Sweet Harmony

by A. M. Evanston

  She interrupted Daniel's cursing and said, "Why don't you buy normal tea like everybody else? This is nuts. It's like drinking money."

  "I'm rich. I can afford it." Daniel groaned, wiping the tea smudge from his pants. "I can't believe you just spit Da Hong Pao on my pant leg."

  Okay, maybe she did feel a little guilty about that.

  "Sorry," she muttered.

  "Sorry?" Daniel stopped wiping his pants. "Do you have a fever?"

  "No." She wrinkled her nose. "Do I have to have a fever to apologize to somebody?"

  "When you apologize to me, yes." Daniel approached her and placed a hand on her forehead. The sudden closeness made her heart speed up.

  "I'm fine," she said, even though he didn't move his hand.

  The two of them locked eyes again. The same magnetic feeling was back, drawing the two of them closer. She both hated and loved that magnetism. If only she could control it and feel the intensity only when she wanted to and for whom she wanted to. Stupid life. Somebody should have made it a little easier.

  "I suppose your brain must be idled from your fall in the pool." Daniel let out a shaky laugh and she knew that he was feeling the heat between them too. "I thought you were supposed to be Ms. Kung Fu girl with supreme balance. How did it happen?"

  So he hadn't seen the guy push her…

  "First off, it's karate, not kung fu." She wasn't sure why that was so important, even now. "Secondly, somebody shoved me into the pool. I didn't fall in. I'm guessing it's the same person who decided to start chucking pots at my head."

  The color drained out of his face.

  "Somebody pushed you?" Daniel whispered.

  "Yeah." She hesitated before nodding. "I've felt like I was being watched for quite a while now. I just assumed I was being paranoid after the pot incident. Do you think the person could have known that I'm scared of water?"

  "Maybe," Daniel said. "But you don't talk about it much."

  "I keep hoping the person is just pranking me, but after the pot incident, I feel like it can't be a coincidence." The fact that somebody was hiding from her like a sniveling coward made her mad. "Somebody actually wants to murder me."

  Daniel didn't speak. His eyes were on the floor.

  "I'll hire somebody," he said. "I'll have a guard protect you. I'll talk to Mrs. Carmichael too and let her know what's happened."

  "No," she said.

  "Why not?" he snapped.

  "Well …"

  Her reasoning was dumb. It was because she hated not taking care of herself. Her entire life, she'd had to manage everything. Not being able to handle this made her feel almost as weak and as out of control as her own emotions did.

  "You can't even give me a reason," Daniel snapped. "I'm going to call a security company first thing tomorrow. Tonight you're staying here with me so I can watch you."

  The words made her hair stand on end. What was he, a prison guard?

  "I'm perfectly capable of taking take of myself," she said. "I can handle this too. If I can figure out who's doing this, then I'll be fine."

  "So that's it." Daniel glared at her. "This is about that stupid pride of yours, isn't it? Well, guess what? I'm going to protect you no matter what. And the more you try to run from my help, the more people I'll hire to guard you. I'm not going to let something happen because you're an idiot."

  She wasn't sure what to react to first—the fact Daniel had just called her an idiot or the fact that he wanted to protect her so badly.

  "Why are you trying so hard?" she yelled. "I've always been able to take care of my own problems. I don't get why you care so much."

  "Why do I care so much?" Daniel grabbed her shoulders and looked close to shaking her. "Why do you need everything spelled out for you? I like you. That's why. And you're going to accept my help and not leave this room tonight."

  She heard his confession, but she couldn't stop yelling at him even though she wanted to.

  "I've never obeyed another person in my entire life." She poked him in the chest. "I don't get why I've finally decided to start listening to someone like you."

  "So you're going to listen to me?"

  "Yeah!" she shouted.

  "Good." Both of them were breathing heavy, centimeters apart.

  It took her a moment to get her head on straight. Her mind was in complete turmoil for more reasons than her stalker. Was she supposed to acknowledge the fact she'd just heard Daniel's feelings for her?

  "You really need to work on your people skills," Daniel muttered.

