14. Vanessa
CHAPTER 14
VANESSA
My laptop sits open in front of me, and I stare at that stupid blinking cursor, willing words to come to my brain. I have a paper due in three days for my marketing strategies class, and I haven’t even started it yet.
Love that for me .
My favorite brown and orange plaid blanket is wrapped around my shoulders, but even it can’t bring me comfort right now. I’m too stressed for that. I push my blue-light glasses up my nose and pout my lips.
Music, that’s what I need. I slip off my bed and scurry over to the corner of my room where I set up my record player, putting on the Fine Line album from Harry Styles.
I’m about to waddle back to my bed when Danika appears in my doorway. She’s dressed in a sleek pair of black jeans and a lacy mesh long sleeve top over a black bralette. It’s a sleek and sexy outfit, a far cry from the sweatpants and oversized Britney Spears shirt I wear beneath the blanket.
“I’m about to head out.”
“Um … okay?” It comes out as a question because it’s not like Danika to give me a heads up she’s leaving. She just comes and goes as she pleases, answering to no one but herself.
She brushes her curled maroon-red hair over her shoulder. “Are you and Teddy serious?”
My brows furrow at her seemingly random question. “Yeah?” I curse myself over the fact that it comes out as a question.
“Look, I know it’s none of my business but just be careful with him.”
I narrow my eyes on her. “Have you had sex with Teddy?”
I’ve asked Teddy himself and he denied it, and while I don’t think he’s a liar, you never know. He could’ve forgotten.
“Oh, ew. No.” She makes a face. “But I know plenty of guys like him, and it’s rare for them to do the whole relationship thing. I want you to be careful. I know we’re not exactly friends.” She gives a tiny, humorless laugh. “That’s my fault. I’m not very good at the whole friends thing. But I don’t want to see you get hurt.”
I feel this sudden tug, this urge to tell her everything about my arrangement with the campus player, but I don’t because I know how important it is to keep this secret.
“I’m being careful,” I promise.
She nods, her lips twitching into a thoughtful smile. “Okay.” She starts to turn to leave but pauses. “Even though we’re not exactly friends, I’m here for you any time you need me.”
“Thanks.” I mean it, too.
She lingers in the doorway a moment longer before she dips her head in a nod and leaves.
I settle back on my bed, curling my legs beneath me and making sure my blanket is wrapped firmly around my shoulders. Sure, it’d probably be easier to slip a sweatshirt on, but I’ve always loved the feeling of comfort when I’m swaddled in a blanket.
I manage to get a few sentences typed out before I’m interrupted by a knock on the door.
“What the hell?” I grumble, shucking my blanket off.
I swear if it’s Tiffany in the room next to ours, out of shampoo again, she’s not getting mine. I lent her my holy grail shampoo that costs me like thirty-bucks, and she never gave it back. Since I hate confrontation, I never asked for it either.
Swinging the door open, it’s not Tiffany on the other side.
There’s a jolt in my heart, and my hand automatically flies up to the spot like I’m trying to rub away a soreness. But that’s not what it is. No, it’s the fact that my stupid treacherous heart is excited by the image of Teddy standing before me. He’s wearing a backwards baseball cap, loose gym shorts despite the cold, and an Aldridge U sweatshirt. His hair curls beneath the ball cap and his green eyes sparkle like he’s happy to see me.
Honestly, it’s unfair how guys can toss on a basic backwards cap and their hotness level goes up, but a girl wears one and it’s because we didn’t wash our hair.
He holds up a greasy brown bag, another smaller one tucked behind it. “I brought dinner.” He lifts a plastic baggy in his other hand. “And dessert.”
My lips threaten to smile at the freshly baked cookies. “Stress baking again?”
“You have no idea,” he grumbles. “You gonna let me in or not, girlfriend?”
“Oh, right.” I step aside and allow him entry into my dorm room.
I realize it’s the first time it’s been just the two of us here and we’ve always been leaving, never staying, and now I can’t help but wonder what it looks like from his eyes.
It has the standard furnishing every suite has with a couch and two chairs in the main area, as well as a bookcase, and a small table with two chairs. As far as decorating goes, neither Danika or I have done much beyond a gray and white rug and a few pink throw pillows. I spent more time decorating my room since that’s where I spend most of my time.
I know it would be safer to stay out here with him. It’s less personal, doesn’t reflect so much of me , and there’s also no bed—just the idea of Teddy lounging on my bed might send me into a tailspin—but I know I don’t want to stay out here. It’s not where I’m comfortable.
Flicking the fingers on my right hand, I motion for him to follow me into my room.
He looks around as I ease the door closed, purposely leaving it cracked. He smirks when he notices.
“Nice digs.” He eyes the white macrame dream catcher above my bed. “Did you make that?”
I snort a laugh. “Um, no. I bought it at Urban Outfitters because I’m a basic bitch.”
He chuckles, toeing off his sneakers. “Where do you want me to put these?” He raises the bags again.
“We can eat on the bed.”
“Cool.” He sits down on the end, my laptop beside his hip. I pick it up, moving it to my desk before I sit beside him.
“What’d you get?”
