Chasing Red

by Kelsey Cheyenne

  “I had a great time. Thank you for inviting me.” She looks at me from under her lashes. It’s a generic thing to say at the end of this incredible weekend.

  “Thank you for coming.” I raise an eyebrow, hoping she understands the double entendre. “When can I see you again?”

  “Let’s get coffee this week. We can talk then.” Not exactly a promising sentiment, but I’ll take what I can get. I’m not letting her go that easily. Hell, I don’t plan to let her go ever.

  “I look forward to it. I’ll talk to you soon.” She reaches for the door handle and I’m not letting her get away that easy. “Red.” She stops and when she turns back around, I’m right in her space.

  I look into her eyes and kiss her. I kiss her until she’s breathless before she unsteadily heads inside. I’m not going to play it cool or play hard to get. I know what I want and I intend on getting her.

  11

  Hailey

  I’m hesitant as I walk into my apartment because I don’t know if Kenzie is home, and if she is, she’ll want to know every detail about this weekend. I don’t know if I can tell her anything right now with a straight face or if I can tell her anything at all.

  “Kenz?” I call into the seemingly empty apartment. She doesn’t answer and I’m glad. I need to sort out my thoughts before facing her.

  I draw a bath, because even if she comes home, this will give me an excuse to ignore her temporarily. I’m being a horrible best friend right now and the thought sickens me, but I’ll tell her soon enough. I just need to figure things out on my own first.

  I don’t even know what to feel right now. My emotions are all over the place from multiple people causing different reactions. I’m infuriated by the spawn of Satan, who otherwise goes by the name of Alison, ruining my day. I’m hurt beyond comprehension by my brother for taking the bitch’s side.

  And then there’s Chase. There’s a storm of emotions roaring within me from him alone. I haven’t been this happy nor had as much fun in my life as I’ve felt with him this past weekend. He makes my knees wobble in the best way. He makes me short of breath and makes butterflies flutter in my stomach.

  Then there’s the sex. God, it was better than I could’ve imagined. His kisses ruined me for other men. His touch ignited my skin with fire and electricity. Every moment with him was better than the last.

  But he also makes me nervous. I can’t help but feel wary. My past relationships haven’t been stellar, and they ended even worse. My feelings for him developed and grew rapidly, which only adds to my fear.

  He’s generous and thoughtful, funny and gorgeous. His body is out of this freaking world. I could fall in love with him. It would be so easy to love him. It’s terrifying. But I don’t even know for sure if he feels the same way. He seems to like me and he was so caring and tender with me. He would touch me at every opportunity like he couldn’t bear to keep his hands off of me.

  But… maybe he just wanted sex. Maybe he asked to see me again to tell me we’re just having fun, and he’s not looking for anything serious. Maybe he regrets the one night we had together, and he wants to let me down easy. Fuck.

  Should I beat him to the punch and end things with him before he gets the chance? Should I screw him for as long as he lets me to get my fix? Will he fall in love with my magic vagina and never want me to leave? Who knows? Dammit.

  When my skin turns pruney and the thoughts still aren’t slowing down, I get out of the tub. I’m still conflicted; the only difference now is that I’m wet, and not in a good way.

  I shuffle to grab my towel and head to my bed. “Sonofabitch!” I yell as I stub my toe on the corner of the doorway as I’m leaving the bathroom.

  “You okay? Welcome home, by the way,” my roommate calls from down the hallway. Shit. I didn’t even hear her come home.

  “All good. Thanks,” I call from behind my bedroom door. I can’t keep avoiding her now since she’s heard me.

  “We need to catch up. Get dressed and get your ass out here. I got wine.” She sing-songs the last word. If I indulge too much, I may confess everything about this weekend, but if I don’t drink at all, she’ll be suspicious. Maybe I should just tell her and get on with it.

  “Be right out.” I throw my wet hair up into a messy bun and throw on my comfiest flannel pajama pants and UPenn hoodie. I take a deep breath and head out to confront my bestie.

