Choosing You Page 4

  “Are you shitting me? Did you just say swimmers don’t work hard?”

  “Yeah, why?” For some reason, I’m really loving insulting this guy.

  “Game on, Iowa girl. Get your ass in position.”

  He sets himself up in lane one of the track. I take my sweet time walking over to lane two, yawning just for added effect.

  “Do you need a head start?” I ask him, stretching my arms behind my back.

  “Damn, you’re annoying.” He smiles when he says it. “We do one lap around. Ready? Three, two, one. Go!”

  I take off down the lane, my eyes straight ahead pretending he’s not there. I quickly round the first end of the track and hit the straightaway. I imagine myself running far away from that place. Running back home and seeing Frank and Ryan again. I round the next end and keep running.

  “Stop! We’re done!” I hear Garret’s voice and slow down, noticing that I’m already halfway through a second time around the track. I finish the loop and meet up with him again. He’s bent over, hands on his knees trying to catch his breath.

  “Okay, I admit it. You’re fast,” he says, panting as sweat drips off his face.

  “Fast? That was my normal pace.”

  He glances up at me, trying to figure out if I’m kidding. Then he stands up straight and wipes the sweat off his forehead. “Remind me never to do that again.” He walks over to the edge of the track and gets his water bottle. “You should sign up for cross country or track. You’re really fast.”

  “Nah. I ran cross country in high school. Now I just run when I’m stressed.” It’s true, but I wish I hadn’t said it. It makes me sound weak and I hate sounding weak, especially around a guy.

  “What are you stressed about? School?”

  “No. I didn’t mean that I only run when I’m stressed. I run for all kinds of reasons. Like today I ran because it’s nice outside and I’m bored.”

  “You want some?” He offers me the water bottle. I’m a little hesitant to drink out of it, assuming pretty boy has herpes or some other contagious STD. But I’m dying of thirst, so I take it from him. “If you’re bored, let’s do something. I’ll show you around and we can grab lunch somewhere.”

  “I can’t. I have stuff to do. I need to unpack and make my bed.” It sounds really pathetic, but I don’t have any other excuse. I gulp the water and hand him the bottle back.

  He takes a drink and a drop comes out. “You drank the whole thing! What did you do that for? I’m dying here.”

  “You didn’t say how much I could have. You should really be clearer next time.”

  He stares at me like he’s never come across someone like me before.

  “Fine. Give it here.” I hold my hand out. “I’ll go fill it up for you.”

  “Forget it. I’m heading back now anyway. I can’t do any more sprints after that.” He starts to leave the track, then turns back. “Aren’t you coming?”

  What is with this guy? He won’t leave me alone. “You go ahead. I’ll stay here and stretch.”

  “We’re having lunch. Come on. Let’s go.”

  I find myself following him as he walks up the hill. Why am I following him? It makes absolutely no sense. And I don’t like it. I never follow. I lead. But for some reason I’m intrigued by this guy, even if he is a swimmer.

  5

  “I never said I was having lunch with you,” I say, catching up to him.

  “You need to eat, right? And you’re bored? So we’re having lunch. What do you like? Mexican? Italian? Burgers?”

  I grab his arm, making him stop. “Hold on. Why do you keep trying to get me to do stuff? Coming to my room last night. Finding me at the track. Making me go to lunch. Are you stalking me or something?”

  “Do you feel like you’re being stalked?”

  “No, I guess not.”

  “Then I’m not stalking you.” He turns and starts walking again. “I was just trying to be nice. But you’re making it very difficult. I thought people from the Midwest were supposed to be friendly. I’m not getting that vibe from you at all.” He says it jokingly although I’m sure he agrees with the statement at least somewhat. I definitely haven’t been friendly to him.

  “The friendly thing is a myth. We just say that to attract tourists.” I race to keep up with his fast pace. “Why are you making such an effort to be nice? You don’t even know me.”

