Chapter Seven – Wren
Sloane is sitting on the edge of my bed, providing opinions I don’t ask for about the outfits I try on. When I told her I had a date tonight, she was reserved but excited—until I told her who the date was with, and then she let her excitement show, much to Elias’s chagrin and envy.
A hot professor who is no longer off-limits since he’s not my professor anymore.
I don’t know where exactly we’re going out to eat, but I can’t picture Reese at any super fancy establishment, but a place like McDonald’s doesn’t fit him, either. With how much the man helped me last semester, I realize I don’t know that much about him.
It’s a revolving door of outfits until Sloane decides she’s going to dress me up. Everything in my closet, apparently, is for grandma’s… something reminiscent of Logan. He’s insulted my choice of fashion before, many, many times.
I didn’t tell her about him showing up here yesterday.
I couldn’t. That kiss still replayed in my mind, too, as much as I tried not to think about it.
At the time, I wanted nothing more than to let him kiss me all over, let those hands of his rediscover me.
Honestly, I don’t know how I was able to pull away from him and tell him to leave.
That kind of willpower had to have been magic.
Sloane reappears with a pink blouse and a sleek pair of black pants. She shoves them toward me, saying, “Here, try these.”
“Pink?” I say. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in pink.” Call me crazy, but Sloane doesn’t seem like a girl who likes pink.
“That’s because you haven’t. I’m more of a red kind of girl.”
I go to change. Sloane is a bit thinner than I am, but most of her clothes fit me anyways, even if they are a little tighter in certain places.
The blouse is a bubblegum pink, a few buttons near the collar, which I undo to reveal my collarbone.
The pants are stretchy around the waist, so there are no buttons or zippers to speak of.
They’re quite form-fitting, curving along me and making it look like I actually have a cute butt.
Dang, I actually look okay.
When I return to my bedroom, Sloane’s lips quirk upward into a grin.
“There you go. That’s the one. See? I knew we should’ve just picked from my closet to begin with.
All your shit is just… shit, sorry.” She shrugs, and though she apologized, she doesn’t appear sorrowful at all for insulting my entire wardrobe.
She waits a moment before saying, “Reese is going to lose his mind when he sees you. How late do you think you’ll be? Think you’ll be going anywhere else after the restaurant?” Though she doesn’t say it, I know what she’s hinting at: she’s trying to see if I plan on hooking up with him.
After everything that happened with Logan last semester, I really shouldn’t be hooking up with anyone, but then again… new year, new me, right? Let’s not forget how crazy that masked man made me at that party. Maybe I do have it in me to hook up with Reese.
“I don’t know,” I say.
“Well, all I know is, after the crap that happened last semester, you deserve to have some fun, and who better to have some fun with than a sexy professor?”
I chuckle. “You’re lucky Elias isn’t around to hear that.” If he was nearby, he’d make his presence known; that one has a mean jealous streak.
“He can bite me.”
“It doesn’t bother you he’s so jealous?”
“Nope. In fact, I think it’s kind of hot.
” She flips some of her blond hair over her shoulder.
“He’s not the only jealous one. I can get very, very jealous.
It’s one of those things that drew us together, in the beginning.
Both of us wanted to show ownership over the other, although we had different ways of showing it. ”
Showing ownership over the other person. Hmm. I can’t say I’ve ever wanted to be in a relationship like that, but hey, whatever floats their boat. I suppose, as long as both parties are aware and consenting, ownership can be sexy in its own way.
My phone buzzes, and I check it. When I see Reese’s name pop up, my stomach gets all these butterflies. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say I’m actually exciting for this date, that I’m looking forward to it.
Really, it’s my first real date since I broke up with Mike. I’m not counting anything that happened with Logan, for obvious reasons.
The crazier part is, I feel ready.
“He’s on his way now,” I say, and I tuck my phone into the slim back pocket of the pants I wear.
I go to my wallet and pull out some cash and tuck that into the pocket, too.
Carrying a purse around sucks; it was something I decided when I was young.
As a little girl, I never fell into that trap.
Makes things a little more complicated now, but I make do.
Sloane comes with me downstairs, and we wait in the living room with the blinds open. It’s pitch-black outside thanks to the short winter days, but we’ll see Reese when he pulls up.
