Thoughtless (11 page)

I wasn’t eager to hang out closer to Griffin, but Kellan was smiling warmly at me, and I found myself nodding. He put his hand on my back and we made our way to the pool room. I noticed the woman he’d been
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flirting with earlier, following us with a couple of her friends, Griffin following them, with a highly inappropriate look in his light blue eyes.

Griffin shot first, while Kellan stood over by me, a stick upright in his hands. He grinned at me when Griffin didn’t make anything on the break. Then he leaned over the pool table and, watching me with a cocky, half-smile on his lips, he made his shot. I laughed softly when his ball completely missed every other ball. He looked back at the table and frowned, then looked back up at me and laughed, shrugging his shoulders as he straightened back up. His woman put a hand over his stomach consolingly, but he didn’t look over at her.

Griffin smacked him on the back as he walked by. “Nice! Thanks.” Griffin sank the next two balls while Kellan sat on a stool beside me, his flirty friend standing close beside him, looking down at him like she was considering plopping onto his lap. He unconsciously rubbed the skin behind her knee with his thumb, his fingers drifting up her short skirt a little, while he watched Griffin shoot.

Ignoring the flirting, that was making me slightly uncomfortable, I commentated on his playing instead. “You really aren’t good at pool, are you?” I smiled widely at the thought.

Laughing, he looked over at me. “No, thanks for noticing.” He looked back at Griffin while the brunette ran a hand through his hair above his ear. “I think that’s why Griffin likes to play me.” He laughed again and smiled up at the girl, making her giggle.

I rolled my eyes at him. “Maybe if you concentrated more…” He looked back at me, mock-offended and I laughed.

He looked at me silently for a second, his eyes oddly serious, and then laughed as well, shaking his head. “Yeah…maybe.” I looked away from him and watched Griffin make another two shots.

He actually wasn’t bad. Kellan started chuckling, highly amused at something, and I peered over at him. He was watching me watch Griffin play, a wry smile on his lips. “You get to play the winner,” he said, touching my knee lightly with the hand holding his pool stick.

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My eyes widened at that. I really was not good at pool…and apparently he wasn’t either. Even more alarmed, I looked over at Griffin, who, in-between his shots, was attempting to lift up some girl’s skirt with his stick. There was no way in hell I was playing pool with him! Kellan laughed harder as my face apparently made that clear to him.

Kellan finished up his game (okay, he lost terribly to Griffin and then called it quits) and gave his suddenly very sad brunette a kiss on the cheek. Then we said our goodbyes to Jenny, the rest of the band, and an amused Rita, and he took me home. Even with my loneliness, the evening was surprisingly a lot of fun. But fun or not, the first thing I did when Kellan and I got home, was immediately check the answering machine for a missed message from Denny.

Nothing…nothing at all. I sighed brokenly and then shuffled off to bed.

After not hearing from him at all the evening I went to Pete’s with Kellan, Denny’s phone call the next night sparked my irritation. He apologized profusely, swearing up and down that work was crazy-busy, and he hadn’t had a chance to stop and eat, much less call me. He invented a couple of creative ways to make it up to me, which eventually made me laugh and cooled my anger, somewhat. But a few nights later it happened again, and then a few nights later, again.

On top of worrying and wondering about that, the time was up for me to register for school. Denny had been the one who was going to show me around the new campus. Not that he knew it any better than I did, he didn’t, but we’d planned on making a day of it - going on a Sunday and registering for my classes (he was a pro at creating the perfect schedule), checking out the bookstore, taking the self-guided campus tour and laughingly figuring it all out…together. But now he was away, indefinitely, and I was going to have to figure it out on my own.

I was scowling at brochures, course catalogs, and a map of the massive campus when Kellan came into the kitchen one Wednesday afternoon.

Angry again at Denny’s absence, I finally swept my arm across the table and, cursing rather dramatically, knocked everything to the floor. Of course, I hadn’t realized that he was standing right behind me, or I
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wouldn’t have been so theatrical. I just really wasn’t looking forward to walking aimlessly around the school alone, looking like a lost idiot.

