How Perfect You Are (Carlson College Mysteries Book 1)

by Isabel Fox

  “Uh, tonight? They want to go out tonight?” I repeated stupidly.

  “Yes! Tonight!” Jenna repeated again enthusiastically, her eyes positively sparkling.

  “I don’t know, Jen. I’ve had a really long day, and there’s actually something I need to tell…” I started, but I let myself trail off as Amber came around the side of the car, watching closely. I supposed there was no time like the present to make a change.

  “Okay, fine. Let’s go,” I said to Jenna, who was literally bouncing with enthusiasm. I glanced over to Amber and saw her bewildered look.

  “Go where?” she asked, looking from me to the jumping bean formerly known as Jenna.

  “On a date! A double date with Robby and Paul! Oh, Amber, do you think I could borrow those pink shoes of yours? The ones with the little sparkles?”

  “Uh, sure. They’re in my closet.” Amber told her.

  “Oh, it’s the weirdest thing. My key doesn’t work on your lock anymore. Maybe it’s broken?” Jenna added.

  “No, we had to have the locked changed,” Amber said truthfully. She absently passed Jenna her keys, still watching me. As soon as Jenna had hurried off into the house, Brooklyn close behind her, she said, “Cassie, really? Don’t be an idiot. Is now the best time to try and prove me wrong?”

  “I’m not trying to prove you wrong,” I said indignantly, although technically I was. “I’m just going on a date.”

  “While you have a stalker whose identity remains unknown. What if Robby is your stalker? Did you ever think of that?”

  “I seriously doubt he is,” I replied, rolling my eyes. “But, on the off chance I’m wrong, wouldn’t this be a good opportunity to find out? Maybe he’ll let something slip, compliment my perfectly color coordinated closet or comment on my thoroughly dusted desktop or something.”

  “Fine. If that’s what you want to do, fine,” Amber held her hands up, shaking her head. She turned on her heel and was halfway to the house when she stopped and spun around to face me.

  “But for God’s sake, be careful!” she huffed before turning again and retreating inside. I stood still for a moment, feeling suddenly ill. Amber and I never fought. Argued over whose turn it was to take out the trash, sure, but never a real fight.

  She wasn’t in my shoes, though. She didn’t understand how badly I wanted life to be normal. Admittedly, Normal Circumstances Cassie probably wouldn’t go on a last minute double date. But Not Normal Circumstances and Needing a Break Cassie sure would.

  I resolved to put everything behind me for the evening and try to have a good time. By the time Jenna returned a few minutes later, pink pumps in hand, I was waiting with a smile.

  17

  It was almost ten o’clock, Jenna’s stereo told me, and I was in danger of falling asleep. I wondered idly if Jenna was aware that she and Paul were entirely visible as they made out right next the railing of the balcony outside his apartment.

  My portion of the double date was long since over, through no fault of mine or Robby’s. Jenna and I had met the boys at a tapas bar, and it hadn’t taken long for both Robby and I to realize that we had essentially nothing in common. He was friendly enough, and we managed to keep up a stream of polite conversation while Jenna and Paul were lost in their own little world, finding galaxies in each other’s eyes or something like that.

  By the time we returned to the apartment complex where he and Paul lived, though, it was clearly time to call it a night. He had given me a friendly hug before heading inside.

  I waited by myself in Jenna’s car while the two lovebirds said their goodbyes at his apartment door. That had been thirty minutes ago. My phone’s battery was dead so I’d been paging through an ancient road atlas I’d found under the passenger seat, straining to read it in the dim light of the street lamps in the parking lot. I might have been bored to tears, but at least I was pretty sure I had memorized at least three routes to the nearest beach.

  Finally, at long last, I saw Jenna and Paul break apart. With a final wave, Jenna practically skipped down the stairs and over to her car. She called out a last “Bye! Call me!” before sliding into the driver’s seat.

  “Isn’t he wonderful? He’s the best kisser,” she sighed, sounding dreamy.

