Hands Off! The 100 Day Agreement

by Candy J. Starr

  Jayne’s workspace was next to mine. When I’d walked in and seen it, my mouth had dropped. Jayne didn’t want to brag or seem too confident, but when we were together, she’d already started making plans for the exchange. Like, she’d downloaded Italian language lessons.

  Then, the morning of the exhibition, Jayne and I were hanging our paintings and the committee approached us with Rebecca Forsythe.

  “We’d like to ask you to withdraw your work,” the Dean said to Jayne.

  “Huh?” Jayne grinned as though she thought it was some huge joke. “I don’t think so.”

  “We have reason to believe your work isn’t original. The two paintings have so many common elements, it would not be fair for Ms Forsythe if we allowed you to enter.”

  Jayne’s head spun around and she marched across the room to where Rebecca’s painting hung. The committee, Rebecca and I trailed after her.

  Rebecca’s painting made my guts hurt. It was Jayne’s painting, just not as well executed and technically inferior.

  “Dude, you’re kidding me? If anyone ripped anyone off it was Rebecca. Look at that substandard piece of shit.”

  On reflection, it probably wasn’t the done thing to call the Dean “dude” but I was flummoxed. Why was Jayne being accused here?

  “Jayne’s is the original. I saw her create it.”

  Rebecca just smiled her smug smile though and I wanted to punch her. She pulled out a sketchbook that she had suspiciously handy.

  “There are my preparatory sketches. All signed and dated.”

  “Do you have any evidence of your project planning?” the Dean asked Jayne.

  Of course, Jayne had nothing. She hadn’t planned the painting. She’d not even thought about it beforehand. She’d gone straight in with the brush to the canvas. Jayne wouldn’t have a sketchbook full of dated sketches because she never knew she’d need it.

  “Fine, do what you want,” said Jayne and stormed out.

  “You are so wrong,” I added and followed Jayne.

  I hadn’t wanted to stick around for the rest of the night but, when I found Jayne, Tristan had convinced her it was a good idea for her to get revenge by drinking all the free booze.

  At the end of the night, we waited for the results to be announced. Rebecca had her bunch of lackeys around her as she stood, preening herself for victory. My heart flooded with hate for that girl right then. She was a vicious, nasty person.

  When they called my name as the winner, I glared at Rebecca Forsythe. The way her face crumpled for that split second before she had a chance to plaster on her fake smile was an extra juicy cherry on the top of my happiness.

  I figured I’d won by default. Even with Rebecca’s “evidence”, it’d be too risky to give her the prize just in case she had cheated. Of course, they’d never take it any further because Rebecca’s Forsythe’s father gave generous bequests to the university while Jayne’s family were poor.

  But, of course, I couldn’t tell Jayne that was one of the reasons that going on this exchange meant so much to me. Even though Jayne was my best friend and even though she acted so tough, she had this whole insecurity thing she had to hide. She’d never spoken about that night again.

  “He’s wandered off,” said Tristan, bringing me back to reality. “Um, yeah, I might have to excuse myself for a bathroom break.”

  Tristan left the room with a wink. He was totally hoping to catch Chad in the bathroom and get a glimpse of his wang. Cheeky bastard.

  “Is he going to follow you around for the next three months?” Jayne asked.

  “I’m pretty sure I can persuade him to take it easy. I’m not averse to giving him a little ‘bonus’ to look the other way and he can still keep collecting his pay cheque from Grandmother. It’s going to get pretty darn boring for him hanging out here.”

  I couldn’t help glancing at the doorway to see if he’d returned though.

  Jayne just shrugged.

  After class, the three of us went to Willigars, the closest bar to campus. It wasn’t pretty and it wasn’t classy but the drinks were cheap. The place reeked of stale beer and the carpet stuck to your feet. They had a jukebox full of crappy old songs from the ‘80s and ‘90s, a pool table and some chipped laminated tables. That’s the kind of place it was.

