Senseless Attraction (16 page)

      “Um. Thanks, I guess,” I muttered, half asleep.

      “Alex, wake up.” I felt something against my cheek. I opened my eyes to find that it was Tristan’s hand gently tucking my hair behind my ear. “You have to stay awake, just for a little longer. Then you’ll be home and can have some pain meds. Then you can sleep safely with someone watching you.”

      “Why are you being nice?” The question just popped out; I hadn't meant it to.

      He scoffed. “I'm not that bad of a guy, am I?”

      “Honestly, I can't comment; I don't know you.” And I never really would once we were finished his tutoring. He fell quiet, so I took the opportunity to rest my eyes.

      “Alex,” he growled.

      “Just resting, not sleeping,” I said with my eyes closed.

      “Open your eyes anyway. Then I’ll know for sure.”

      I let out a sigh and opened them. “You’re bossy, you know that?” I complained.

      He laughed. “You only have to put up with it for a little longer.”

      I liked his laugh. It was deep, masculine, and it did things to me that I’d never felt before.

     
It's just the concussion talking.

      “So, you and Corbet, hey?” I knew he was trying to distract me, keep me awake.

      “So, you and Sarah, hey?” He looked over and smiled. I added, “Corbet and I are friends; not that it's any of your business.”

       “Well, I could say the same for Sarah and me.”

       “Sorry, doesn't work. It is my business because she’s my friend, and I'll be the one picking up the pieces when you break her heart.” And then, once again for the millionth time, I’d have to listen to her moaning and groaning about how she lost the love of her life. How he was such a good kisser...he couldn't be that good, could he? I looked to his nice manly lips and wondered what it would be like to have them on my own.

     
Definitely the concussion.

      “What are you thinking about?”

      I couldn't stop the blush and thanked, again, whoever would listen that he couldn't read minds. “Nothing,” I replied.

      “Well, we're here.”

      I turned my head slowly and looked out the front windscreen to see we were parked in my driveway and that my dad's car was, in fact, parked in front of mine. What was he doing home?

      “My dad's home.”

      “You weren't expecting him?”

      “No, he's usually working late.”

      “Even on weekends?”

      “Any chance he can get.” I turned back to Tristan. “Thank you for driving me home.”

      “Alex...will you be all right getting to the door?” It was obvious he was going to say something else, but changed his mind.

      “Yes. I feel better now.” He looked at me sceptically. “Really,” I added.  He raised his eyebrows. “Okay, fine, help me to the door. Besides, Sarah shouldn't be far away; you can stay for her. I'm sure she’ll want to drive you home.” He didn't say anything, but got out of the car and was around my side before I even had the chance to do anything. He opened the door, placed his hand under my arm, and helped me out. I swayed a little, but was happy I stayed on my own two feet. With the help of Tristan, that was.

      “Alexandra?” Dad called from the front door. “What happened?” He came running over to grab my other arm.

      “Nothing, Dad. Relax, I only hit my head in soccer.”

      “Hit it pretty hard,” Tristan said.

      Dad felt at the back of my head until he touched the sore spot and I hissed in pain. “You should go to the doctor.”

      “She refused,” Tristan added.

      “Thanks, Tristan. Dad, Tristan. Tristan, my father, Mr Harmony.”

      “Hello, Sir,” Tristan said over my head because I was short enough for them to still see one another.

      “Thank you for driving her home. Can I give you a lift somewhere?”

      Wasn't that nice of him to offer?

      “No, thanks anyway. I'm sure my lift will be here any minute,” he said, and then smirked down at me. I rolled my eyes.

      It wasn't even a second later that Sarah pulled up in her car, jumped out, and bound her way over to us.

      “Hi, Mr H, didn't expect you to be home. Corby and I were going to stay the night and wake Alex up every half-hour to check on her.”

      “I’m not going anywhere tonight, but feel free to stay anyway. I'm sure Alex would prefer you and Corbet to wake her instead of her old man.”

     
Or Tristan could?
No. What was I thinking?

      “You just don't want to be abused by her. We all know how crabby she can be when woken through the night.”

      “Really?” Tristan smiled.

      “Okay, enough talking about me. All I want is to take something for this rotten headache and sleep; is that too much to ask? Or would you prefer to stand out here all night and talk about me like I’m not even here?” I grumbled.

      “I can see it now.” Tristan laughed, as did my dad. I elbowed Tristan in the ribs. He made an 'oof' sound and rubbed at his side like it actually hurt.

      “Baby,” I teased. “Sarah, Tristan wanted a lift home from you.”

      “Oh, sure.” She beamed. Tristan’s smile fell away.

      “Thanks again for helping me,” I offered. He nodded.

      “Yes, thank you, Tristan. Come by any time.”

     
DAAAD!

      Tristan followed a skipping Sarah to her car as Dad helped me into the house and onto the couch.

      “Don’t close your eyes just yet, young lady. You need aspirin first. And really, I think you should go and see a doctor.”

      “You sound like Tristan. Dad, I'll be fine, honest.”

