Speaking In Silence [Book 2]

11

Chloe was finally on her way. I almost forgot that she was coming to help study, which dampened her arrival a little bit. Nonetheless, I was excited to see her.
I was still on edge from looking at the photographs earlier and was hoping nothing else would set me off. It was an easy thing to do recently.

I got a text from Chloe telling me she was at my apartment, so I walked to the lot to let her up. She was holding two bags full of what I assumed was the takeout. I took the bags from her and we continued back up to the flat. When we got inside, I made her a coffee and we settled on the couch.

"So what do you need my help with?"

"I need you to help me study. I'm kind of failing right now" I said. My cheeks turned red. It was embarrassing.

"Okay, what all are you failing?"

"Everything" her expression changed from neutral to disappointed.

"How did that happen?"

"Well..." I took a deep breath, "I was kind of dealing with some stuff and stopped going to classes for a while"

"Oh, okay, well, let's eat, and start studying I guess"

-

All of the takeout was spread across the coffee table. Most of it had been eaten. Chloe sat on the floor across from me, holding a bundle of flashcards. There were four or five textbooks scattered around the living room.

"Next word" I managed through a mouthful of noodles.

"Altruism"

"Mmm... unselfish regard for others well-being?" Chloe nodded and threw a steamed carrot my way from a set of chopsticks. Every time I got a question right, she threw something into my mouth, which meant that I had stains all over my shirt from not catching the food.

"Can we take a break? It's been like three hours" I'd been asking since we started. Everytime she told me that we would after the stack of cards was exhausted

"I guess. Let's watch something on TV. I should probably run home first though because I'm wearing jeans and this is going to take all night"

"Or, you could borrow some of my clothes and stay the night"

"Okay, but I have work in the morning" I grinned and motioned for her to follow me to my room. I gave her some shorts and a shirt, then turned to leave.

"You know" she started, "you don't have to leave"

"Are you sure?" She nodded and I sat on the bed while she changed. I tried my best not to look, but it was hard. When she pulled her shirt off I blushed a little bit. Even though she was facing the other way, I still got flustered.

It did end up taking all night to study. We stayed up late, even when we were all tired out, just talking. I learned so much about her in that one night.
Something that I had yet to tell her, that was probably really important, was that I wasn't straight. I figured my track record would catch up to me eventually and she would find out. I wasn't prepared for her to have something against me. Although, it did make me feel guilty. It felt too early to be overly vulnerable with her.

Looking to my left, I admired the woman asleep on my shoulder. She had a textbook in her lap, and a pen in her hand. I slowly removed everything from her and picked her up to move to the bed.

"Mm, Blaine... what time is it?" I moved Chloe's body under the covers.

"Very late, go to sleep" I joined her and felt her cling to me. I let my fingers run through her hair.
After a few hours I finally closed my eyes and tried to sleep. But with perfection in my arms I couldn't, I had to watch over her and make sure everything was okay.

-

I'd set an alarm to go off at seven-thirty, so Chloe could get to work on time. I regretted I because I didn't sleep a lot the night before, or the morning for that matter. The alarm was loud and I groaned, Chloe shifted beside me.

"Do we have to get up?" I asked, lying face up and staring at the ceiling.

"You don't, but I do"

"Let me drive you to work, I'll pick you up after and we can get dinner or something"

"Sure... can I use your shower?" I nodded and showed her where everything was. While she was in the shower I made us breakfast. Eggs and toast seemed to be a good option, along with coffee.
I got to work making the food, and set out plates on the table. It was still a few minutes before Chloe got out, so I cleaned up our mess in the living room.

"Smells great"

"Thanks, I really tried my hardest" I allowed some sarcasm to play in my response. I'd come to learn that she was really sarcastic and it was kind of rubbing off on me.

We sat and finished our meal while we chatted. Once we were done, Chloe got up and went to look for all of her things. I washed the dishes, then grabbed my keys.

"Ready?"

Once we were there, I got out and waited for Chloe to come around to the driver's side. I gave her a goodbye kiss, and turned to get back in, but someone stopped me.

"Are you Blaine Marston?" A dark haired woman with a smile walked up to me. She looked a little familiar but I couldn't place her.

"Um, yeah... do I know you?"

"I'm Seth's sister, Jamie" my stomach flipped. Something didn't feel right, I dropped Seth a long time ago. I didn't respond. Instead I stood silently, Chloe next to me, "I've actually been trying to contact you"

"Look, I don't know what he told you, but--"

"Blaine, I wanted to ask you a few questions... about Killian Flinn"