The more minutes that pass, the more nervous I become.
I’m excited for this date, yeah, but I’m also anxious about it.
What if something goes wrong? What if something bad happens?
Or, worse, what if something good happens?
If I feel a connection, would it be so bizarre to want to continue the date well into the night?
Maybe hooking up with him isn’t off the table.
My roomie must sense my anxieties, because she confidently tells me, “You’ll have fun. And if, say, something bad does happen, just text me and Elias and I will race over to where you are and kick Reese’s ass.”
I chuckle softly. Though I don’t doubt Elias could kick anyone’s ass, I also think Reese might have one or two cards up his sleeve when it comes to situations like that.
The guy is tall, and surprisingly competent.
He might not have the bulging muscles Elias does, but sheer muscles don’t always equal an automatic win.
When Reese’s car pulls into the driveway, I go to the front door, shrug on my coat, and say goodbye. I step out into the world of night and head straight for the car, right as Reese is starting to get out. He sees me and stops halfway, one foot on the driveway, and one still in his car.
“Oh,” he says with a dimpled grin. “I was going to come get you. Eager to get this thing started, I take it?”
I blush as I meet him at his car. “Oh, um, I guess I didn’t know—” I stop myself from saying that my old boyfriend never came to the door to get me when he was picking me up; he always waited in his car. I just thought that’s what guys did.
Not every guy, apparently.
He finishes getting out. “No worries, but here, let me get the door for you, at least.” He leaves his driver’s side door wide open as he walks with me around his vehicle, and then he pulls open the passenger door for me, waits until I’m properly seated, and closes it.
His car is nice and warm, almost too warm, given the jacket I wear, but I don’t say anything.
My head is buzzing too much. I wasn’t aware guys opened doors for girls these days.
Is Reese that unusual, or was my ex just that terrible?
I never had anyone to compare Mike to, so maybe the relationship was never as great as I thought it was.
Not that I’m saying I need a man who opens doors for me, but it is kind of nice. Chivalrous.
Once Reese is back behind the wheel, he tosses me a glance and a grin. “You’re not getting cold feet, are you?”
“No,” I say. “No. I’m excited.” Is that a lame thing to admit before a date?
He doesn’t seem to mind, because he says, “Good. I’m excited, too.”
That makes me feel better. I smile to myself as I fiddle with my hands, and Reese backs the car up and gets us on the road. “Where are we going? You never told me.”
“It’s a newer restaurant in the area I’ve been meaning to try out. It’s not a super fancy place, if that’s what you’re wondering. I hope that’s not a deal breaker for you.”
“No, I don’t really do fancy.”
“I figured.”
We talk a little during the drive. He asks me how my week was, if I’m taking any classes that I think might give me trouble, to which I have to hold back a laugh.
I’m still taking the common core courses, and they don’t make those ones difficult at all since everyone has to take them before they graduate.
“You’re still undecided?” he asks, pulling into a parking lot. I guess we’re here. It really wasn’t that far away from the house. Maybe ten or so minutes.
“Yeah. I don’t know. Everything kind of feels…” I don’t want to say hopeless and pointless, because I’ve never thought that in my life, but after last semester, the doubt has crept inside of me and never left. I can’t picture my future anymore.
He turns off his car and unbuckles before he turns toward me.
“I get it. The future feels more uncertain than ever, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have hopes and dreams still.
If there’s something you want to be, something you want to try for, now’s the time.
Not saying it’ll be impossible to chase those dreams in twenty years, but things tend to get harder, from what I hear.
More bills, more responsibilities. The older you get, the more the world throws at you. ”
“You’d know all about that, huh?” I don’t know what came over me, but the retort is out of me before I can stop it. I hope he doesn’t take it the wrong way. I meant it jokingly.
Thankfully, Reese laughs. “Wait a second. Are you—are you calling me old, Wren?”
I’m slow in undoing my own seatbelt. “I mean, aren’t you?”
Again, he laughs. “Compared to you, maybe. Still, I don’t think twenty-nine is that old.”
A ten-year gap in our ages. To some people, that would be a major red flag. Then again, so would him being a professor and me a student, even if we don’t share any classes together anymore. This whole date night some people would judge and look down on, but I’m not one of those people.