  She glared at him. No way was she acknowledging his feelings now. What a jerk.

  Chapter Seventeen

  The next morning, Annamarie groaned and opened her eyes. The sun shined through the window, coaxing her awake. Stupid sun. She rolled onto her side and touched her face. Even though she couldn't remember dreaming, the crust on her cheeks hinted she'd had nightmares and wept throughout the night. Great. One more thing to be embarrassed about. She groused, pulling the heaps of blankets off of her. She jumped off the bed, felt something warm and squashy underfoot, then went down like a bag of rocks.

  To her immense shock and horror, she found herself chest to chest with Daniel. Her knee was wedged between his legs and her hands were on his chest. He'd obviously been sleeping because he looked just as shocked to have her on top of him as she was to have fallen that way.

  "What the heck are you doing by the bed?" she yelled. "You were supposed to sleep on the couch."

  "You were moaning in your sleep, you idiot," he said. "It was easier to check on you this way."

  Oh, the humiliation.

  "You should have stayed on the couch." She glared at him.

  "And you shouldn't have stepped on my leg." He snarled at her. "Do you know what kind of bruise I'm going to have?"

  The two of them fell silent, breathing heavy. She'd been so busy yelling she'd forgotten she was still on top of him. A door opened down the hall. Gavin appeared at the threshold of the bedroom and froze when he saw the two of them. All of the color drained out of his face.

  "Whoa…sorry…" Gavin took a stumbling step backward. "I didn't realize you were, um, you know…I'll come back later…"

  She realized how awful the situation looked. Daniel must have too because the color drained from his face.

  She and Daniel both chorused, "No!" at the same time. The front door slammed shut. It was too late for any explanations.

  "Oh no," she said. "No, no, no."

  With a groan, she staggered to her feet and sat down on the bed.

  "Well, Gavin is never going to look at me the same way again," Daniel muttered. "Why did you have to go and fall on top of me for?"

  "It was an accident," she said. "You don't think he's going to tell people about this, do you?"

  "Gavin?" Daniel shook his head. "Heck no."

  "I still don't want him to think that we were…you know…" She ran a hand through her hair. "I'm not that kind of girl."

  "And do you think I want my best friend to believe that I'm a guy with one thing on his mind?" Daniel asked. "When I have all of these problems with you straightened out, I'll talk to him. Boy, you're a pain."

  "Ugh." She flopped onto the bed. "It's too early in the morning for this. Can't we at least wait to start fighting until after breakfast?"

  Daniel frowned at her. "You're not a morning person?"

  "Is anybody?" she asked.

  With a grunt, Daniel nodded and then headed over to his closet. He pulled out another sweater and a pair of pants and tossed them at her.

  "Wear these," he said.

  "Why?" She raised an eyebrow. "I can just walk back to my dorm and get changed."

  "Only if you let me come with you," he said.

  "Fine." The guy was such a slave driver.

  "Be sure to change into something decent," Daniel said. "We'll go out to breakfast after."

  "Why do you always have to decide things on your own?" she muttered. "You can ask me if I want to go out
to breakfast, but not order me to."

  "So you don't want to go out to breakfast?" He raised an eyebrow.

  "Well, no," she said. "I do actually."

  "See." Daniel pointed at her. "You tell me to stop arguing, but you're the one who starts it. You want to go out to breakfast but nitpick because of my phrasing."

  "I don't always start it." Only half the time.

  Daniel gave her a deadpan stare and shook his head.

  "It really is too early for this. Make yourself a cup of tea or something," he said. "I'm going to brush my teeth and wash my face. If you try to escape, I'll come tearing after you."

  Grumbling, Annamarie nodded and headed to the living room, trying not to trip on the oversized pants she was wearing. She leaned against the sofa recliner, deep in thought. Even though she'd slept eight hours, the incident at the swimming pool was still fresh in her mind.

  Minutes went by. Daniel finally came into the room wearing a pair of snug blue jeans and a black shirt that hugged every muscle. She'd be lying if she said she didn't gape at his physique. She didn't know how often the guy worked out, but whatever his regimen was, it was effective.