  “He does seem very nice. I’ll take your word for it on the kissing,” I laughed. Jenna looked around the car, seeming suddenly surprised.

  “Hey, where’s Robby?” she asked. I looked at her.

  “He went inside. Half an hour ago,” I explained slowly.

  “What?” Jenna gasped. “Why? Didn’t you guys have a good time?”

  “I mean, I didn’t feel the need to chew my own arm off to escape, or anything,” I shrugged. “But we didn’t exactly have “make out in the backseat of your car” kind of chemistry, either. He’s nice, Jen, but we don’t really have a lot in common.”

  “Oh no!” Jenna wailed as she started the ignition. “I really thought you guys would hit it off!”

  “Eh, not so much. Like I said, nice guy, but I think we both agreed there wasn’t really much between us romantically.”

  “But I was so excited! I’d already planned like four more double dates for us!” Jenna sounded genuinely distraught.

  “It’ll be okay. It sounds like you and Paul have a good thing going. I don’t think you really need me for moral support anymore. You guys can go on the fun dates one-on-one instead,” I pointed out.

  That was enough to send Jenna into another soliloquy mooning over Paul. I heard all about how soft his hair was, how handsome his jaw was, how strong he was, how he had complimented her hair, and about a million other things on the drive home. When we pulled into the driveway I saw that Amber’s car was gone.

  “Brooklyn texted and said Amber was giving her a ride home. I’m sure she’ll be back in just a second,” Jenna said, seeing my gaze. “Looks like James is here, though,” she added, nodding to his silver SUV parked next to my car.

  “Shit,” I said, so low that Jenna couldn’t hear me. I had completely forgotten about James making dinner. What an asshole I was. I prayed silently as I climbed out of the car that he wasn’t too upset. I already had Amber mad at me. I didn’t need her brother mad at me, too.

  “Well, I’m really sorry it didn’t work out with Robby,” Jenna said through the open passenger window.

  “It’s okay. No worries. Maybe the next date I go on will be as good as yours,” I shot her a grin, which she returned.

  Jenna gave a friendly wave before putting her car into reverse and starting down the driveway. She’d only gone a few feet before she stopped abruptly and drove back up the drive to where I was still standing. Rolling the window down, she leaned out and said,

  “Hey, earlier today when you got home, did you say you’d been at the police station?”

  With a sigh, I motioned for her to shut off her car and come inside.

  “It’s kind of a long story,” I told her, linking arms with her as we walked towards the house.

  It was ten-thirty by the time I finished filling Jenna in on the strange happenings since her birthday, including the doll I’d found just a few hours earlier. I managed to convince her that I would be fine and she didn’t need to stay. Only when she realized James would be spending the night again did she relent and go home, where I had given her my permission to fill Brooklyn in as well.

  Oddly enough, Amber hadn’t returned yet, so when Jenna left it was just James and me.

  “I am so, so sorry,” I said as soon as Jenna’s headlights had disappeared from view. James furrowed his brow in confusion.

  “For forgetting you were going to make dinner tonight. I just completely forgot, and then I apparently lost my mind and decided tonight was as good a time as any to go on a double date.”

  “Oh, it’s okay. I mean, it was extremely disappointing to not have the pleasure of your company, but Amber, Brooklyn and I enjoyed my pasta arrabiata with shrimp through our tears.”

  I laughed in spite of myself, rel
ieved that James wasn’t too upset with me.

  “So,” he continued brightly. “How was the date?”

  “Well, let’s just say a rock climbing themed wedding is not in the works.” I curled my legs under me on the couch. “It wasn’t awful or anything, but no fireworks.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that. Maybe I can make it up to you,” James said.

  “Oh, no need. I’m already over it,” I waved my hand dismissively.

  “I know you’re over it. That doesn’t mean you don’t deserve a nice date, though,” James continued. I blinked, and he went on. “With me. Amber said she was trying to convince you to come home with us for break. Why don’t you let me offer you a nice sushi dinner as additional motivation.”

  “A date...with you?” I asked, my brain not fully comprehending.