  We’d got there early enough to grab a table and ordered a round of drinks. Tristan nudged me and pointed towards the toilets. A big, beefy figure leaned against the wall.

  “You can’t leave him lurking there,” Tristan said. “Tell him to come over and join us.”

  Just because he had to follow me, didn’t mean I wanted to become friends with him.

  “Seriously, no,” said Jayne before I could even reply. “He gives me the creeps. It’d be really uncomfortable for us and for him. Just ignore him.”

  Tristan sighed. “It’s a bit hard to when he’s so absolutely lickable. Do you have no girl parts at all, Jayne? When’s the last time you even had anything non-plastic between your legs?”

  Jayne glared up at him through her thick, blunt fringe.

  “Some of us aren’t obsessed with our genitalia,” she said, with a look that took in both of us. “Although, if I wanted to shag around, I sure as hell wouldn’t let my grandmother stop me.”

  “Not even for a trip to Italy?” said Tristan.

  “Italy is lame. It’s full of smelly cheese. I’m getting another round of drinks before happy hour finishes.”

  “I could do it,” said Tristan. He folded his arms.

  Jayne snorted.

  “You? You are worse than her. At least Lucy doesn’t think she’s in love with every guy she shags. She just does it and gets it over with instead of turning into some kind of moon calf, crazed with obsessive infatuation. I mean, Lucy sleeps with heaps and heaps of guys and half the time we never even hear about them.”

  “I don’t sleep with that many! God, Jayne, you make me sound bad. Is it wrong to like sex? It’s a natural biological urge.”

  Both Tristan and Jayne laughed.

  “I think it goes way beyond being a biological urge with you.” Jayne drained her glass. “It’s like you have a quota to fill.”

  I thought about that for a moment.

  “It’s not that I want to sleep with a lot of men,” I said. “I just like sex but I don’t like the other stuff that comes with it. I get bored with them. If I could find a man who was good in the sack but kept me entertained outside of it, I’d stick with him. But most of them are so lame after a few dates. Anyway, who says ‘moon calf’?”

  We got talking about school gossip and I forgot about Chad. Well, I mostly forgot about him. I did glance over a few times to make sure he was still there. At one point, he gave me a little wave. I guess he had to look like he was doing his job.

  “Lucy, it’s your shout,” Jayne said.

  “Fine, but I’m going on to softies,” I told her. I couldn’t get drunk again, not after the previous night.

  I stood at the bar with a folded note between my fingers, flicking it against the grungy bar towel. I wanted to make sure I didn’t get served by the old guy, not when there was a hot new barman just started working there. I was happy to watch him bend over and get some cheapo wine from the bottom fridge, with the firm muscles of his buttocks straining against the fabric of his Levis. When he’d finished with his customer, I made eye contact with him as though I didn’t really care who served me.

  He leaned on the bar, looking into my eyes.

  “What’ll it be?”

  I grinned as though I knew exactly what I wanted and didn’t need to say it out loud.

  “Two glasses of wine and an orange juice, thanks,” I actually said. Oh, he’d have to bend back down to get that wine out of the cask again. Precious moments.

  I gave him another sexy grin when he sat down the drinks.

  “My shift finishes in about twenty minutes,” he said. “That’s when the real barman comes in. If you want to stick around, we could have a drink together.�
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  I gave him a salute and smiled. “I’ll be around,” I said.

  “Whoa, new barman. Score,” said Tristan when I came back to the table. “He’s not even been here a week.”

  The bar had filled up, mainly with students after cheap drinks. If you wanted cheap drinks, this was the place to go. Jayne had gotten into a discussion with a few of her old friends from high school and Tristan had decided to go cruising, so I moved to the bar and waited for the barman to finish his shift.

  “Another ten minutes,” he said and put a cocktail down in front of me. To be honest, I’d much rather have had an orange juice.

  I checked my phone.

  “What are you drinking?” Jayne came up beside me, checking out my fruit and cocktail umbrella laden glass.

  “No idea. Do you want it?”

