10. Glue Guns
“Why are you being so mean to me,” Krislynn grumbled as Chase plopped down on the bed inside her room. She had sent the hotel staff on his way a moment ago, stating that she’ll go and fix the problem down at the front desk as soon as she had a free minute, but that of course was only an excuse. She didn't have a penny on her to pay her debt and she was screwed, screwed, screwed!
“It’s not that I’m being mean to you.” Chase’s eyes glanced around the room she had been occupying for the last week; it smelled nice and had a cozy feeling that was probably extinct to all of L.A. “It’s just... helping people... that’s not really my thing.”
“I don’t care if it’s your thing or not,” she snapped. “Can’t you just help me out for the heck of it? I mean it’s not like I’m a complete stranger. I’m a girl you just happened to stay up the entire night chatting with until 5am.”
“Look,” he said sternly, his gaze focused on her face. “I’ve spent a lot of my nights up until 5am with strange girls and the last thing we do is chat so all things considering... you’re actually pretty down the ladder.”
Krislynn groaned and sat down beside him. She mused through all her possible choices, but in the end came right back to Chase. “Oh come on! It’s only a hundred bucks,” she begged, sounding a bit more desperate than before. “Just pretend like you’re doing it for a good cause.”
“It’s not just a hundred bucks,” he reasoned. “Do you know why I hate helping people out? It's because you help them out once and they’ll keep coming back to you and asking you for things until the day you die. That's annoying.”
“But I won’t,” she retorted. “Chances are you’ll probably never see me again after this. So, like, do this one thing for me. Please?”
“Okay fine,” he said and quickly whipped out his wallet and handed her two fifty’s. “Now let me ask you something. What are you going to do after this? How many days left in the resort do you have till they kick you out? And if they do kick you out, where are you going to go? Back to Canada?”
Krislynn cringed at all the questions Chase was suddenly throwing at her. She was never one to do well under pressure so she stuttered a little as she replied. “Well I pre-authorized exactly one week on my Visa and it had magically gone through,” she muttered while nervously twiddling a strand of her hair. “So that includes tomorrow. After that, since my Visa bounced, I’m out of here.”
“As for what I’m going to do,” she stuck her lips out in a small pout and tried to think on the spot, but his silver colored eyes were to say the least, extremely distracting. “Well, I guess staying here is futile since Ella isn’t here, so I guess I should head back to Canada---though it’s not like I’ve really got a place to stay there.”
“And how are you going to get back to Canada?” Chase calmly asked with one cynically raised eyebrow. “Swim?”
“No silly! I’m going to...” Krislynn’s words trailed off as she suddenly realized the trap Chase had set up for her to step in. She had no money---no way of going anywhere or doing anything. She was stranded in Mexico. “Shit.”
“See,” he said smugly. “It doesn’t matter if I help you out or not. You’re screwed. You’ve got shit up to your eye level.”
Krislynn didn’t even try to retaliate this time. Instead, a soft frown formed on her face and she sat in silent misery as she tried her best to understand her fate.
“Hey, did you hear me?” He pressed seeing that she was unresponsive. “I said you’re buried in your shit. Your crap. Your doo-doo.”
“I know,” she said softly. “I heard you.”
Chase’s shoulders slumped at her weak reply. It was like she was living and breathing, but a part of her had already died. He didn’t like that---especially since she’s been nothing but a nuclear ball of bothersome energy ever since he met her.
“I’m going back to L.A tomorrow morning,” he found himself saying. “If you’ve got nowhere else to go, why don’t you come with me?”
As soon as Chase said those words, he regretted it, and a mix of confusion and utter shock flooded his brain. He had known this girl for less than twenty-four hours and she had done nothing to him except piss him off. Why the hell did he feel so inclined to help her out?
None of it made sense to him, and he was about to take back everything he had just said when he caught the expression on her face. Her blue eyes had dilated at his words, and they now gently regarded him with a happy glint to them. They were like nothing he had ever seen and he had to quickly look away to keep himself from being hypnotized by their sparkle.
At the sight of her smiling, he couldn’t seem to bring himself to say ‘Ha-Ha JK’ and it suddenly occurred to him the reason he was helping her wasn’t because he cared about her well being. He was Chase Evans after all, one of the most well-known bastards in the world, and he could care less about anyone or what anyone thought of him.
