Distracted By You: Book 1 in The Exeter Running Girls Series

by Eliza Bradley

  Tye’s face I couldn’t decipher, but his eyes were now running over me. This move only made my stomach jolt. Before he could answer, the others returned.

  “Guys against girls again?” It was Sam, it appeared as if he had rushed back, much to the glower of anger from Savannah behind him. “Great, Savannah, you break.” Sam delivered instructions and a hearty shove of the cue as she mumbled something to him. Luke handed out the drinks, passing me a customary cider. “We’re going to win our money back.”

  Tye and I avoided looking at each other as we drank our first sips. It seemed my little push had answered the question. He hadn’t said anything, not that he had had much chance before Sam had returned, but he had said nothing. Looks like I was going to be stuck as a friend.

  Not wanting to show how deeply this thought cut me, I returned eagerly to my happy normal tone and conversation. I could be gloomy about this thought later. Tye joined in and within fifteen minutes of play we were back to normal. I also lived up to my promise and flirted ridiculously with him.

  We were drinking from the same cider glass with him sat on a stool and me stood in front between his legs when the chat of the group shifted to the Easter break.

  “How about you, Tye?” Savannah asked as she took her turn at the pool table. “Where are you going for Easter?”

  “Home, to the family,” he took another gulp from the glass. “Just for the first week. I’ll be back for the second to start revision.”

  “And you, Ivy?” Savannah passed the cue to Sam.

  “I’m staying here.”

  “What? Here in halls?” Her surprise was obvious and high pitched.

  “Yep,” I took the cider glass back, eager to busy myself and look away.

  “You’re not going home at all?” Tye asked frowning, not picking up on the obvious clue I did not want to talk about it. “Your friends aren’t staying either?”

  “No and no.”

  “Why aren’t you going back?” Tye pressed the point. I could tell I wasn’t going to be able to get through this without an explanation so caved and revealed the bare bones.

  “My mum is going away on holiday with a friend. To Lanzarote.”

  “Nice for some,” Sam pocketed a ball.

  “What about your dad?” Savannah also didn’t seem to notice my discomfort.

  “He’s spending Easter with his new girlfriend,” I found myself looking down at the ladybugs on my hand, especially the one dancing on my knuckles, but Tye had seen. As I looked away and pretended it was nothing, his penetrating gaze lingered. It was not something I wanted to talk about.

  “So you’re just going to be here in halls all alone, by yourself for two weeks?” Savannah asked again. At my look of surprise, she scrunched up her face. “That did not come out quite the way I meant it.”

  “It’s alright, but yes. I will.”

  “Come to mine for Easter instead,” Tye’s words were sudden, causing me to flick my head round to stare at him. The words shocked everyone.

  “What?” Sam exclaimed, only to receive a poke from the cue that Savannah snatched from his hands.

  “Ignore him,” Savannah waved off his behaviour, pressing a hand towards him to make him shut up. “Carry on.”

  “Yours?” I analysed Tye, but his face was full of sincerity. “Really?”

  “Yeah. I don’t particularly like the idea of you being alone all Easter. Savannah’s right, it does sound a bit lonely. Besides, you’ll be a good distraction from my dad,” he took the glass back, smiling innocently as if this idea was nothing. To me, it was quite an intimate idea. Staying at his parents’ home.

  “Maybe…” I debated for a few minutes whether I could seriously go to his parents’ house for Easter. Well, it did sound better than sitting in my tiny little room by myself. It woulg give me a week of ogling him rather than staring at my four white walls. “You would have to ask your parents if it’s okay?”

  “They’ll be fine.”

  “Ivy, you’re up!” Sam practically pulled on my arm to drag me away from Tye. I wasn’t sure what was going on, but this move seemed to anger Savannah again, she mumbled something about him rigging a bet, but I wasn’t sure.

  As I turned away from Tye to collect the cue, I let my hand run down the inside seam of his jeans across his thigh. I heard him trying not to laugh as I took my shot.

  When I returned to the stools, having landed three, Tye leaned over and whispered in my ear so only I could hear him.