  "Are you read to go?" Daniel asked, ripping her from her thoughts.

  "Yes," she said quickly, desperate to distract herself.

  What the heck was she thinking, ogling Daniel's biceps?

  The two of them left the dorm. As she crossed the grounds with Daniel at her side, everybody stared and whispered. It looked like she didn't need to worry about Gavin spreading inappropriate rumors. The sight of her wearing Daniel's clothes the morning after a dance was more than enough to fire up the rumor mill. When she reached her dorm, she turned toward Daniel.

  "You should stay out here," she said

  If people saw him go into the girls' dorm with her, more rumors would start. She'd be labeled a tramp for the duration of her life on campus.

  "No." Daniel didn't leave room for argument, which pissed her off.

  "You…" She had so many bad names she wanted to call him that she couldn't select one.

  Still muttering, she went inside with Daniel trailing behind her. Since it was late morning, most of the girls were already awake. Every person she and Daniel passed stopped in their tracks to gawk. Why can't I just punch them? Annamarie thought, sighing as she made it to her room. She went inside and was relieved to see everything was as she left it. Daniel moved to follow her in, but she pressed a hand against his solid chest and pushed him back.

  "No," she said.

  "I want to make sure you're—"

  "I'm changing my clothes," she snapped. "You aren't going to watch."

  "Oh." His cheeks were tainted with red. "Yeah, maybe I should stay out here then."

  Finally, he saw reason. She shut the door and changed out of Daniel's clothes. It was so nice to swap the baggy sweatshirt and pants for a pair of snug jeans and a comfortable t-shirt. She grabbed her toiletry bag and walked out into the hall again.

  "Here's your stuff." She threw his clothes at him a little harder than she intended. They smacked him square in the face.

  "Did you have to do that?" He rubbed his nose.

  She ignored him.

  "I'm going to brush my teeth now." It was the only way she wouldn't have breath that smelled like day old garbage. "Stay here."

  "Will you be okay by yourself?" he asked.

  "Unless somebody stabs me in the eye with a toilet brush," she said.

  She moved to head to the bathroom, but Daniel seized her arm and held it.

  "Hey," Daniel said. "Be careful."

  It was obvious from his tone he was actually worried about her.

  "I will." Annamarie gave him thumbs up. "I'm tough Annamarie, remember? If somebody attacks me head on, I'll definitely have the advantage."

  "You're just one person." Daniel ran a hand through his golden hair.

  "I'll be fine." She patted his cheek and felt day-old growth on his jaw. "Worrying doesn't suit that pretty face of yours."

  His expression was stony.

  "You're mocking me, aren't you?" Daniel muttered.

  She winked and ran to the bathroom before he could say anything else. Just as she'd finished brushing her teeth and washing her face, she pulled her hair into a ponytail. A blonde girl she didn't know—there were too many girls at this school—stepped out of a stall.

  "You think you're so clever, don't you?" the blonde asked.

  "Ugh, no." Annamarie placed her hairbrush in her toiletry bag.

  The blonde crossed her arms. "I don't know what you did to get Daniel and Jaiden to like you so much, but we're going to find out. How did you do it? Huh?"

  "I'm actually a witch and doused their breakfast with love potion," Annamarie said sarcastically, fighting to keep a straight face. "It's my goal to ensnare every gorgeous guy in the world and steal their youth."

  Since the blonde looked like she was still digesting the information, Annamarie left the bathroom and met Daniel in the hall again.

  "Anything happen?" Daniel asked.

  "I was accosted by an idiot, but that can happen to anybody," she said.

  "Yeah." Daniel nodded with a knowing frown. "I woke up because an idiot fell on top of me this morning, so I know—"

  "Hey!" She punched his arm.

  "—the feeling." Daniel rubbed his limb. "That hurt. Temper, temper."

  She stuck her tongue out at him. After she tossed her toiletry bag into her room, she headed with Daniel down the stairs and out of the dorm. She was a step out the door when she heard somebody heading toward her. It was either a charging buffalo or it was Owen. Since she hadn't seen any buffalos wandering around campus lately, she wasn't surprised when a human hand grabbed her shoulder. Owen was grinning when she made eye contact, but when he spotted Daniel at her side, his smile lessened by several molars.

