Part 70 (2/2)
”I've already eaten,” I shrugged.
”First off, okay, but it's f.u.c.king pizza,” she laughed. ”It's like dessert. There's always room for it. Secondly, if you insist, that's just more for me, but I'm starving.”
Natalie jumped up, whipping out her smartphone. I could hear her placing a pizza order in her bedroom as she changed, and she finally walked back out in expensive, silky pink pajamas as she hung up the phone.
”Cool. It's on the way.”
She slumped down onto the couch, her back against the armrest, and looked at me with the most endearingly sincere eyes I've ever seen.
”Alright, Clara. Tell me everything from the top...”
51.
Arrogant Brit
Chapter 14.
When I arrived the following morning, Clara was waiting for me in the spot where I'd left her the previous night. I'd connected the spare helmet at the back, and I handed it to her as she walked up towards me.
”See if that fits,” I instructed.
She slipped it on. ”It's not exactly snug, but it'll definitely do,” she told me, before eyeing me curiously. ”Who exactly does this belong to?”
”It's my old one. I outgrew it eventually.”
”Really?” She sounded impressed. ”Must have been ages ago. How long have you been riding?”
”Since long before the marines,” I answered.
Apparently satisfied with this, she climbed onto the back and put her arms around me again, straddling the seat tightly. Once I decided that she was properly secure, I kicked off.
Clara was surprisingly close that morning. I don't mean that just physically, with her arms actually wrapped around me, but emotionally, too. As we sat in Psych cla.s.s, still working off of my textbook, her cold exterior seemed to have melted away somewhat.
She laughed at the jokes I made, didn't shy away from eye contact, and didn't make a move when I scooted my chair a little closer to her (under the guise of easier book sharing, of course).
”Okay, what's gotten into you?” I asked her after cla.s.s, guiding her to the side once we left the building.
”What do you mean?” She tilted her head.
”Yesterday, you were full-on ice princess, but today... you're acting as if everything's perfectly fine between us.” I narrowed my eyes suspiciously. ”What changed?”
Clara sighed. ”It's just... a combination of things, really.”
I crossed my arms boldly. ”Enlighten me.”
”Well...” Clara bit her lip tentatively, gazing up at me. It had the distinct effect of making my c.o.c.k twitch in my jeans, although I tried to ignore its sudden alertness. ”Look, all that destiny c.r.a.p you fed me last week... I couldn't help but think that you maybe had a point.”
”Oh?”
”Yeah. I mean, we had our night together, and I loved every second of it. But then our parents were getting married, and I needed to extract myself from you. Then, they actually got married, and there was no way you and I could have a future together. But no matter what, I just can't get rid of you, can I?”
”I'm not following...”
”The car,” she reminded me. ”The whole reason why you're bringing me to school, right? I have the perfect opportunity to cut you loose and let that just be the end of that, and then this happens. Now, I'm stuck in a position wherein I have to rely on you... which I don't like, but it conveniently keeps us together.”
”That's true,” I thought aloud. ”So... what does this mean, then? As far as how things are going between us, at any rate.”
Clara smiled softly. ”It means that... I think I want to keep seeing you.”
”You spoke to that friend of yours, didn't you?” I grinned. ”Your roommate. The girl from the bar.”
”...She did have some compelling arguments, yes,” Clara wistfully explained. ”We stayed up half the night talking about stuff. I went to bed feeling way better about everything.”
”Remind me to buy that woman flowers,” I grinned like an idiot. ”When she told me that she made a h.e.l.l of a wingwoman, I didn't know the half of it...”
”Yeah, getting my best friend on your side from the start is sort of a plus,” Clara laughed. ”But look... just like that night we shared together, this doesn't mean I'm promising you anything. I need you to understand that.”
”No, I get it,” I nodded, scratching the back of my head. ”We're just taking it slow for now, right? No need to complicate things any further than they already are...”
”That's right.”
The tone of Clara's voice was relatively noncommittal, but her face was saying it all. She was positively beaming.
We realized the time, and that we were both going to be late for our prospective following cla.s.ses. Parting with a strong hug and a quick kiss, we separated away from each other, reinvigorated with energy for the day.
Unfortunately, bad news came later on. My buddy at the auto shop rang me back while I was in the student union building, seated in comfortable furniture and gazing out the large, gla.s.s wall over the campus. I was waiting on Clara's last cla.s.s to wrap up, and my mechanically minded friend didn't exactly have anything rea.s.suring to tell me.
”Alright, let's hear it,” I started. ”Have you got anything good to tell me?”
”Wish I did, dude.”
He sounded exasperated.
I frowned tentatively. ”It's that bad?”
He took in a sharp breath of air. ”Yeah... the way it's looking now, the engine's totally fried. Her oil was not only really low, but filthy as s.h.i.+t. Did she miss some oil changes or something?”
”Yeah, I think she might have mentioned that...”
He chuckled with exasperation. ”Should have stayed on top of that s.h.i.+t. Whole engine's gotta go. Now, this being an old clunker, she might want to consider just getting a new car altogether.”
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