Caught Up

Chapter Five

Caught Up

Chapter Five

He was standing there, looking out of place but comfortable when I opened the door. His hands were stuffed in the pockets of his dark-wash jeans, and the hood of his white under armour hoodie was pulled up to shelter him from the rain. Rain? A cold drop smacked my face. Oh, it was raining.

"It's getting cold." Duke raised his eyebrows at me.

Surprised, it took me a minute to realize what he was getting at and I immediately blushed, "Oh, I'm sorry. Come in." Chuckling, he crossed the threshold as I held open the door.

Leading him further into the living room, I told him where he could drop his stuff. "Hey, I've got a pizza, too, if you're hungry. I was just about to eat when I texted you." That was a lie. I did eat when I texted him, but he didn't have to know about my eating habits- my many eating habits.

Duke's expression told me that the pizza was definitely a good idea, but he didn't say anything, just nodded at me which made me smile at his cute, uncaring persona. And much to my surprise and enjoyment, he smiled back at me, not big enough to show teeth, but enough for a deep dimple to make an appearance.

*****

"Not even kidding!" I vowed through my giggles. "It was freshmen year, and my friend Chelsea used to throw these crazy back-to-school bash things. Dawson was ready to bawl his eyes out, but he did it!"

Duke's dark brown eyes sparkled as he grinned at me from over the kitchen table, "Fuck, I wouldn't have done it. Maybe the jumping in the lake thing, but there's no way in hell anyone could've gotten me to wax my balls, let alone in public."

"Well, in our defense, it wasn't wax. It was just really sticky tape", I defended. "Not that he would know the difference. He had his eyes shut the whole time."

If I'm being honest, talking to Duke isn't near as hard as I thought it would be. He's not actually anti-social- can you believe it? Plus, when it is silent, which isn't very often because when I'm nervous I tend to babble, it's not awkward because he seems genuinely comfortable with it so I don't have to worry about making him bored.

I have to say, though, I've learned quite a bit about him throughout the past two hours. He doesn't laugh a lot, and when he does, it's genuine, and it makes you feel good. And his smile, oh my gosh, that dimpled grin gets me for sure. Also, he has the most adorable tiny freckle on his left cheekbone, and his teeth are crazy white, but he looks tired, and he's got these purplish bags under his eyes that I didn't notice before but seem so prominent now.

"Still probably hurt like a bitch", Duke stated, smiling and running his hand through his hair. I bit my lip unconsciously. Damn. The cheeky smirk disappeared as his eyes caught the clock on the wall behind me. "So, how much more do we have to do?"

"Well, we got most of it done actually. We'll probably have to work on it some on Wednesday, but we're good for today. Why? Do you need to go?" I asked, trying to keep the disappointment out of my voice. God, I'm such a girl.

"Yeah, kinda. My ride should be here anytime-" The sound of a car honking interrupted him, and he quickly hopped up, gathering his things. Once he was done, he stood semi-awkwardly in front of me, scratching the back of his head, "So, uh, thanks for the pizza and everything. See ya tomorrow."

"Sure, anytime." I walked him to the door. It was still raining, but barely enough to count as anything. He pushed his hood up and hurried towards the white Grand Prix sitting in my drive- the very same white Grand Prix that nearly ran us off the road that day.

I had turned around to shut the door when I heard someone yell my name. Whipping my head around, I seen Duke where he had stopped about halfway to the car. His hood had fallen off, and drops of rain sparkled in his hair. I raised my eyebrows in question, "Yeah?"

"Let's go, Whittemore!" A man that I didn't recognize with a buzz cut and a bloody eyebrow stuck his head out the window and yelled at him. Duke gave him the finger quickly and the man scoffed before leaning back into his seat.

"So, Wednesday?" Duke asked me. I smiled brightly at him and nodded, giving him a light wave as I entered the house and shut the door behind me. I felt like doing that cliche thing where the girl shuts the door and then slides down it, but I didn't because that would be stupid. I instead opted to go clean up my kitchen. We had made quite the mess afterall. A few papers were scattered on the table as well as the poster board with our timeline on it. My laptop was opened up on the counter, and what remained of our dinner was scattered across both surfaces.

When I grabbed my phone to put some music on, a notification from Connor was glaring at me. Chewing on my lip, I debated. He's just such a... dick sometimes, but he took care of me that night, so I guess he can't be too bad. Sighing, I realized that he hadn't been in class today. Was it awful of me that I didn't even really notice? Yeah, it is. I'm a bitch.

8:53 p.m.

From: Connor

Hey didn't c u today. How r u doin?

9:17 p.m.

To: Connor

I'm fine, Connor. Really. Nothing even happened. I'm just being pathetic. Don't worry about me.

Hoping that he would just leave it at that -it wasn't something that I really wanted to discuss- I switched on some song from Zayn's new album and continued cleaning, but by the time I was done, there was another message on my home screen. Who was I kidding anyway? When had Connor ever just laid off?

9:19 p.m.

From: Connor

U arent being pathetic I shouldve beat his ass

Suppressing a smile, I typed my reply. Connor was a big boy, yeah, but that man had about a foot on him and at least twenty pounds. Plus, something tells me that considering how shady that guy was, he'd have whipped out a knife or something.

9:19 p.m.

To: Connor

You handled it like a champ. I don't think I ever got the chance to thank you for being there that night so thank you. If you hadn't have been there...

His reply was instant.

9:20 p.m.

From: Connor

I was and thats all that matters. I just hope it didnt ruin our night

I gnawed on the inside of my cheek. Our night? Great. He thought it was a date. I guess that explains the constant texts. Not sure what to say, I just told him that it wasn't his fault and that I was going to sleep which wasn't exactly a lie. Today had been hard what with stressing over Duke let alone actually working on the project, and I was beat. And worse than that, volleyball practice was mostly spent with v-ups and laps, and I was absolutely dreading practice tomorrow.

A nice hot shower and bed- that's what I needed, and it was what I would get. Maybe I would even throw in a glass of Mom's Chardonnay for good measure.

*****

*****

AN: I know, I know. Another short and late chapter... I'm really, really sorry. It's been a rough week, and that promised bonus chapter threw me off. Good news is that I'm FINALLY to a point in the story that everything is flowing smoothly and I'm excited for what's to come. GET READY!!

Wednesday is still the update day, and I promise you for real this time that you will have a chapter come Wednesday. 

XOXO Lacey