Moving In With The Enemy

Chapter 11 ~ "I'm Working On It"

I hate talking to him, I hate that I can't think straight when he says things to me and that I can't help but get into these stupid arguments with him all the time. It's so frustrating.

"Back already?" Abby mumbles into her towel, still face down on the sand.

"Yeah, Walker decided to talk to me." I mutter, laying down on my stomach as well to soak up the sun. She chuckles a bit and I finish the rest of my beer, relaxing into the sand.

The rest of the day is relatively fun, if I just let myself pretend Walker wasn't there, it was perfect. The drinking continues through the whole thing, music gets turned on and the day drags out for the whole afternoon into the early evening.

I sit down by the edge of the lake with Abby, enjoying what has to be my eighth drink. It could be my ninth, I felt happy drunk, calm.

"Hey Abby." I hear and Chase plops down next to her. "Hey Annie."

"Hey." I answer politely, sticking my toes into the water.

"I was just telling Annie about my sociology TA." She smiles and I chuckle.

"Is this the one that told you-"

"Shh." She insists, holding a finger to her lips. "I'm not at the good part yet." She defends and Chase waits patiently. "So like I was saying, he marked my essay like really hard." She explains and I shrug.

TAs were the worst for that, it always happened in my courses. Some grad student who thought their research was bending space and time would practically fail your assignments because they didn't like the look of them.

"So, I met with him on campus to discuss it, I wanted to know why he thought it was so bad." She explains and I nod. "He seemed a little socially awkward, strange. But he was confident that we could work something out." She whispers and my jaw drops.

"He wanted you to sleep with him?" I ask and she laughs.

"Worse, he.....proposed I could send him pictures." She explains and I blink.

"Pictures of?" 

"Her feet." Chase butts in and my hand flies up over my mouth to conceal a laugh and my shock at the fact that some TA had done that.

"Ew, no Abby." I groan and she chuckles. "What did you do?"

"Sent the pictures." She says seriously and I blink. "Oh yeah, I didn't have to do any work for the rest of the term and I got an A plus." She tells me and I laugh in disbelief. "I only had to send two pictures."

"That's totally nuts." I mutter and she shrugs.

"University's a joke." She tells me and I snort.

I feel a hand on my shoulder and I flinch, looking up to see Walker's large frame behind me.

"We need to go." He says quietly.

"Okay." I mumble and the three of us get to our feet. "It was nice to see you guys." I smile, giving each of them a hug.

"You too, Annie, see you around." Abby smiles and I wave, walking back to my stuff. I start to gather it up and the other guys grab the cooler.

They head off down the path, slurring words at each other. The sun is going down and I don't imagine it's been that fun of a day for Walker.

As we walk behind Dustin and Mark, the air is weird. It's not tense but there's this feeling of things unsaid.

"Thanks for driving today." I say quietly. "I know it's not that fun."

"It's okay." He says quietly in return and I nod, keeping my eyes set ahead of me. I should stop here, but my brain won't let me.

"And I was wrong earlier, you haven't been only awful to me." I sigh and he smiles a bit.

"No, I definitely have been." He shrugs. "It's hard for me.....sometimes to say what I mean and not just what pops into my head."

"I know the feeling." I chuckle, shaking my head. 

"I don't mean to be as unapproachable as I am." He tells me quietly and I nod as we reach the car. "I'm working on it."

"I appreciate that." I answer and suddenly Dustin trips just before Walker's car, face first into the dirt.

"Oh fuck!" Mark laughs and Dustin starts to laugh too, the two of them are loaded off their asses. "A-are you okay dude?" He wheezes and I smirk.

"Give me a hand, Annie?" Walker asks and I nod. I help him open the trunk, slide the cooler in and put the two guys in the car. It was no small feat, they were both tall guys with a lot of muscle, it took Walker helping me to pull them into the car.

Walker starts the car and takes a deep breath, getting ready to make the drive home.

"Thanks." He nods and I nod back with a shrug. "You were a big help."

"No problem." I answer and the two of us reach for the air conditioner knob at the same time. My fingertips brush his and we both instantly pull our hands back. Chills went rushing up my spine as I looked away and he cleared his throat.

"You want me to put the windows down?" He asks quietly and I clear my throat.

"Sure." I answer, feeling my mouth get dry and all of them roll down with an automatic whir. 

"Let's go home." He sighs, pulling out and I gulp, looking out the window.