  "So the rumors were true," Owen whispered.

  "Forget about the rumors. I have an emergency on my hands," she said. "Since you always seem to know what's going on, can you do me a big favor?"

  "Of course. Don't I always help you out, even when I shouldn't?" Owen was probably remembering the soda spill incident. "What do you need?"

  "Somebody tried to kill me yesterday," she said. "Since you always seem to be paying attention to the rumors, I thought you might be able to figure out who."

  The color drained out of Owen's face.

  "W-what?" Owen asked. "I can't believe something happened to you again."

  "How do we know it wasn't Owen who tried to hurt you?" Daniel scrutinized the other guy. "Maybe it was him who did it."

  "It's not him." She believed that one hundred percent. "We're friends. He wouldn't do that to me."

  "Of course I wouldn't. I'd never hurt her. She's my best friend here." Owen sounded insulted. "Annamarie, what happened to you?"

  "Somebody pushed me into a swimming pool," she said.

  Some of the color returned to Owen's face.

  "That doesn't sound like a murder scheme." Owen rubbed the back of his neck. "It's not nice, but still. Couldn't you just climb out of the pool again?"

  Telling him how scared she was of water was like showing off her Achilles' heel.

  "She can't swim," Daniel said carefully, coming to her rescue.

  "But still there's doggy paddling—"

  "I said she can't swim." Daniel's eyes flashed with a sinister glint.

  Owen must have seen the look in his eye too because he backed off.

  "I'll definitely keep my ear to the ground." Owen paused. "But will you be okay, Annamarie?"

  "She's going to be fine." Daniel wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "I'm going to protect her."

  Her heart had never thudded so fast before. It was strange how she could be both angry and happy somebody was looking out for her.

  "I'll really be fine," she said. "Don't worry about me."

  Owen bit his bottom lip. It looked like he was going to worry anyway.

  ****

  Af
ter a huge breakfast of eggs, pancakes, and bacon, Annamarie stretched out and groaned. Daniel, who sat across from her at the table with his phone pressed against his ear, had only eaten half of his meal. It's a shame to let food go to waste, she thought, spearing a bite of his scrambled egg on her fork and eating it. How could he not like this stuff? It was so good.

  "I understand," Daniel said, speaking to someone at a security company. "Just make sure you have some people out here as soon as you can."

  He hung up and blew out a sigh.

  "When we get back to campus, I'll have to go to Mrs. Carmichael and ask her to give the bodyguards a pass to be able to enter campus," Daniel said.

  The idea of having somebody following behind her all day was repulsive. She picked up Daniel's piece of bacon and gnawed on it. The taste of fried pork filled her mouth.

  "You really don't have to do this," she said. "I can look out for myself."

  "I said I'll protect you and I will." Daniel leaned back and sighed, his expression grim. "How can you eat this stuff? I already have a stomach ache from the little I had."

  "Is it too heavy for your delicate stomach?" she teased.

  "Nothing about me is delicate."

  Daniel picked up his fork. He speared a bite of greasy egg and eyeballed it as if it had been insulting his family. With a growl, he ate the bite and then shoveled the rest of the breakfast into his mouth like his life depended on it. She had to fight the urge to laugh.

  "By the way, I told Jay you spent the night in my room." Daniel took a swig of his orange juice. "The guy kept texting and calling me because you weren't picking up your phone, so I thought I should tell him where you were."

  Her stomach sunk.

  "Why would you tell him that?" she asked. "He'll think…he'll think that we…"

  "I doubt he'll believe we did anything inappropriate." Daniel grimaced. "He knows you, doesn't he? Anybody who's been around you long enough would figure out that you aren't that sort of person."

  "Can you tell him I'll explain everything when I get back?" she asked.

  "Why should I?" Daniel asked.

  "Please, Daniel, he's your friend," she said. "He's probably flipping out right now. And I did disappear on him in the middle of a date."