by Kai Juniper
Rugby practice goes surprisingly well given my lack of sleep the past few days. I'm alert and focused and playing better than I have in weeks. After practice I go to the gym and workout nonstop for two straight hours with just a few minutes of rest. If I knew jerking off to fantasies of Ella would have this effect on me I would've been doing it a long time ago.
When I'm home I take a long, hot shower. As I'm getting dressed, Aubrey calls. I send it to voicemail and she calls right back.
"What do you need, Aubrey?"
"I need you to be my boyfriend and show the hell up at this party tonight!"
"I told you I'm having a guys' night. I'm not changing my plans."
"You had a guys' night last weekend! We haven't seen each other all week!"
I hold the phone away from my ear because she's yelling so loud.
When she quiets down, I calmly say, "I'm not going to the party. I'm hanging out with my friends. If you don't like that, go find someone else."
She doesn't respond. She knows every girl at school wants to take her place—everyone except Ella—and there's no way Aubrey's giving that up.
"Will I see you tomorrow?" she asks in a soft, almost begging tone. I've never brought up the idea of us breaking up, and now that I threw it out there, she's panicking.
"I don't know. I'll have to see. I'll call you tomorrow."
"Okay," she says in a timid voice. "Bye, babe."
I toss my phone on the bed and finish getting ready. I'm meeting Ella at a coffee shop. I offered to meet her at her house but she insisted on meeting at a public place. I think she's afraid to be alone with me. I'd never actually hurt her but I've threatened her enough over the years that she thinks I will. It's probably good we're not meeting at her house. After all the dirty thoughts I’ve been having about Ella, I don't trust myself to be alone with her.
When I get to the coffee shop I spot her at a table near the back, her laptop out, scribbling something in her notebook. She's wearing a tank top and shorts, showing off more skin than she does at school. It's really warm out tonight so I get why she's wearing that, but it's going to make it hard for me to focus, given where my thoughts have been all day.
"You're late," she says when I sit down across from her.
"At least I showed up."
She leans across the table, her eyes bouncing around the coffee shop. "Any updates?"
"No. I assigned Parker to watch Finn. He's going over there soon to make sure he's home."
"Will Parker actually do it or will Scarlett guilt him into going to the party?"
"He'll do it. If he goes to the party I'll have to deal with Aubrey being pissed I'm not there and he knows I'll kick his ass if that happens."
I can't stop staring at Ella's tank top. It's a soft lavender color and has these tiny buttons that go down her chest. The top few are undone and I can see some cleavage. At school she always wears baggy shirts and nothing cut low enough to see her tits. I already feel my cock straining against my jeans. Did she do this on purpose? She had to know I'd be staring at her chest in that shirt. I'm a guy. I like tits. I can't help but look.
"Briggs?"
I force my eyes back to her face. "What?"
"You didn't answer me."
"About what?"
"Aubrey. Does she know we're meeting?"
"No. I told her I'm having a guys' night with Parker, and he told Scarlett the same thing."
"Why didn't you tell Aubrey the truth?"
"Because she doesn't like me being around other girls. She doesn't even want me talking to them, not that I listen to her."
"But she knows you hate me. You could've just told her we were forced to meet because of this assignment."
"Trust me, it's easier if she doesn't know."
Ella pauses, looking at me. "Do you like Aubrey, or do you just go out with her because she's pretty?"
"Honestly?" I shrug. "I don't really know anymore. It seems like all we do is either fight or have sex. I like the sex part but I'm getting tired of the fighting."
"Then why do you stay with her? You could easily get sex. You don't need Aubrey for that."
I lean back. "Why do you care?"
"I don't. I just don't know why you'd stay with someone you don't really like."
"I never said I didn't like her."
Ella looks down at her laptop. "I started to make a list of ideas if you want to see them."
That was abrupt. I guess she's done giving me advice about my love life. Why was she questioning me about it? And why was she telling me to break up with Aubrey? Does she want me for herself?
This night is suddenly getting more interesting.
Chapter Nineteen
Ella
Why did I ask Briggs about his girlfriend? I was basically telling him to break up with her. Now he's going to think I'm interested in him, which I am definitely not. I admit he's hot, so I'm attracted to his looks, but that's it, other than his intelligence, which I also find somewhat appealing. I used to think he cheated his way into being second in the class but in the brief time we've spent together, I've realized he's actually really smart, and I like smart guys, but that doesn't mean I like Briggs. He's still a bully who uses force to get his way, like with this valedictorian thing. He hasn't mentioned it all week, but I know he hasn't given up. He's just been too preoccupied with the accident.
"You think I should break up with her?" Briggs asks with a smug grin. He definitely thinks I'm interested in him. He's so full of himself. Just because every other female in school wants him doesn't mean I do.
"Can we just focus on the assignment?"
He comes around the table and sits next to me on the bench.
"What are you doing?" I ask, moving over. I can smell his cologne and damn, it smells good. Why did he wear cologne to meet with me? Did he think something was going to happen? He has a girlfriend. And I hate him.
"I need to see your screen."
"I could've turned it."
"This way we can both see it." He slides over, removing the distance between us.