  “Next time we play pool, do me a favour and don’t wear that top.”

  “Why?” I whispered back as I looked down at the lacy white blouse – it was cut into a deep v at the front and fitted my figure well. I looked up with a pretend gaze of innocence. “It’s a nice top.”

  “Too nice.” His eyes wandered down again. “Also, when you take your shot, we can all see your bra.”

  I looked down in shock, but quickly recovered, snatching the cider from his hands.

  “Strangely enough, Tye, I think you’re the only who has noticed.”

  He smiled and let his eyes drop again.

  “Tye?” Savannah tossed the cue for him to catch. “Put a pause on the flirting for a minute – it’s your turn.”

  He winked at me before moving over to the table, softening the flirtation again to but another joke.

  Tye and I were sent to get the next round of drinks after the first game, but the bar upstairs had become so busy and crowded we had to wait in one rather muddled up queue and squeeze into the gaps left by the newcomers. Unfortunately for me, we bumped into some more of Tye’s friends.

  “Tye, man,” Benji appeared at his side, slipping through the small gaps between people and slapping him on the shoulder.

  “Hey, Benji,” Tye offered their customary fist bump and I tried not to roll my eyes at the weird macho bravado on display. I’m not sure I was successful.

  “I didn’t know you were out tonight,” Benji swayed on his feet, off balance with what must have already been quite a few drinks.

  “We’re playing pool with Sam, Luke and Savannah.” At the mention of ‘we’, Benji clocked my presence on the other side of Tye, his small eyes widening in realisation that I was stood there at all.

  “Oops, didn’t see you there.”

  “So I gathered,” I smiled back, feeling how fake it was and noticing how Tye watched me. He must have been able to tell that it was false.

  “Erm… You’re…” Benji pointed at me, screwing up his brow in concentration.

  “Christ, can you still not remember her name?” Tye asked in amazement.

  “Come on, there are lots of people at this uni. Can you remember all their names?”

  “Don’t worry about it, Billie,” I shook my head and folded my arms, both a dismissive and defensive manoeuvre at once. I shifted between my boot-clad feet, feeling uncomfortable all of a sudden. The guy had a habit of making me feel roughly two centimetres tall. God, I hoped he never did this to Cara. It would crush her.

  Tye sniggered at my chosen choice of name.

  “It’s Benji, not Billie,” Benji said with a little annoyance.

  “Oops, sorry,” I fake apologised, tapping my head for a ‘duh’ effect. “I knew it had something to do with the flowerpot men.”

  “Oh, she’s vicious, man,” Benji elbowed Tye, laughing despite my words.

  “Indeed she can be,” Tye was still sniggering.

  “Well, at least I was closer than your non-existent guess.” I offered with a shrug.

  “Then I’ll try never to forget your name again.” He scrunched up his face for the second time. “But what is it?”

  Both Tye and I opened our mouths to reply, but someone else beat us to it.

  “It’s Ivy.” Kyle had appeared on my other shoulder, his eyes drifting down my body in a way that made me want to gag. When Tye had done the same move, at least there was restraint there. Kyle had no restraint.

  “Ivy?” Benji repeated, his voice bewildered. “
I swear no one has ever told me that.”

  I shuffled slightly towards Tye, away from Kyle and his leering eyes. Tye didn’t notice, but Kyle very much did and glared at my efforts.

  “I have definitely told you that,” Tye shook his head, still focused on Benji. I was too distracted to take any thrill from the idea that Tye had spoken about me to his friends. My fear was kind of stood on end, like a cat hunched and ready to attack. “Maybe you’re just too drunk to remember,” Tye continued.

  I turned my head away from Kyle, wishing with every cell under my skin that he would stop looking at me like that. I was not Rosie.

  My ears seemed to tune out of Tye’s and Benji’s conversation. I was suddenly one hundred percent focused on the foreign hand that was placed on my lower back. Kyle bowed his head to whisper in my ear, using his place on my back to bend nearer. I held my breath, feeling a wave of nausea at how close he was stood.