  Her heavy hand has poured us two large glasses of Moscato. Oh, boy. She’s curled up on one side of the sofa, her feet tucked under her, and an expression on her face that screams eager and ready to gossip. Lovely.

  She pounces on me when I sit down. “So, how was it? Tell me everything. How’s Hunter? Did you see the wicked witch at all? Tell me she got uglier.” She grabs her glass and takes a large gulp, licking her lips of the fruity residue.

  I sigh and pick up my glass, settling into the opposite end of the couch. “The wicked bitch was away all weekend, but that didn’t stop her from ruining my weekend.”

  I think I’ll be able to get around telling her about Chase. The most convincing lies include just enough information so you’re not actually lying, just omitting part of the truth.

  “I hate her.” She rolls her eyes and tousles her hair with her free hand. The end of one strand might’ve dipped into her glass, but it’s hard to tell.

  “You don’t even know her.” I have a feeling she doesn’t have to know her to hate her. She doesn’t like the girl because she’s with my brother. She just won’t admit that yet.

  “Irrelevant. So, what’d she do?” She pulls a piece of hair off her face that stuck to her cheek. Yup, definitely got dipped in the wine.

  “She came home earlier than she was supposed to, claiming to be sick and, of course, my idiot brother had to choose her over me. It’s disgusting. Why can’t he see her for who she truly is?” I take a large sip of wine and if I’m not careful, I’ll finish this glass sooner than I’d like.

  I reach for the remote and Kenz scoffs and swats my hand. “That’s it? You were gone for three days and you don’t have anything real to tell me?”

  Well, sure, Kenz, let’s see. I took a road trip with Chase, also known as my ultimate crush for years now. We crashed a wedding, kissed a few times, oh! Yeah! And we had mind-blowing, out-of-this-world sex.

  I leave all that unsaid and shrug instead. “I don’t know. We talked. Caught up. It was nice to have my brother back and almost all to myself for a change.” I take another sip of wine, emptying my glass.

  “What do you mean almost all to yourself?” Her forehead creases and she stares at me while reaching for the bottle of wine on the table. I clear my throat and hand her my glass to buy myself some time to correct my slip-up.

  “You know, ‘cause, uh, he’s so wrapped up in his fiancée from hell he wasn’t able to focus on me. That’s all.” We’re going to need to open a second bottle of wine at the rate we’re going here.

  “Oh, I thought you secretly went up there with a guy or something.” She says it with utter nonchalance. I know she doesn’t believe it, but she hit the nail on the freaking head.

  “HA! Ha ha ha. Wow. Good one, Kenz. Right. Ha.” I bust up into the most fake laughter imaginable. The sound is forced and foreign to my own ears and I hope she’s drunk enough to not notice. “What about you? What did you do all weekend?”

  “I had a real riveting time.” She ticks items off her fingers as she lists them. “I studied a lot. Took a break to binge watch Grey’s Anatomy. Got a job in the library. Got this huge scratch on my thigh from Mittens and, oh yeah, studied some more.” I chuckle at her expression of rolled eyes and pursed lips. “Don’t ever leave me again.”

  “Sorry I didn’t ask you to come with me.” Mackenzie has always been like a sister to me and I’m sure she was hurt I didn’t invite her up to visit Hunter. It wasn’t my place to invite her, but she also doesn’t know that, thanks to yours truly.

  “It’s probably best you didn’t. I would’ve put itching powder on Al
ison’s side of the bed and punched her in the face if I saw her.” I laugh at her sneer.

  “And that’s why you’re my best friend.”

  ◊◊◊

  I wake up to Charlie XCX singing how she doesn’t want to go to school, which I figured was an appropriate alarm song for this morning. I grab my phone to turn up the song and hype myself up for the day when I notice a missed text from Chase from last night.

  I open the message, forcing the nerves in my belly to stay calm and not excite themselves over nothing. I’m sure he’s canceling our outstanding coffee date so he can move on to something, or someone, better.

  Chase: Hey, Red. Thanks for this weekend. I can’t wait to see you again.