      “All right, sweetheart. Tristan seems like a nice lad.”

      “Yeah, I guess. He's Sarah's new conquer.”

      “Oh,” he muttered.

      Oh, what? Oh, that was a pity? Or oh, poor guy? But he didn't elaborate; he walked off to get me some aspirin. He came back quickly with his hand held out, my medication in it, and a glass of water.

      “Thanks.” I smiled. Once I took them, I moved enough to be comfortable and fell asleep right away.

* * * * *

I didn't know how much later it was, but I woke to a buzzing sound instead of someone shaking me like the last—too many to count—times. Only this time, the buzzing wouldn’t stop like the shaking had when I yelled at them to go away. I rolled over on my bed, wondering how I got in my room in the first place, and reached for my phone to switch off the noise. Every time I received a text, it would buzz until I looked at it. What I really needed to do was learn how to put it on a timer to turn off on its own. I grabbed it, flipped it open, and fell back against my pillow, thinking of the past so many hours.

      I remembered Corbet coming with pizza, because Dad had just woken me. He asked me if I wanted any; I told him to rack off and leave me alone. Something I wouldn't usually say. Then I remembered Sarah coming back because Corbet had just shaken me awake as she walked through the front door.

      When my dad woke me the last time before my annoying phone had, I could hear Corbet and Sarah talking in the background, which meant they stayed. While I waited for my brain to defog so I could read the text, I looked over the edge of my bed to find them on the usual double mattress, sleeping soundly. Sarah lay on her stomach, closest to my side of the bed, and Corbet was on his back, his mouth open and small sounds coming from him. I was lucky enough that my phone hadn't woken them; they would have been tired, for obvious reasons. I glanced at the clock and found it was six in the morning. Who would be texting this early?

      I rolled onto my side and pressed a button to light up my phone to see who the rude person was. It read that I had five new messages. I opened the inbox and found that I had three from a number I didn't know, and two from Heather. I quickly read through the ones from Heather; in the first one she was asking how I was. When I didn't reply the first time, the next one said,

You better answer me before I ring your house so late.

She must have rang because she hadn't sent anymore.

      The other three read:

Alexandra, hope you r feeling better!

Did ur dad take you to doctors? Wait, prob not ‘cause u can be stubborn :)

     And the last one that was from six in the morning:

Just realised you wouldn't have known who the messages b4 r from. It's Tristan. Have a nice SAFE day :)

A smile spread across my face, and butterflies took over my stomach. I was glad that my phone hadn't woken up Corbet or Sarah, because if I’d had this reaction in front of them, then they’d be pestering me about who they were from, causing Sarah to be hurt, and I didn't want that. I would never intentionally hurt her.

      I wasn't sure if I should reply, but then if I did, maybe he would send another back to me. With a shaking hand, I replied.

      What r u doing awake this early? AND I AM NOT STUBBORN!!

      I waited and waited, and then remembered to turn my phone to silence just before I received:

Hows head??
 
U R Stubborn! I’m workin'.

      My fingers flew over the phone:

Head okay. I'm alive if that counts. What work u doing?

      Seconds later, he sent:

It does count. Deliveries. Next time U drive me home, no matter what condition ur in. I'm sure I'd be safer. S crazy driver!!

      I couldn't
not
laugh; I knew what he was talking about. I even hated getting in a car with Sarah.

      Ha. Deal. Better let u get back to work—slacker x

   I’d already hit send before I reread it. I had automatically put an x on the end like I'd always done with Sarah, and now it was too late to take it back. Was it just me, or had it taken longer for him to reply? Would he even reply after my stuff up? My phone vibrated in my hand, making me jump. I opened it:

Have a good day Alexandra!

     
I smiled again; he either didn't notice it, or he didn't think anything by it. I hoped both.

      Sighing, I rolled over to my other side, my gaze falling on Sarah. Would she be angry that I was just texting her guy? Probably.  And for that, I felt guilty.

      Now I regretted texting him back. No matter if it brought a smile to my face or that it made me feel warm inside. I had to remember that we were just...what?

      Nothing really, I was a guide for him through Maths. Perhaps we could become friends if he and Sarah went further. Other than that, it would have to be nothing. Too many painful things could happen from becoming too close to him.

D
ad forced me to stay home Monday. I said I felt fine to attend school, but he was using his stern voice, so I didn’t argue. At least it gave me some time to finish homework and start on the two assignments I had to get done for English and Science.

      After four hours of doing just that, I’d had enough. My mind kept travelling off to Tristan and I couldn't explain why. It was as though he’d taken over my brain. Sure, I’d had crushes before, but this felt different to those. Was it a crush at all? Or was it just the fact that I liked his company for some reason? But how could that be when I knew for certain that if his so-called friends found out we were spending time together, he’d never admit to it. He’d feel ashamed of being associated with me.

      Why was he so nice to me then?

      His friends were so different; they were obnoxious jerks. What did Tristan see in them? What did they talk about? Did he do the same as they did when he was with them? I hadn't the answers, and that frustrated me even more.