Just My Type

Chapter 16- He Was Smiling Like a Creeper in the Middle of the Night

Chapter 16- He Was Smiling Like a Creeper, Stalking an Unsuspecting Victim in the Middle of the Night

The end of the week was nearing and I was growing anxious, nervous, excited, and scared. It was the Thomas effect as I liked to call it. It was day four post “the bet” and it was beginning to look like I was going down. Bad.

I hadn’t even seen him speak to another girl outside of class this week. No girls sat with us at our usual table either.  It was strangely different, not that I was complaining. And to add to the weirdness, he hadn’t even flirted or made any inappropriate comments toward me either. I was beginning think he wasn’t even Thomas and was replaced by some foreign creature. We were just…friends… kind of. I mean, I guess that’s what you could call it. He was just a normal person.

Like I said…weird.

This is embarrassing to admit, but I almost told Farrah everything in order to get some advice on what to do about him. But then I came to my senses and realized how crazy that was. If this thing with Thomas didn’t go anywhere I’d look pathetic and desperate and I had to save face. So instead, I gave her the edited version, which excluded his name and terms of the bet. I purely explained his behavior and sudden change in attitude toward me. It was all so frustrating. 

To take my mind off of him, after the football game on Thursday, Grace and I went out to grab something to eat at our favorite pizza parlor down the road with some of our friends. Well, minus Farrah. She had a bit of a fainting spell when an unexpected fight broke out between Blake and Brody and her new Boy Friend had elected to take care of her.

Yeah, that was also weird. Brody caring for my best friend? I don’t know if I could get used them being together, even if it was to get back at Blake. I guess their fake relationship just came really unexpected.

 At Greg’s Pizza, Grace, James, Brandon, and I took a seat at one of the corner booths. Lucky for us, James and his friend got to the restaurant before the crowd hit and invited us to join them. I wasn’t about to turn down an open seat and neither was Grace. I won’t lie, I worried about Thomas’s warning to stay away from the guy, but hey, what he didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him. Besides, he didn’t own me. I made my own decisions in life. Anyway, we were safe here.

I hoped anyway.

“How’s your friend? Farrah isn’t it?” James asked. “I saw what happened after the game.”

I played with my straw sleeve and answered him. “She’s okay. That’s what took us so long to get here. We had to check on her. She’s a bit squeamish when it comes to blood.”

I kept glacier to the door between words and both Grace and James noticed. I blushed when I realized they'd bern watching me.

I don’t know what I was expecting. Maybe Thomas suddenly walking through the door and taking James down a peg or two. That thought sent shivers up my spine and made me uneasy. I hope I’m not putting him in unnecessary danger. I’d feel terrible.

“Well, I’m glad she’s good. The fight between Brody and Blake looked pretty bad,” he said when my attention was back.

I nodded. “Yeah. It kind of was.”

Our conversations were kept light and to a minimum because it wasn’t long until our food arrived and we were all digging into the greasy, cheesy goodness.

At the end of the night James politely offered me his number and asked for mine in return. To my complete and utter surprise I gave it to him. I suppose somewhere in my psych I recognized my behavior as rebellion against a certain blonde haired guy.