(Author's Note: If you would wish to listen to Chapter 17 parts 1 and 2 on audio, please click the videos. Enjoy!)
He pulls up outside my house and I let myself out, leaving the food behind. I lost my appetite.
"Sussianna?" I hear him call for me, but I'm already gone and race inside.
I can't believe him; he's ruined lunch with my friends, James is not my friend, but still, he didn't have to almost attack him. What happened back there? I still want to know.
He storms after me. I can't deal with him. I'm about to shut the door when his hand slams against the other side to stop it, his other hand is carrying my purse and the bag of food. My purse! I forgot my damn purse; he makes me so mad that my brain doesn't work when I'm around him.
Since he's more powerful than me, he pushes against me, and walks forward, slamming the door behind him. "Stop running from me!" He shouts.
"Stop following me!" I shout back.
"And stop fighting with me. What's the matter?"
"Quieres saber, es que eres un gilipollas! (You want to know, is that you are an asshole!)"
"In English."
"Learn Spanish," I snap.
He approaches me and I step back. He keeps walking forward and he's only inches away from me as he towers over me; I feel small compared to him. I'm trying to back up, but he has me cornered to the wall, and there is no way I can escape him.
"Just stop running," he hisses.
"Why are you doing this, Chris?" I ask, my breathing increasing and I have no idea what is going on. Confusing man!
"And stop rolling those eyes at me," he says, but it feels like he's demanding me. "For rolling those hazel eyes at me..." He pauses. "You know what, never mind."
"No, tell me. What would you do?"
He smirks. "Trust me you don't want me to say it."
"Yes, I do. Enlighten me." I demand. I know he shouldn't tell me, but I can't help but know what he's thinking.
"Fine. But you can't get mad-"
"Just come out with it, Chris," I pester.
"You promise you won't get upset," he asks.
It can't be that bad on what he wants to tell me. Can it? He looks me in the eyes searching for an answer. I sigh. "Yes, Chris. I promise."
"Okay. I warned you-"
Aaaargh! "Tell me. I said I promised I won't get mad," I interrupt him.
He sighs. "Alright. For rolling your eyes at me, I would bend you over this counter..." His eyes shift toward the kitchen counter. "Rip off your jeans and fuck your brains out until you call my name or until you say the safe word."
I gulp. WHAT? I'm completely stunned. In my whole life, I never met someone like him before. His mood swings always change and it's very difficult to keep up with him, first, he was mad then now, he wants to fuck me. I would have him kiss me, first. In reality, he hasn't even kissed me.
He half-smiles at my shock. Is this amusing him? He places his forefinger underneath my chin and pushes my wide mouth closed. "I told you, I should not have said it."
I give him a quizzical glare. "Why do you change your mood?" I ask incredulously. Maybe he'll stop whatever he is doing. What is he doing?
"Change my mood?" He asks repeating my words and I want to scream at him to stop repeating everything I say.
"Yes! One minute you're yelling at me and not to mention you were being rude to my friends, then you're in my space, and saying things that are getting me frustrated." If you want to kiss then just kiss me, I won't stop you. Whoa! Why do I keep saying that? Hopefully, I didn't say that out loud, and if I did, then I going to kick my ass.
"You call that asshole, James your friend."
Is that all he got from my speech? He's unbelievable. No James is not my friend, but he didn't have to be rude to him. James is with Camille and I have to respect that, I can't go around and beat someone if I hate them. At least he didn't hear what I said, and I sigh in relief.
"You didn't have to be hurtful. You should have apologized to them."
"Apologized?" He yells then settles down. "Alright, I would apologize to Camille, but not to James. That asshole deserved it, and he should have gotten beaten. If you were not there to stop me, then I would have beaten his ass."
"What happened back there, Chris?" I know I keep asking that question, call me nosy, but I have to know.
He groans. "You can't leave shit alone. Can you?" He steps back and turns away, walking toward the kitchen. He sets the bag of food, along with my purse on the kitchen counter; pulls the food out of the bag, and places it on the counter.
