Stealing Harper

He leaned forward and his eyes narrowed. “I’d prefer you study with Candice.”

Now I was getting mad. He didn’t own me, he definitely wasn’t my boyfriend, and this was Aaron. The same gay guy that Blake didn’t like “looking at me”. “And since when do you get to decide who I hang out with? Look maybe I’ve been giving you the wrong impression over the last few days, but we aren’t together. You have no say in what I do.”

Like a switch had been flipped his face went back to his smooth, sexy self. “You’re right, actually I think it’s a good idea for you to study with some other people besides Candice; I’m sure you wouldn’t get anywhere with her.”

Wait, what? The sudden change in his mood made me almost feel dizzy. It’s like I had my own personal Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde sitting next to me.

When I could finally get my mouth to stop opening and shutting like a fish, I shook my head and exhaled roughly. “Speaking of, I really need to get back to campus.” I stood to leave without giving him the chance to say no.

Without another word, Blake followed me out to the car. We didn’t say anything on the drive back but he put his hand on my thigh again. Was I imagining how tight he was holding it? When we arrived at the dorm, he parked in one of the spaces rather than letting me out in front. I grabbed the handle to open the door and he pushed down on my thigh gripping it tighter. I turned to look at him and was surprised to see he still looked light and easy going.

“I’ll get the door for you. Wait here for just a second.”

Crap, I hope he wasn’t going to walk me to my room, I’d bet Candice still had Eric in there with the door locked. As soon as he released me, my thigh throbbed from the relief of pressure he’d had on it and I almost wished I’d been wearing shorts so I could look at the damage I was making myself believe he’d done. The passenger door opened and I stepped out without looking up at him. We walked without saying anything and I made sure to put some distance between us. I was relieved when he began to slow down as we reached the main entrance of the dorm.

“Well, thanks for the coff—”

He caught me around the waist, pushed me up against the wall and kissed me roughly, interrupting my goodbye. Before I had time to realize what was happening and push him away, he pulled back and started backing up toward his car.

“I’ll see you later.” He winked then turned away from me.

I have no idea what my face looked like, I couldn’t even pin down an emotion. I was disgusted, a

I didn’t know if I was ready to tell Candice about this, or if I even wanted to. Knowing her, she’d somehow turn it around so that I had done something wrong, or that I didn’t know how to kiss. Needless to say, I was dreading facing her. Luck was on my side, Eric must still be in there because the door was locked, and on the mini white board attached to our wall in Candice’s writing were the words, “DON’T come in.” I texted Candice, asking her to put my laptop and books outside while I went to the bathroom so I wouldn’t be subjected to a flushed and rumpled Candice and Eric. After I picked those up, I went back to the common room and pulled out my phone to finally text Aaron back.

Sounds good. What time and where?

Aaron: 7p @ Starbucks

Great like I wanted to go there again. I sighed, cracked open a book and tried to not think about Blake.

WITH THE STUDYING I’d done before the group, and the five hours with them, I felt fully prepared for this final, and was glad it was on Monday. Once that was out of the way, I only had two days left of easy finals and this year would be over.

I was still wired from all the espresso I’d sucked down in the last few hours and since it was a twenty-four hour Starbucks, I decided to stay in the café and write in my journal. After my parent’s accident, Candice’s parents tried everything to get me to talk. I think they were afraid I would never come out of my depression. Her brother Eli had been the only one that had known how to handle me—so to speak. He’d been home from college for the summer when the accident happened, and unlike his first few years away, came back every weekend to see me once school started back again. He would hold me while I stared off into space, and never spoke a word. Eli’s form of healing was my favorite since it was silent, but we all knew he couldn’t be there for me forever. One night when I got home from school there was a journal on my bed with a note from Candice’s dad, George. He suggested using the journal to write to my parents like they were still here. At first it freaked me out, but I told him I would try, and I’m glad I did. Even I could see the difference in myself. I wrote to them every day, even if it was just a few lines. But I viewed it as a way of continuing our family time. Every night after di

When I finished a couple hours later, I put everything in my purse and called out goodbyes to the too-awake baristas. As soon as I pushed open the door and walked out into the muggy night air, my phone went off and the words on the screen caused me to stumble and a chill to shoot through my body.

Blake: You look beautiful tonight.

Instead of bolting for my car like any sane person, I looked around until I found him. Well, ru

How did he know I was here? If he didn’t know I was here, what is he doing here at two in the morning? Oh my word, he’s been following me! No, that’s ridiculous; come on Rachel get a grip. He is not following you, frick I really need to stop thinking the world and everyone in it revolves around me. He just happened to be here and saw your car. That’s all. Right? Right.

I took a few steps closer to the cars and took a deep breath as I dropped my phone back into my purse, trying to calm myself down. “Hi, Blake.”

“I was starting to think you would never leave, I’ve been out here for hours.”

Oh God, he had been waiting for me! Those words were creepy enough, but paired with the sexy, i

“Following you? I’m not following you. Candice told me you were waiting for me to pick you up from the study group. Jesus, Rachel, you look like you’ve just seen a ghost; are you all right?”

“Candice said what? No, I was definitely not waiting for you; I drove myself here. That should be obvious, since you’re parked next to my Jeep.” I didn’t know what was going on, but I wanted to get out of there and away from him. Now.

“Yeah, but your car isn’t starting. Which is why I’m here.” He said every word slowly like I was a child or something. “Don’t you remember Rachel? You called her almost three hours ago, but she was busy so you told her to call me. Are you feeling okay? Come on, get in the car I’ll get you back to your room.”

“I am not getting in your car, I’ll drive myself back!” With that I took the last few steps to my car, got in, locked the door and put the key in the ignition. I turned it but nothing happened. There wasn’t even a click. What happened to my car? I knew I hadn’t called Candice. And even then, if I’d wanted Blake to pick me up I would have called him myself. Someone tapped on the window and even though I knew who it was, I still jumped.

“Come on, Rach, this is dumb. Just get in the car I’ll take you back. I’ll get your car towed in a couple hours.”