Something More (3 page)

She didn’t understand why he was there, like a parasite that wouldn’t leave. Why wouldn’t he just go away? She saw him more now than when they were in high school. She let her mind wander toward memories. Nadia and Lindsey had become friends their freshman year. Nyla was in seventh grade. The first time Lindsey came over, Nyla didn’t think it was a big deal. Nadia was watching her as she often did. Saturday was a regular work day for their mom. She was always working. Lindsey’s mom dropped her and her younger brother off just after lunch. Nadia and Lindsey immediately ran upstairs to Nadia’s bedroom and shut the door, leaving Nyla and Lindsey’s brother staring at each other.

“I’m Nyla,” she said as she crossed the great room and changed the channel on the TV from E! to MTV.

“I’m Jamison. Can we watch something else?” He sat down on the love seat.

“What do you want to watch?” She brought up the menu of programming and sat on the couch.

“I don’t know; something that’s not so lame.” He didn’t even look at her.

“OK so tell me what’s not lame?” She could feel the heat rising in her cheeks.

“
Sports Center
, or FX; you got HBO?” Bored, he leaned back and looked at her.

“
Sports Center
, ew, FX?” She scrolled and found an old UFC fight on. “No, and we don’t have HBO or any of the movie channels,” she sighed.

“Let me see that.” He stood and jerked it from her hand. She glared at him. He ignored her and scrolled through the menu, finally settling on a movie on USA. She offered him a drink.

“Whatcha got?” He stood and followed her to the kitchen.

“Kool-Aid, milk, water, grape juice, diet pop.” She gave him his options.

“No regular pop? What, are you poor?” He leaned against the counter and crossed his ankles. She looked at him closely for the first time. He wore designer jeans and brand new Air Jordans. His shirt was a Nike. She wore a pair of Cherokee shorts from Target and a basic cotton top. She had braces; he had perfect white teeth. She had glasses; he had sunglasses sitting on the top of his head. He smirked at her as if he were deducing the same thing she was.

“We’re not poor. You have six options; pick one.” She took down two glasses and filled their glasses with ice from the refrigerator. She took out the cherry Kool-Aid and filled her glass and looked over at him.

“That’s fine I guess.” He shrugged. She filled his glass and put the pitcher up. She went back to the couch and watched the movie with him in silence. That was the first time they met, and though the older girls came down after a few hours upstairs chattering non-stop, they didn’t talk to each other. That was how she spent her Saturdays for the first semester of seventh grade. Either Lindsey and Jamison came to her home, or she was intimidated by the large estate where they lived across town. He enjoyed too much making her feel less than he was. She was raised middle-class by a single mom. It was a large feat—especially in the small town. A veterinarian, she worked hard and provided as best she could for her daughters. Nyla didn’t play the games that Jamison played. He liked stuff and people who had stuff. If someone didn’t have stuff, as long as they kissed his butt, they were OK. She didn’t do that. She was proud of herself for not giving in to the easy way. She wouldn’t do that now either.

After Spanish class, she escaped to her math class. She was relieved to finally to be rid of Jamison. She didn’t like that everywhere she looked, he was suddenly there. He had saturated her life, and now she needed to rid herself of him somehow. Her day ended at the coffee house where she ordered her usual and found a booth in the corner. She began her homework, feeling pleased with her progress. She looked up suddenly when someone scooted into the seat across from her. Ethan smiled at her as he unzipped his bag.

“I hope you don’t mind. Both you and Jamison mentioned how good this place was.” He grinned as the waitress brought over his latte.

“Can we not mention his name?” she groaned.

“Sure no problem, but what is your issue with him?” He took out a matching math book and a notebook.

“We’ve just known each other for a long time and have never gotten along. He was supposed to go to Notre Dame.” She leaned back and crossed her arms. Ethan seemed pleased with her answer. She wondered why. “What did he say about me?”

“Nothing at all.” Ethan shrugged; she became enraged. After the way he had invaded her life over the past two days, he didn’t say
anything
about her? “What? Should he have said something about you?”

“No, this is better, but you’ll tell me, right, if he says anything about me?” She felt like she was in junior high again. Actually, she never went through anything like that in junior high. Her best friends, Dexter and Emma, who were both currently at Purdue University, were two of the most loyal, steady friends she could have asked for. They had only started dating their senior year after they had both decided to go to Purdue. She was happy for her friends.