I follow right behind him. Now, he's running and he's not going to get away from me so easily. The food does smell good as I get closer. "No. I can't. So, are you going to tell me or not?"
He sighs. "I don't like the way he was looking at you."
I can't hide my smile. "Are you jealous?"
"Fuck no! I don't get jealous," he tries to sound powerful, but he squeals as he quickly defends himself.
I giggle. He's trying to shout at me and convince me he's not jealous, but for some reason I know he's lying to me and I can't help but laugh.
"I'm not jealous! He was being a pervert and I hate perverts. Besides, like you keep saying we're just friends."
A friend that likes to attack someone for looking at me; who also likes to be rude to everyone, and oh yeah, a friend that likes to crowd me and looks like he wants to kiss me, but doesn't. And let's not forget about the comment he made about fucking my brains out until I say his name or until I say the safe word; what friend would say something like that, unless he does want to be more than friends, but I'll never going to be friends with benefits. No way is that going to happen!
He puts the foam box in front of me. "Eat," he orders.
"Stop bossing me around!" I spit. Who does he think he is to tell me what to do? I'll eat when I please.
He opens the drawer and retrieves two forks; then turns around to get two bottles of water from the refrigerator. He knows his way around my kitchen. How does he know where my utensils were? "I'm not! Just eat, Sussianna," he says softly, but he's still commanding me.
I cross my arms. He's trying to control me and I'm not someone who you control. He already told me he likes control, but I'm not having anyone control. Excuse me, but I'm not an animal, I'm a woman.
"Please just come and sit down, so we can eat." He takes his foam box and goes sits on my couch.
I roll my eyes. I grab my food and go sit with Chris. I spot my remote by the edge of the couch- now I find it. I pick it up and I turn on the television to watch the Broncos vs the Cowboys. The Broncos are up by twenty-five points. I think back to when I would watch the game with my dad and my mom went to the other room to watch TV because she used to hate football; but not me, I loved it. My dad's team was the Cowboys and mine is the Broncos, if he was here, I would be teasing him about how my team is winning and would say, "in your face dad."
This memory was the happiest I can remember about my past and maybe I should change the channel before I start to cry. I already feel the tears coming, this is what happens when I think of my parents, I become full of tears, then become full of anger because how could they just leave me as they did?
I'm about to change the channel when Chris says, "You watch football?" He sounds bemused.
I shrug. "I sometimes watch football." I used to watch football, but not anymore because it hurts too much to watch it.
"Which team do you like? I like the Broncos."
This is the man of my dreams. He likes cars, sailing, and animals, and preeminently loves dogs and the Broncos; we enjoy the same things. We have a lot in common. What else does he like?
"I like the Broncos too." I smile.
"For reals? Are you just saying that to impress me?"
"No, I'm serious! I love the Broncos, ever since I was young."
"You know your cars and you love the Broncos? Alright now, I've decided to keep you forever," he jokes and I giggle. I think he's joking and if he's not kidding, then he can have me. Fuck, what the hell is wrong with me? Why do I keep saying stupid shit? I'm falling for him and I have to remember we are just friends, so I can't think like this. Oh gosh, I think I'm in trouble.
"We should be studying, not watching the game," I mutter. Truthfully, if I watch the game, I might cry and we actually do have to study because the exam is tomorrow.
"True, but let's at least have the game for background noise, deal. I have to see if the Broncos win."
"Okay deal. But it's 4th down for the Broncos, I'm pretty sure our team is going to win," I say comically.
He's astounded. He always seems surprised I know a lot about things that girls usually don't know about. And what? Girls can't know about football or cars like boys. I guess you can call me a tomboy.
"Cool. Now get your food and eat," he says as he gets up and grabs our bags so we could continue studying. Can he be any more demanding?
"No controlling me or I'll turn off the TV."