Is this one of his pranks? Another way to humiliate me? Flirt with me and then make fun of me later for thinking it was real?
It's not going to work. He can flirt all he wants but he's not going to get a reaction from me. I've been fooled enough times by his pranks to know better than to fall for another one.
"These are the ideas I have so far." I turn the laptop toward him.
He turns it back so we can both see, and points to the screen. "What's this one about? It just says cars."
"For that one I was thinking the chemical mixture from last week's lab could be used to clean tires, or any outside surface of the car that's been exposed to tar. I'm thinking we need at least ten ideas. I have ten here but I'm not sure they're all good. What did you have?"
He takes out his phone and shows me, leaning so close the sides of our bodies are touching. It makes my pulse speed up and there's this odd feeling in my stomach, almost like I'm nervous, which I kind of am, being this close to Briggs.
"I only have five ideas," he says. "This one's for a detergent specifically made for mechanics. It's related to your idea in that it addresses the chemical's ability to break down petroleum but it'd also work on other substances you'd find in a garage. You could use it to make a detergent for clothes or shop rags."
"Or it could be used to wash your hands," I say.
"Exactly. That was one of my other ideas." He swipes through his phone. He listed his ideas in a note-taking app. It looks like it's attached to a calendar. When he flipped through it, I saw tomorrow's date with things scheduled almost every hour. I didn't know Briggs was so organized, or had such a structured schedule. I assumed he just sat around all weekend and partied.
"You'd need to mix it with a liquid," he says, "which we should explain in the paper but I don't think we need to explain which liquid we'd use. What do you think?"
He's asking my opinion? This isn't the Briggs I know. He always
assumes he has all the answers and doesn't even ask for input. I guess I can't really say that since I've never had to work with him before. I just know him as the bully who takes down anyone who doesn't agree with him, or worship him, or beg for his attention.
"I don't think we need to be that specific," I say, "but I do think we need to describe how the chemical works. We should describe the properties of...what's the word? I can't think of it."
"Surfactants."
"Yeah." I smile at him, impressed he knew what I was talking about. He really is smart, which I find to be even more attractive than his looks. Other girls are impressed by his rugby skills but I don't care about that. I like a guy with brains, someone who can talk about stuff like this and actually understand it. I need to find a guy with Briggs' intelligence and good looks that isn't an ass.
I start jotting down notes, assuming I'll be writing the paper. Briggs hasn't offered to and I don't want to argue with him about it.
A half hour later, I'm still scribbling down notes when one of the coffee shop employees stops at our table. "I'm sorry but we're closing soon. Actually we closed at eight-thirty."
"Sorry," Briggs says. "We didn't know."
"It's fine." She smiles at him. "We just need to get the tables cleaned so if you could be out in a few minutes."
She walks off and I hurry to gather up my stuff.
"I didn't know they closed this early," I say, shoving my laptop in my bag.
"We'll just go somewhere else." Briggs gets up and takes our coffee cups to the trash.
I watch him, my eyes lingering on his muscular arms and broad shoulders. When he turns to walk back, I quickly look back at the table, picking up my pens and notebook.
"You hungry?" he asks as we leave the coffee shop.
"Maybe. What are you thinking?"
"Let's find a restaurant and finish up there. I need to eat. I'm starving."
"You didn't have dinner?"
"I did, but I eat a lot. I eat five or six meals a day. I have to because I work out so much. Let's go to that sports bar down the street."
Briggs gets there first and waits for me in the parking lot. I would've thought he'd go in. He's being really strange tonight, like an actual person instead of jerk. I'm sure it's all an act but I don't know why he'd put on a fake nice act to do our assignment. He could be his usual asshole self and still get the work done.
We find a high-top table and he sits across from me. He orders a burger and a double order of fries so we can share. I'm not really hungry but I can always eat fries.
We spend an hour discussing our ideas, getting sidetracked a few times by talking about random topics that come up. Briggs tells me he played football as a kid but his parents made him switch to rugby. He didn't say why and he made it sound like it wasn't a big deal, but I heard a hint of anger in his voice when he told the story. I get the feeling he doesn't get along with his parents.
"Is your mom planning a big graduation party?" I ask as we wait for the check.
"I'm not even sure she's coming. She hasn't said."
"What do you mean?" I laugh a little. "Of course she's coming. Parents live for this stuff."
"Not mine." He looks around the restaurant, trying to find the waitress.
"You're joking, right?"
He looks back at me. "My mom doesn't live here. It's a long flight to come for just the weekend. I’m sure she’ll show up. She just hasn’t told me yet."
His mom doesn't live here? I didn't know that.
"Where does she live?"
"Rome." He waves at the waitress. "Can we get a check?"
She smiles and nods.
"Rome, Italy?" I ask.
"Yeah. You didn't know that?" He takes a drink of his soda.
"No. When did she move?"
"Last year."
"So your parents are divorced?"
"No, they're still married. They just don't live together."
That's odd. I've never heard of married people living in different countries. My dad said he used to not like it when my mom would go away for just a few days. He missed her like crazy and couldn't wait for her to come back.
"There's no way your mom's going to miss graduation."