  She seemed much happier than earlier. Or the drinks had hit her. Jayne seemed to be drinking more than she used to and I wondered if she was okay.

  The barman came over and sat beside me.

  “So, you gave away your drink?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t drink much.”

  “Oh,” he said, raising his eyebrows.

  I gave him a look, not my full on sex eyes because he wasn’t ready for that yet, but a promise of things to come.

  “I don’t need to drink to have fun,” I said.

  “I bet you don’t.” He laughed.

  He had obscenely long eyelashes and a way of holding his mouth that made my insides happy. To be honest, he wasn’t that interesting though. He told me all about his motorbike including all the technical mechanical stuff that I could not care less about. After a while, I noticed that the barstool cut into my legs and I was getting a numb bum sitting on the hard seat. I had two choices – either make a move on him and get out of there or move on and find someone better.

  Our knees touched under the bar and he’d moved in close enough that I could smell his cheap yet not distasteful cologne.

  I was about to suggest heading back to my place for some quiet time when he jerked around.

  “Who’s that guy?” he asked.

  “What guy?”

  “The one over there, glaring at us.” He backed away from me a bit. “I’m all up for some fun but if you’re not single then, sorry, not interested.”

  My stomach sank as I turned around. Chad waved at me again.

  “He’s no one.”

  “He’s taking notes. See, he’s got a notebook out.” The barman got up off his barstool, shaking his head. “I have no idea what the situation is here but it’s too freaky for me. Catch you later.”

  What the hell? Was that beefcake actually taking notes? The entertainment value of Chad had started wearing thin already.

  I marched across the room.

  “What the hell do you think you’re doing? Are you some kind of stalker?”

  Chad laughed.

  “Yeah, I am. A stalker paid by your grandmother.”

  I folded my arms. I guess he was right.

  “Were you taking notes? Because that is exceptionally creepy, you know.”

  “I need evidence. I can’t just tell your grandmother that you were chatting some sleaze ball up in a bar. I’m sure you know her well enough to realise she is going to want evidence. I was about ready to get out my phone so I could get a photo when you moved in to kiss him.”

  “I wasn’t!” I so was. Anything to shut him up with his motorbike talk.

  “You were. I’m glad you’re so predictable, makes my job so much easier.”

  What a jerk. I was not predictable. I was raunchy and provocative. And now I’d spent an hour of my life listening to motorbike talk and I’d never get that time back again. Luckily, the night was still young and there were plenty more hot bodies out there to target. I spotted someone across the room and turned to walk off.

  Chad grabbed my arm. Ha, I’d gotten him jealous. The Chad, he wanted me for himself. Of course. He was only human.

  “I need you to take me home,” he said.

  I looked up at him through my lashes. That was just too easy but I could imagine a world of fun to be had with The Chad.

  “I’m staying with you, in case you’d forgotten and I don’t have a key. I really don’t want to spend all night waiting around for you. So, you can hurry up and score with one of these losers so I can quit this job or you can leave it for another night and we can both get some sleep.”

  Ouch, slap down. I fished in my bag for a key and handed it to him, trying not to let him see the disappointment on my face.

  “Here,” I said, smacking the key in his hand. “Don’t wait up for me.”

  As I walked off, he grabbed me again.

  “I can’t go without you and I’m exhausted.”

  I shrugged, he could do what he liked. I fully intended to stick around. Even if I didn’t get any action, I wasn’t going to let him control my life.

  His big arms folded around me and suddenly I was in mid-air. Over Chad’s shoulder.

  I kicked and screamed. Not those little girlie kicks either like you see in the movies where you know the girl really likes it even if she protests. I kicked hard and I elbowed him in the back of the neck. He didn’t put me down, he didn’t even flinch. I tried to grab a handful of his hair but he held me too tight. I would kill him as soon as he let me down. I would kick him in the nads until he screamed. Nobody treated me like that.