"I'm... I mean, let's eat," he corrects himself.
Despite my appetite I eat, even though he orders me to, and besides the food does smell delicious. I take a bite of my chicken Florentine, and it tastes creamy. The redhead was right; this Florentine is good, alright after tasting this I've changed my mind about pasta. I have to go back to the Italian restaurant to try more of their pasta. Not fully go back inside because I would be embarrassed after Chris's outburst, but maybe I could order take-out and bring it back home.
After an hour of studying with Chris and eating the rest of my pasta- I suppose, I might have been more hungry than I thought. My brain is overworked; I'm certainly going to pass this exam tomorrow and hopefully, Chris is going to pass the exam because we worked so hard studying for this test. If he doesn't pass the exam, then I would feel I've failed him and me. I stress too much about other people, but that is who I am.
"Okay. Do you think we should call it a day?" I ask Chris.
"Yes. I'm tired..." A smile appears on his lips. "Are you tired?"
What is he thinking?
"Yes. I think I'm ready for the exam tomorrow. How about you?"
"Yeah, hopefully, I can pass the exam."
I hope he does well on the exam too. "You'll do fine," I assure him.
He smiles. "Do you work tomorrow?" He asks when he grabs his computer and puts it into his bag.
"Yes."
"What time do you get off work?"
What's with all the questions?
"Since I only have Professor Young's class tomorrow, I arrive at work at noon and get off at five... Why?"
"Because since you hold up your deal of the bargain, I'm going to take you to Dylan's Diesel and Auto Repair shop. It doesn't close till eight, I'll show you around and maybe get started on a vehicle. And no saying 'no' because we have a deal," he says as he stands to his feet, grabs the foam boxes, and goes throws them away into the trash.
He's so demanding.
He walks back to bend down and snatches his bag, putting it over his shoulder. Heading to the door he says, "Now, that we are clear about tomorrow, I will see you in class."
Before I can say anything about how he's demanding me, he opens the door and leaves. I slouch against the couch. This man is so frustrating! He left so fast I couldn't even get a word out. Chris does not like to hear the word no. He figured he would leave, knowing I would have said "no" to him and I would have if he didn't leave in such a hurry. I really don't want to ride in a car with Chris, not after today when he almost killed us. The guy is a nutcase when it comes to driving and it's worse if he's angry. Everything about this guy screams trouble and my instincts tell me to stay away, but I can't because, for one thing, I'm helping him in Professor Young's class, and second, I wouldn't want to stay away, for that reason, I've been denying it to everyone and to myself.
"Even though you drive me crazy, I like you and I wish you would just kiss me already!" I scream out loud, however, I know I wouldn't ever tell him face-to-face. But this is stupid of me, I don't even know him and I already like him. I imagine girls always fall for him, and why fall for him when he tells every girl including me, he doesn't do the girlfriend thing? I'm crazy, right?
The Next day, I haven't gotten any sleep due to the dreams that are keeping me up at night. I'm wide awake staring at the ceiling and my alarm is about to go off any minute. With a huge sigh, I drag my lazy ass off the bed and head to the bathroom to take a shower. The exam is today and next week is the finals, I'm going to be busy studying, and I won't have time for anything else. Except for Chris who will be studying with you, my subconscious tells me and I tell her to "shut up."
After washing my body and brushing my teeth, I go change into my faded blue baggy jeans, slip into my old maroon t-shirt with a cap sleeve, and put on my jacket. I snatch my hair and slide a bobby pin through my waves. I plug my headset into my ears and Taylor Swift's Wildest Dreams fills in my head. This song reminds me of Chris. I grab my bag and give myself one last look in the mirror before heading to class.
Dear readers, I put "Wildest Dreams" so you can see what Sussianna is listening to and when she says, "reminds me of Chris" she means this part- "He's so tall and handsome as hell. He's so bad but he does it so well." If have any comments, please feel free to say what you like, and if you have any suggestions for me; I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you for reading.