The Fault (Book 3 in The Deception Series)

Chapter 9: opportunity

Chris

~~~~~~~~~~~

I can't stop smiling at this girl, my jaw hurts from smiling. I could listen to her talk for hours and never get bored.

I wish someone would write a book just about her life, that's the only book I'll ever read.

I get a text on my phone but I ignore it and continue to listen to Dakota who was telling me more about her childhood. My phone begins to ring and I sigh.

"Are you gonna answer?" She asks.

"I don't want to." I smile.

My phone stops ringing and she goes back to talking before it goes off again.

"You might wanna answer this time." She laughs.

I sigh before grabbing it, I look down and see Brooke calling me. Are you serious right now?

I look at Dakota and see her look around us like she was looking for someone. She was doing this earlier too, I wondered who she was looking for. Maybe it was Brooke, maybe that's why she keeps fucking calling me.

I silence my phone and put it into my pocket.

"You okay?" I ask.

She quickly looks back at me and forces a smile.

"Yeah, who was calling you?" She asks.

I wanted to lie but I couldn't, "Brooke." I tell her.

"Oh." She says.

"I'll call her back later." I smile.

"You should just call her back now, she probably wants to see you." She says.

"Yeah, but I'm with you right now." I tell her.

"Yeah, but we're just friends." She says.

I ignore the pit feeling in my stomach and stare at her.

"Do you want me to go see her?" I frown.

She doesn't say anything for a moment, "I should go." She says as she gets up.

I watch her as she grabs her keys and purse.

"Oh, uh, well, do you want me to walk you to your car?" I ask her.

"No, it's fine." She says.

"Okay." I say.

"Bye, Chris." She says as she walks away.

I quickly put some cash on the table before walking out. I watch her cross the street and walk down the sidewalk, I walk on the other side of the street and keep my eye on her until she gets to her car. I smile as she gets in and drives away.

~~~~~~~~~

I walk into the kitchen in nothing but my boxers. I love Sunday mornings, they're so peaceful. It's like a quick reset from hockey and school before we go back to it the next day. I walk over to the fridge and open it, I grab the milk can and place it on the counter before grabbing Garrett's fruit loops. He's gonna kill me when he sees me eating this but he'll get over it. Plus, I always end up buying him a box after the first one finishes.

I sat down at the bar stools and ate my cereal, the house was quiet, and everyone was probably still asleep. I'm never the first one to wake up, it was usually Jake but they all probably got wasted last night. I didn't drink that much, it was weird for me. I just didn't feel like getting drunk, maybe I have a disease? Or I'm probably possessed by a demon.

That would be kind of cool, maybe someone would make a movie about me. Christopher Young and Satan.

Ha.

My phone goes off and I look at it.

Brooke.

Fucking hell.

I've been ignoring her calls and texts since last weekend, when me and Dakota went out to eat. I felt bad ghosting Brooke, but if I wanted to have Dakota, I'd have to stop hooking up with Brooke or anyone in general.

I know Dakota wants to be just friends, but I don't. I feel something for that girl and I need to figure out what the hell it is.

"Garrett's gonna kill you." I hear Taylor's voice.

I turn my head and see her walk in, wearing one of Garrett's shirts. It was funny how long it was on her.

I wonder what Dakota would look like in my shirts.

"I'll buy him a new box tomorrow." I say as I stuff my face with cereal.

She laughs as she changes the coffee filter in the machine.

"Did you guys party hard last night?" I ask.

"Hell yeah, my head is killing me." She says as she starts the coffee machine.

I chuckle.

"Where'd you go last night? I barely saw you." She asks as she turns to me.

"Uh, I didn't feel like drinking that much." I explain.

"Oh ok, is everything okay?" She asks.

I smile and nod, "I'm good, don't worry, Tay-Tay." I tell her.

"If you wanna talk, I'm always here." She says.

"I know." I say.

She smiles and nods before the coffee machine finishes making coffee. I watch her as she grabs 2 cups from the cabinet grabs the coffee pot from the machine and pours it into the cups.

I wondered if I could tell Taylor about Dakota, she could give me advice right? But I also wanted to keep her a secret, everyone knew that I was a hookup guy, I hadn't truly liked someone in years. So Dakota seemed special to me, it was hard to explain. I just wanted her to be my secret, I didn't want anyone to know about us or whatever was going on.

"Taylor?" I ask.

"Yes." She says as she looks over her shoulder at me.

"Chris, I will kill you." Garrett says as he walks in.

I look at him and smile.

"Seriously?" He asks.

"I was hungry." I say.

He shakes his head and walks over to Taylor, he places a kiss on her head before grabbing one of the cups of coffee.

Well, there goes that opportunity.