  “Yes, with me. Unless you’d rather I ask my crazy uncle living in the apartment over the garage to take you, I’ll be the only eligible bachelor there,” James grinned. “And I’m pretty sure Uncle Patrick’s idea of fancy involves changing from his sweatpants with holes to his sweatpants with no holes.”

  “Uh...sure. That would be...great,” I said slowly. “Dinner with you, I mean, not Uncle Patrick and his holeless sweatpants.”

  James was asking me on a date. My second date in less than a week, the same week in which I had gone out for Jenna’s birthday, gone hiking, finished a million midterm projects, and acquired a stalker. I wasn’t sure I could handle my social calendar getting much more full.

  “I’ll look forward to it,” James flashed me a bright smile. “For now, though, I’m going to shower. I figured I’d better not try and steal any hot water away from you ladies in the morning.” With that, he headed up stairs and left me alone with my very busy thoughts.

  When Amber finally came home I was still on the couch, idly paging through a magazine and learning that the best nail polish color for my zodiac sign was apparently teal.

  “Hey,” she said, shrugging out of her coat and hanging it by the door.

  “Hey,” I replied, feeling oddly uncertain.

  “So,” Amber said.

  “So,” I repeated, feeling like a parrot. Amber was clearly thinking the same thing, because she gave a half hearted chuckle.

  “You can stop. Look, I owe you an apology. I shouldn’t have said you were an idiot for going out tonight. That was uncalled for. And I’m sorry I said you were a control freak.”

  “You were right, though. I am a control freak. I kind of needed a little dose of reality,” I confessed.

  “Well, apparently the dose I gave you was a little too much. It made you go out on a last minute date with a guy you barely know while you have a stalker on the loose,” Amber dropped down beside me on the couch.

  “If it makes you feel any better, I’m pretty confident in both Robby not being my stalker and the fact that and we probably will not be seeing each other again, at least not until Jenna and Paul’s wedding. Which will be some time in the next few months, at the rate that’s going,” I admitted.

  “Yeah, I heard. Jenna got back before I’d left Brooklyn’s, and she demanded I tell her everything about what’s been going on with you. She also told me about your date.”

  “Tell her everything? I already told her everything,” I repeated, confused.

  “Yes, but Jenna knows you, and she was concerned you might have….how did she put it? Oh, yeah. Toned things down a bit. Which, by the sound of it, you did.” Amber explained.

  “I did not!” I said hotly. Amber gave me a look and I shook my head. “Really, I don’t think I did. I told her everything, even about the creepy-ass doll. Which, by the way, what did you do with it?”

  “It’s in my room, in my desk drawer with the flower petals. And look, I don’t blame you. For toning things down, I mean. James and I talked about it, and I realized that if I were in the same situation I wouldn’t want everyone to make too big a deal out of it either.”

  “You and James talked about me?” I asked, my throat tightening nervously, wondering what they had said. I especially wondered what James had said.

  “Yeah, I told him why I was pissed at you, and he asked how I thought you were doing, stuff like that.”

  “What did you say?”

  “About why I was pissed at you? You know why. I was mad that you kept sweeping it under the rug and wouldn’t-”

  “No, not that. How do you think I’m doing?” I interrupted.

  “Oh. I said I thought, all things considered, you were doing annoyingly well, but I wasn’t sure how long it would last.”

  I laughed. “Thanks for that. I guess that explains the sushi thing, then.”

  “What sushi thing?” Amber furrowed her brow, confused.

  “With James? He wants me to go home with you guys for break, and he said he’d take me out for sushi. I guess he feels bad for me, what with all the crazy texts and dolls and dates and stuff.”

  “James asked you out?” Amber sounded completely caught off guard.

  “Yeah. Well, not really. Let’s be honest, it’s a pity date. My life sucks so much right now I apparently need some cheer in the form of raw fish. Wait,” I paused, suddenly worried. “You don’t mind, do you? It’s not too weird? Like I said, it’s a pity date. Your brother is just too nice for his own good.”