“Do you want me to ask him about you?” Ethan leaned in conspiratorially. She inhaled deeply.

“No, I don’t want you to bring me up to him. I don’t want him to talk about me.” Ethan sighed with relief. She tilted her head and looked at him, slightly confused.

“I was hoping you’d say that. Today it seemed like a little more was going on between you two. I didn’t know if you dated or just slept together or something. He seems like the type. . .” He trailed off as her eyes widened.

“No, no way, definitely not. Ew.” She shook her head violently.

“OK, it just seemed like you had history,” he continued warily.

“We do have history. Since junior high, he’s made my life miserable. He’s so self-absorbed, and he thinks money fixes everything,” she said so suddenly that Ethan cocked his head to the side.

“Good then.”

“Why?”

“Because I wanted to ask you out, and it would complicate things if you already had something going on with my roommate.” He looked down.

“Oh,” she whispered.

“So I guess that’s a no?” He looked up at her again, disappointed.

“No, not that. I just wasn’t expecting that.” Now she looked down as he analyzed her.

“Why not?” he asked.

“I don’t know; I just wasn’t expecting it.” She closed her book, knowing that she wasn’t going to get any more work done.

“So do you want to go out, maybe tomorrow evening; what do you think?” She thought about it.

“I think I’d like that.” She couldn’t help but smile at him. He reached across the table and took her hand. His hand was warm and soft. She let out a breath as he squeezed it.

Ethan walked her to her apartment. She wanted to invite him in, but she held back. Even though she felt that he would respect her and just talk as she would have suggested, she didn’t ask him in. Instead, he walked her to her door and as she told him goodnight, he leaned in and kissed her cheek. She blushed shyly at his gesture and went inside.

That night she slept soundly though she remembered a theme to her dreams. Jamison. She was either being chased or was chasing him. She woke up the next morning disturbed. She got ready for work mechanically and was on her way with little effort. She was leery of her coffee shop but knew she needed her morning coffee to deal with Angela. So she went in and stood in the line. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. She heard conversations from familiar faces.

“So what’s your usual?” She stiffened. Jamison stood behind her.

“Mocha latte with extra whipped cream.” She didn’t turn around.

“Aahh good choice. I get a black coffee with a double shot of espresso.”

“Because cocaine is so expensive?” Nyla turned to him, gawking at the amount of caffeine.

“It’s not that much caffeine,” he said in a small voice.

“It’s enough to start a heart probably, or stop it,” she said turning back around.

“Well, it serves its purpose. I’ve never been a morning person.” That she knew for a fact. She stepped up to the counter. Tina was there smiling at her with her plastic smile. Nyla wondered if her cheeks hurt when she got home from work every day.

“Hiya, Nyla. The ussh?” She looked over Nyla’s shoulder at Jamison, and her smile broadened.

“Hi, Tina, that would be great.” She rang her up, and Nyla opened her large purse.

“Tina, I’d like the ussh too; I’m getting Nyla’s today.” Tina looked at her a little disappointed.

“No, he’s not,” Nyla told her as she reached for the money in her wallet, but Jamison already had his ready and handed her his card.

“It’s the least I can do.” Tina took his card and ran it through the reader as she watched them closely. Then she handed Barry the cups. She didn’t make any more small talk with Nyla as she usually did. Instead, she went to the next customer, leaving Nyla to stand off to the side with Jamison.

“You didn’t have to do that.” She didn’t like feeling that she owed something to him.

“I know, but I wanted to.” He shrugged.

“Why?” She crossed her arms; annoyingly Barry seemed to be taking his sweet time.

“We were pretty mean to each other in high school, and I’m trying to turn over a new leaf here. Part of that is starting over with you.” He looked at her sincerely.

“You understand why I would have trouble believing you, right?” she asked as she reached over and took the order Barry slid in their direction.

“I guess.” He shrugged as he followed her out the door.

“You guess?” She stopped just outside the door and stared at him.

“I think it was pretty much a two-way street.”

“Sticking that note to my butt in 10
th
grade that said ‘WIDE LOAD PASS WITH CAUTION’ is not a two-way street.” She began walking at a fast pace.

