Chapter Four
"Is that him? Oh no." Stephanie brings a finger up to her lips before pointing it again. "Is that him?" I shift around, pulling my legs up into a pretzel position, and rest my laptop on them. My butts beginning to feel a little numb against the grass of the quad as Stephanie, Megan, Savannah, and I are currently sitting underneath the shade of the big oak tree.
"Steph, haven't you seen him already?" I ask as she continues to point at the random guys around us.
"Yeah, but I only saw his back. His very attractive back, might I add." I shake my head continuing to maintain my focus on my laptop screen. "Oh that's him! That's got to be him!"
In my peripheral vision I see Stephanie excitedly pointing in the direction of a picnic table about ten feet away, which is currently occupied by a group of guys. Least to say, Steph has kind of become obsessed with my love life, or lack thereof. And I can't help, but compare her shameless actions to Layla's and that's only making me miss my irritating, yet very loving little sister even more.
"Steph, stop pointing like a crazy person," Savannah says reaching over and slapping Stephanie's hand down, but she lifts it back up.
"That's him though right?" I look up at the table and scan all their faces before my eyes land on spiked up blonde hair as he tilts his head back laughing.
"Yeah... that's him." I look back down at my laptop screen in a attempt to stop the fluttering that erupted in the pit of my stomach at just the mere sight of him. Curse college guys and their effect on my hormones.
"Yes! I knew it!"
"Where is he?" Megan asks and Stephanie not so discreetly points towards him. "Oh, he's pretty hot."
"Right?"
"Leave the poor guy alone." Savannah huffs before looking back down at her book and I silently thank her for not making a big deal out of it, unlike her cousin.
"You guys are so weird." I finally say and Stephanie finally peels her eyes away from Trent.
"What was that?"
"Nothing." I start typing on my laptop again refusing to let thoughts of Trent and his above average good looks inhibit my ability to finish this assignment and we all go silent for a few minutes, doing our own work, until Stephanie gasps.
"What?" Megan asks and we all follow her gaze across the lawn only to see Trent talking to a girl. She flips her slick raven hair over her shoulder while standing up straighter. I despise myself for despising the way her perfected posture perfects her perfect hourglass figure.
"Begging for attention, are we?" Savannah mumbles flipping the page of her book as another girl bounces over, along with another, as if their attracted like moths to flame. And he said girls run away from him. "Huh, looks like he's got a fan club."
"I'm sorry, Lacie." Stephanie's soft tone only makes me laugh.
"Why are you apologizing? He's just having a conversation. It's not like he's getting married." Steph opens her mouth to reply, but I quickly cut in before she can change my nonchalant thinking towards the situation. "Want to go get some lunch?"
"Sure." They all nod and we pack up our things before heading towards the student lounge.
"Ugh, I can't believe him," Stephanie says still staring at Trent as we walk.
"Steph, it's not like—"
"We're together, I barely know him. Yeah, yeah." She waves me off. "Oh. My. God... Oh. My. God!" Stephanie slaps my arm repeatedly making me adjust my backpack strap with an annoyed huff.
"What?"
"Eek," she squeaks grabbing my arm and making me stop walking. "He's coming over here." I follow her gaze and my mouth drops seeing Trent walking towards us. His black basketball shorts riding low on his hips and a grey v-neck t-shirt hugs his torso. He head nods to a guy he passes before his gaze lands on me.
"Hey." He grins as his sneaker covered feet stop in front of me.
"Hi?" The question stems from my confusion as to why he's over here and not back at the picnic table.
"Hi, I'm Stephanie." Stephanie extends her hand out to Trent and his smile remains as he shakes it.
"Trent."
"Um," I step to the side, "this is Savannah and Megan." I point to each of them and he smiles giving them a small wave. Small grins form on each of their faces as they stare back at him for an extra second before Savannah grips onto the top of Megan's arm.
"Well, Lacie, we'll meet you..." She starts.
"At the student lounge," Megan finishes and then they walk away, dragging Stephanie along with them. I look back over at Trent only to squint at the blaring sun and he moves his head over blocking it with a smile. I send him an appreciative smile back and can't help, but notice that the gold specks in his eyes I noticed at the frat party are even brighter under the afternoon sun.
