Blessed Tragedy (32 page)

“Uh... I... I... didn't think... I... don't know” I stuttered out. I couldn't speak worth a shit. What the hell was wrong with me? His spell was potent and I couldn't break free.

“I thought you were interested by the way you have been looking at me all night long. I must have been wrong.” His words were like a small knife right into my chest. “I don't normally make it a habit of hooking up with strangers in a ball park” I spit out at him.
What the hell am I thinking? I like this guy! He is going to run!

“I'm not a stranger anymore Charlie, remember you introduced yourself.”
“I wouldn't think that made us
friends.”
I said and continued to sabotage any chance there was in seeing this man again.

As he walked away from me I was finally able to breathe again. When he was standing there next to me I might as well have been in my birthday suit for all of the ball park to see. It was embarrassing and I had these feelings I have never been exposed to. I knew I blew it with him, but a feeling of relief came over me. “I don't need a guy in my life right now anyway!” I mumbled as I headed back to my seat.

As I rounded the corner there was Shay and Jake chatting it up with Mr. Tattoo.
They are conspiring with the enemy!
When they noticed me on my way to the seat they pretended like they weren't doing anything wrong. There was no way I was letting Shay get away with it.

The game ended and we stumbled back to our apartment only a couple blocks away. When I hit my bed I knew I have overdone it with the alcohol for the night and I was out in seconds.

***

All weekend brought dreams of Bentley. Dirty dreams, like the kind you have when you fall asleep watching Cinemax and you wake up to the cheesy porn remakes with horrible plot lines. Saturday and Sunday nights I found myself waking up turned on, soaking wet and in need of a cold shower.
What am I a horny teenage boy now?

I replayed our kiss in my mind, repeatedly. I scolded myself for walking away. I beat myself up over the way I treated him. How could I be so heartless when I wanted him more than any man, ever?

No matter what I tried I couldn't get him out of my mind, but he was long gone. In a city with six hundred thousand people I would never see him again.

I decided I would blog about it. Not like it was much of anyones business, but it was what I did when I was bored. I opened my Macbook Pro and let all that I could remember from Friday night type out onto my keyboard. The drinks, the chance meeting in the beer line, the scene we made dancing, and Bentley serenading me, and against my better judgement I included the kiss. I knew I wasn't going to see him again so what kind of harm would it cause. I didn't use his name, he could ride off into the sunset, safe from my crazy life.

I was smart enough to schedule the post for later in the week so I wouldn't be near my computer when my friends started to harass me about the posting. “Tuesday morning should do!” I mumbled to myself as I hit
schedule
.

***

Monday morning brought me my last day of freedom before three days of pure hell, known to us college folks as final exams. I decided after I crawled my ass out of bed I would see if Shay wanted to head down to Starbucks and grab a frap before a pedicure. I reached her bedroom but she was no where to be found.
Maybe I should have left my bed before noon?

I headed out to Starbucks pulling my phone out on the way to see if I had any e-mails. I couldn't help it, since I gave up my Blackberry for an iPhone I was addicted to everything about it. Nothing new in the world of my social life,
or lack there of
.

I walked in and ordered my drink and pulled out my phone to check in on Foursquare. I sat down and enjoyed my drink with a copy of the newest celebrity gossip column. It had been a long while since I found myself in any of the Boston area tabloid type columns so I secretly enjoyed the fools who landed themselves in the trash. Secretly I wanted to make sure no one caught a picture of that kiss from Friday night.

It was at that moment I got this eerie feeling that someone was watching me. It was fuckin' creepy! I finished up my coffee and got ready to head out to the salon, quick. Without looking up I headed towards the trash can when felt like I walked into a brick wall.

“I am so sorry... I should have been....”

When I looked up to apologize to whatever it was in my clumsy path I was shocked. Bentley was standing in front of me with an amused smirk on his face like he planned on me running straight into him.

“Fancy meeting you here Miss Windsor” he said with a laugh.
How did he know my last name?
His smile was probably the most perfect I had ever seen. I couldn't stop sizing him up. He was wearing a tight white shirt with some black writing on it with a pair of dark blue jeans with a backwards Red Sox hat on.

“How are you doing Mr. Young?” I barely choked out.

“I was having a sub-par day until I saw your beautiful face Charlie,” he said without skipping a beat. “I missed you over the weekend, I was hoping to run into you at another game. I was greatly disappointed when I didn't because I have something for you.”

Me? Beautiful? We were looking in the same mirror or did he just need glasses? What the hell did he have for me? I desperately tried to keep from blushing but it was damn near impossible. I knew I couldn't show him I was completely smitten with him. He was one of
those
guys who would take advantage of me and set me out with tomorrows trash.

“Oh is that so?  Say that to all the girls you pick up?” I said it with such a snarky tone, I knew he never expected it.

Of course he was gorgeous but he was a
bad boy
and here I was little innocent Charlie holding on to my virginity like I was the last girl on planet earth to not dish out the goods to her high school boyfriend. If I got involved with him that would evaporate.

The look on his face was priceless. He was confused, pissed and amused all at the same time. “I don't make it a point to pick up girls Charolette. I am not really the relationship type,” he replied. “Please take this, it is for you.” he handed me a small box wrapped in a fancy green shiny wrapping paper with a large blue bow. “Thank you but I really shouldn't accept this” I said as I tried to push the box back to him, but he wouldn't accept it.

I knew I should have just walked away, I am not looking for a hook up... hell I am not even looking for a boyfriend why am I still wasting my time talking to his guy? He made it clear he is not the relationship type.

