The Last Thing She Wants (Chestnut Hills #1)

17

ellie

“Ah! Go, go, go!” Lucy screamed at me from the other side of the finish line. Pushing my body forward, I ignored the heavy thud of my boobs and hopped towards my sac race partner. Jumping along, I focused on my legs confined by the brown sac.

Whistles came from every direction as I raced four other contestants, including Theo. Hoots and hollers exploded just as the woman at the end made it across the imaginary line marked by bookbags at each end. Losing focus, I tripped and landed, just grazing the glorious invisible line with the top of my head. Losing was fine by me, as long as I could at least claim victory over Theo.

Two seconds later, Theo hopped across the line. With a fist pump into the air, he whooped as he climbed out of his brown burlap bag.

Despite wiping out, the joy of the potato sac race brought me back to my childhood. Silently, I thanked Theo for the invitation to join. After having commented on the empty potato sacs strewn about the law, he insisted I had to fully experience Chestnut Hills Community College life in order to effectively do my job. The “college life” he was referring to apparently was a Monday mid-afternoon hopping brown bag race.

Before I could decline, he started shouting at random students, trying to entice them to join. His shouts and laughter gathered an audience. He successfully rallied four other students with ease. By the time we were pulling the bags up to our hips, more students convened around us to watch.

Laying on my back, I looked up at the sky, panting, trying to catch my breath. I heard the click of Pearl’s camera in the distance and hoped the race provided some top tier shots. My photographer for the marketing project, Pearl, was only here for the day to capture day-in-the-life shots.

Theo’s inverted face filled my vision as he stood over me, laughing. “You good, Branson?” he joked, his smile wide.

“I beat you, I’m great.” Lifting a thumbs-up, I signaled all was well.

“The hell you did,” he rounded me, grabbing my hand to help me up. Landing upright, my legs still confined, I struggled to find balance. He caught me as I fell into him, bringing me into his hard chest and wrapping his arms around me.

“Whoa…ha ha…those, uh, bicep curls have been paying off.” Attempting to cover my blush, I made a show of jokingly squeezing his upper arms.

“You like that, Branson?” He playfully pulled me in closer as I tried to wriggle free. “Wait, let me flex a little more for you.” Flexing his arms, I felt him harden around me as he laughed.

Swatting at him, I pushed him away and tactfully used the act of brushing my hair out of my face to avert my gaze.

Recently, he had been more brazen with his flirting. Especially during our lunch over the weekend, where he promised to cover me with his touch and brand me with his kiss if we were together. We were just in casual conversation, like, let a girl breathe. Looking at him made it hard to keep my feet on the ground, but hearing him say those things…well, that put me in a whole other universe.

The wildest thing about it, though, was that I thought he meant it…and I liked it.

“Yo, Professor,” a young student called out to him, jogging up. “You got a minute? I have some questions about the final assignment.”

Keeping his eyes on me, he responded to the student. “Of course, Dom.”

He stepped up to me, leaned in close, and brought his voice down to a whisper. His hot breath caressed my ear, sending shivers to my toes. “We’ll be coming back to this, gorgeous. I like it when you grab me like that.”

He pulled away with a mischievous twinkle in his eye and turned to give his inquisitive student his full attention.

“Oh. My. God. Are you and Professor Emerson a thing?” a stunned Lucy approached behind me.

“No. No.” I responded with increasing bravado. Turning to find Lucy wide-eyed, mouth agape. “We’re just good friends.”

Looking from me to Theo, Theo back to me, her face showed a conscious effort to smile. Only for a second, she let her brow furrow.

“I only ask because he’s, like, our resident hot professor. ”She flipped her wavy hair and drew in close to me, lowering her voice. “Like, all the girls would be so jealous. In the girl’s bathroom down by the IT lab, third stall, there’s a running bet on who will be first to bang him.”

“What?” disbelief and disgust coated my features as anger grew in my gut.

“Yeah, isn’t that fun?” she popped her gum, unaware of how asinine she sounded. “I bet forty dollars it’ll be me before summer. If you two are a thing, though, I’ll totally cut it off. It’d be a bummer, but I’d do it for you, ‘cause we’re cool.” As if we were best friends, she squeezed my forearm and distrust rolled in my stomach.

“Lucy, that’s…” I laughed in horror, “that’s so beyond messed up. You shouldn’t bet on people like that.”

Choosing that moment to return, Theo approached, still sporting his calm smile. Clearly sensing the tension, he straightened slightly. “Everything alright?” He asked, stepping next to me with a look of caution.