"So..." I say glancing down at our shoes and tucking a piece of hair behind my ear.
"How are you?" He asks and I nod as my gaze finds his chin.
"I'm good, how are you?"
"Good." He nods and I turn to glance at the few people around us.
"Nice weather we're having." I point my finger up towards the sky for emphasis and he lets out a small chuckle.
"Yeah, the suns really shining." The grin never leaves his face and I hate how my mind immediately conjures up the idea that he must be able to make a lot of panties drop just by lifting up the corners of his mouth into that grin.
"Watch out!" A bike comes zooming past us, and the handle bar knocks full force into my backpack. With the heavy weight of my laptop and notebooks I end up stumbling forward, falling into Trent's chest.
"Sorry." I bring a hand up to steady myself as my backpack slips of my shoulder and my face remains squished against his sternum.
"It's okay." He chuckles and when I feel the hum of it underneath my skin the tops of my cheeks begin to heat up.
"Um..." I quickly take a step back and fidget with my backpack strap before slinging it back over my shoulder. I glance to the right seeing the bike is continuing to speed down the pathway with people stumbling out of its way.
"So I was wondering..." Trent starts bringing my gaze back over to him. "Would you—"
"Trent!" He turns around only to see raven hair waving him back over.
"One second," he calls holding his finger up before turning back to me."As I was saying, are you fr—?"
"Trent!... Trent!" He glances back over his shoulder again seeing the rest of the girls have joined in on waving him back over, now all seated with his friends.
He shakes his head. "Sorry, I just want to know if you would want—"
"Trent!" Now some of the guys from the table pipe up and he shakes his head again letting out a frustrated breath, but I find a laugh escaping my lips.
"You should go." I say and his eyes whip back up to mine.
"Lacie." He takes a step forward, but a smile graces my lips.
"No, its okay," another laugh escapes me as I take a step back. "You can go."
"But, Lacie, I—"
I take another step back after making sure no one's behind me, specifically no crazy bikers. "I'll see you later, okay?"
He drops his hands to his sides and I give him a salute before turning around and heading towards the student lounge.
****
It turns out raven haired girl's actual name is Raven and she happens to be in one of my lab classes. When the professor called out her name it gave me a chance to actually look at her.
She slowly flicks her dark hair over her shoulder and leans forward, leaning her chin in her hand.
I find myself loving the way her name matches the color of her hair and the fact that it not only enhances her natural beauty, but also doesn't diminish my sense of my own.
After only watching her the few minutes before lab began, I only wonder what her obsession is with pushing up her boobs.
Part of me wishes I could tell her to stop checking her top because she doesn't have to do that to get a guys attention. She's already got a few staring at her. Some are staring at her shirt, but there is one who isn't. He's staring at her face, more specifically her eyes. He's ignoring the professor because he thinks she's worth looking at, not just her body.
We should all hope someone will look at us like that one day.
****
"Okay, that's it." Stephanie slams my laptop shut just as I quickly pull my fingers away.
"Hey!" I whine and go to open it back up, but she swipes it off my lap.
"We're going."
"Where?" I ask.
"Out." She places my laptop on our desk before turning back to me with her hands on her hips.
"But I—"
She holds her finger up. "No buts, it's Friday night." She comes back over and plops down on my bed. "Let's go see a movie."
"Alright." I nod running a hand through my hair. "Which one?"
"Mm..." She brings her finger up to her lips thinking. "Oh!" She snaps her fingers. "Halloween's coming up, so let's go see a scary movie."
I bite my lip. "I don't know."
"Oh come' on, it'll be fun. Don't you just love getting scared shitless?"
I let out a little laugh. "Not really."
Stephanie jumps up from the bed and grabs her army green jacket hanging on the desk chair. "I'll meet you outside." With that she walks out of the room, letting the door click shut behind her.
A sigh escapes me before I stand up and throw on my black converse and a matching black zip up sweatshirt.
After a few minutes of driving with Stephanie singing Maroon 5 at the top of her lungs, we finally make it to the movie theater. The line to the outdoor ticket booth wraps around the corner of the sidewalk and after parking we go to the end of it.
