Taking Chances (4 page)

“I'm. So.
Exhausted.”

“It was so
worth it though! Now you're finally ready for college.”

Looking at the
garbage bags full of most my old clothes I laughed and let my head fall back
onto my pillow. “I think you're right.”

“Now we just
need to get you comfortable being around cute guys and you'll be golden. What's
your type?”

Your brother.
“Um, I'm not sure I have a type.”

“So no
preferences? Hair color, eye color, skin color? Athlete, geek, musician?”

Rugged surfer,
with dirty blond shaggy hair, impossibly blue eyes, the most breath taking
smile you've ever seen and cover him in tattoos. I'll take that, please? “Nope,
none. We'll just have to start from scratch.”

Just thinking
about his tattoos had me biting my lip and fantasizing again about tracing them
with my fingers. He was exactly the kind of guy Sir would hate, so naturally I
was drawn to him.

“Hey Bree?”

“Yeah?”

“There's kind
of something I've wanted to do for a whi– You know what, never mind.”

She sat up on
her knees bouncing, “No you don't! You have to tell me now. You've wanted to do
what?”

“Well there's a
lot of things. But it'd probably be a bad idea to do them all at once. I should
spread them out, and think about them more.”

“I'm waiting
Harper.”

I sighed and
scooted up against the wall, “I want to get a couple piercings.”

“Pfft, I thought
you were about to say something juicier than that.” Figures she wouldn't be
excited, each of her ears had four piercings.

I frowned at
her.

“Okay, okay!
What piercings do you want?”

“Um, I don't
know what they're called. But here, and here.” I pointed a finger to my upper
lip, and another to my ear.

“Oh cute! Your
lip is called a Monroe, and your ear is a tragus. I actually really want my lip
pierced too! Do you want to go get them done together sometime?”

I looked down
before stealing a sideways glance, “Could we maybe go right now? Eighteen years
of not being able to do what I want, I'm kind of impatient.”

“Harper, I'm
pretty sure we're going to be best friends.” Without another word she shot off
her bare mattress and headed for the door. Guess that means we're going. 

I'm really glad
she knew the area, because she drove right to a tattoo parlor, and after
chatting it up with the piercer, we were sitting in his room picking out the
studs before I could even think about this possibly being a bad idea. To my
surprise, I wasn't even nervous ‘til I was sitting on his chair and he was
putting the markers on me. “Oh my God, Breanna I need your hand.”

She laughed and
sauntered up to me.

“Don't laugh,
you're next.” That shut her up.

“Okay deep
breath in.” The piercer said, “Annnnd blow out.” After he finished putting the
one in my ear, he opened up a new packet and got to work on my lip. “Another
deep breath in...and blow out.”

My eyes were
watering, but thankfully it was done. I glanced in the mirror and a huge smile
crossed my face, I absolutely loved them.

“Oh my God
those are perfect for you! Ahh I'm so excited for mine now!” Bree had also
decided to get her tragus pierced so we both were getting two, but she and the
piercer had agreed her bottom lip would be better for the way her mouth was
set.

Another ten
minutes and hers were done, I made her eat her words when she grabbed my hand
at the last minute and squeezed until I thought I'd never get the circulation
flowing again. We paid the guy and ran to her car, looking into the visor
mirrors before we left.

“Are your
parents going to mind?”

“What? No way.
Have you seen my brother? They love his tattoos so they aren’t going to care
about this. Besides I'm pretty sure I couldn't get them mad at me even if I
tried.” She laughed, “Let me guess, daddy's gonna be pissed?”

“Ha! Yeah, I'm
almost positive he's going to try to rip them out. Good thing I'm not going
home for ten months!”

“Ten months?!
What are you doing for winter break?”

I shrugged,
“Stay here. It wouldn't be much different than being there. We don't spend much
time together if we're in the same house.”

“Jeez Harper,
you had the most depressing childhood didn't you?”

“Not really, I
mean it's all I've ever known. I thought it was normal until a few weeks ago
when you and I started e-mailing.” I think I need to stop talking about my
past, because I always seem to depress everyone. “So...dinner?”

