A Rattle in The Frame

Chapter 1

                        The laughing echoed down the street from the sorority and frat houses, causing me to sigh as I thought of all the better things I could be doing with my Friday night other than sitting in the old tree house that was in the playground with a flashlight reading a book. By myself.
               

    I sighed and looked back at my book when the sound of laughter caught my attention. This was closer. Not at the frat house.

                    I heard the two people say their good-byes before the tree house shifted slightly, indicating someone's ascend into the small structure where I was currently sat.
             

 I tensed. Who wouldn't when someone was waltzing into their sacred reading space?

              I heard a small startled curse uttered before I met the the vibrant green eyes of the guy standing in the small door frame.
  

  "Jesus lady! You know how to give a guy one hell of a heart attack!" The guy threw a theatrical hand over his chest, causing me to raise an unimpressed eyebrow.

    "By sitting here reading? With a flashlight? So you can see me?" I brushed a strand of my red hair out of my eyes.
 

   "Well..." The guy huffed and stepped further into the small space, "Yeah! I mean I didn't know anyone would be up here. Kinda the point of me coming up here in the first place."

    I crossed my arms and eyed him carefully. He was well built, broad shoulders, short chocolate brown hair that just brushed the collar of his polo shirt. Kind of reminded me of Dean Winchester's hair from Supernatural.
          

   He sighed and shook his head before holding out a hand, " Name's Blaise Doones, and you are?"

            " JoAnn. JoAnn Callahan."  I eyes his hand.
        

 "It's just a hand. Not like spikes are going to sprout from it the moment you shake it." There was a twinkle of humor in his green eyes that, as much as I hate to admit it, made him rather attractive.

          "Ha ha." I muttered before tentatively shaking his hand.
         
  Sudden enough to make me jump, Blaise clapped his hands,"Alright, now that we know each other, you mind sharing the tree house?" His green eyes stared straight into my blue ones, knowing damn good and well that I was too polite to deny him access to my fortress of solitude. With a huff of annoyance, I gestured for him to accompany me.

          "Thanks." He grinned and sat down hard enough to rattle the frame.

I shot him a glare sharp enough to cause him to hold his hands up defensively,"This tree house is old and does not appreciate harsh treatment."

"Okay. Okay. My bad." He shook his head before staring at me.

"What?" I asked, shy now.

He shook his head, "What-cha reading?"

I held the cover up, facing him. Blaise squinted to read it in the dark, "Fool's Moon? Jim Butcher. Huh. Is it any good?"

I nodded and pointed the flashlight back to my page. My eyes had just started to follow the words across the page when the hairs stood up on the back of my neck. I looked up to see Blaise reading over my shoulder.

"Don't you have anything better to do with your Friday night then to sit in a tree house with a stranger reading over their shoulder?"

He seemed to consider it before shaking his head,"Nope!" He said, popping the "p".

I refrained from rolling my eyes before looking at my phone and closing my book slowly,"Well either way, it's late."

He raised a brow,"It's ten. On a Friday. God, you really don't have a life Callahan, do you?"

I scoffed,"Not true. I just have better things to do than get drunk in public."

"Like what?"

"Like..." I paused, searching for an answer but unable to find one.

Blaise laughed," That's what I thought. Come on." He grabbed my wrist before standing and gently tugging me to my feet. I made a mental note of how gentle he was with me.

"Where are we going?" I asked, tucking my book under my arm.

"To a party Red. Something I fear you've never even been to."

I opened my mouth to start a protest but realized it was futile since he would know I was lying. He flashed me a straight toothed grin before leading me to the ladder and helping me down.
He has his gentlemanly qualities. I thought as my feet hit the grass.

"So, what drew you to my reading sanctum?" I asked as I followed him out of the park.

"Eh? Oh that, don't worry about it." He brushed off my question with a wave of his hand. A gesture that allowed me to see through his defences.

I laughed,"Oh God! You were hiding from a girl, weren't you Blaise?"

"What? Pfft! No!" He popped the collar of his shirt,"Red, I don't run from girls, they run to me."

I scoffed,"Yeah, because you're such a ladies man."

"Hey! I'll have you know that I'm the most popular guy on the team."

"Team?" I raised a brow.

"Jesus, Callahan. You really are clueless about the things that aren't academic at our school, aren't you."

I mumbled a stiff and drawn out "Maybe" before Blaise shook his head,

"I'm the captain of the swim team."

That would explain the broad shoulders,"Go tigers." I joked, causing him to laughed and give me a soft shove.

"I can tell by your accent that you aren't from here. Where are you from?"

I shrugged,"Seattle."

He paused long enough to raise a brow at me before he continued his stride,"Why the hell did you come here?"

I bit my lip,"Good vet school, change in scenery, not as much rain. The list goes on Doones."

I saw his shoulder twitch,"Blaise." There was a hint of some hidden emotion behind his correction and oddly enough I felt the need to apologize.

"Sorry..."

"Spilled milk. No big deal." He gave my back a tender pat before smiling up at a building, "This is Acaica's building. Heard they have killer parties." He flashed me another dazzling grin," You up for a party, Red?"

I shrugged my response with which he took to mean "Hell yeah!" and tugged me into the big, intimidating building.

Oh God.