About You

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Evan walks towards me and I brace myself beside the bed. For what? I don't know. He could end it right here and now for all I know.

He clenches his jaw, then takes my hand.

"Fox," he says softly, then winces. My heart drops.

"Tara," he starts again.

I can't look at him anymore, so I stare down at my shoes. Why did I do that? He would have handled the situation. Why did I have to open my big mouth?

"I'm... so sorry that you had to go through that." He says softly and grips my hand tighter, like I'm going to pull away.

My head whips up to meet his gaze, but he quickly looks away. "It's no secret that, in my past..." he trails off and I can't talk it anymore.

"You're not mad at me?" I ask in disbelief.

"What? At you?" He asks puzzled and finally looks at me to see if I'm serious.

"How could I be mad at you?"

"Well... because..." I stutter and recognition washes over his face.

"For yelling at her? No, that was bad ass." He steps closer to me. I finally relax now that I know he's not mad at me at all. I try not to squirm under his gaze as he sweet talks me.

"I would have yelled at her anyway, she deserved it." I breathed out.

"Oh? So, what are you referring to?" he asks and moves close enough to put his mouth against my ear. Electricity zings through my body and all I can focus on is him. His scent. How close his body is to me. Where we're touching and where I want us to be touching.

"Hmm," I hum after a beat, forgetting what he said last.

He lightly traces him fingers up and down my bare arm and I feel the goosebumps rise all over my body. I run my hands up his chest and lace them around the back of his neck. He smirks in my ear and it causes my breathing to hitch.

"Evan," I breathe and I hear him quietly gasp in response. Before I can move any more though, we hear the front door burst open again. I freeze in place, but Even seems less fazed.

"I'm sure she's here. I'll ask her." I hear Alex's voice from the other side of the door and I jump away from Evan. He looks down at me and I can tell he's amused.

Alex knocks on my door and calls out, "Tara? Are you here?"

"Coming!" I yell out and shove Evan into the clothes I have loosely hanging in my closet. His smile never fades.

I smooth my hair out of my panicked face and when I'm satisfied that she won't see him, I finally open the door. Alex stands on the other side with her phone pressed to her ear.

"Rae wants to know if you want to come to the club with us again?" she asks, and seems distracted by the grocery bags she's holding.

"Tonight?" I ask.

"No, Saturday."

As far as I knew, I didn't have any plans for Saturday. Just spending time with Evan. But the club sounds like fun. I haven't been there since the first day.

"Sure," I tell her. "Sounds like fun."

She nods and goes into the kitchen to unpack her bags.

"Yeah, she's in. Should I call Evan and see if he wants to come? Then it would be even numbers?" She tells Rae on the phone and I slowly close my door again.

"But he's felt so bad since he got cheated on." We can hear her muffled voice say under the door.

My eyes meet Evan's and his eyebrows raise in amusement. "Is she setting us up?" he whispers to me, and I smack his arm to be quiet. It would be so embarrassing for her to hear his phone ringing in my closet.

"I'm going to text him later anyway." She says and finally goes into her room. With both our doors shut, it's hard to hear her. I let out a sigh of relief, but I'm still afraid she'll find me with her brother in my room.

"Okay, you need to go now," I tell him, as he untangles himself from my clothes.

"What? Why?" he asks and comes closer. "I can be quiet," He nibbles my ear and I giggle a little.

"You won't even know I'm here." He tells me and I reluctantly push him back from me.

"Thank you for the flowers." I say and kiss him before I chicken out. He reacts instantly and grabs onto me to hold me close. He pulls away to kiss my jaw line and I feel his stubble tickle me as he goes.

"You're welcome." He growls out and I try my best to keep my knees from buckling.

"Are you smelling me?" I jump.

"Like you haven't smelled me before." I can hear him rolling his eyes. "You always smell good Fox," he winces. "I mean Tara."

"No, it's okay," I tell him. "I kind of like it actually."

"Really?" His eyes brighten.

"Yeah, no one's ever given me a nickname before."

"Never?" He asks and puts his face back in my hair.

"Well, one time my sister called my T-dog when she was going through her 'too cool for school' phase. But it wasn't for long."

He laughs in my ear. "T-dog?"

"It was more like T-dawg.." I say, stretching it out. Awkwardly.

He laughs and it makes me smile with him. "Well I like Fox better. Sexy as a fox." He says, and my face is on fire. God help me.

I reluctantly push him away again. "So, are you coming? On Saturday?" I ask him and he feigns mock surprise.

"Are you kidding? There's no way that I'd ever let anyone else dance with you. I love watching you dance." He says and goes back in for my neck.

"Wait, what? When have you seen me dance?" I push his chest back so he looks at me.

He looks at me with a sheepish grin, like he had been caught red handed. "I may have seen you momentarily that first night when you were dancing at the club."

I raised my eyebrows. "You were watching me?"

"It was hard not to," he answers and kisses my lips slowly. I hum happily at his confession and kiss him back one last time.

"Okay, then. I'll see you Saturday." I tell him and push him towards the door. He growls at me, but complies.

"I'll be downstairs around nine when we leave," he kisses me goodbye.

He somehow leaves so quietly; I don't think Alex even notices. I return to my room which is now filled with flowers.

...

A couple of days later, I start going through my closet to find the perfect outfit for tonight. I've had so much homework to do that I haven't had time yet. The butterflies in my stomach intensify when I think about dancing with Evan in the dark club.

Alex gets home a short while later and brings Rae with her. Soon after, I get pushed into her room, with Rae curling my hair, and Alex singing along to Blackbear with a granola bar for a microphone.

I find myself easily laughing along with them. It feels good to finally have some friends I can trust. I'm so caught up in my newfound bliss of a life, that it takes me a full minute to figure out the music is turned down.

"There, all pretty now." Rae says to me and plays with my hair in the mirror while I admire her work.

"Tara?" Alex calls out in alarm and I twist in my seat to look at her.

"What the hell is this?" She shows me her phone and on screen is a video of me in the lobby with Evan holding the roses.

"Uhh," I gulp. The next part shows the girl, Julia, coming up and slapping Evan. I know what happens next, and I'm sure Alex won't react well.

"Hey, let me see that," Rae grabs the phone from her and turns up the volume. My voice on the phone cuts through the music and we all hear what I said loud and clear.

"Yes. I am. Now leave, before you make an even bigger fool of yourself."

Alex looks at me with wide eyes, "What the hell, Tara?"