Pausing a beat, I looked at Lucy for a moment, trying to decide how I wanted to respond. In an act of pure vengeance of the bet Lucy shared with me, I chose petty.

“Everything’s great,” I plastered on a smile so big it hurt my ears, “ready for our brainstorming sesh?” Without thinking, I rose onto the tips of my toes and drew him in, leaning in to tell him a secret, just as he did with me earlier. Panicking, I realized I didn’t have a game plan. I let my lips graze his ear and whispered, “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.”

Pulling back, he looked at me in goofy disbelief. “What?” he laughed so wholesomely, I wanted to scruff up his hair.

“Come, I see an empty table in some shade. Let’s snag it before someone else does.” Using the most come hither look I could muster; I grabbed his hand and led him away.

Leaving a stunned and jealous Lucy behind, Theo placed his hand on the small of my back. Boom . Butterflies were set loose in my belly.

“What was that?” he covertly asked out the corner of his mouth, barely moving his lips.

“I’ll tell you in a minute.” I leaned into him, turning the performance up a notch. “Just play along.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice.” Slowly sliding his hand up the side of my body, he brought his arm to rest around my shoulders and pulled me in closer. “I would do this every day if you’d let me, gorgeous.”

Chills ran down my neck, causing me to shudders lightly and my heart rate to pick up. Everything in my body was screaming yes . I knew I wanted nothing more than to lean into his touch, but my mind was saying no while my heart hid behind it. I couldn’t risk it. I couldn’t handle the possibility that one day I may not be enough for Theo.

“Whoa there, cowboy. Don’t get carried away now, ”finally at the table, I pushed him away and took my seat on the opposite bench.

“Never,” he said coyly, and I swore I saw a gleam sparkle in his teeth. I couldn’t help but note it was eerily similar to a cartoon character who was secretly plotting.

Shifting my gaze over his shoulder, Lucy stood out in the crowd. The fire beams she shot in our direction were verging on lethal.

“Someone has a crush,” whispering, I prompted him to look behind him.

He shook his head with laughter. “Do you remember a while back? I told you about a student that wrote an erotic story about me? ”I laughed, because of course I remembered. Staring at me expectantly, I caught his unspoken implication and my eyes turned into moon pies.

Bursting into laughter, I still had the good sense not to lose sight of my petty play in action. Reaching out to stroke his arm, I spoke beneath hooded eyes. “Oh no, oh Theo,” I gasped, “oh Lucy, poor girl.”

Tilting his head, he looked at me in concentration, knitting his brows together. Slowly, he looked at where we made contact, my hand on his arm. “Wait a minute…are you trying to make her jealous? ”

Easier than admitting to him I had, in fact, been trying to make her jealous, I pulled out my laptop and shushed him. Silently signaling a change in subject, I pulled up our list of photo ideas to review before Pearl left for the day.

An hour later, Theo’s smile still hadn’t faded. Transitioning from reviewing the photo list to working on our own tasks, I appreciated the silent companionship. Even without engagement, my body was at ease in his presence. Letting my guard down, I relished in the comfort of being near him.

My phone vibrated with a notification, and the screen lit up with a text.

Brian

Coffee?

I arched a brow in curiosity and wondered what he could want to discuss in person. After the first night at Wild Cider, I joined a few jam sessions, just happy to be involved in something so fulfilling. The band and I started building a bond. They told me they loved how I brought more dimension to their songs and asked me to join their band. Permanently.

Declining, I joked I wasn’t an accountant. In seriousness, though, I felt joining a band wouldn’t allow me to prioritize myself the same way I promised myself I would. It filled my soul to be onstage with them, but joining the band would also require regular practices and gigs, taking up most of my free time. My free time was reserved for my self-discovery journey, and was not to be spent in a tizzy, trying to fill time commitments to multiple people.

Sending a quick response, I agreed to meet with him later in the afternoon. With a sigh, I returned the phone to my bag and began packing up. Following my lead, Theo began gathering his things as well.

“See you after work?” he asked expectantly, referring to our regularly scheduled gym sessions.

“Five thirty sharp!”

Thinking back to my conversation with Lucy, I deviated from my path to my car in search of a maintenance worker. Finding one tending to a bed of flowers, I snagged some cleaner and a rag, with the promise of returning them unharmed.

Finding the woman’s bathroom by the IT lab, I barged into the third stall on a mission. Closing the door and placing my bag on the hook, I found it. There, in direct line of sight of the porcelain throne, it was written on the stall door in big bold letters.