She smiled and
turned to glance at me, “You read my mind roomie, let’s grab some burgers then
we can stay at my house tonight. We'll move my stuff into the dorm tomorrow.”

           
A
fter orientation that
next week, classes had started this last Monday and the first week had flown
by. Breanna and I both loved our professors, and thankfully they didn't seem
like they'd be too hard. I hadn't seen any of the guys from Chase's house, but
that was my fault, I'd been avoiding them until today. Bree always ate lunch
with them and though I'd made excuses the first three days, I was tired of
eating alone in my room already. I'd never admit it out loud, but after Bree
left for her first class this morning, I changed my outfit three times and
spent extra time on my make-up. My entire body was shaking just thinking about
seeing Chase and I still had to sit through a class, thankfully I only had one
today, and that was the last one for the week. Just as class let out, I
received a text from my roommate making sure I'd be there today because she was
already holding a seat for me. No getting out of it now.

“Hey, hey!
What's up Princess!”

“Princess!
Where've you been all my life?”

I bit back my
groan and smiled at the guys as I sank into the seat next to Bree, I tried not
to let my disappointment show when I didn't see Chase there. No sooner had I
cursed myself for spending the extra time trying to look perfect today, than
two hands appeared on either side of my plate and I felt a hard chest press
against my back and warm breath against my ear.

“Have you been
hiding from me, PG?” He chuckled when he felt me shiver.

“Why, you miss
me?”

“Of course.
You're my favorite, remember?” His nose brushed along my neck and I almost
turned into a puddle right there.

I sighed
dramatically and leaned away from his intoxicating presence, “Sad to say you're
not mine.”

“You sure about
that?” He tapped a finger on my arm that was now covered in goose bumps.

“Chase! Stop
bugging her, go sit down.”

I blinked over
to Breanna, remembering we were at a table with a group of other people. Chase
sat a few seats away and I was grateful to be able to think clearly again. I
looked around the table to see Chase's four housemates, two other girls I knew
to be girlfriends of Brad and Derek, with another girl I'd never seen before
who was openly glaring at me. After shooting her a dark look I continued my
inventory of the rest of the table, on the other side of Chase were two guys I
had seen at the party, but didn't know their names, and across from them was a
pair of gray eyes smiling at me. I dropped my face to look down at my salad and
counted to five before slowly lifting only my eyes to find him engaged in a
conversation with Chase. Raising my head a little to get a better look, I took
in his short buzzed hair, warm smile and single dimple on his right cheek as
his laughter boomed across the table. His build was slightly bigger than
Chase's, and the way his shirt stretched across his chest and shoulders, I’d
bet he was perfectly muscled. Dear God, and I’d thought Chase was the most
attractive guy I’d ever seen. This guy was…just wow.

“See something
you like?” Bree leaned into my side, looking down my line of sight.

“What? No.”

“Uh huh, that's
why you're biting the crap out of your lip. He's looking at you again.”

My head shot
up, causing the mystery guy to smirk as his eyes met mine. I felt my cheeks
start to burn and forced my head back down and towards Bree.

“How do we know
he's not looking at you?”

“Ha! I knew you
were staring at him.” She grinned and took a massive bite of her burger.

“Wow, that's
attractive.”

She tried to
talk around the mass in her mouth, “You're just jealous you didn't get one
too.”

Looking down at
my salad I grimaced. My stomach was flipping so much now I don't think I could
eat at all. “Do you know his name?” I whispered in her direction. Before she
could answer, Drew interrupted.

“So Princess,
how come we haven't seen you lately? It's been like two weeks, I feel so
unloved.”

I laughed and
rolled my eyes at him, “Oh I’m sorry, did your girlfriend deflate already?”

The entire
table burst into laughter and Derek was slapping him on the back while trying
to keep his drink from spewing out of his mouth and nose. A couple of the guys
started making fun of “Mindy the doll”, and I was glad the attention was away
from me.

Bree leaned
back towards me and whispered, “His name's Brandon, he lives with the guys too
but he wasn't at the party.”

“So you know
him well?” I wanted to look at him so bad, but didn't want to risk being caught
staring again.

“Not really,
he's only a Junior, and he lived in the dorms last year. I just met him this
week during lunch.”

