Sucker for the Boss

by Blue Sky Books

  “April doesn’t want you.”

  Okay, that didn’t settle well. “Let her decide that.”

  April chose that moment to walk back. Her face was impassive and that worried Nick. What if Gerard was right? What if she didn’t want him? Then he’d encounter his first heartbreak.

  *****

  “I’ll keep checking on you, April. You know how important this degree is for you, don’t you?” Gerard asked her as she unlocked her apartment’s door. “I know, Dad.” She wanted him gone.

  “Goodbye, April.”

  “Bye, Dad.” And finally, his car pulled away. April rushed to her room, ignoring the eyes of her roommates following her. She locked herself in her small room and slid down against the wall.

  So much had happened in one day. Confrontation with Nick, then Nick saving her, her dad’s arrival, his disapproval of everything she did and then dinner with Kyle and Nick. The dinner – it was a disaster – until she had overheard the conversation between Nick and her dad. Nick’s words echoed in her mind. He had defended her before her own father. He had stood up for her. And then he said he’d choose her. I’ll always choose April. Always, Gerard. And over everything.

  Did he really mean it or was it just to show her dad? But then she replayed when he had saved her. The worry on his face, that concern, was it really for her? God, there was so much confusion inside her head that needed to be straightened. And the one to provide the answers for them was Nick. But before she asked him, she had to question herself on what she felt for him? She didn’t have to think much for that part. Because it had pretty much come out itself the moment he had said that he’d choose her over the rest. She’d choose him too. If he was taking the leap, then she was going to meet him halfway there.

  Yes, that was it. Now she had to tell Nick. It didn’t take her long to grab her car keys and drive down to Nick’s apartment. She rang the bell, but no one answered until the third ring. Disappointment flooded inside her. He wasn’t home. Was he at the bar? Or with someone? Pessimism began to overcome her, and she turned to leave.

  “April?” His voice stopped her in her tracks. He was standing on the stairs, still in the clothes from earlier.

  “Where have you been?” she asked him directly.

  “Why are you here, April?” His voice was soft, and she looked into his eyes. There was nothing but purity in them. “I wanted to ask you something.” He looked at her for a long while and then sighed.

  “Ask away.” Of course, he didn’t know that she had listened to his conversation with Gerard. “You’ll answer me honestly, won’t you?”

  “Have I ever been anything but honest with you, April?” He was right. He unlocked his door and gestured her to step in. She was struggling with how to frame her questions when Nick’s thumb caressed her lower lip, releasing it from her teeth, which she didn’t know she was biting.

  “Ask what you want to ask, April. I’ll give you all the answers you need,” he said in a low voice. What were her questions?

  “Do you want me, Nick?” Uh oh, where did this come from? It wasn’t on her query list from before. Nick sucked in a breath. “Is that even a question?”

  “Since I’ve asked, you may as well answer,” she said in a throaty whisper. Nick groaned and then kissed her hard. It poured all the answers for her earlier questions. She could feel his arousal on her stomach.

  “Ask your question,” he growled.

  “What are we going to do about college?” she asked, and Nick looked at her in disbelief. “What does that mean, April?”

  “You know what I mean, Nick.”

  “Words. I need words, April.” He was looking at her with such a pained expression.

  “I don’t want to pretend anymore, Nick. I don’t want to act like I don’t want you.”

  “Thank fuck.” Nick grabbed her and kissed her again. They didn’t stop until she was tucked in his bed. “I love you, April. I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you by my side.” Her eyes widened at his confession. “Nick …”

  “I know it’s early. You can pretend like I didn’t say it, but I am not taking it back,” he said in such a careful voice as if waiting for her to run away. But she was done running. She tugged his face down and gave him a deep, passionate kiss before pushing him on his back and rolling on his chest. “I don’t want you to take it back, Nick. I love you too, and I’ll be by your side, no matter what.” She lowered herself onto him and they both gave into the heights of love that they had found in such unconventional way.

  A Hockeyer[bc7]

  Ruby could sense that her mother was peeping out from their living room window, spying on her walking away. She whipped around suddenly and frantically waved at her mother, catching her in the act of observing her daughter. It was when her mother finally gave up and drew the curtains shut that Ruby began to walk towards her new school. Another new town, another new school. Ruby would never tell her parents, but she was tired.

  She was tired of having to make new friends, and she missed her old ones. She was tired of having to acquaint herself with another new city after just having gotten used to the old one. She was also tired of how she would have to explain her parents’ interracial marriage to people, all over again. She got her small almond-shaped eyes from her mother’s Japanese family, along with the long straight dark hair that girls always envied. From her father’s Irish family, she got the dust of brown freckles on her cheeks and her ample curves. “A cocktail, that’s what you are”[bc8] her father always teased her.

  It was because of her father that they always moved so much. He was an on-site engineer for a multinational corporation, which meant that every few years he was obliged to move to a new city or town to oversee a new project for the company. Ever since Ruby could remember, they had never lived in the same city for more than two years. So when three months ago, her mother sat her down at the dining table and told her “we need to talk”, Ruby knew exactly what she was about to tell her. They were moving again.