  “Because I know it sucks to be in a new place where you don’t know anyone. My dad sent me to boarding school in London back in seventh grade and I hated it. I didn’t like any of the people there and I hated being so far from home. I started sneaking out at night hoping they’d kick me out of school. It didn’t work so I set my room on fire and within a week I was back home.”

  “So where’s home?”

  “About a half hour from here.” He opens the residence hall door for me. “That’s why I figured I’d show you around town. I know everything about this area.” He stops at the door to my room. “Don’t take too long. I’m starving.”

  “Want to meet back here in 15?”

  He looks confused. “You mean like 15 minutes? You can get ready that fast?”

  “Uh, yeah. Why? Didn’t you just tell me to hurry up?”

  “I’ve just never met a girl who can get ready in 15 minutes. I was thinking you’d need at least an hour.”

  “An hour? Who takes an hour to get ready for lunch?”

  “I guess not you. Okay, 15 minutes. I don’t even know if I can get ready that fast.” He takes off through the door to the upstairs.

  I shower and quickly dry my hair, then throw on shorts and a white t-shirt. To keep things simple, I only wear black or white shirts. Years ago, I realized that trying to keep up with the latest colors in fashion was both stupid and expensive. So I decided to just go with the classic black and white. I could have gone all black but then I’d get a reputation as some goth chick and I didn’t need people talking about me more than they already did. That’s why I mix it up with white.

  Seventeen minutes later Garret comes racing out from the stairwell. I’m standing outside my door, waiting for him.

  “Damn, you weren’t kidding,” he says. “You really can get ready that fast.”

  “So what took you so long? Had to style your hair or something?” I can’t seem to stop hurling insults at this guy. Maybe because I know I’d never date him. First of all, I’ve already decided that I’m not getting into a relationship in college. And second, a rich, popular, pretty boy like Garret would never date someone like me.

  “I’m going to ignore that,” he says, walking down the hall without me. He seems a little mad. Maybe I took it too far. I catch up with him when we’re outside.

  “Hey, I didn’t mean to piss you off. Sorry.”

  He stops and smiles at me. “So you can be nice. You just choose not to be.”

  I smile back. “Exactly. So you might want to bail on lunch. I used up all my niceness just now and you may not be able to handle whatever I say next.”

  “I can handle it.” He walks up to a black BMW in the parking lot and opens the passenger door for me. “So what do you want to eat?”

  “I thought we were eating on campus.”

  “The dining halls aren’t open yet. Didn’t you read your housing packet? They don’t open until Tuesday.”

  Shit! What am I supposed to do for food the next few days? I’ll have to take a cab or the bus to a grocery store. Good thing Ryan gave me money.

  “Are you getting in or are we going to stand here all day?”

  “Oh, um, can’t we just walk somewhere? I can’t get into cars with strangers.”

  He laughs. “You sound like my little sister. She’s six.”

  I feel my face getting hot. “Yeah, I didn’t mean to say it like that. What I meant is that I don’t know you that well, so I don’t trust you to drive me somewhere.”

  “Really? Am I that scary?”

  I look him up and down. He doesn’t look scary. He looks hot. Whi
te polo shirt, light-colored shorts, sunglasses, deep tan.

  “Do you want references or something? Because I know Jasmine, your RA. She’ll tell you that I’m perfectly safe to be around.” He stands there waiting for me, the door still open. “Come on. I thought Midwest people were trusting.”

  “Trusting is just a nicer word for stupid or naive. And I’m neither one of those things.” I hesitate, not sure what to do. He seems all right but I’ve seen plenty of pretty boys tried for murder on the news. And around here, he could easily dump my body in the woods and nobody would ever find it.

  “Hey, Garret.” Jasmine walks by, waving at him.

  He calls over to her. “Jaz, wait. Come here for a minute.” She walks over to us. “Tell the new girl I’m normal and not some crazy psychopath.”

  She looks confused. “What?”

  “She’s afraid to get in my car because she doesn’t know me well enough. She wants references and you’re it.”