  I yelled some more but, by this time of night, the music in the bar had gotten super loud and the conversations even louder. With the screams of girls around the pool table and shrieks of laughter, my screaming just dissolved into the crowd. Not one single person came to help me. Not one. As he walked towards the door, I caught the eye of one of the bouncers. Ha, Mr Clever Pants Chad was screwed now. No one would be allowed to get away with manhandling a woman out of the bar. It was a clear-cut case of non-consensual touching. You could tell by the way I struggled to get free that this was not a game. But the bouncer just laughed.

  What a jerk. That was how girls got raped and murdered, because dumb-arse morons like him just watched and laughed. I’d be ringing my grandmother in the morning and telling her I wanted Chad off the case. No matter what.

  He dumped me in the passenger seat of his car and I thought of making a run for it, back into the bar. That would show him. But he’d probably just drag me out again and I’d had enough humiliation for one night. I’d wait until I had a chance to talk to grandmother. If she was so concerned about me being in a scandal, she would not condone this behaviour.

  I folded my arms, prepared to give him the silent treatment all the way home.

  Jayne ran across the parking lot.

  “Are you okay?” she called to me. She reached the car window, out of breath and panting. Thank god for friends who had your back. “Do you want me to call the police?”

  “Thanks,” I said. “I think this jerk just wants to take me home. In the separate rooms kind of way. I’ll call you as soon as I get home to let you know I’m okay.”

  I still had my body turned from him and I knew he could hear what we were saying.

  Jayne shook her head.

  “Why are you in his car anyway? Get out and take your own. He could be an axe murderer who’s planning to dump your body somewhere.”

  Jerk-face Chad started putting the window up. I put my finger on the button to lower it again. Maybe Jayne had a point.

  “I’m taking her home because I don’t know where we live yet. She can pick up her car in the morning.”

  Jayne’s mouth had set in a determined line, like she’d jump on the roof of his car rather than let him drive off with me. I didn’t want this turning into more of a spectacle.

  “I’ll call you in 2o minutes. If you haven’t heard from me by then, definitely call the cops. Get a photo of his licence plate number to be on the safe side. I’m sure Grandmother has had him all checked out, security-wise though.”

  Chad just groaned and started the car.
r />   CHAPTER FIVE

  I didn’t really think Chad was a killer, just a pain in the butt. If anyone was going to do any killing, it would be me after that stunt. A cute butt and muscular arms do not make up for an ugly personality. But, since I couldn’t kill him while he was driving, I sat in the passenger seat with my arms crossed, fuming, until we pulled up at my place.

  He grabbed a bag off the backseat of the car. I marched in, not caring if he followed or not. I kicked open the door to the spare room then left him to his own devices. I had important things to do like message Jayne and file my nails and wait for him to apologise.

  Even after I’d filed every nail on my hands and feet, he still hadn’t surfaced.

  “Chad, can you come here?”

  He obviously had more important things to do than apologise to me for being a rude, arrogant jerk-face but we needed to talk. Firstly, I wanted the security deposit and rent upfront. He’d be gone in the morning after I called Grandmother but that didn’t mean he could stiff me. And he needed to know just how wrong his behaviour had been since he obviously lacked the education to realise you just don’t do that.

  “Chad!”

  What the hell was that guy doing in there?

  I hoped he wasn’t too disappointed in the room. Not that I cared. The apartment was pretty crummy but it was all that I could afford. Well, more than I could afford since Jayne moved out. I’d been trying to convince Jayne to move back in with me but she couldn’t afford to live out of home and Tristan has his own place downtown. Every other person who’d looked at the place had been an A-grade freak. I don’t have high standards but I can’t live with pissy-faced bitches or clean freaks or people who make weird noises when they speak so I’d been paying the rent all on my own.

  If my parents weren’t such do-gooder hippies, I could’ve lived with them and saved a fortune but they were always going off somewhere to help with causes. They didn’t even have a permanent home, they just rented or crashed with friends when they were in town. I still had a few boxes with heaven only knew what stored on the top of my wardrobe. Not that I resented them being do-gooders, I just wanted to not pay rent.