"We'll see," he says, like he really doesn't think she'll show up.
I can't believe she'd even consider not showing up. He's her only child. What mom doesn't want to be at her kid's graduation?
"You're having a party, right?" I ask as the waitress stops by with the check.
"It's not really a grad party. It's more of a party for clients of the firm. My dad hired someone to plan it." Briggs drops some cash on the table.
"I can pay for mine," I say, getting my wallet out.
"Don't worry about it. I can pay for your drink."
"I also had fries."
"They were mine. I just shared."
"Thanks." I put my money away.
He doesn't rush to get up so I decide to ask him more.
"So it's just you and your dad? Living in that big house?"
"It's not that big."
"Are you kidding? It's huge! It looks like a hotel."
"Yeah, I guess it kinda does." He takes a sip of his drink. "I hate it. I liked our old house better but my dad wanted something new when my mom moved out. He has clients over sometimes and he wanted a house that had more of a masculine look."
"So nothing warm and cozy?"
"Hell, no. He hates that shit. He likes cold and uncomfortable." He looks up at the TVs lining the wall. "So how about you? You having a grad party?"
"Yeah. My dad said he's planning it but I'm going to help him. He's not good with stuff like that. It's more of a mom thing."
Briggs nods, seeming uncomfortable. Is it because I mentioned my mom?
"I can talk about her," I tell him. "It doesn't bother me, not that we have to talk about her. I'm just saying, I don't mind if people ask me questions."
He pauses, then says, "Do you remember her?"
"Only a little. I have a few memories of her but sometimes I'm not sure if they're real or if I made them up. I have to ask my dad to know the answer."
"Why would you make them up?"
"Because I want them to be true. Like when I was younger, I swore I had this memory of my mom taking me to the first day of kindergarten. I saw her holding my hand. Giving me a hug before she left. I could even smell her perfume. I played that memory over and over again in my head and then one day I told my dad and he said it never happened. She was gone by then. My dad's the one who took me. Anyway, I don't have a lot of memories like that. Most of the ones I have actually happened, but I don't have many. I was too young when she died."
He glances at the door. "We should get out of here. It's getting late."
I get up, wondering why he suddenly decided to leave. Was our conversation getting too personal? I probably shouldn't have told him all that, knowing he'll find a way to use it against me. I'm sure he regrets opening up to me too but there was something different about tonight. I didn't feel like I was with the jerk who's bullied me for years. I felt like I was with someone else, almost like I was out with a friend.
"I need to tell you something," he says as we walk to my truck.
"What?"
"Finn's dad took the Range Rover in to be fixed. He did it without telling Finn."
"Did he ask how it got damaged?"
"Yeah, Finn told him he hit one of those concrete pillars in a parking garage. I don't think anything will happen. I just thought you should know."
"I've been trying not to think about it but it's all I can think about."
"Me too."
"Oh, shit." I duck behind Briggs, hoping Ian didn't see me. He was walking to his car but stopped and looked over here.
"What's going on?" Briggs asks. "Why are you hiding?"
"This guy I went out with is coming toward us. I only went out with him one time because he turned out to be an ass. I told him I didn't want to see him again but he wouldn'
t stop calling me. I had to finally just block his number."
"He's still coming this way."
"Get rid of him!" I whisper, still hiding behind Briggs.
"Get beside me," Briggs whispers back.
"Why?"
He reaches back and pulls me beside him, looking at Ian as he comes toward us. "Can I help you?"
"Yeah, I just wanted to say hi to Ella." Ian smiles at me with that crooked smile of his that I never liked.
"Hey, Ian, how's it going?" I say.
"Good. Haven't see you for awhile. What have you been up to?"
"Work. School. The usual."
Briggs puts his hand out toward Ian. "Briggs Chadwick."
Ian looks confused as he shakes his hand. "How do you know Ella?"
Briggs puts his arm around me. "She's my girlfriend."
I almost choke when he says it. Girlfriend? I've never been anyone's girlfriend so hearing someone call me that sounds strange, but to hear Briggs say it? I can't believe he'd let those words come out of his mouth! Even pretending I'm his girlfriend is a lot for someone who can't stand me.
"You're dating him?" Ian says to me, like he can't believe a guy like Briggs would date me, or maybe he thinks I wouldn't date a guy like Briggs.
"Yes." I smile up at Briggs. "We go to the same school. Briggs is captain of the rugby team. I go to all his games." I look back at Ian. He looks shocked, and really confused.
"You hate sports," he says, "especially rugby. I remember you saying how much you hated the rugby players at your school."
"That was before I started dating Briggs. Now I love rugby."
"She's my biggest fan," Briggs says, keeping his arm around me. "We need to get going so..."
"Yeah." Ian backs away. "I'll see you later, Ella."
As he walks away, Briggs turns to me. "What's he doing?"
"Staring at us," I whisper, looking at Ian from the side of my eye.
"You sure?"
"Yes. I don't think he believes our story."
Briggs wraps his hands around my face and before I even know what's happening, his mouth lowers to mine and he kisses me. My instinct is to back away but I can't, and not just because I know Ian is watching, but because I like the kiss.