  “Um, okay.” She turns to me. “I’ve known Garret since middle school. Sometimes he can be an ass, but the majority of the time he’s a good guy.” She turns and walks away.

  “What the hell? I’m not an ass,” Garret yells at her.

  She yells back, “The ass part’s for breaking up with my sister.”

  He shakes his head. “I went out with her sister one time. I didn’t ask her out again and Jasmine’s been pissed at me ever since. Anyway, you got your reference so can we go now?”

  “I guess. But I know self defense, so if you try anything you’re going to be in some serious pain.”

  “I’m not going to try anything.” He waits for me to get in, then shuts my door.

  As we’re driving away from campus I remember that I don’t have any money. “I forgot my cash. Go back and I’ll run in and get it quick.”

  “It’s on me. Don’t worry about it.” He keeps driving.

  “No, I don’t like people buying me stuff. Then I owe them and I don’t like owing people. Turn around.”

  “You won’t owe me anything, Jade. It’s just lunch.” He turns onto the main road. “I was thinking we could go to a deli and grab some sandwiches to take to the park. There’s a lake there and some picnic tables.”

  “Yeah, sure, so you can take me in the woods and kill me and throw my body in the lake.” I can’t believe I just said that out loud! The image was in my head, but I wasn’t supposed to verbalize it!

  “Are you serious? Where do you get this stuff? Do you watch a lot of horror movies or something?”

  I realize that I’m the one who sounds like a deranged lunatic. If anyone should be worried about their safety, he should.

  “Never mind,” I say, trying to act normal. “We can go to the park.”

  “Are you sure? Because we can go somewhere else if you’re that uncomfortable.”

  “Just accept it before I change my mind.”

  We get some sandwiches, chips, and drinks from the deli and head to the park. It’s full of people, but he finds an open table under a tree. The lake is off in the distance. It has a small beach where kids are playing.

  “Still scared?” he asks, making me feel like an idiot.

  I ignore the comment. “Thanks for lunch. It might be the last time I eat until the dining halls open on Tuesday.”

  “Shit, you don’t have a car, do you? Well, I can take you to the store so you can get some stuff for your dorm fridge.”

  “I don’t have a fridge.” I take a sip of my soda.

  “You don’t? Are you sure?”

  “It’s not that big of a room. I think I would know.”

  “You need a fridge. I’ll get you one.”

  “No, don’t do that. Lunch is enough. I told you I don’t like owing people.”

  “You’re on scholarship, right? Room and board is paid for? The people who are paying for that can pay for your fridge. It’s like $80. That’s nothing. I’m sure they’d pay for it.”

  “How do you know? Do you know the people who gave me the scholarship?”

  “Sort of. I know who they are. Don’t worry about it. I’ll take care of it.”

  “I really don’t need one. I just need some bags of chips and a two liter of soda. That’ll last me until Tuesday.”

  “You can’t live off that for two and a half days. We’ll get you some snack stuff for your room, but you’re coming out with me for meals. Do you like Thai food? Because I know this great place we could go for dinner.”

  “No, really, Garret. I don’t eat that much. In fact this lunch will last me until tomorrow.”

  It’s not true at all but the $100 Ryan gave me will be almost gone if I eat out every meal from now until Tuesday. And I refuse to ask Ryan for more money.

  A frisbee lands on our table knocking over my soda. Garret goes to grab it but it rolls off the table to the ground. He picks it up, then tosses the frisbee back to the kids who threw it.

  “Here. You can have mine.” He hands me his soda.

  I don’t understand why this guy’s being so nice to me. And I can’t figure out why he wants to waste his Saturday hanging out with someone he just met. If he’s from this area, he must have a ton of friends to do stuff with.

  We sit there for the next hour, gazing out at the lake and enjoying the weather. He asks me what classes I’m taking, but other than that we don’t talk much. That would normally be uncomfortable but for whatever reason, it’s not.

  “We should go,” I say, getting up. “I need to unpack and put stuff away. My room’s a total mess.”

