Chapter 16: Aaron
Attracting girls' attention had never been one of the things I was good at.
At least, that’s what Matt and Jake said.
But I liked girls. No, no. I fucking loved girls.
I was just not as ‘on-par’ with the flirting and the arrogance and the whole ‘be a douchebag, and they will come’ motto that my friends seemed to hold to an exceptionally high standard.
Trying to get Renee’s attention hadn’t proved better for me than any other time I’d tried to hit on a woman and failed. To be fair, brooding Matt and cocky-ass Jake didn’t seem to have any better luck, so I guess I was still in the running. Maybe even second place instead of third with how she looked at Matt like she was dreaming of all the ways she could slowly kill him and drop his remains in the ocean.
Me? I believed that if you stood back and let them come, they would. Chasing them would only scare them away, and I was in no position to scare Renee away before she even knew me.
The real me. The grown-up me.
It was cold the following day, and as I walked through campus bundled under a thick jacket, my eyes surveyed the area, observing the activity around me. I loved school, and I always had. Not just the general atmosphere of the school, but I enjoy learning, soaking up every bit of information that someone else might have to offer. The universe, to me, has infinite learning possibilities. I question everything; our mere existence, why things are the way they are. There was so much more than meets the eye in this life, and I wanted to be the person that knew about it. Studied it. I wanted to know things on a whim- unique, beautiful things that people would never even think about on an average day.
People are weird. It comes with the territory, I guess. Humans generally have so many issues, some I may never understand. We’re supposed to be the most intelligent species, right, and yet we kill each other in war and vehement hatred and bias.
Religion.
Politics.
Power.
It was all a fucking mess.
Shaking my head, I reached into my pocket for my vape, the one filled with THC oil. Jake hated when I smoked. He wanted to say it was because he was going to be a cop soon, and it was still illegal. Still, he was always so paranoid that he’d have to take a random piss test sometime during football practice and come up dirty because of my secondhand smoke. He didn’t seem to give a fuck if his coach knows that he’s made an art form out of black-out boozing on the weekends and has also been known to snort heroin, at least in his wilder days.
Thank God he wasn’t like that anymore. He might be a douche, but he’d changed, too.
I finally made it to one of the three campus libraries and shoved the THC pen back into my pocket before I went in to find a quiet corner to work on some personal art. The library is quiet today, more peaceful than usual, and it only takes a few minutes for me to get into the vibe of my artwork. I was so consumed by the characters on the page that I almost didn’t even notice Renee Lyon waltzing in, flanked by her friend from the bar, the tall one with glasses who looked content in a place like a public library. Jami, I think I heard her name was. They didn’t notice me at first, staring up at them from the sheet of sketch paper I’d been hunched over. I watch them in silence, listening to their giggles, noticing how Renee brushed the hair off her face too often, as though she was not used to wearing it down. It didn’t matter, really. She could shave it off and be just as beautiful as she is now.
“Hey,” Jami whispered in hushed tones, and heat rises under my collar as she elbows Renee in the arm and tilts her head in my direction.
Damnit. Caught red-handed.
“Aaron Connor.” Renee turns her body in my direction, hands on her hips, head tilted slightly to the side, scoping me out. “I am surprised that a man so close to guys like Jake and Matt knows what a library is.”
“Don’t be fooled,” I said with a grin. “I’m just here to work on my art.”
Renee glanced over her shoulder at Jami, then nodded, and Jami—still grinning—nodded and hurried away to pretend to look busy. Renee’s arms folded over her chest as she approached my table, then sat down in the empty chair across from me.
“Still into art, are you?” Her eyes land on the sketchpad under my elbows, and before I could stop her or even respond, she reaches it and tugs it free, sliding it in her direction. Both of us were silent as Renee’s eyes studied the drawing, and for a moment, she seemed lost in the color, taken with the fine lines and marks.
“Aaron,” she said softly. “Is this me?”