  My face gets hot at the mention of his nickname for me. I can’t help the wide smile pulling at the corner of my lips and hurting my cheeks with its aggression. God, I’m in deep with him.

  I hop out of bed and start my dance party, singing along at the top of my lungs. It’s the first day back in classes after a long weekend, but my spirits are too high to wallow. I let my hair out of the bun from last night and allow the natural waves to tumble down my back. I walk into my closet looking for a comfortable and casual outfit to wear that doesn’t also make me look like a hobo.

  Three punches rattle my door and I lower the volume on my phone. “What?” I call from behind the door inside of my closet.

  The door creaks open and my bestie’s head pops in. “You’re unusually chipper this morning. I could hear you singing from down the hall.” Kenzie’s already had her first class of the day, but I scheduled mine later. Who voluntarily chooses eight a.m. classes? My best friend, that’s who.

  I need to act more normal around her or she’ll start asking questions. “Just ready for a day full of science. You know how I nerd out.” I shrug, hoping she buys the lame and unbelievable lie.

  She leans on the doorjamb as she opens the door further. “Monson’s your TA for chem lab isn’t he? I bet that’s why you’re so worked up. He’s hot.” She waves her hand in front of her face, mock cooling herself off.

  “Right? No one that hot should be a chemistry nerd.” I throw on a pair of ripped skinny jeans and roll them at the ankles—my pink and gold sandals are way too cute to be hidden. I pull on my coral ribbed crop top t-shirt and call the outfit a success.

  “Tuesdays are your longer days, right? Chinese takeout for dinner?” This girl can read my damn mind.

  “Perfect. Catch ya later.”

  As I’m walking to my first building, I agonize over how to respond to Chase’s text. Why is it so easy to be a guy and send a nice, albeit flippant message? I’m sure he doesn’t take eons to decide on the perfect combination of words to sound excited but not clingy.

  Hailey: Likewise. Let me know when you’re free.

  That’s the brilliant response I end up with. I send the message and throw my phone into my bag. I won’t be able to respond until after my classes today… if he even answers me, that is.

  12

  Chase

  The final bell rings and I pack up my desk, ready to head to a meeting for this year’s hockey registration. I’m the boy’s ice hockey coach, and we’ve been season champions three years running. I don’t take the game lightly since it was always my dream to be a professional player, but a torn ACL in high school shot my dreams into the dust.

  “Knock knock.” An irritating sing-song voice reverberates off the walls of my classroom and grates on my nerves. “How was your weekend away?”

  “Good, thanks. If you’ll excuse me, I have a meeting I have to get to.”

  This woman just doesn’t get the hint. I stand up to walk past her but she’s entered my classroom and closed the door. This isn’t good. Her perfume is so strong it makes me gag and gives me an instant headache.

  “What are you doing, Laila?”

  She struts over to me like a runway model, crossing one leg in front of the other to attempt to give her a sexy gait, which falls short. Her pencil skirt is skin-tight with a slit that goes for miles and her top has one too many buttons undone.

  “I’m welcoming you back. I haven’t seen you for four whole days and I missed you.” She licks her lips and looks up at me from her under her lashes. She’s standing almost right up against me, pushing her chest out so it grazes mine.

  “Did you give the entire staff this same greeting? We all had the same long weekend, you know.” I shouldn’t give her the time of day, but I want her to understand that we will never happen. Even if Hailey wasn’t in my life, I wouldn’t go for Laila.

  She shakes her head and bites down on her bright red lip. “No, of course not. You’re special, Mr. Westbrook.”

  I take a step back and shake my head. “You’re better than this, Laila.” I walk around her and open my classroom door. I wave my arm so she knows it’s time for her to go. “After you.”

  “I guess chivalry isn’t dead after all. Thank you, Mr. Westbrook.” She winks at me as she passes and I let out a heavy sigh. She doesn’t get it.

  I pull my phone out of my pocket and re-read Hailey’s last message. I don’t want to wait until the weekend to see her, but I don’t think she told Mackenzie about us yet. I can’t just show up at their apartment out of the blue.

