Crazy Stalker

Chapter 24 - What They Don't Tell You

"WHOA! Whoa, Corrine!" Nick says as he squirms up against the back of his seat.

"Sorry!" I say, and jump back.

"Aren't we moving too fast?" Nick asks with a laugh. He runs his fingers through his curly locks of blond hair. He's blushing now. I'm pretty sure this is not how it's supposed to go. I feel like a complete skank for making a move on him. Maybe he's one of those nice, traditional boys who believe in waiting until after marriage to do things like kiss and hold hands.

"It just sort of happened," I explain and immediately move as far away from him. "I think I might have drunk of some Chucky's booze."

This statement is a lie. The only thing I did was drink diet coke all night. If anything, I didn't even have a sugar high to fall back on as an excuse. Sitting there with Nick in awkward silence, I wish I had drunk some of Chucky's mysterious cocktail. Then I could forget this ever happened.

We drove back to Nick's house in East Hampton without saying another word to each other. We get out of the car in awkward silence. I can't even look him in the eye. As we enter the four-bedroom house, Nick catches my hand right as I try to escape up the stairs.

"Hey, Corrine," Nick begins and stares down at his converse sneakers. "I like you a lot. . ."

"But?" I offer helpfully. At this point, I just want Nick to tell me that he's not into me so we can get this embarrassing conversation over with. His actions in the car made it very clear that he didn't enjoy having my mouth all over his.

"But, I'm not ready. I might be eventually, but not yet," Nick says. "I thought we could be friends for a while first."

"Okay, friends," I say and offer him my other hand to shake. He still refuses to meet my eyes like he's ashamed about what he had said. Maybe he is more ashamed about what he didn't say.

As I study his body language, I'm not sure if Nick really wants to be friends or if an offer of friendship is a nice way of letting me down.

Why would Nick invite me to stay at his house if he wasn't trying to get into my pants? I am so confused. I wish I had a girlfriend to discuss this with. Maybe I could post this on Reddit and ask everyone's options as to whether Nick is the asshole or I am the asshole — for thinking this weekend alone meant we were going to bump uglies together.

Oh, I can't post any of this online, not while Jake watched my every move. I can just imagine Jake's smug face right now if he knew Nick turned down my sexual advances. He'll say, "I told you so. Nick would never date a girl like you. I've seen you partially naked! You're flabby!"

"I don't want to shake your hand," Nick says with a chuckle as I continue to offer a friendly handshake. "I mean, I do want to kiss you but let's get to know each other better. Like, can we go hang out and talk about our hobbies first? I barely know anything about you."

"There's not much to know," I blurt out, barely hiding the anger in my voice. I feel like Nick is accusing me of keeping secrets from him.

Oh, let's see, there are so many secrets! There is the fact that I had sex on the beach with Jake Villin only a couple of weeks ago. Then there's the fact that I'm being stalked by either one or dozens of internet strangers. I don't know who they are or what their names are, or what they are capable of doing. Oh wait, how about the biggest secret of all? I have a whole separate identity online, one that he and his friends would laugh themselves sick at if they only knew.

"Don't say that," Nick says as he notices the tears collecting in my eyes. "I like you, Corrine, I really, really do. Let's just take it slow, okay?"