Chapter Seventeen

By Monday night I decided that I was done thinking about Chris Chambers. He and Lucy Rowe could rot in hell for all I cared. It wasn't my place to be jealous of Lucy when I had a boyfriend of my own.

I decided I was going to focus on school instead. I had miraculously pulled off an 84 in my last math test and I don't know who had been more surprised- me or Mr Maloney. I decided that if I could do that well in math, which was my least favourite subject, then everything else shouldn't be so hard.

So I started reading. Every evening as soon as I got back from school to Ace's, I'd crack open my books, get my homework out of the way and then go back over the last few weeks work to make sure I understood it.

Ace seemed irritated by my newfound enthusiasm for school.

"When the hell did you become such a nerd?" He asked me one night, when I declined a trip to Irbys to stay home and finish my English assignment.

"I'm tryna make something of myself. Is that so bad?" I answered.

He didn't answer and he didn't mention my studying again.

That week I sat next to a girl on the school bus called Annabelle. We had never really spoken before but we shared English and Biology classes. Annabelle was smart and seemed happy to talk to someone about her homework. She also worked as the perfect buffer to keep Chris Chambers away.

I avoided him like the plague. I would walk all the way around the lunch hall not to pass his table and I found myself talking to strangers, just to prevent him from coming over and talking to me. I saw him with Lucy a couple of times- saw her hanging around by his locker, and talking to her friends about him.

"Oh, we were going to go for a milkshake later but he has to work. He works nights, you know, and still pulls straight A's."

"Wow, he's not like his brother then," someone else said. "Eyeball Chambers has never earned an honest dime in his life."

Lucy laughed.

"No, he's nothing like any of his family. They'll all end up dead or in jail, I bet. But Chris is different."

It took everything I had not to turn around and yell at her that Becky was a decent kid and Lily hadn't even had a chance to work out who she was. It wasn't my problem. Chris wasn't my problem.

"Nina." Fran the head waitress, slid into the seat opposite me.

I was sat in a booth at the Blue Point Diner while eating some fries and reading my history book.

Ace and the Cobra's were outside in the parking lot looking at Charlie's cousin's new wheels. I was only there because Ace had yelled at me when I said I hadn't wanted to go out. But now they were all outside, I figured it was a good time to catch up on my history homework.

"Are you still looking for a job?" Fran asked. "We need someone Wednesday through Friday- evening shift. Four till Ten?"

I settled back and looked at her. Fran had grey streaked blond hair, steel grey eyes and a tired face. Her smile was kind but she took no bullshit- everybody was clear of that even the Cobra's.

"Erm, I guess…" My own money sounded great but now I was focusing so hard on school, I wondered if a job was going to get in the way of that.

"You don't look too sure," Fran let a smile play out on her lips.

I pulled myself out of my thoughts.

"No, a job sounds great. It's just-" I indicated my history book. "I'm trying to pull my grades up."

Fran nodded.

"That's great, honey. Friday night in here is crazy. You know that. But Wednesday and Thursday are usually pretty dead and when it is quiet, you're welcome to sit in a booth and study. As long as you keep an eye on the tables."

I digested this. It was sure easier to study in here than it was with Ace breathing down my neck.

"When would I start?"

"Next Wednesday," Fran said. "Although Clarissa has the flu and we're short staffed tonight. You could do a trial shift today? See how it works out?"

I smiled at her and nodded.

By the time the Cobras had come back inside, I was wearing a turquoise uniform and pouring a customer some coffee.

Ace stopped dead in the doorway, Eyeball bumping into him, as he caught my gaze across the room.

I put down the coffee and walked towards him, trying to keep my expression relaxed.

"Fran offered me a job," I said.

"I can see that." Gripping my elbow, Ace steered me to a quiet corner of the room. "Don't you think you could have mentioned it to me first?"

I sighed, feeling the heavy cloud of his control settle on my shoulders.

"She only just offered me a trial shift. I don't see what the big deal is."

"The big deal is- guys come in here to stare at the waitresses. And I don't want that to be you."

I closed my eyes, counting slowly to three in my mind before I opened them again.

"So you come in here to look at Fran, huh?" I tried to make light of the situation but he was really beginning to piss me off.

"No, not Fran, but the other girls- Clarissa, Lisa…" He trailed off as I glared at him. "Shit, not me, but you don't hear what the guys say about them."

"I don't give a shit what anyone says," I told him. "I finish at ten. You gonna give me a ride home?"

My eyes met his ice blue ones in a head on challenge.

"Only if you're leaving now."

"See ya later then." I stepped deliberately away and hurried out into the kitchen desperately hoping he wouldn't follow me and try and drag me out of there. I stood with my back to the kitchen wall, straining to hear his voice until suddenly, somebody's voice was right there beside me.

"He's gone if that's what you're worried about."

I nearly jumped out of my skin.

"Fran. I was just-"

"Hiding," Fran said knowingly. "And for the record, you ever need somewhere to hide, you come find me okay?"

