The door in my head refused to let me shut it entirely, even when I wanted to just bolt it shut. I was torn—so fucking torn. I liked her and there was simply no way to ignore that. She was a bit immature, but that wasn’t as much of a problem as it would have been normally. I had this inner desire to embrace that and protect her—while simultaneously wanting to give her one quick smack on the back of those jeans. I resisted the urge. I was already kind of regretting the fact I gave her one the night before, even though it was just playful. Doing it again would probably not be so well received—especially if it was spontaneous.
“Did you pack everything you owned?” I looked down at the box.
“No.” She shook her head back and forth. “My grandparents always bought me clothes for Christmas—since we really couldn’t afford them otherwise, so that’s what most of it is. Thankfully, I can still fit in the same t-shirts I wore a couple of years ago.”
Yeah, those are bit tighter than you realize, but they do fit.
“Are you sure that’s all you brought?” I bent down and pushed open one of the flaps to the box in front of me. “This one looks like it’s full of school newspapers.”
“Oh crap…” She looked down at the box. “I thought I left that one in the closet. I was just hanging onto all of that for my Memory Box—whenever I get one.”
“Not just newspapers.” I shuffled them to the side. “Looks like a few term papers—tests—report cards too.”
“Yeah, don’t look at those.” She shook her head back and forth.
“Why is that? You must have made good grades if you got a scholarship to USC.” I pushed the box towards the closet.
“Not the best—otherwise I would have gotten a full ride that included a dorm room.” She shrugged.
We got all of her stuff situated while the chef prepared our dinner. I hoped she liked steak, because that was the main course. Luckily, when we got downstairs, she seemed excited. We ate our food and then spent some time in the living room before she decided that she wanted to watch a movie in the theater. I let her choose what we watched, and I was glad that she chose something besides a horror movie—until I realized it was a romantic comedy. I would have preferred jump-scares over two hours of people constantly fucking up before they finally got their happily ever after. There were a few funny parts though, and the plot wasn’t completely ridiculous—except for that part where they solved all of their problems in the last fifteen minutes.
“My last Friday night before college starts…” She looked over at me as the credits rolled and the lights came on.
“Yep.” I looked over at her. “Starting next week, you’ll have your nose in a book every night.”
“I don’t know about that.” She raised her eyebrows and smiled. “I have to get the full college experience—that requires me to party more than I study.”
“As long as you are home at a decent hour.” I gave her a slight nod.
“Yeah, I remember the rules…” She sighed and laughed.
“Do you? I seem to remember you forgetting one of them already…” I tilted my head and narrowed my eyes.
“Yeah—don’t text and drive.” She nodded. “And don’t call you old.”
“Honestly? After carrying all those boxes upstairs, you might actually be able to outrun me this time.” I looked down at my knee. “I might need to hop in the Jacuzzi before bed.”
“Oh really…” She shifted to the edge of her seat and stood. “So, I can call you old and get away with it?”
“Don’t push your luck,” I growled under my breath. “Adrenaline might kick in.”
“I don’t know—I kind of like pushing my luck.” She took a step back. “Old man…”
Chrissy took off towards the stairs and I had no choice but to go after her. I had no idea what I was going to do if I actually managed to catch up. I already had a bit of regret over making her turn around for one smack—but she challenged me, and she knew what was going to happen if I did catch her. My thoughts were spinning a little bit as I started up the stairs. Did she actually—want me to do it? I had been fighting my own temptations so much that I never paused to see if she was sending me the same signals—but the more I thought about it, the more I started to question if they were right in front of me the whole time.
This is going to get really complicated if I’m fighting to control myself and she’s hoping I don’t…
“Yeah, you’re too slow—old man.” She giggled as I got to the top of the stairs and darted around the corner.
I saw where she was going—and I knew my house better than she did. I might have been slower than normal, but I could take a shortcut. I went through the living room, around the back side of the library, and before she could reach the stairs that led to her bedroom, I was in front of her. She was looking over her shoulder, ducking and trying to figure out where I was. She almost ran into me before she finally turned around.
“Oh crap! Wait, where did you come from?” She blinked in surprise.
“I took the shortcut.” I motioned towards the door beside me.
“That’s cheating…” She tilted her head and folded her arms across her chest.
“Not my fault you took the long way.” I shrugged. “So, what were you saying about me being an old man?”