PROFESSOREMERSON BANG BET.

To add insult, just underneath the title, there was a sub header indicating the price to participate.

BET TO ENTER:$40

Furious rage erupted in my chest. Those bitches. Who did they think they were, placing bets on sleeping with my man?

Wait.

Not my man, something I had made sure of.

Nonetheless, my cheeks warmed at the thought.

Under the shameful headers, names adorned the stall door in various color ink:

Maria Lewis

Chelsea Morris

Amy Lecher

Kelly Allen

Lucy Even s

With a disgusted scoff, I doused the graffiti with cleaner and scrubbed until nary a trace remained.

“You’ve got to be kidding,” I gasped between laughter. “I don’t believe Reid did that.”

“Yup, right here.” Brian tapped the middle of his forehead, just above his nose. “Took his drumstick and flung it right at the guy, hitting him dead center.”

“But he seems so regimented. Controlled. He doesn’t seem like one to fly off the handle like that.”

Seated opposite each other at a small café table, we laughed quietly together. Soft conversations murmured around us, adding to the friendly atmosphere. Sipping our hot cappuccinos accessorized with floral latte art, we shared stories in the cool café, seated by the front window.

Brian sipped his coffee, nodding. “He rarely does. He is very particular, a little quiet, and very strict with rules—ones he sets for himself, and one’s society sets for others. But,” he shrugged, “I guess when he saw the dude slap the waitress’s ass, he wouldn’t tolerate the harassment. Damned if there was a man there scouting us to potentially open for Taylor Black.”

Nearly spitting out my coffee at that, I sucked in a deep breath and began choking. “Did you say Taylor Black?”

“You know of him?”

“Know of him? I love him! I'm going to a small show he's doing in July.”

“Nice. I’d say I’d hook you up, but we lost the gig. In case you couldn’t guess with the assault by drummer.” He paused a moment, giving us both time to recover from laughing. “Listen, Ellie, I wanted to talk to you about something.”

Sensing the tone of the conversation shift, I leaned in to provide him with my full attention.

“I know you don’t want to join the band right now, and I respect that. We’d still love to have you join us from time to time. It’s just that I’ve noticed recently you’ve been preoccupied a lot.” Noting the confused tilt of my head, he continued. “You’re away from the office a lot, and anytime we ask you to join us after work, you have other plans.”

“I’m working on the big project at Chestnut Hills Community College. You know how important that assignment is for me.” My response came out more exasperated than I anticipated, annoyed that what he was saying was carrying an unspoken message.

“I know,” he held a hand up defensively. “Listen, Reid would kill me if he knew I was saying this, but Daisy told him about your big break-up a few months ago…she said she’s proud of you for taking care of yourself and spending some time focusing on you.”

He paused, rubbing his chin. “I will admit, I’ve seen a change in you, too. You’re brighter, if that’s even possible. You’re laughing again. And, man, having you onstage is incredible, and if I’m telling the truth, it was something I never thought was going to happen a year ago. I just think…I just think you’ve been spending a lot of time focusing on other things lately, and I don’t want you to derail your own progress.”

“Get to the point, Brian,” I demanded, growing more agitated by the second.

“I haven’t shared this with anyone else, Ellie. Just voicing my concern that you’ve been all consumed by spending time with Theo lately. ”

Chewing on the inside of my cheek, I debated how to respond. Emotions were at war inside me and, despite my annoyance, I questioned the validity of his concern. If it was true, then would that mean I was failing myself?

“I appreciate the concern Brian, I’m just a little caught off guard here. It just so happens Theo works at the college; I didn’t plan for that. As for my plans after work, the ones with Theo, we’re going to the gym, which also was not planned. It was something that just happened by coincidence. Which, by the way, did Daisy mention that the whole ‘focusing on myself’ thing included going to the gym?”

I wondered if Daisy shared everything with Reid, including my goals list. How chummy were they, anyway?

Feeling bad for my defensiveness, watching him sitting quietly, I nudged his foot with mine under the table. “Besides, don’t you have some numbers to crunch? Why’re you wasting time worrying about me?”

Thankful for the reprieve, he chuckled.

We spent the next half hour continuing to enjoy each other’s company. Parting ways outside the café, he turned towards SwirlyPop, swearing that his wife would kill him if he didn’t return home with some of their handmade chocolates.

I spent the five-minute drive dissecting the conversation, sitting in my car for a few minutes once parked. Was Brian right? Was I allowing myself to fall into the background again? Though I wasn’t convinced I was, having an outside observer comment on it made me think otherwise.