  He tosses our trash and we go back to the car. Instead of driving to campus, he takes us to a grocery store.

  “What are you doing?” I ask him. “I told you I didn’t bring any money.”

  “That’s okay. I’ll pay for it.” He turns the car off and releases his seat belt. “Go ahead and load up on chips or soda or whatever you said you wanted. It’s on me.”

  “What the hell? I’m not your charity case! I don’t need you to buy me stuff. Let’s just get out of here.”

  “Calm down. I wasn’t trying to piss you off. I’m just trying to be a friend.”

  “You’re trying to buy my friendship.”

  Now he’s getting angry. “Yeah, like I’m really going to buy your friendship by spending a few dollars at the grocery store. Why are you getting so mad about this? It’s just money. I don’t even care. And I promise you, I’m not expecting anything in return.”

  He waits for me to make a decision. I really do want to get some food for my room and I don’t want to pay for a cab to take me there later. “Okay, fine. You can pay, but I’m paying you back as soon as we get to campus. This is just a loan.”

  He agrees and we go inside. I buy the store brand potato chips and soda and they’re still more than the name brand versions back home. I grab a bag of oranges that’s on sale in an attempt to be somewhat healthy.

  We don’t talk on the way back to campus. I think he’s still mad at me for accusing him of trying to buy my friendship. But I don’t care. He shouldn’t be paying for my stuff. It’s not right. And he’s lying when he says I wouldn’t owe him. People don’t give stuff away for free. They always want something in return.

  As we’re driving back, I check out Garret’s expensive car. It still has the new car smell. The beige leather seats are buttery soft and the air conditioning is icy cold. I’ve never been in a car that nice.

  Back at the residence hall, Garret stands outside the door to my room. “Are you going to dinner with me or not?” He really does sound mad. I thought he’d be over it by now.

  “Let me get your money. Wait here.” I go in my room and grab a twenty from the desk. I meet him back at the door and hand him the bill. I need the change back, but I’m too embarrassed to ask.

  Luckily he starts fishing through his wallet and hands me the exact amount he owes me. “I’ll see you later, Jade.” He walks away.

  “Is the place expensive?” I ask, standing in the hall still holding the mon
ey he gave me.

  He’s in the doorway to the stairwell. “What?”

  “That Thai restaurant you mentioned. Is it expensive?”

  “I think it’s like 10 bucks a meal.”

  “Okay. I can go. Does 7 work?”

  He hesitates, like he’s trying to figure out what just happened. “Sure, 7 works. See ya then.”

  I hope he doesn’t think I was asking him out. I’m just being social like Ryan told me to be. And I do need to eat dinner. Plus I’m starting to think Garret’s not that bad. In fact I might even say that I enjoyed his company in the brief time we spent together.

  For the remainder of the afternoon, I put my clothes away and set out the few possessions I brought from home. Around 4, someone knocks on my door. It’s a guy in a maintenance uniform holding a mini refrigerator.

  “Where do you want it?” he asks in a gruff tone.

  I lead him to an open space along the wall near an outlet. Part of me is irritated that Garret took it upon himself to get me a fridge when I told him I didn’t need one, but it will be nice to have cold soda.

  When the maintenance guy leaves, two girls walk through my still-open door.

  “Hi. I’m Sierra and this is Ava. We saw your door open and thought we’d stop by. We live down the hall.”

  “Hi. I’m Jade.”

  They both look me up and down, then survey my sparsely decorated room.

  “So where are you from?” Sierra asks. She’s tall and really tan with long blond hair, wearing a yellow sundress and strappy sandals.

  “Iowa.”

  I can tell by their expression they have no idea where that is. Why do people on the coasts never know what’s in the middle? Do they never look at a map?

  “Is that near Colorado?” Ava asks. She’s a few inches shorter than Sierra with an even darker tan and shoulder length brown hair streaked with golden highlights. She’s very thin and the tight v-neck shirt she’s wearing shows off her very large, abnormally round breasts that have to be fake. There’s no way those are natural.