He laughed at my outburst and startled, I spun to face him. “I can’t wait to tell Griff about that one.” He smiled broadly, enjoying the moment a little too much. Blushing furiously, I groaned at the pictured amusement on Griffin’s face. Great. “School starting, huh?” He nodded over to the brochures on the floor.

Sighing, I bent over to pick them up. “Yeah, and I still haven’t really been on the campus. I have no idea where everything is.” I straightened to look at him. “I just….Denny was supposed to be here for this.” I hated how that sounded, like I couldn’t function like a normal human being with him away. It was going to be embarrassing, figuring all this out on my own…but I should be able to do stuff on my own. I frowned at my dark thoughts. “He’s been gone almost a month.” Kellan watched me intently, too intently, and I looked away. “The D-Bags play the campus every once and awhile.” I looked back and he smiled oddly. “I actually know it pretty well. I can show you around if you like?”

Relief washed through me at the idea of having a guide. “Oh, please, yes.” Struggling to regain my composure, I added, “I mean, if you don’t mind.”

He half-smiled adorably at me. “No, Kiera, I don’t mind…” Ignoring the oddity in his voice at the tail end of that sentence, I added, “There is a registration thing tomorrow. Could you take me, and then Sunday we could look around?”

He smiled broadly again. “Sounds great.”

The next day, Kellan, rather cheerily, took me to school and walked me to the admissions office, since he seemed to know exactly where it was. I thanked him repeatedly, which he brushed it off with his hand, insisting it was no big deal. I told him that I had no idea how long I’d have to wait for my turn, so I would take the bus back home. He looked at me funny and then smiled and wished me luck before he left.

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I waited with other nervous-looking students in the waiting area. I stared at my hands, mentally going over what classes I should take, until a woman came up to me and motioned me to an open door leading to the registration office.

The office was warm and inviting, which actually did relax me a little bit. Two incredibly large bookcases (crammed full of thick, hardbound books), multiple file cabinets and a large, clean desk in front of the window overlooking the quad, were all in a deep, dark cherry color that co-ordinated with the beige walls perfectly. Plants were everywhere around the room. The person who occupied this office must have a green thumb; I couldn’t keep anything alive for more than three days.

That woman was currently sitting at the desk, and looked up at me as her college-aged assistant motioned me through the open door. The woman was very professional looking, and I suddenly felt very dowdy and uncomfortable. I had an odd desire for Kellan to still be here. I knew that he would be completely comfortable walking up to this woman, giving her a sly half-smile and getting whatever he wanted from her, since she would be putty in his hands. A twinge of jealousy passed through me.

Life must be so much easier, when you know that you’re absurdly attractive.

I sighed internally and straightened myself as I approached her. I may not be anything special to look at, but I was smart, and in a place such as this, that counted more. I held out my hand, trying to picture what Denny would do in this situation. “Hello. I’m Kiera Allen. I’m transferring in this year and need to register.” I smiled, thinking that came out okay.

She smiled and took my hand. “Nice to meet you, Kiera, welcome to U-Dub. What can I help you with?”

I smiled and sat down. That went much better than I thought it would.

We sat and talked about what I had already taken at Ohio U, and what I would still need to graduate. We debated my schedule and went over the still open classes, finding a few that fit together perfectly. I only needed three this semester, which worked out great, leaving me time to study…and quite frankly sleep, since I was working so late most nights.

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By the end of the meeting, I had my three classes lined up. European Lit, with all the great classics: the Bronte sisters, Austen, Dickens. I was really looking forward to that class. Microeconomics, which Denny had suggested I take, insisting that he could help me study. I’d told him that I could handle it, but he had been so excited to teach me. And lastly, Psychology. I had really wanted a psych class, but the only open one that fit into my schedule was Human Sexuality. Blushing deeply, I signed up for it. I could take a seat in the very back of the room and not say a word.

