Unfamiliar by Erica Cope & Komal Kant

  Chapter Eighteen

 

  Chase

 

  There were only a few things in the world that really got me on edge. One of the major things was understandably my parents, but I was pretty sure a lot of people were put on edge by their parents. So, parents aside, I was quickly coming to the realization that one of my other triggers was Hailey.

  Which made sense, right? I mean, I’d basically disliked the girl since I’d first laid eyes on her, but now things were different. Hailey put me on edge because I felt the complete opposite about her now. Now, I kind of liked her and that freaked me out.

  Yes, Hailey had a boyfriend—I got it—but they weren’t married. People broke up after years of being together. So that meant there was still a chance for me. A few weeks ago, I was singing a different tune. I’d been completely against dating anyone. It was amazing how one girl—who was pretty much the opposite of everything I stood for—could change all that.

  So, as I sat here on the edge of my bed trying to focus on our assignment, I was more focused on all the things I could do to her on this bed. It was distracting having her here in my room.

  As usual, she was wearing one of her distracting outfits—a low cut, white shirt which showed off her boobs paired with tight black jeans. Damn could this girl wear jeans. I wouldn’t mind if she wore jeans like that every day.

  Shaking my head, I forced myself to focus on the assignment. We had to get this done and we had barely started making progress. “What if we move this line up and then add something new in here? I think it’d flow a lot better.”

  “Uh huh, sure,” Hailey mumbled, not even looking me in the eye. Her head was bent over as she scribbled away in that planner of hers, and I knew that she wasn’t working on our assignment.

  Actually, she had barely spoken two words to me in the last fifteen minutes.

  What was her deal? The other day she’d rushed off to see her boyfriend without much of an explanation right after I’d told her about my cheating ex, and now she wasn’t even paying attention. I wasn’t going to lie; I was a little annoyed with her. Hailey seemed like the kind of girl who wanted to do well in class and get good grades, yet here she was barely helping me with our project.

  It was really starting to piss me off.

  “Do you have anything you want to change around?” I asked, hoping that if I asked her an open-ended question it would get her to talk more.

  “Yeah, that’s fine.” She was so focused on her planner that she hadn’t even registered my question. And that’s what finally made me snap.

  “Hailey, what the fuck? Have you heard a damn word I’ve said?” I stood up and glared at her, waiting to get some sort of reaction out of her.

  Hailey glanced up, her expression blank. “I have been listening.”

  “Yeah, sure you have. What was the last thing I said?”

  She chewed on her bottom lip and then sighed. “I’m sorry; I guess I have been a little distracted.”

  I released my own sigh. “It’s fine. Let’s just get this thing done, okay?”

  Hailey nodded and I let my eyes fall back onto the lyrics that I’d been trying to fix.

 

  We only have one night to make this right

  To take back what we denied It’s only do or die, don’t hesitate ‘Cause we’re trying to stay alive

 

  There was something with the lyrics that wasn’t working for me. Something would have to be changed around a little.

  “Do you think the chorus needs to be shortened?” I asked, not really sure what to do with it. Maybe Hailey would have a better idea.

  Except, once again, she wasn’t paying attention to me at all. Her lips were slightly parted, her brow knitted as she stared at that goddamn planner like it was a matter of life or death.

  This was bullshit. I was done with this crap.

  Jumping to my feet, I grabbed the planner out of Hailey’s hand. In the process, a handful of pages were torn out.

  “Chase!” she cried, scrambling up to get the planner from me. “Give that back!” In a complete asshole move, I ripped out several more pages and threw them at her.

  “There you go!” What could I say? I was mad at her for so many reasons.

  Hailey looked like she was close to tears and I started to feel bad. “You can’t do that!” She sounded so helpless and her voice rose in panic. “You just can’t! I need that!”

  I was so frustrated, I wanted to break something. “You don’t need a planner. It’s a freaking planner!”

  “You’re a horrible person! You had no right to do that!” She suddenly came at me, beating her fists on my chest as tears fell down her face. Her skin started to turn red as she unleashed her anger on me.

  I guess we both had a lot of pent up frustration toward each other.

  I grabbed her wrist to stop her from hitting me. Losing her balance, Hailey fell hard against me. “I hate you, Chase!” she cried, her green eyes blazing with anger.

  “No, you fucking don’t.” My other hand slid up her arm and entangled itself in her hair. “If you really think that then you’re lying to yourself.”

  Hailey seemed to have stopped breathing. Her eyes were locked on mine. Our bodies felt like they were fused together—like we couldn’t break free or didn’t want to. Her skin burned against mine. Dirty thoughts were running through my mind—what it would feel like to taste her mouth, to take her clothes off, to run my hands over that curvy body of hers.

  Then her eyes darted to my lips and I knew she was thinking exactly what I was thinking. Without a second’s hesitation, I pressed my lips against hers. There was some resistance on her part—she didn’t kiss me back at first, but after a second it felt as though she was melting into me.

  My fingers found their way beneath her sweater to her soft skin. I pulled her in tighter and she pushed herself against me. We fell onto my bed. Oh God, I wanted so desperately to feel her naked body against mine.

  My lips found her neck and she moaned. Glancing up, I noticed her eyes fluttering shut as she dug her fingers into my hair.

  I was hard against her. I wanted her.

  Then I felt a hand press against my chest as Hailey stiffened beneath me. As I began to pull away, I saw her raise her hand and then a sharp, stinging sensation met my left cheek.

  “Hailey, what the hell?” I rolled off her and watched as she stood up and adjusted her clothes.

  She was shaking and her face was bright red. “Oh my God, I can’t believe that just happened. I can’t believe I let that happen. Why would you do that?” She was practically yelling at me now.

  “I wasn’t the only one doing it.” Yeah, it was a stupid thing to say, but I was once again left reeling from Hailey’s rejection, so I wasn’t really sure how to handle the awkward moment.

  “This isn’t funny!” Hailey gathered up her things and began stuffing them into her bag. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me! And, I don’t know what’s wrong with you! I have a boyfriend!”

  Before I could respond, she raced out of my room without another word. A few seconds later, the front door slammed shut. I was left in complete silence with my thoughts, but my mind was anything but silent.

  I tried to process what had just happened and couldn’t understand how I’d let myself lose control like that. I’d acted like a complete asshole to her and then kissed her when I knew she had a boyfriend.

  I’d always told myself I would never mess around with girl who was taken, yet I’d gone ahead and broken my own rules. What the hell was wrong with me?

  Kissing Hailey had felt like a figment of my imagination and the only way I knew it was real was the sharp stinging on my face as a reminder.

  I had screwed up big time and somehow I had to make it up to Hailey.