Chapter Five
Tandy
What is he even going on about now? Protection? From what?
“Seriously.”
He pulls me over to the side of the walkway when a group of people walk by.
The way he’s looking at me it’s like he thinks I’m being purposefully obtuse about what he means. His words warning me about walking alone come back to me. Is that what he means?
“I don’t need someone to hold my hand, Rip. I’ve been walking across freakin’ campus all by myself for two whole years now.”
“And how many times has that girl brought a stranger to your bedroom while you were barely dressed? You don’t think that’s on the Dateline bingo card for dangerous activities that will get you killed quick?”
I don’t answer him. I don’t have a good answer to give to myself rather long him. “I'm not sure why she did that. She’s never done it before.”
“That you know of.”
“I think I would know if she let a huge ass guy into my room.”
“Yeah, what the hell would you have done this morning? Hit me with your phone?”
“No! I was going to throw Vanessa in your way and go out my window.”
I speak before I can think and realize immediately I shouldn’t have said it.
“Please, I could have been on you before you even realized it. And throwing that girl at me wouldn’t have stopped me even for a second.”
“Please, having a beautiful woman thrown at you wouldn’t have slowed you down even a little?”
“Not when the beautiful girl I’m after is going out a window. The only place your little ass would have gotten off to would have been my arms because I would have dumped her on her face and been down the stairs and out the door before you could have touched a toe on the ground.”
Un-fucking-believable. He’s unbelievable. And a fucking liar. There’s no way he would just drop someone as pretty as Vanessa for me. “I can take care of myself.”
“I would feel better if you let me at least put a better lock on your door and you actually started using it.”
I actually think about what he is saying. It might be nice to have a personal lock on my door. Better than the dinky one I have now.
“What kind of lock?”
“One with a key…that only you have.”
But is it enough -do I want it enough- that I will agree to go with him and be his human shield? Is it enough to have me be his faux-sister?
“Fine.”
I don’t like it, but he’s offering too much money for me to be too picky. Mom and Bonnie wouldn’t have to help me at all next semester. And I could stay in my apartment throughout the summer. “Meet me at the library later this evening.”
“How much later? I have practice at four?”
“How long does it last?”
“Hard to say. All depends on how we do and if we’ve pissed Coach off. How about I call you when I leave?”
“Fine that works.”
I can’t help thinking I’ve made a deal with the devil as I walk one way and he walks the other. I already know I’m going to regret saying yes, even if it is just for two weeks but not having to be a burden on my sister or my mom is priceless.
I go back and forth in my head the entire day and think several times about calling him and telling him I was wrong. I can’t tutor him and nothing he says or does will make me change my mind. But in the end, I pick up and agree to meet him at the library.
I end up being late because I misjudged how long it would take to get to the library from my sister’s shop. I step into the quiet and warmth and want to stay even if I don’t find my student which starts to seem like the outcome of my night since he’s not at the front where I would assume he would be waiting for me.
“Tandy!”
I close my eyes and fight for patience as the loud-mouthed jock calls out my name so loud it echoes through the entire building. He gets several shushes while others turn to find out who he is yelling for. Wonderful! He’s trying to get us both kicked out of one of my favorite places. I should have listened to my gut and told this guy to fuck off.
I mouth the word ‘sorry’ as I go by one of the librarians behind the welcome desk before I grab Rip by the hand and yank him away from all the staring eyes.
“You do realize you’re not supposed to shout in a library, don’t you?”
Instead of looking ashamed or being pissed I reprimanded him he shocks me by burying his nose in my neck. What the hell?!
I push against him hard and whisper/shout, “What are you doing?”
“You smell good.”
He backs up like him sniffing me, getting so close -closer than I let anyone else but family- is just an everyday occurrence. “Did you put some kind of perfume on before you came here?”
“What?”
He drags me into a corner of the library that no one is occupying causing my heart to trip up and beat a little faster. Was I wrong about my reading of what kind of person he was? Is he going to do something I’m going to have to kick his ass for?
“You didn’t smell this way this morning, ba…Tandy. Did you put perfume on? And what kind is it? Because you smell delicious. Like a big delicious cookie.”
He drops my hand and sits in a chair where a backpack is already sitting on the top of the table. I don’t think he realizes burying his face in someone’s neck is taboo -especially when you don’t know that person. When he describes the scent, I immediately recognize what he is smelling on me.
“I…work at my sister Bonbon’s bakery and candy shop when someone calls in sick or they need more help than they have. Cookies are probably exactly what you are smelling on me.”
“Your sister’s name is Bonbon?”
He looks up at me while simultaneously pulling out the chair next to him.
“No.”
I sit without thinking. “Her name is Bonnie but the two girls she co-owns the shop with call her Bonbon because she’s really good at making cakes and cookies and…”
“These other girls, do they have themed names too like Cookie or…?”
“Yes. Candy’s real name is Candace and Lolly’s real name is Lilly. You can figure out what they are good at or why they got their names. No Cookie though.”
“And you work at the place too?”
I nod for him. “So what is your nickname?”
“Well,”
damn, he is really listening to me and not just trying to be nice, “I don’t have one.”
“What are you good at?”
“I fill in for Bonbon when she needs me to. I bake sweet things.”
“You should be called Taffy.”
“Why? I don’t work with Taffy.”
“Yeah, but it fits with the whole B for Bonbon and Bonnie, C for Candaice and Candy, and what was the other one?”
“Lilly but we call her Lolly.”
“Yeah, yeah, Taffy fits. I’m going to start calling you Taffy. You’ve got to have a cute nickname, and you won’t let me call you sweetheart or baby. So, Taffy it is!
I’m pretty sure I said no nicknames at all, but Taffy is better than sweetheart, I guess. I let it go so we can focus on why we are here and not the fact that I still might be thinking of Rip leaning into me and getting so close. I don’t need to be thinking about that at all.