"There's a nine o'clock showing of Ouija. Ooh, or there's a nine ten o' clock showing of Annabelle," Stephanie says reading the times off the electronic board and my stomach feels queasy about going to either of them.
"I have an idea, why don't we go see Big Hero 6? It just came out." I point to it's scheduled times on the board and Stephanie gives me a deadpanned look. "What?" I shrug, throwing her a defensive look. "Baymax is cute."
"True," she says turning to face ahead again. "He's like a big fluffy marshmallow. Oh! And when he has to repair himself with the tape—" She stops mid sentence and turns back to me with a deadpanned look. "I'm not going to see a kid's movie."
"Oh come' on," I groan. When we finally make it to the front of the line, I quickly throw myself towards the glass. "Two tickets for Big Hero—" Stephanie shoves me out of the way before I can finish and after I regain my footing my eyes meet with the slightly judgmental looks from the line behind us and I throw them a sheepish smile.
"Here you go." Stephanie holds out my ticket for the nine o'clock showing of Ouija and I reluctantly accept it on the behalf that she paid for both of them.
Walking inside, the guy at the second door rips the tabs off our tickets telling us the theater number before we go wait in line for popcorn. I kick a leftover popcorn kernel across the plush eighties themed carpet debating whether or not I'm in the mood for it.
"Peas!" I turn and silently curse myself for responding to the silly nickname. "Hey," Zack greets when he reaches us and his eyes almost do a double take at the sight of Stephanie. Just like that his posture straightens as he puts on a mock cool guy demeanor. "Forgive me for not immediately introducing myself. I'm—"
"Zack attack," she finishes for him with a laugh and I let out a giggle of my own when I finally notice the phrase on his t-shirt, but it doesn't phase him. Instead he decides to pull up the collar of the plaid shirt he has on over the customized t-shirt.
"Yup, that's what they call me."
"Oh yeah," she tilts her head to the side and folds her arms across her chest, "why's that?"
"Well, let's just say..." He rolls his shoulders back, flicking his hair out of his eyes. "I'm a shark on the hunt for the perfect girl."
"Oh," Stephanie raises her eyebrows, "let me know when you find her."
"Will do." His voice lowers as his eyes make their way down Stephanie's body. She remains in her defensive position with her arms still poised across her chest, not even the slightest bit affected by his gaze. When they do meet eyes again though and a grin stretches across Zack's face I can tell she's trying really hard to hold hers back. I shake my head at them and look over at the glass cases that are filled with candy and internally pout. They don't have any starbursts. Ooh, but they do have raisinets.
"Hey there." I jump back, practically jumping straight out of the line, and turn to face a laughing Trent.
I shake my head, dropping my hand back down from its position above my heart. "I should have known."
"What?" He breathes as he straightens himself back up, regaining his composure.
I wave my hand at Zack. "Since Zack's here, you wouldn't be too far behind."
My heart slams against my chest again at the sight of his grin. "So you were expecting me?" I open my mouth, then close it, then open it again.
"What? No, I just, you just," I huff out a breath before gesturing my hands between them, "you and Zack always seem to come as a pair."
"Whatever you say." The amusement dances in his eyes and I only have myself to blame for being the one to put it there. I shake my head and turn away from his gaze, unsure if I enjoy being the source to his amusement, but he nudges my shoulder. "What movie are you guys seeing?"
"Ouija," Stephanie answers for me and Trent nods pointing between Zack and him.
"Us too."
With that, Zack takes the opportunity to slide closer to Stephanie. "Looks like you're stuck with me, Steph-a-knee."
"Yeah, no." She lightly shoves him away as we finally make it to the front of the line.
Stephanie orders her popcorn and since we're seeing a scary movie I decide not to eat anything, knowing my stomach will not be able to handle it. Once she's done, we all walk to the correct theater and find the previews are already flashing across the screen. We pick a row towards the back and Zack goes in first. I go to sit in the plush red seat next to him, but Stephanie shoves me out of the way and sits down. She looks up at me, innocently popping a piece of popcorn in her mouth and I glance over at the empty seat next to her only to see that Trent's already occupying the one next to it. I internally shake my head. First she drags me to a scary movie and now she dictates who I sit next to.