“Well I have an appointment in fifteen minutes, I hope you have a nice afternoon Bentley. Thank you for this gift?”

***

I sat looking at the little box as it sat on my giant kitchen table. Our apartment was nothing short of lavish, but only becaus
e my mother purchased and designed every detail. I never brought people to our apartment because I was almost embarrassed that I was a college student living in a penthouse condo most could never afford in their life.

Shay on the other hand would show off the place to anyone. She was raised by a single mother and barely got by. While she missed her mother immensely, she didn't miss living in the projects wondering if she would have lights at the end of the week.

I wanted to open it but I was almost scared to know what it was. Just then Shay finally made her appearance for the first time all day. “Whats for dinner, I am starving!”

“Where the hell have you been all day?” I quizzed her. It wasn't often she just vanished for the day.

“I was studying at the library. I am worried about my finals, so I wanted to put in a little extra time.”

“Makes sense.”

Shay was a pre-med student. Her mother had always joked with her about becoming a doctor to make her a proud mom, so when a drunk driver took her life in 2002 she took the joke far more seriously. Plus with my father basically running every detail of Boston Children's Hospital it was an automatic successful career once she graduated medical school. It was getting the degree that challenged her most.

She is smart though. If there was anyone in my life that could have a career as successful as my father, it would be her, hands down.

That was when she noticed the box on the table. “What's this?”

“Remember that guy from Fenway Friday night?,” I replied with a huge grin on my face.

“Bentley, how could I forget him?” she had an even bigger smile on her face when she answered me.

“I ran into him at Starbucks today, and apparently he has been carrying this around all weekend looking for me. Maybe he is stalking me, creepy!” I said with an attempted look of disgust on my face. She knew just as good as I did I was overjoyed to see him.

“Oh Honey! He ain't stalkin' you, I told him your Monday routine!” she laughed hysterically. Sold out by my other half!

She had set this all up. Shay went behind my back! That is what they must have been talking about Friday night when I made my way back to my seat. Now I could only wonder what else she spilled!

“Oh, well at least I know he isn't a total creep now!”

“Open the damn gift already, I want to see what it is,” she commanded. Before I could rip the pretty present to shreds I took out my iPhone and snapped a little picture of it and posted it on Instagram with the caption

             
Mystery Gift from a Hot Guy

and I clicked post. I knew soon my Facebook and Twitter pages would be abuzz with all my friends asking what the hell was going on. Let them ask! I am going to have fun with this! It has been long enough since I was woo'ed by a man.

I ripped into the paper quicker than any present I ever dove into on Christmas morning. Then opened the little brown box that hid under the paper. When I pulled the lid off there were at least a dozen loose pictures, and then a Red Sox picture frame which enclosed the best picture of Mr. Tattoo serenading me from Friday night.

I had been given diamonds and jewels, fancy dresses, designer clothes, and all those rich guy bells and whistles in the past. But my little frame with an amazing memory was the best gift I had ever gotten. I had to hold back a tear because I didn't want Shay to think I lost my damn mind. It was so sweet. I wasn't use to genuine sweet gestures. Off to go blog about it!

At that moment I secretly hoped I would run into Mr. Tattoo again.

Charolette Windsor

The Mystery Man

I feel like a little girl with a crush.

Friday night during the seventh inning stretch I was whisked off my feet and serenaded by a mysterious man who was sitting in front of me. I never had so much fun in my life.

After the game he bought all the pictures the in-house photographers took and packaged them up in an adorable box picking the best picture for a frame and tracked me down.

I couldn't care less about diamonds.
My little picture frame with my out-of-a-movie moment is the best gift I ever got.

Note from HB Heinzer

Every once in a while, people come into our lives and we have no clue how they got there, we can only say a prayer of thanks that they are there. This is how I feel about Danielle Elwood. She's a crazy, amazing blogger who's not afraid to speak her mind. When she told me she was working on her debut novel, I got excited for her. I love that she's working to make her dreams come true!

When she trusted me to take a look at her work-in-progress, I fell in love with the characters and the story. For that reason, I asked her if I could include the first chapter here. I hope you will fall in love the same as I did.

Find news about Take Me Out and more:

http://DanielleElwood.com

http://facebook.com/DanielleAElwood

Acknowledgements

To my family... I couldn't have done this without you. You put up with me staying up until stupid hours of the night and sleeping until noon when it was needed. You dealt with more pizza than many families eat in a year. You chipped in and helped with the laundry, for fear of having to go naked in the cold, Wisconsin winter.

To my friends... You were there for me when I needed to bounce ideas off someone. You listened to me ramble when you couldn't care less about Blessed Tragedy or where Rain and Colton were going next. In a few cases, you let me hold your hand and pull you right over the cliff of your comfort zone. I love you all for your support!

To my beta readers... Thank you for putting up with me asking a million times if I was crazy. Thank you for giving me honest feedback.

To the bloggers... Seriously, I know I say it all the time on Facebook, but I couldn't do it without you. It's a cold, lonely world being an indie author. You make that world a little bit smaller. You don't have to do what you do, you do it for the love and it shows!

To the fans... I'd write even if no one read my words. It's not what I do, it's who I am. But knowing that someone out there enjoys the stories the voices in my head pass through to my fingers gives me a warm fuzzy feeling inside! Thank you for being there!

About the Author

With the exception of three years in Nebraska, HB is a Wisconsin girl through and through. She lives with her husband, two kid and roommate (also known as “the bonus parent”) in the middle of nowhere but close enough to civilization to maintain a shred of sanity.