  Ruby sighed as a spring-scented breeze blew into her face and up her nostrils. Moving to another town might not have been ideal, but the least she could do was enjoy a beautiful spring day. So she tried to forget about the fact that this was her first day in a new school and drew in a deep breath and continued walking.

  It wasn’t until she heard the muted sound of music from behind that she turned her head slightly to the side to realize that somebody was following her down the same road. She slowed her pace when she saw that the guy was definitely her age and in all probability headed to the same school. She smiled inwardly at her luck. The guy was gorgeous! Thick blond hair, sparkling blue eyes, broad shoulders accentuated by a hugging cotton T-shirt, which outlined his washboard abs that tapered towards the waist.

  He wasn’t looking at her, it seemed like he was looking at his phone while music played into the plugs in his ears. Ruby by this time had slowed down her pace to an extent where he was going to overtake her. She decided to take her chance.

  “Hi, I’m Ruby,” she said loudly and stepped out in front of him. Her hair swung around her shoulders while she clutched the straps of her black canvas backpack for support. The guy said nothing. In fact, he didn’t even look up from the phone in his hands. He took a few steps to the side to avoid crashing into her and then continued on his way.

  Ruby remained standing where she had stopped. The smile that she had pasted on her face when she introduced herself to him was still present, although she had lost the heart of it. She stared at his back as he began to fade into the distance, her eyes widened and her heart throbbed nervously against her chest. She had not even stepped foot into the new school, and already she felt like an invisible foreign object.

  Ruby looked around quickly, just to make sure that nobody else had witnessed the little incident. She could feel tears welling up in her eyes but simply gulped. Just as much as she couldn’t believe how rude the guy had been, she knew she was going to be late for class if she continued to stand an
d worry about why a stranger refused to reciprocate her introduction. Just deal with it Ruby, she mumbled to herself and started towards the school again.

  There was nothing different about this school, at least from the outside, from any of the six-seven other schools she had attended in her lifetime. As she stepped in through the crowded main doors of the school into its buzzing corridor, Ruby shrugged her shoulders and looked around. Her first task was to find the locker that had been assigned to her, after which she would head for the first class – English Literature. The oldest love of her life.

  Whether or not she would be able to make new friends in this new school, whether or not she would even like this new town, the one thing she knew for certain was that she would always have her books. Ruby passed a glass cabinet in the hall which displayed some school hockey trophies and caught a reflection of herself in a split second. Her jeans looked clean and neatly folded at the bottom. The chunky black leather boots she was wearing added a few inches to her otherwise short height. Her red and black plaid shirt was loose and comfortable. She smiled to herself. She was ready. Whether or not anybody else was ready for her, she was ready for them. She pushed her black framed glasses high up on the bridge of her nose just as she found the locker she was looking for.

  Within minutes, Ruby had the books she needed, a notebook, two pens, two colored markers and some sticky notes to separate out the in-class notes that she was prepared to take. She looked down at Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby in her hands and smiled again. This is going to be a piece of cake, she said to herself and made her way to her first class.

  *****

  Ruby slid her stuff from the table and caught them in her hands as she stood up from the chair. She tucked a thick lock of straight hair behind her ear and got ready to walk out of class.

  “Hey new girl!” She heard a voice a few feet away and looked up to find a group of three girls standing near the door. The one who had called out to her was leaning against the frame of the doorway, sucking on a pink lollipop. She had bright auburn curls, manicured red nails and wore a tiny stretchy skirt which made her legs look endless. Ruby knew exactly the kind of girl she was, the kind who she never got along with.

  Ruby knew that it would be in her best interests to ignore them, so she pretended not to have heard and started towards the door. But they were blocking the way.

  “Where are you from anyway? Chowmein town?” the auburn-headed girl said and the other two burst out in giggles and exchanged high-fives. Ruby rolled her eyes and tried to squeeze past them.

  “Are you deaf?” the same girl said again, and Ruby could feel her cheeks burning up.

  “Get over it.” She suddenly heard another voice, and they all turned around to find a tall, bony girl standing with her books, facing them.

  “Mind your own business Tracey,” the one with the auburn curls said, till the girl who was called Tracey shoved past them through the door dragging Ruby along with her. When they stepped into the corridor, Tracey let go of Ruby’s hand, and she could feel a tight grip on her palms where she had been roughly held.

  “You’ve gotta show them you can’t be pushed around,” Tracey said almost immediately as Ruby nearly choked on pent up tears.

  “I was bullied for years by them for my height till they realized that I could literally stamp over them if they pushed it too far,” she added and patted Ruby on her shoulders.

  “Thanks for that,” Ruby managed to squeak while craning her neck up to look at Tracey.

  “No worries. I’m Tracey by the way. And you are Ruby?” she asked with a large toothy smile. Ruby smiled back at her, somehow it felt like a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

  “Yeah. I didn’t expect anybody to behave this way. I thought we were all old enough by now not to be this childish,” Ruby said as they began to walk towards the lockers.