  “Changed your mind yet, darling?” His creepy voice cooed in my ear. Goosebumps shot across my skin for all the wrong reasons.

  The pressure of his hand increased. He was tangling his fingers in the lace of my shirt. I daydreamed for a minute of turning round and screaming a string of swear words in his face, but I decided to opt for a less over-the-top approach.

  “What don’t you understand Kyle about the words ‘get lost.’” I spoke at a normal volume, loud enough to make both Tye and Benji look towards us sharply. “And get your hand off me.” In this public space, Kyle had no choice but to back off and he did – he snatched his hand away as though my shirt were on fire.

  “What is going on?” Tye’s voice called me back to look at him. His eyes were narrowed on Kyle, his whole body suddenly tense.

  “Come on, Kyle,” Benji attempted to laugh the scene off. “I told you back at that party. She’s still not interested.”

  “Interested? What party?” Tye repeated, looking more than a little panicked and frantic. “Backtrack here. Kyle came on to you?” His eyes shot down to me, his whole body still taut.

  “In a way.” I shrugged, still holding my arms across my body as if it could protect me. “If ‘came on to’ means ‘freaked out’ then yes.”

  Tye now shifted his attention to Kyle.

  “What did you do to her?”

  “Whoa, nothing, Tye. Honest,” Kyle held up his hands in mock surrender. “Ivy and I go way back. Knew each other back home.”

  “Haven’t seen each other for years.” I felt the need to put this in, yet it didn’t seem to make a difference.

  “What did you do to freak her out?” Tye pressed the point.

  Kyle smiled as if the whole thing was no big deal.

  “I simply told her the truth that if she gave me five minutes on her back, I could turn her ‘no’ into a yes.’”

  Tye’s eyebrows shot up. I don’t think I had ever seen them so high.

  “It may surprise you,” I interjected, “but a girl usually wants a guy to last more than five minutes.” At my insult, Benji laughed wildly, finding the whole commotion something of a comedy sketch. Tye did not look so happy.

  “When was this?” Tye looked back down at me, though part of him still seemed to be sizing Kyle up stood at my other shoulder. At the same height, they looked roughly matched to me.

  “I think it was February, last month,” I tried to remember. “The same party where I was looking for Ellie.”

  Tye cringed at the memory of how I had found him and Ellie under the fairy lights. This moment did not look like the best time to tell Tye that Kyle had creeped me out quite a few times.

  “See, Kyle?” Benji moved to Kyle’s side, patting him on the shoulder and trying to calm the situation. “She isn’t interested.”

  “I could still change her mind.” Kyle smirked, making me want to puke.

  “No you can’t. Didn’t I make that clear in the supermarket?” I said with raised eyebrows, referring to when I had elbowed him in the stomach. Oops, that was a mistake. At the mention that there had been another incident, Tye made a move past me, heading for Kyle, but I saw it and put myself between the two of them to stop whatever the hell it was he intended to do. Kyle was still the little kind boy somewhere – he had to be. Rosie would never forgive me if I had let something happen to him. She had liked him so much.

  “You-”

  “Tye! Tye – what are you doing?” My hands were on his chest, pushing him back, but making no headway at all. He was frozen in place, leaning against my hands, his eyes trained on Kyle, his face as red as when he had been arguing with his dad.

  “Leave it, Kyle,” Benji warned, pulling on his friend’s arm to drag him away. “She’s Tye’s girl now.”

  If only that were true.

  After a minute, Kyle relented. He raised an eyebrow at Tye, goading him further, then disappeared into the crowd with Benji pushing him away as he went. As they disappeared, Tye stopped pressing against my hands, though his face was still red.

  “Tye, please,” I pulled on the black t-shirt he was wearing, trying to pull him down to look at me, but he only bowed his head further down to the floor and rubbed the back of his neck.

  “What did that bastard do?” His voice was quiet and seething. “How do you know him anyway?”

  “Tye, please look at me-”

  “Ivy, did he do anything?” He still wouldn’t raise his head, just gestured a hand at my body.