  Chase: How about dinner Thursday night instead? I’ll pick you up at seven?

  I pocket the phone but it vibrates against my thigh as soon as I put it away.

  Hailey: Seven is good.

  Thursday can’t come soon enough.

  ◊◊◊

  The school day on Thursday passes like a kidney stone—long and painfully. I’m counting the hours until I see her again, praying she’ll let me kiss her and we can make this thing between us official.

  I park my SUV on the street in front of her apartment and text her that I’m here. It’s emasculating to wait down here and I feel like a tool making her come to me. No real man does this, but if she wants to keep us a secret, I don’t have a choice.

  Moments later, she bounds out of the complex doors, glancing over her shoulder in the process. Her blonde hair is thrown up in a messy half-ponytail and her lips are sinfully red.

  I realize I’m glad I have these moments to check her out without her knowing I’m staring. A pale pink, three-quarter length blouse sits under a chunky necklace and is tucked into a black asymmetrical mini skirt. Black thigh-high boots lace up her long, toned legs to complete her outfit. She looks tempting and delicious. She’s the devil in heeled boots.

  I lift the flowers that were lying on her seat as she opens the car door. “For you.” I offer her the bouquet and she blushes.

  “Thank you. You look incredible.” She bites her lip and glides her eyes over me, checking me out without shame. If her gaze lingers any longer, she’ll see me grow hard.

  “So do you, Hails.” I lean over and steal a kiss. She smells like lavender and grapefruit, a heady combination of her shampoo and perfume. It’s intoxicating. She’s too delicious.

  I drive into the city to one of my favorite French restaurants. The room is dark and cozy with Edison lights hanging from the dark wood-paneled ceiling. A taupe-colored, worn brick wall sits in the back showcasing the kitchen and bar. The other three walls are cream-colored to brighten the space.

  Several rooms make up the restaurant, sectioned-off from one another to give the air of privacy. Its juxtaposition wouldn’t work in every space, but it works here. It’s classy without being obnoxious.

  “I love this place. How did you know?” Hailey saunters in front of me, her strut forcing her delectable ass to sway from side-to-side in front of me.

  I didn’t know she loved this place, but I should’ve guessed. She grew up with money and parents who loved to spoil their kids. I’m sure they frequented Le Château Lunaire.

  “I didn’t. A happy coincidence.” I place my hand on her lower back and my palm sizzles at the contact. I guide her to our table and slide into the booth across from her.

  “Hello, I’m Le
o and I’ll be your waiter this evening. We have a fine Vieux Chateau Certan red to sample tonight if you’re interested?” Hailey nods and moans when the liquid touches her tongue.

  “We’ll take a bottle.” I tell him and her eyes widen and I love how animated and expressive she is.

  “I want to be with you, Hails,” I tell her at the exact same moment she says, “I don’t think we should be together.”

  “What?” I search her eyes, trying to understand where this is coming from.

  “You want to be with me?” Hope floods her eyes, her jade gaze meeting mine.

  I reach my hand across the table and take her palm in mine. “Hailey Nicole Blake, I could fall in love with you if you’ll let me.”

  The sentiment was supposed to make her swoon, and I meant every damn word, but instead she looks nauseated.

  “Chase…” Her voice waivers and her free hand reaches up to clutch at her neck.

  “I didn’t mean to scare you. We can take things as slow as you want. All I want is an opportunity to prove to you that together we could be remarkable.”

  Her eyes turn watery, but I don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing at this point.

  “I don’t know.” She shakes her head back and forth. I thought this dinner would be a step in the right direction for us, not backpedaling with regret for everything we’ve already done.

  “Hailey, where is this coming from?”

  The waiter returns with our wine and takes his time opening the bottle and filling our glasses. His pour isn’t as heavy as it needs to be for this conversation.

  “I like you, Chase, so damn much it scares me. There are so many factors you’re not considering. I’m still in college and then I’ll be in medical school and who knows where that will take me? Then who knows where I’ll get a job? I want to love you, Chase. But I want to be free to chase my dreams without feeling held back by guilt and love.”