“Only a
Junior?” I asked confused.

“Yeah, the rest
of the guys are Seniors.”

“Oh.” I looked
up at her but gestured towards Brandon with my eyes, “Anything going on...?”

She smiled and
nudged me before sitting up straight, “I've already got my eye on a couple other
guys.”

I nodded
remembering that she'd been talking about some guys in our dorm all week that
she had classes with. Hearing my name, I glanced up to see Chase's fork paused
halfway to his mouth, his jaw set tight, and his eyes burning holes in Brandon who
was talking with one of the guys across from him. When he was done killing him
a million different ways, Chase's eyes cut across to me and his entire face
relaxed. He nodded slightly and resumed eating.

“Party tonight,
you girls game?”

Bree snorted, “Seriously
Zach? When have I ever not been there?”

“Princess?”

Bree answered
for me, “Of course she'll be there.” then she whispered to me, “It won't be
anything like the first one. There probably won't even be twenty people there.
They save the big parties for Friday nights.”

“Fine.” I
grumbled.

“Looking
forward to sharing my bed with you again, PG.”

I shot a hard
look at Chase, heat flooding my cheeks. He was looking at Brandon with his head
cocked the side, one eyebrow raised.
I
could even see the challenge in
his stare.

“Thanks, but
I'd rather share a bed with Drew's blow-up doll.”

He turned his
glare towards me to me and I struggled to keep my eyes narrowed at him. Is it
bad that all I could think about was how his lips would feel on mine? Before I could
think on it too much, the girl that had been glaring at me earlier moved around
the table and sat on his lap, pressing her mouth to his neck before trailing
her lips along his jaw. His hands instantly gripped her hips, but he never took
his eyes off of mine.

“I'd be happy
to share that bed with you Chase.” Her bubble gum voice made me want to gag.
I'm pretty sure I hadn't even sounded like that when I was five.

After she
brought his mouth to hers, I spared a glance in Brandon's direction to see him
studying me. It wasn't uncomfortable, and it didn't last nearly as long as I
would have liked it to, I could have sat there looking at him for hours. I
wasn't used to feeling anything for a guy, and now I couldn't stop going back
and forth between him and Chase. Butterflies in my stomach with one, and hot
shivers with another. I almost laughed out loud when I realized how stupid it
was to feel anything for Chase, his current position with the brunette proving
why. Brandon on the other hand, I knew nothing about. Other than his laugh, I
hadn't even heard his voice. Ugh, I'm ridiculous, one guy is a whore, the other
I haven't even spoken to.

Saying goodbye
to everyone, I picked up my bag and began walking away as a deep husky voice
called my name. I didn't stop walking, but looked over my shoulder in time to
see Brandon walking around the table toward me, and Chase holding the
brunette's head away from his as he watched us, she just continued onto his
neck.

Falling into
step with me, he held out a hand, “We haven't met yet, I'm Brandon Taylor.”

Dear Lord that
voice could warm me on the coldest day of the year. “Harper Jackson, nice to
meet you.”

He smiled as he
held the door open for me, “You too. You seem to know the rest of the guys
pretty well though we're just meeting, they said you're Bree's roommate?”

“Uh, yeah. I
am, but I don't really know them well. I've only talked to them for a total of about
ten minutes before today.”

“Really?” The
corners of his mouth twitched up, “You seem to make quite an impression in a
short amount of time then.”

“Oh I
definitely made an impression with them.” I muttered.

He looked at me
quizzically but I shook my head so he wouldn't push it. We stopped walking when
we got to the path that would take me to the dorms and him to his next class. I
turned towards him and shamelessly took in his worn jeans resting low on his
narrow hips and fitted black shirt before going back to his face. I hadn't
realized how tall he was when we were walking out, but he had to be at least a
foot taller than me. His height and muscled body made me want to curl up in his
arms, it looked like I'd fit perfectly there. I nervously bit my bottom lip
while I watched his cloudy eyes slowly take in my small frame. It didn't feel
like the guys at the party, looking at me like I was something to eat. His eyes
made me feel beautiful, and it thrilled me that they were on me.
Thrilled me
that they were on me? Get a grip Harper you just met him two seconds ago.