The only reason he was lending her a hand was because of that frown on her face. It was like one disfigured scene in a 3 hour long beautifully crafted movie---a sore thumb was what it was. The frown simply didn’t suit her and naturally and rather artistically, Chase didn’t like it on her face.
He wanted her to smile instead, he realized. He wanted her to get her shine back. His reason for helping her was as simple as that.
“It just so happens that I do have an extra guestroom in my house,” he continued uncertainly. “So I suppose you could stay there until you get your shit together, but of course, I’m no homeless charity shelter. I won’t do it for free.”
“Of course,” she bubbled. “I’m not the type to just take advantage of someone else anyways so I’m fully willing to do whatever to repay you!”
Chase nodded approvingly. “Good. Then I’ll book an extra ticket for you on the plane tomorrow and once you get to my house, you start working off your debt,” he said, “with your body.”
“Of course! I’ll definitely–” Krislynn’s eyes widened as her mouth came to an abrupt stop. “Wait. Whaaaaaaat?”
“I said you work off my kindness,” he said wryly, rolling his eyes at her ignorance, “with your body.”
Krislynn instantly crisscrossed her arms in front of her chest and made a face. “Look, I’m not that kind of girl,” she said carefully, not wanting to blow her only ticket out of Mexico. “And I don’t blame you for thinking I’m that kind of girl because you live in L.A and every girl you come across is probably six feet of fake, but I–”
“Oh for God’s sake,” Chase screamed, interrupting her little ramble. “How perverted do you think I am? When I said ‘with your body’ I meant you work for me with your body as in you do my housework! I want you to wash my toilets retard.”
“Ohhhhh...” She murmured, letting his words sink in. His suggestion didn’t last too long and quickly, Krislynn’s mind starting taking the idea and spinning it into something completely out of control. “Or I’ve got an even better idea,” she gasped. “You know how there’s a saying that goes ‘for every girl with a broken heart, there’s a boy with a glue gun?’”
“I think I already know where this is going,” he said, “and my answer is no.”
“Why not?” She squealed. “It’ll be wonderful! You know I’m an expert at fixing things and if your heart is the thing that’s broken, I’ll fix it! I’ll make you brand new!”
“My heart is not broken,” he snapped, his teeth grinding against each other. “I’m just pissed off is all because she chose my best friend over me when I’m obviously the better choice! I mean I’m God’s finest creation, every girl should beg for me... minus you because you’re just... messed up like that!”
Chase sighed as his shoulders slumped and his gaze moved downwards. “I’m pissed off,” he said, softer this time, “because I’m better looking, I’m financially more stable and she still chooses him over me. Do you have any idea what that means?”
“She likes him for his personality,” she replied.
“Exactly.”
“The way I see it Chase,” Krislynn mumbled as she gave him a manly pat on the shoulder. “You should just give up on this girl. She’s engaged after all and to none other than one of your best friends. That’s off limits.”
“Not in L.A it’s not.”
“Chase,” she said, her voice growing dangerous. “Don’t.”
Chase sighed. “But I can’t even stop thinking about her,” he complained. “Forgetting about someone and moving on is easier said than done, don’t you think?”
“And that’s where I come in,” she retorted. “Don’t you get it? I could distract you from her! Plus he’s your best friend, it’s not like you won’t see the both of them ever again. So when you need a date or whatever---TA-DA---I’ll be there!”
“So you’re offering to be my rebound girl,” he muttered. “Don’t you think I can get a girlfriend by myself? You should just do as I say and clean toilets.”
“Well I’m sure you can, but are you just going to tell her you’re only using her to get over another girl and that eventually she must get lost? Please Chase. I could clean your toilets, but I want to repay your kindness in full! Please?”
Chase grunted in misery. Just what would it take for this girl to give up? How obsessive was she about helping people and how far would she go to accomplish it? “But how are you different from any other girl I can pick up to be my rebound?” He asked.
“Ahh! Here’s the good part,” she giggled. “The difference is I don’t want to be your girlfriend Chase. I just want to be your rebound. I’ll disappear when you want me to, reappear when you want me to, and I’ll permanently get lost when the time comes for me to leave.”
“And the very best part is that there’s no emotional attachment,” she added with a smug smirk. “You won’t ever have to worry about hurting my feelings because I’ll never fall in love with you.”
Chase scoffed at her arrogant looking face. “Yeah right. I’m Chase Evans,” he muttered. “Everyone falls in love with me eventually.”