The Bet (Book 1 in The Deception Series)

Chapter 6: walls and doe eyes

Garrett

~~~~~~~

"Chasing Pavements"- Adele

I sit in the living room of Taylor's apartment while her blonde friend stares at me down.

I itch the back of my neck uncomfortably.

"So what's with the sudden interest of being besties with my best friend?" She asks as she leans forward on the back of the love seat.

"We've been friends for a while actually, instantly after I met her." I tell her.

She scoffs.

"I know Taylor, she'd never be friends with someone like you." She says.

Why does everyone think I'm some kind of bully or some shit? For fucks sake. I'm not an axe murderer.

"Well, then you obviously don't know me because I'm not a shitty person." I tell her.

"I'll believe it once I see it." She says right as Taylor's bedroom door opens and she walks out.

I couldn't help but smile at her outfit. It was completely different from what I chose. But I still liked it. I liked that she didn't listen to me. Had a mind of her own.

"My outfit was better. But whatever." I lie as I stand up.

She flips me off and I chuckle, "Ready to go, babe?"
She ignores me and grabs her purse and puts on her shoes, "Let's go." She says as she opens the door.

"Yes ma'm." I smile as I follow her out the door.

"Bring her home by 11pm!" I hear the blonde girl call as we walk down the hallway.

I give her friend a small wave as I follow Taylor to the elevator.

We get to the elevator and she presses the buttons and waits for it to come. But my eyes... are on that ass.

"Stop staring at my ass." she snaps as she turns around and faces me.

I look at her and see her glaring at me. She crosses her arms over her chest and I smile, "I can't help it."

"You're disgusting."

I shrug, "My apologies, pretty girl."
I watch her face flush after I say that and I smile even bigger. Well, now I know a nickname she actually likes.

The elevator opens and she makes me go first so I don't stare at her ass making me laugh a little on the inside.

This girl was something else, man.

~~~~~~~~

"So, how's the food?" I ask as I watch her eat her pasta.

She looks at me with no expression on her face. There was something about this girl I couldn't figure out. We've been in the same class for months and I never noticed her till that day at The Grill. But now that I noticed her, I could tell she had walls built up to block out everyone. I only knew this because I had the same walls. Walls I hid behind at all costs. I didn't want anyone to know about my past or why I was the way I was. And those walls protected me from all of it. I wonder what her walls were protecting her from. I hope she wasn't broken inside, like me.

"It's fine." She says, looking back down at her plate of food.

I brought her out to have lunch, as friends of course, but it was the most awkward thing ever. She wasn't even trying to make this go well. But I guess I did force her to come with me.

"Okay, tell me this." I begin.

"Mhm." She hums.

"What do you have against me? Huh? I mean you barely even know who I am. I get it, I was an ass when we were first met but I mean I said I was sorry and now I'm trying to make it better. So why do you hate me so much?" I explain.

She stares at me like she was in disbelief that I was even asking such a thing.

"I do know you, Garrett. And correct if I'm wrong but you sleep with every girl on campus and then you fucking ghost them. You lead girls on and then drop them like nothing. You don't care about anyone but yourself. I'm sorry but it's the truth." She admits.

I stare at her. Fuck. She was right, everything she said was true. But not the last part. I did care about people. I cared about my friends, my mother, but that was it. I didn't have many people I cared about in my life but the people I did have were enough for me.

"Everyone who sleeps with me knows I don't do relationships or anything more. It's only the hooking up part I do." I defend myself.

"Okay, I get it. But have you ever thought about what those girls feel like? Some of them really like you, god knows why but they do and you don't even think about that when you hook up with them." She goes on.

"You don't know if they like me like that." I say.

"The girl you were with at your party yesterday? Yeah, she knows Lily and she asked Lily if you liked me, and when Lily told her she didn't know, the girl told her that she has had feelings for you since last summer." She explains as I stare at her blankly.

I feel a guilty feeling creep through my stomach. I was such a dick to that girl last night. That explains why she was so upset when I left her there for Taylor.

"That's why. That's why I can't stand you." She snaps before she gets up and makes her way out of the restaurant.

I sit there for a second and process everything she just said. I quickly throw a 100 dollar bill on the table before running out of the restaurant. I see her walking down the sidewalk hugging her body.

"Taylor!" I call as I run after her

She keeps walking down the sidewalk, hugging her body from the cold air. She didn't even bring a jacket.

"Wait." I say as I step in front of her.

"What?" She snaps as she looks up with me with those beautiful doe eyes.

"Take this." I say as I pull off my hoodie and hand it to her.

"I don't want it." She says, crosses her arms over her chest.

"Just take it." I tell her again.

She sighs before taking and pulling it over her small body. The hoodie made her look even smaller. I liked it on her more than I liked it on myself.

"You're right. You're right, I don't care about anyone else but myself, and I should've realized that sooner. But I didn't. But you have to understand there's more to it than you think. I have friends I care about, I care about my mother but that's about it. I don't have many people in my life that I care about. But I know I'm capable of caring about someone other than myself. But you have to give me a chance to prove to you that I'm more than just some guy who sleeps around." I explain.

She stares at me, "I don't know, Garrett." She whispers as she looks down at her white sneakers.

"Just let me show you." I add.

She sighs and crosses her arms over her chest. Looking at me like she was trying to read my thoughts. I wonder if she ever noticed me doing the same thing to her. Trying to figure out who she really was behind those walls.

"Fine." She says.

I smile at her.

"Thank you, Tay-Tay." I say.

She rolls her eyes, "Whatever." She replies.

"Alright, next stop." I add.