“You have to admit that was pretty funny.” He smiled encouragingly toward her.

“Or, how about in English when I had to recite my Emerson poem to the class, and you kept making farm noises?” She didn’t look at him.

“No one ever proved that was me,” he said defensively.

“Are you really going to deny it now? It’s me and you; I know it was you.” She stopped again and stared at him. He could feel his face turning red. “OK, I did it. And I’m sorry for all the things I did to you in high school. I was a jerk.” She nodded in agreement.

“How do I know that all this.” She motioned around him. “Isn’t some sort of ruse?”

“Really? I’m going to walk away from Notre Dame for
you
?” He looked away. “I chose this college because I liked the opportunities it offers. I don’t want to ruin your life or anything. We’re both here, and we know each other, so I just figured we might as well make the best of it. There’s safety in numbers.”

She shrugged. “I’ve never been a numbers girl.” They stood outside her work now.

He nodded toward the door and said, “I remember. I’ll see you around then.” She nodded and went inside.

Chapter 3

She rushed home after work and jumped into the shower because she expected Ethan around seven. She tried on three different dresses, and none of them looked right. One felt too suggestive; another felt too homely while the third felt too high school. She finally decided on a red, V-neck wrap dress. She put on some black strappy sandals, did her makeup, and curled her hair. She pulled her bangs up in the middle with bobby pins and surveyed herself in the full-length mirror on her closet door. She was pleased with the way she looked. She picked up some of the mess in her apartment to make it was presentable. Ethan arrived and buzzed her apartment. She let him up while she finished putting on her jewelry. He came in and stood awkwardly just inside her door, surveying her apartment.

“Have a seat; would you like something to drink?” She could tell he was anxious. She was too.

“Yeah, that would be nice.” He smiled. She took down two glasses, filled them with ice, and poured them both some sweet tea. She came in and sat the glasses on her coffee table.

“We have reservations at eight,” he said, just before he took a gulping drink. “This is good,” he added as she smiled.

“Why are we so nervous?” She laughed.

“Because this is new for both of us,” he said as he cracked his knuckles. She nodded. “Shall we?” He finished his tea and stood. She did the same and took their glasses to the kitchen. They went downstairs, and he walked to a late model sedan at the curb; it was extremely similar to her own car in the back parking lot. Twenty minutes later, they arrived at a beautifully decorated, expensive looking Italian restaurant.

“So where are you from?” she asked as the waiter brought their drinks.

“Danville, Illinois, not far from the Indiana state line. So tell me about you in junior high and high school,” he said, leaning forward on his elbows and lacing his fingers.

“What’s to tell? I was a nerd,with good grades, braces,and glasses, and I obsessed with young adult fiction and teenage vampires.” She winked at him. “Tell me about you as a young boy.” She leaned on her hand and gave him her best flirty smile.

“I’m still a nerd; I had braces too, and obviously glasses.” He tapped his rims. “I was obsessed with video games and warlocks.” He grinned at her. He was adorable, she decided. After that the conversation flowed, simple and easy. All of the tension from her apartment was gone; they were very natural together, and she had a really good time. Then they took a stroll through a nearby park, continuing small talk and getting to know each other. She surprised him with her knowledge of his favorite band, and she was relieved that she had such a good time. As he walked her to the front door of her building, she thanked him for a nice evening and kissed him on his cheek.

When she closed the door to her apartment and turned the lock, her mobile phone rang in her purse. She exhaled as she saw the name on the screen before she answered it.

“Hi, honey, how was your first week of school?” Her mom chimed, too cheerful.

“It’s not over yet. But it’s going well. How is your week?”

“So busy, I had to go out to the Pierson’s farm. Black-Mist finally had her filly. She’s got a perfect white patch on his nose, but she’s jet black like her mom everywhere else. Your sister says hi.” She heard Nadia in the background.

“Tell Nadia I said hi too; how are her classes this semester?”

“She says they are good.” Nadia was following in her mother’s footsteps and was going to be a veterinarian. She was perfectly content in her small town, Midwest lifestyle. That might have been because Nadia was popular in high school. Everyone who met her adored her. Nyla had always felt like an outsider, quiet and not outgoing. She had never felt comfortable in her skin, not until she came to Chicago three weeks ago. Her mother continued rambling about the happenings of the town.