were a tad bit ridiculous.
Would a bad guy try to help someone like me land Caleb? I know he said he owed me one, but this seems like the last thing a guy with his reputation would do.
Maybe he’s not that bad , a voice in the back of my head whispers. I should know better than to take rumors at face value.
Back home, guys thought I was easy and girls thought I was slutty trash because I’m one of the Vann girls from the trailer park. I developed early, and it only brought me attention of the unwanted kind. Really, I should be the last person to believe whatever rumors I stumble across.
“What were you talking about?” Caleb asks, planting his hands on his hips.
“The charity,” I lie. Technically, he did tell me to donate his change to the kids .
“Huh.” He sounds surprised. I’m not sure what else to say, so I’m glad he’s the one who’s keeping the conversation flowing. “So, listen, do you want to go on a date with me tomorrow?”
“A date?”
“That’s what I said, right?” A teasing smile pulls at his lips.
My pulse flutters with excitement. My brain’s already running through various scenarios of what our date can entail when I suddenly remember that I’m busy. I swear, I can feel my heart deflating in my chest like a popped balloon. “I can’t. I mean, I want to, but I have work tomorrow.”
I scored a job at the on-campus bookstore. I’m supposed to shadow Mandy tomorrow to learn how to ring up certain items before I start on Monday. The pay is minimum wage, but the hours are flexible and work with my class schedule. And it’ll be nice not having to worry about catching the bus to get to work on time.
“I can pick you up after?” he suggests and then pauses. “If that’s what you want.”
Excitement threads through my veins as I find his gaze. “You’d wait for me?”
He shrugs a shoulder, raking his fingers through his curly hair. “Why not?”
“Okay,” I stammer. “Sure. That sounds great.”
“Looking forward to it.”
“Me too.” I cast a glance at the vintage cherry-red car, and my cheeks singe with mortification when I realize that Dane’s watching us. Just him, by the looks of it. At least I didn’t make a complete fool of myself for everyone else to witness.
He mouths well ? to me.
As discreetly as possible, I flash him a subtle thumbs-up.
And as indiscreetly as possible, he throws two thumbs-up gestures in response. With both hands out the window.
What the hell is he doing ? My face burns with even more mortification. I widen my eyes at him, hoping he’ll take the hint to stop. Only, he does it again. This time, pumping his hands twice. Oh my God.
“So,” Caleb says, “your place or mine?”
“What?” My attention darts back to him to see him smiling softly at me.
“Where do you want me to pick you up?”
“Oh. Hmm.” I mull it over, waiting for my cheeks to stop burning from Dane’s antics before I give him an answer. “Can you pick me up at the sorority house?”
Caleb grins. “You got it.”