  “No! I don’t mind!” Amber said quickly, her expression changing. She looked oddly like a cat who had caught a mouse, entirely self satisfied. When she saw me looking at her strangely, though, she composed herself.

  “I mean, no. Not at all,” she added more calmly.

  “Uh, okay, then. Look, I’m starving. Whoever came up with the idea of tapas should be shot,” I said, already making my way to the kitchen.

  “That would be the Spanish,” Amber followed, retrieving two spoons from the drawer. I fished the insanely expensive but entirely worth it carton of imported chocolate gelato from the freezer. While we ate from the carton, leaning against the counter, Amber demanded I fill her in on my date. She laughed and cringed at all the appropriate places. By the time I put my spoon in the sink and headed up to bed, I was feeling much better. I was also oddly excited about fall break for the first time in days.

  18

  Wednesday passed in a blur. I handed in my essay to Dr. Mallory. I took my geology midterm and left fully convinced I had flunked, but surprisingly I didn’t care too much. I took the lab exam that was a duplicate of the lab from the previous week and was therefore insanely easy. I stopped at the library briefly to boot up my laptop in order to check that my project partners had all uploaded their portion of our midterm project. When I was satisfied that I didn’t need to hunt any of them down and demand their work, I was finished on campus. It was midday, and normally I would be headed to work. Instead, I was going home to pack.

  That morning I had called June Walker and given her a watered down version of recent events. Even with me attempting to leave out some of the more harrowing details, she sounded absolutely horrified and had immediately told me in no uncertain terms that I should absolutely get out of town. June said she would personally call Susan and make sure my shifts were covered, which was quite a relief. I’d been dreading having to tell Susan I was calling out for one of the busiest weekends of the year. June also offered to loan me one of the massive German Shepherds she and Tobias raised for protection.

  I declined the offer of a dog, what with having a less than dog friendly cat, and thanked her for everything.

  “Of course, darlin’,” she replied in her sweet, Southern drawl. “Please, don’t hesitate to let me know if I can do anything else for ya.”

  With my schedule cleared for the next four and a half days, I was beginning to look forward to my break more and more. It had been too long since I’d had a vacation of any sort, and the idea of getting out of town and having a change of scenery was nice.

  I spent more time than I cared to admit trying to choose an outfit for my dinner with James. Not able to decide, I wound up
throwing three different options in my bag, hoping one of them would seem like a much better choice when the time came.

  As I neatly folded a T-shirt, I found my mind wandering over to James. Over the years that Amber and I had been friends he had always been nice to me. Of course, he was nice to everyone, so that wasn’t particularly noteworthy. He and Amber were close but had little in common. Because of that they didn’t hang out frequently, and my interactions with him had been limited, which probably explained why my feelings towards him had remained stuck at the “casual crush” point. Now, though, I realized that any time his name was mentioned lately I felt a stirring of excitement.

  I had considered briefly that in the midst of dealing with a stalker was hardly the time to develop a serious crush. I was fairly certain, though, that my feelings about my unwanted admirer weren’t clouding my senses when it came to James. I tried to remind myself that I shouldn’t get my hopes up too much. More than likely James wasn’t really interested in me the way I was in him. After all, what in the world was the appeal in an otherwise average girl with a not so average problem?

  I sighed with satisfaction as I managed to stuff my makeup bag into my weekender bag and close the zipper with ease. I had something of a reputation as an over packer, but here I had successfully managed to pack for a long weekend in a bag that was specifically designated for that time frame.

  I was idly considering whether I should take my rain boots when my phone chimed. An icy feeling of dread ran through me, and I hesitantly glanced at the screen. It was just an email alert, though, so I opened my inbox.

  From: mastersa@carlson.edu

  To: morganc@carlson.edu

  Hey Cassie, I just want to say thanks again for proofreading my midterm! You rock, I owe you big time. I’m off to turn it in now. Have a great break!

  -Ashton

  I exhaled, relieved. It was just Drew’s roommate Ashton. I sent back a quick reply.