I sit down knowing there's nothing else I can do about it now and a few seconds later the lights dim as the movie begins to play. I look around the theater reminding myself that whatever horrendous thing plays across the screen is not real.
Aw, the girl that died was really pretty. Ooh, and Daren Kagasoff is really cute. Ah, scary shadow, scary shadow.
Tearing my eyes away from the screen I look down only to watch as Trent slides his foot over, so his sneaker's pressed right up against mine. I glance over at him seeing his eyes are still trained on the screen, which only means it wasn't intentional. Looking back down, I slowly tilt my foot inward leaving a millimeter of space between them. Then the whole theater gasps making me jerk back in my seat and look back up at the screen.
A few minutes later Trent slides his foot again leaving it once again pressed up against mine. I try to focus on the movie, but my eyes seem to have other ideas as they continue to flicker back down to our feet. My foot looks so small compared to his. I look to my left at Stephanie seeing that her eyes are fixated on the screen as she slowly puts another piece of popcorn in her mouth. I flicker my gaze back over to the screen and immediately tense up seeing as they're all playing with the Ouija board again.
The adrenaline my body is producing only seems to increase when I spot movement in the corner of my eye as Trent slouches further in his chair and his thigh to brushes up against mine. It stays there, its warmth unintentionally spreading heat throughout my whole body, and leads all the way up to my cheeks. Keeping my eyes trained on the screen, I slowly lift my leg up and cross it over the other, separating us again. Not only annoyed at the relief that spreads through my system, but also at my heart as it continues to pound heavily in my chest.
I find myself beginning to get uncomfortable as I fidget with my sweatshirt sleeves. Eventually I curl my hands into them in order to calm myself down and sit up straighter in my seat, inhaling a calming breath. After tucking a strand of hair behind my ear, I try to focus back in on the movie, but in my peripheral vision I see Trent lean over.
"You're cute," he whispers as his lips barely brushing up against the skin below my ear and just when I thought my cheeks couldn't burn any more, I begin to feel as if they're attracting all the heat in the room. A soft chuckle follows the whisper as he leans back in his seat and although I'm hot, I feel frozen against the seat. I put my attention back into the movie, but then a ghost pops out and I jump back. Trent chuckles again beside me and leans back over. "You don't like scary movies, do you?" I shake my head still staring at the screen before finally looking over at him only to find the changing light of the screen reflecting in his eyes. He turns back to the screen and I go to look back, but he puts a hand out in front of my eyes. "Wait, I wouldn't look yet." But of course I do and immediately bring my own hands up over my eyes. Trent chuckles again and the carefree, yet deep sound of it has me peeking at him between my fingertips.
"Is it safe yet?" I ask and Trent turns back to the screen.
"Nope," he shakes his head and I quickly cover my face again.
"Now?" I whisper realizing I may be a disturbance to the people around us.
"Uh... yeah," he whispers unsure and I peek at him between my fingers.
"You better not be lying."
He shakes his head with a smile. "I'm not."
"Okay." I slowly let my hands fall back down to my lap and turn back to the screen realizing I unconsciously turned my body towards Trent's in my scared shitless haze. But despite my attempts my gaze falls back on him again and he leans forward, leaning his arm on the armrest between us.
"So... how are you?"
A small smile tugs at my lips and I tilt my head from side to side. "I've been better, how about you?"
He grins. "I'm good."
"Well that's... good." A sigh escapes my lips as my gaze falls back down to my hands. I tug on my sweatshirt sleeves again before lifting my eyes back up to meet Trent's. A piece of hair falls over my face and he slowly brings his hand up, his thumb grazing my cheek, as he tucks it behind my ear. Instead of retracting his hand right away, though, he leaves it there and I bite my lip unsure of what to do.
"Ugh!" Stephanie grunts beside me as she stands up and pours the rest of her popcorn on Zack. "Come' on, Lacie, we're leaving." She grabs my arm and pulls me out of my chair. I look back over my shoulder at Trent only to see that he's still staring, watching our hasty departure, and catching my gaze, he winks. I quickly whip my head back around and bite down on my lip again, this time to contain the smile that's threatening to spread there.
Oh, Trent Montgomery, what are you doing to me?