Besides, when Denny got home, he could help me study for that one too…

When I left the admissions office, quite a bit later, I blinked in surprise at seeing Kellan leaning against the wall across from the door, one foot propped up, and an espresso in each hand. Upon seeing me, he lifted one up and raised an eyebrow. I couldn’t help the huge smile as I walked over to him.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, gleefully taking the coffee he offered me.

“Well, I thought you might want a ride home…and a pick me up.” He lifted his own coffee and took a sip.

I could only stare at him, dumbfounded for a second, before I finally gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Thank you, Kellan…for everything.” He looked down and, smiling, shook his head. “Come on,” he said softly. “Let’s go home. You can tell me all about your classes.” He looked back at me and grinned. Thinking of my psych class, I blushed deeply again and he chuckled adorably.

That Sunday, Kellan took me for a tour around the campus. There were a surprising amount of people walking around, either getting ready to reenter the school, or, like me, checking it out for the first time. The campus was massive, more like a small city. Of course, the first place Kellan showed me was a small bar across the way from the University bookstore. Smiling at him, and shaking my head a little, we went inside for a quick lunch and a beer before our little adventure. Next, we went to the bookstore, where I found all the books I would need. I got most of
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them used, which saved me a bundle - books are dang expensive. I had to smile at Kellan while I was in line; he was flipping through a thick one on Human Anatomy, while talking to two giggling, college-age girls nearby… always the flirt.

Then we crossed the street to enter the campus. It was breathtakingly beautiful. Expertly landscaped and maintained lawns had crisscrossing paths that led to several imposing brick buildings. Dormant cherry blossoms were everywhere in the quad; the campus would be truly stunning in the spring. People of various ages and ethnicities were lounging around the grass, enjoying the sunny day.

Smiling at me, Kellan led me past the stately buildings, knowing the name of each one and what was taught there. Gowen Hall - Asian liter-ature and political science. Smith Hall - history and geography. Savery Hall - philosophy, sociology and economics (where my micro-economics class would be). Miller Hall - the admin hall, which was the only place on campus I’d been. Raitt Hall - speech communications and nutritional sciences…

He went on and on with the detailed explanations of what and where everything was. I had brochures, but he barely looked at them. He just seemed to know most everything by heart. He was the best guide I could have asked for, and I found myself more and more appreciative of him, and his kind offer. And not entirely for the fact that he seemed to know every nook and cranny of the campus, which seemed really odd to me, since he’d made it sound like he’d only visited a of couple times for some shows (I was beginning to have some suspicions about the true source of his knowledge).

No, mostly I was grateful for the fact that walking beside him down the paths and the halls of the school, caused me to be practically invisible. He drew almost every eye to him like a flame. Women openly stared (even a few men did too) while the rest of the guys watched the women with puzzled looks on their faces, like they didn’t get it. Either way was fine with me, as long as
he
was the one being looked at. Since Denny’s departure, I’d been feeling really lonely, and more than a little depressed. We were walking through swarms of people I didn’t know, that I didn’t feel like getting to know today, and I was more than happy to disappear.

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Kellan was pleasant company and chatted politely with me. He made eye contact with several of the girls in the hall, and surprisingly, avoided eye contact with others (I had suspicions about that too). We walked through a lot of the campus and through some of the various buildings and hallways. He made sure to go through the buildings where my classes were and pointed out which rooms were mine and what routes would be the best to take.

The afternoon had been pretty uneventful, aside from the stares he drew, when suddenly we came across someone that surprised us both.

We were walking down the hallway to where my European Lit class would be, when from behind us we heard –

“Oh! My! God! Kellan Kyle!”

He turned and looked behind him instinctually to his name being called. He looked puzzled, as a petite redhead with springy hair and a face full of freckles, bounded down the hall towards us. Panic crossed his features and I thought for a second he might try and run for it. Before he could do anything though, the tiny girl had flung her arms around his neck and was kissing him voraciously.

I blinked in shock and sudden discomfort. Taking a break from his lips, she sighed ecstatically. “I can’t believe you’re visiting me at school.” Kellan blinked, his mouth open in surprise, but remained quiet.