“Five Guys. They’re my favorite, but I don’t get it often.” He lifts the bottom of his sweatshirt, showing off his impressive abdominals. He smirks, smoothing the fabric back down. “I didn’t know what you like on your burger, so I asked for all their toppings on the side.”
My eyes widen. “What?”
“I didn’t want to mess it up. Don’t worry, I gave them a nice tip for the trouble.”
“You’re—”
“Hot, amazing, awesome, one of a kind, a perfect catch? Yeah, I know.” He pulls out a foil wrapped burger and passes it to me, then hands me the smaller bag that I assume has all the condiments and toppings. “There’s plenty of fries in the bag too. They always give so many.”
“Thank you. You didn’t have to do this.”
He rolls his eyes, unwrapping his own burger. “I think it’s time you realize I only do things I want to.”
He stares into my eyes, and I get lost in that endless sea of green and gold. My brain, unbidden, goes back to the house party, to his confession about his father and the kiss we shared.
Clearing my throat, I go to work assembling my burger.
A minute, maybe longer, passes in silence when he clears his throat and confesses, “My dad is requesting our presence at a function this weekend.”
“What kind of function?” I eye him warily.
Once again, I wonder why he chose me for this impossible task. I’m not the type of girl someone like his father would be pleased to have his son with—not with their status. I’m poor, from the wrong side of the tracks. I have to work. I drive a clunker of a car. But for some reason Teddy chose me that day and I know he saw that I was in need, but he didn’t have to help me.
I guess, beneath that gorgeous face, the flirty banter, and player ways, maybe Teddy McCallister has a heart of gold.
No, in these weeks I’ve gotten to know him I realize ‘maybe’ is an injustice. Teddy is a good person. A little wild, and cocky of course, but at his core he’s a kind and caring person.
“Are you thinking about me naked? Because you have this serious look on your face. I promise you, it’s way bigger in reality, and yes, it’ll fit. I have lube.”
I grab a pillow off my bed and smack him with it while he breaks into riotous laughter.
“You’re such a pig.”
“And you made me get mustard on your bed.” He points to the yellow blop on my white bedspread.
“It’s okay, you can afford the dry-cleaning bill.”
He cackles with amusement. “I’ve never met someone who keeps up with my wit so easily. It’s refreshing.”
“What can I say? It’s a gift.” I don’t tell him that I’m not like this with anyone else, but with him, it’s like all the walls I’ve built to protect myself don’t exist at all. With his easy and accepting personality I’ve never felt the need to be anything but me. “You didn’t answer my question.”
“About what?” He stuffs a handful of fries into his mouth. Such a caveman.
“What kind of function this is exactly?”
He rolls his eyes, stifling a snort. “Some fancy shmancy schmoozefest brunch thing at my family’s country club.”
I process his words and ask carefully, “When you say your family’s country club do you mean you’re members or that you own it?”
He stares at his half-eaten burger like it holds all the answers in the world. He clears his throat and mutters, “We own it.”
“What else do you own?” I inquire curiously.
“If I listed everything out, we’d be here for days.”
“Wow. That’s…”
“Horrifying?”
“I mean … kind of. Cool too, I guess.”
“The mega wealthy like to put their hands in everything. Their influence is far and wide.”
“You don’t seem to want that life.”
“I used to,” he admits honestly. “It was all I knew, what I was raised for, but last year was a wake-up call.” His brows lower, shadowing his eyes. “I thought I was untouchable because of my family’s name, money, influence … and that’s true, but consequences exist for a reason, and I was skirting away from them all, and I realized if I continued down the path I was on, I was going to end up exactly like my father, and he’s the last person on the planet I want to be like. I want to have a good heart, to be known for my kindness. One day I want to be a good husband and father. And money, it doesn’t buy those things. It can buy comfort, stability, but the saying is true; it doesn’t bring you happiness.”
I think about all the shit I’ve been through in my life, how money would’ve made things easier, but overall I’d say I’ve been happy and loved. Looking into Teddy’s lonely gaze I know I wouldn’t switch places. I’d take my poor wallet with a rich heart over the reverse any day.
Our eyes hold, and I realize that while Teddy is an outgoing, fun guy who is always making people laugh, there are shadows that cling to him, haunt him. On the surface he seems like your typical college guy, and maybe that’s who he truly was once, but that’s not the guy I’ve gotten to know.
I’m suddenly thankful for our deal, not just because he saved my ass, but because I think maybe I’ve made a lifelong friend out of it. I can’t imagine him never being in my life after this.
“What made you come here?” I blurt suddenly. I wave my hand to the food spread between us. “Why’d you bring dinner?”
He wipes the corner of his mouth free of ketchup. “Because I wanted to. I could’ve gone to Cole’s, I do love to bug the shit out of him, or even Mascen, and I could’ve pestered Jude to hang out, but … it was you I wanted to be with.”
His brows furrow, eyes narrowed at his own statement like he’s surprised by the revelation.
“Huh,” I muse, fighting an amused smile. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you like me.”
Teddy clears his throat, the faintest stain of pink on his cheeks. He picks up the plastic bag and holds it out to me. An offering or a distraction, I don’t know. “Cookie?”