  “This is high school, sweetheart. You can’t expect anything else,” Tracey said with a laugh. “It seems like Connor Jonson’s noticed your arrival as well,” she added, and Ruby followed her gaze to the spot where a group from her English class were standing near the lockers. The girl with the auburn hair was leaning against one of the lockers, her two sidekicks were around her while the guy with the earphones from Ruby’s morning walk was standing facing them. Two other burly looking guys in hockey jerseys were there as well. Their heads were all turned towards Ruby and Tracey. Ruby immediately felt a rush of embarrassment. Even from a distance, she could tell that they were talking about her.

  “Who is Connor Jonson?” Ruby asked Tracey almost in a whisper as if they would be able to hear her.

  “Oh boy. You’ll soon find out. He’s the hockey heartthrob of the school. The team captain and a capital player. If you know what I mean,” Tracey said all this with a devilish grin on her face.

  “I tried introducing myself to him this morning, but he just completely ignored me,” Ruby said and watched as Tracey shook her head.

  “Obviously. Nobody simply introduces themselves to Connor Jonson. I doubt he even knows a single person, outside his hockey team, by name,” Tracey said and grabbed Ruby’s arm again. “C’mon, we have a few minutes before Geography. Let’s go grab a milkshake from the cafeteria?” Tracey said and started pulling Ruby away.

  “But what about the books we need for the next class?” Ruby asked as she was being dragged.

  “Trust me. You don’t want to have to confront them right now when they are in a group. Sometimes it’s more brave to make the wise decision and stay away,” Tracey said while Ruby caught a last fleeting glimpse of Connor Jonson. His blond hair was falling over his deep set sparkling eyes while his cheeks were indented with long deep dimples as he laughed loudly at something someone in his group was saying. Irrespective of the valuable advice that Tracey had just been giving her, Ruby wished she could break free from her new friend’s grasp and walk over to her locker. Just so that she could see Connor more clearly, breathe in the masculine scent that he no doubt was emanating. She wanted to see his dimples more closely and crack jokes just so that she could watch him laugh.

  But she also knew she was being a fool. Connor was with the very people who only a few minutes ago had bullied her. If she had learnt one thing from all her years of switching schools and making new friends, it was that people like Connor Jonson and his auburn-headed girlfriend were not the kind of people who could be friends with Ruby. Ruby didn't have the right clothes, she didn’t have the long manicured nails, she didn’t throw awesome parties, and she loved to study too much. All of these points greatly disqualified her from ever getting to know Connor Jonson. Like Tracey had said, there was close to no chance of Connor even finding out what her name was, other than if he was going to prank or bully her.

  Ruby and Tracey walked into the cafeteria together, and she looked over to her towering skinny new friend. Things might just be all right, she thought as she watched Tracey turn around and give her an excited smile. New friendships, she almost said aloud.

  *****

  “My mother worries too much,” Ruby said as she typed a quick short text message into her phone and pressed Send. Tracey was sitting cross-legged on her bed and writing furiously into her notebook.

  “Maybe if she meets me, she’ll feel better,” Tracey said and laughed at herself. Ruby was on the floor, underlining important lines on her copy of The Great Gatsby.

  “Maybe. She doesn’t believe that I’ve made a friend already,” Ruby said and stretched out her arms lazily. It had been a week since her first day at the new school, and already she and Tracey were inseparable. It probably had something to do with the fact that Tracey had no friends before Ruby showed up. In any case, Ruby didn’t care. Tracey was fun and funny and most importantly loved English Literature almost as much as herself. In fact, she found it hard to believe that she had no friends.

  They had already started hanging out after school at Tracey’s house every day because her parents were never home. Ruby was yet to meet anybody
else from Tracey’s family.

  “Do you wanna stay for dinner?” Tracey asked her, just as Ruby was thinking about how she had never met her family.

  “Are you sure your parents won’t mind?” Ruby asked and lay herself down on the thick lush carpet on Tracey’s floor.

  “My dad, you mean? No, he won’t. He’ll probably be excited that I finally brought company home for dinner,” Tracey said and flipped her thin brown hair behind her shoulder.

  “Oh,” Ruby said and sat up from the floor to look at Tracey worriedly.

  “It’s okay. You didn’t know. My mom passed away when I was like six. Cancer. I’m over it,” Tracey said without meeting Ruby’s eye and went back to scribbling in her notebook.

  “I’m sorry, Tracey,” Ruby said quietly; she could tell that Tracey was uncomfortable, so she lay back down on the carpet again.

  “Thanks,” Tracey mumbled, and an awkward silence fell between them. Ruby thought about how only a few minutes ago she had been complaining to her about how her own mother always nagged and worried.

  “I’ll text my mom and tell her I’m staying at yours for dinner,” Ruby said, adding fake excitement to her voice.

  “Great. I’ll text my dad and let him know we have company,” Tracey said, in what Ruby thought was a genuinely excited voice. They were both quiet again. Ruby remained on her back on the carpet, staring up at the ceiling which was an eggshell white.

  “So Connor Jonson huh? He’s a hottie,” Ruby said, more out of desperation to break the silence.

  Tracey remained quiet for a few seconds before she responded.

  “I guess,” she said, reverting back to her usual lazy tone.