“It was nothing fancy,” I said as she handed it back. “Sorry if it still looked sloppy.”
“How long have you been working on that?”
“Since the night we saw you in the bar.”
“Why?” She leans forward until her elbows are on the table, the palms of her hands supporting her chin. “Why did you draw me?”
“I don’t know, I just …” I trail off, eyes cast down on the paper. “You’re magnificent, Renee. It was something I really didn’t have control over. I’m sorry if it offends you.”
For a moment, I thought she would freak out and leave, and honestly, I wouldn’t blame her. That’s what all the other girls do. But she didn’t. Instead, she smiled warmly.
“It’s nice,” she said. “Better than nice. You’ve always had raw talent. I remember it well. I’m kind of flattered, actually.”
I was just about to ask her how she knew that about me, but then it dawned on me, and I shut my mouth hard before I could say something stupid. Renee seemed to sense it, anyway, because she smiled a bit, but it was not as carefree as it was a moment ago.
“Just because I hated you guys didn’t mean I knew nothing about you,” she said softly, eyes cast now to the marks on the wooden tabletop. “Who didn’t know about you? Everyone knows your names.”
I dropped my gaze to the paper, feeling queasy as the memories flowed back.
“I was an asshole in high school,” I admitted. “All of us were. And I’m sorry.”
“You already apologized.” Renee smiled and leaned back in the chair, folding her arms over her plump, perky breasts. My dick hardened as I caught sight of the flawless, soft skin peeking out from under a thin, low shirt.
“One can never apologize too many times,” I told her, and Renee laughed. Fuck, I love her laugh. So airy and carefree. She was fucking spectacular.
My dick was pushing against the inseam of my pants, and I had to shift a bit to relieve some of the pressure.
“Of course, they can,” Renee purrs, playing with her bottom lip as she watches me. It was all I had in me not to jump over the table and fuck her dirty.
“Fine.” I put my hands up in a joking surrender. “No more sorries for you.”
“Good then, it’s settled.” Renee slapped the top of the table and stood up, leaning over so her breasts were nearly hanging out, right in my vision. “Let’s go on a date,” she said. “The bar, O’Malley’s. Nine ’O clock. I’ll meet you there.”
Before I could answer or even think of something to say that wasn’t completely ridiculous, she turns on her heel and saunters away, shaking that ass like a fucking strip tease until she joins her friend Jami and the two of them vanish, giggling like schoolgirls.
They were up to something, but I didn’t care what it was.
I was finally going on a date with Renee Lyon.
* * *
“Where the fuck are you going?” Jake asked, shifting his weight on the couch to face me.
“Out,” I said.
“Out where?”
“None of your business.” I shrugged on my jacket, ignoring Jake’s stabbing eyes deep into my back. It was 8:45. I was due to meet Renee in fifteen minutes at the bar.
“You look like a dumbass,” Jake said, lifting his dumb ass from his seat to scrutinize me. He comes in closer, taking a long whiff. “And you stink.”
“I don’t stink, asshole. That’s cologne. Just because it doesn’t smell like a sweaty football helmet and decaying socks doesn't mean it stinks, okay?”
“Whatever you say, bro. Are you going on a date?”
“Even if I am, that’s none of your business.”
“Who’s the guy?”
“Shut up, asshole.”
“Just trying to take an interest. That’s what friends are for, right?” Jake puts his hands in the air and winks at me. “Where are you going for this date?”
“That’s also none of your business.”
“Are you going to the bar?”
“Jake, shut the fuck up.”
“I was only asking.”
I roll my eyes and look back at him over my shoulder, lips pressed together so tightly they begin to hurt. “Didn’t yank it too hard tonight, bro,” I seethe. “One of these days, you might accidentally pull it off.”
I shut the front door behind me, relishing in Jake’s pinched expression as it closed in his face. Nothing could fuck up this night for me …
Especially not Jake Fucking Denny.