  “Not like you’re thinking, no,” I buried my hands into the black t-shirt, bundling the fingers in the material, relieved when the action lifted his eyes to mine. “Just now he had his hand on my back. Before he’s grabbed hold of my waist, but I stomped on his foot with a pretty good heel for that one. He’s just creepy and says stuff.”

  “Just at the party? You mentioned a supermarket?”

  “No,” I swallowed, suddenly wondering if Tye would be angry that I hadn’t mentioned any of these incidents before. “Yesterday when I got bagels, he kind of cornered me at the checkout. He’s been in the coffee shop once or twice too, but I can handle him.”

  Tye was stressed out, shaking his head in disbelief.

  “Ivy, why didn’t you tell me?”

  “You had enough to deal with yesterday.”

  “And before? What about when he came into the coffee shop?”

  “I can handle it. I wasn’t going to go whining to you that some weird guy was creeping me out,” I spoke softly, trying to draw him closer with my grip on his t-shirt. I breathed a sigh of relief when he complied, wrapping his arms around my waist.

  We had never been so close, except from when we had sat on the bench. Don’t let me go, I prayed over and over again.

  “Ivy. Always tell me if someone is frightening you, please? I get you’re an independent woman and you can take care of yourself, but a little help doesn’t harm anything. You shouldn’t have to put up with a creep.” His anger was softening to something else. He rested his forehead against mine, bringing our eyes close to each other. “I’ll always want to know.”

  “I promise,” I smiled gently, even if I didn’t fully mean it. The disturbance of Kyle was difficult to shake off. “I didn’t realise the guy was your friend.”

  “I wouldn’t say he’s a friend.” He pulled his head away, his cocoa eyes following where Kyle had disappeared. “Benji’s a friend, Kyle’s… an acquaintance. After tonight – I hate that guy.”

  “Tye?” I pulled on his shirt again, reclaiming his gaze with my own. “Can we forget about this and return to the fun evening we were having? The escape? I promise to still flirt with you.” I ran my fingers up his arm, dipping just under the t-shirt sleeve.

  “You better,” he smiled. “I need double escape now.”

  Chapter 11

  Tye was driving us all back when Sam announced he would be staying the night at Savannah’s flat, so Tye detoured to her building first and Luke elected to walk from there to his own place as it was only a couple minutes’ walk away. This left Tye and me alone in the car heading back to my
halls.

  I looked over at him, watching his face appear in the orange lampposts every few seconds as we wound our way through the streets. I was experiencing the same pain I had felt earlier that evening when he said nothing to me pointing out that maybe I didn’t want him to resist. I had pushed it to the back of my mind, choosing to ignore what that meant. Pretty soon, I was to be dropped at my halls and would spend a miserable night thinking about that and ladybugs. I didn’t want to go.

  I smiled more when I was with him. Like he said he saw me as a distraction, it was undoubtedly true he was mine too. I didn’t think about Rosie and ladybugs, or my parents’ divorce when he was around. He made me happy. The only thing that could make me happier is if he looked at me the way I did him.

  That was now extremely unlikely.

  “So, was I successful in distracting you?” I dropped the sound of the radio so he could hear me, determined to distract myself from my own sudden sadness.

  “Very,” he smiled, shaking his head. “There’s just one problem.” The smile vanished.

  “What is that?”

  “When I drop you off, my smile will go with you,” he turned onto the campus, the sharp lines of sadness in his own face visible again in lampposts. “I don’t want that to happen.”

  “Neither do I,” my voice was soft as I turned back to look at the dark roads.

  “Come back to mine.”

  I looked sharply at him, so much so that I got that twinge of cricking your neck at an awkward angle.

  “What?”

  “Stay at mine tonight,” he spoke firmly, suddenly very keen on this idea. “We’re nearly at yours. Go get something to sleep in, clothes for tomorrow, then come back to mine. We’ve shared a bed once and I promise, I’ll let you sleep.” His words sent thrills through me.

  “Okay,” my response was automatic. I wasn’t exactly going to say no! My assent caused him to smile like nothing I’d seen before.