I forced a laugh and avoided her eyes.

"What are you talking about?"

"Him. Merrill. I used to date somebody just like him when I was your age. Took me a long time to realise I didn't have to accept his bullshit. I hope you realise it too."

And before I could even reply, Fran was gone.

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It was gone eight o clock when I felt somebody's shadow fall over my table.

I was in the middle of my chemistry homework and it took me a while to register someone was there. I looked up apologetically thinking one of the two remaining customers wanted more coffee and was speechless to see Chris standing over the table.

"You work here now?" His eyes flickered over my uniform and I tried not to blush.

"No. It's secretly Halloween and I decided to go as a waitress."

He frowned at me and slid into the booth, uninvited. I dropped my pen and sighed.

"What do you want, Chambers?"

His blue eyes were intense.

"I want to talk."

He looked like he hadn't shaved in a couple of days and there was a glorious golden stubble across his cheeks. I dropped my eyes to the table.

"Gordie's back tomorrow. Go talk to him. I don't wanna hear it."

I picked up my glass of water and sipped at it nervously. All the anger I used to have towards him had evaporated and now I just felt sad. Nobody had ever made me feel the way he had the night of the dance. But I was with Ace and he was with Lucy and any other kind of thinking was completely wrong.

"I don't want to talk to Gordie. I want to talk to you."

His hand came across the table towards mine and I shrank back in the booth.

"Stop it, okay? Just go away."

"Not until you listen."

I stared obstinately at him for as long as I could before I sighed and shrugged my shoulders.

"So, talk."

He looked unsure for the first time and I saw him clench his jaw in determination before he started to speak.

"Look, I don't know how this started. Or when it started. But I can't get you out of my mind."

I stared. And stared. Until he put a hand guiltily to his head and groaned.

"Wow, you're really not gonna help me here, are you? Look, I know you're with Ace and if he was making you happy, it'd be easy just to be happy for you, you know? But I know you're not happy. You don't even look like you when he's around."

His words were whirling crazily around my head.

"I could have just been your friend, you know. That's all I wanted. But at the dance- when I asked you to dance- when we were dancing- it all changed because…"

My eyes were strangely filling with tears as he talked and then he trailed off and didn't seem like he was going to finish his sentence.

"it all changed because…?" I whispered.

My words hung in the silence of the diner until he finally raised his eyes and looked at me.

"Because I knew you felt it too."

And that was it. He'd said it. We'd both felt the same electricity, the same intense feeling to never let that dance go.

I gulped back my tears before they spilled down my face and scowled at him.

"What about Lucy?"

"What about Lucy? I told you already she'd not my girlfriend. You know she only said what she did to get rid of Jensen. I didn't want to embarrass her by denying it in front of everybody. And I figured you knew that."

"But what you said to Ace, about watching his mouth. You were so…" I tried to find the right word. "Protective of her."

"No." Chris' hand found mine and squeezed it. "I was protective of you. He just said another girl had a nice ass right in front of you."

I hadn't even registered that. I hadn't even felt any jealousy at Ace's comment. What the hell did that mean? That I didn't care who he looked at or cheated with? I yanked my hand free of Chris' and shook my head.

"I'm with Ace."

"But why?"

I couldn't work out what he was saying or why he was saying it so I didn't answer.

"Come on, Nina, you heard me. Why are you with him? He talks to you like shit, he won't even let you move in with him when you're homeless, he leaves you stranded all the time and he flirts with other girls right in front of you."

"You don't know what you're talking about," I hissed. I was angry. Why was I angry? Why did it feel like Chris was pulling my world out from under my feet?

"Yes, I do because I've stood and watched and it's fucking painful. You don't even want a lot from him. Some respect, some trust, and for him to want to take you out now and then instead of making you hang out with him and his jerk off buddies. All I wanted the night of dance, as soon as I saw you, was to be your date. And that bonehead has you in the palm of his hand and he doesn't even appreciate it."

Chris' voice was laced with bitterness. I didn't trust myself to say anything else without bawling so I just stayed quiet.

"I know why you've been avoiding me all week and it's not about Lucy. You've been avoiding me because you're scared. You're scared to admit that what you've got with Ace is bullshit. But what you could have with me is real."

I was trying to muster a reply when I was saved by a customer.

"Could I get a slice of pie, darling?" A guy at the counter called in my direction.

I smoothed back my hair hurriedly, forcing friendliness into my voice.

"Coming right up!" I called back.

Chris was still giving me his intense stare from the other side of the booth as I stood.

"I have to go."

He shook his head in disbelief.

"You're just gonna leave? Are you not gonna say anything?"

I smoothed down my apron and stepped out of the booth.

"I finish at ten. Why don't you walk me home?"

His face broke into an unexpected but beautiful grin.

"Home?"

"To Gordie's," I said. "I have to go now."

I hurried behind the counter to serve the customer a slice of cherry pie and by the time I'd glanced back at the booth, Chris had vanished.

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