Trust Me

Chapter 4 – A Date You Say?

I was standing in Pauls’ apartment Kenny at my side holding my hand. He looks at me grinning like the Cheshire cat, I look away confused but when I turn back it isn’t Kenny’s hand I’m holding its Paul’s.

“Paul what’s going on?” I question. He doesn’t answer though he just grips my hand and pulls me towards his bedroom. For some reason my feet keep moving even though I try to stop and turn back, almost like the steps were pre-programmed to follow this one specific path. Once we entered his room I had tunnel vision, all I could see was his bed and the fact we were getting closer to it. I started to break out in a sweat and was hyperventilating by the time we reached it.

All I could do was stare at him worriedly as we sat facing each other; he was just smiling warmly at me. Seeing this expression on his face it was just so not like him I melted on the spot smiling back. His piercing blue eyes never left mine as he leaned forward slowly, but as he got closer I found myself being the one to crash my lips against his. He was only momentarily surprised but caught on quickly and kissed me back hungrily. I wrapped my arms around his neck to deepen the kiss when he starts laughing. I pull back confused, but I flush with embarrassment by what I just did. He grabs my arms and starts shaking me and calling my name everything suddenly goes black; when I open my eyes Paul is hovering over me on the couch laughing as he lightly shakes me.

“Sleeping beauty awakens at last.” He whispers. The mere sight of him turns me crimson, good lord did I have to dream about him like that. I am so embarrassed will I ever be able to look at him without blushing. I shook my head trying to clear away any dirty thoughts.

“Sorry I ah, must have fallen asleep.” I mumble quietly. I go to sit up and realize there is a weight on my chest, looking down I see Kenny sound asleep and snoring softly. I smile to myself at how cute and innocent he looks while sleeping, I don’t even remember falling asleep. The last thing I remember was watching some random kid’s show Kenny loves and eating way too many brownies; some mad babysitting skills at work here.

“Here I’ll take him to his room.” Paul said while untangling Kenny’s arms from me and picking him up. I get up and follow him to Kenny’s room; Paul turns into this completely different person when things involve Kenny just like the perfect protective older brother. You can see it in his eyes how much he loves Kenny and would do anything for him. This just makes me like Paul more; more than I really should since I know next to nothing about him other than the fact he is a player and a great brother to Kenny.

Once Kenny is tucked in we leave his room and I head to the door awkwardly, not too sure how to handle myself. I glance up at Paul and he’s just looking at me, no smirk no grin just really looking at me. My face heats up at the intensity in his eyes, I open my mouth to say something when Paul places his finger against his lips telling me to be quiet and nods his head to the hallway. I follow him out puzzled, from the looks of things Kenny sleeps like a corpse had we been making noise I’m sure he would have slept through it, so him telling me to be quiet makes no sense.

Paul closes the door quietly then grabs my hand dragging me down the hallway. “Um, Paul? What are you doing? Kenny is alone you know…” I ask puzzled.

“Oh I am aware Blair. I just want to show you something.” He said grinning.

He pulls me up the stairs and when we can go no higher because of the locked door he whips out a key and unlocks it. I stare dumbfounded, “How did you get a key to the roof, the super said nobody was allowed on the roof.”

“I have my ways.” He said slowly, as we step onto the roof.

“I bet you do.” I say under my breath. We walk over to where this plush looking couch is set up with a small table in front. Paul sits down with a sigh and pats the seat next to him.

“Come on Blair have a seat. I promise I won’t bite…unless you want me to.” He said eyeing my stiff posture. I glare at him then sit down quickly making sure to keep some distance between us.

“And now the moment we have been waiting for in 3…2…1.” Paul announces. I look curiously at him and I see his attention is drawn upwards, I follow his gaze and it’s the most beautiful thing. A meteor shower flies right before my eyes I grin widely staring at the sight before me in awe. I love space I find it absolutely fascinating, everything about it. Once when I was 12 my parents surprised me on my birthday and took me on a trip to tour NASA. It blew my mind how amazing it all was and how incredible it must feel to have gone into space. They even bought me a jumpsuit with NASA and my name on it; although the fact that to this day I still have that jumpsuit and it still fits me is kind of embarrassing. I still love it though, that was a really fun trip probably my favorite one before my parents got too busy for me.

I glance over at Paul and see that he is looking at me instead of the meteor shower. My face heats up as I quickly look away just as the sky becomes clear again. “That was amazing. I-I didn’t know there was going to be a meteor shower.” I said after a moment of silence.
Paul chuckles quietly, “I make it a point to know these things. You never know when it might come in handy.” He said with a wink.

“Well thank you, it was really beautiful. I should probably head home now, school tomorrow and all that fun stuff. Not that it’s actually fun I mean come on who really likes school? Plus Kenny is ah downstairs still so you should get going too.” I mumble nervously. Getting to my feet I head out the door with Paul laughing quietly behind me. God, could I make a bigger ass of myself? He probably thinks I’m mentally challenged, and at this moment I’m beginning to wonder myself.

Once we reach the landing to my floor Paul grabs my arm squeezing gently before letting go saying goodnight and heading off. Holy shit. HOLY SHIT. What is going on right now…he has to be just teasing me right, right? What on earth could he be thinking; he probably has girls lined up around the block just to look at him. The way he was looking at me upstairs gave me chills, oddly enough chills in a good way. I find myself grinning as I waltz through my apartment and face plant on my bed not bothering to change my clothes. I soon fall asleep feeling warm inside, with that stupid grin still on my face.

My phone starts blaring the familiar chords to Abandon All Ships: Take One Last Breath. I whip my head up and see that its Pandora calling, I answer with a groggy, “Hello?”

“Blair! Hey it’s Pandora!”

“Yeah, hey Pandora how’s it going?”

“I’m so great! Gosh I just love mornings, gets my blood pumping. I can feel the day approaching and I’ll tell ya Blair I’ll tell ya, I have this really good feeling. Anyways I know you live close to the school and whatever but I want to chat so mind if I come pick you up?”

“Hahaha yeah sure, I just gotta get ready. Give me 15 minutes?”

“Sounds good, sounds good bestie. Be there in a few and wait outside, I don’t do doorbells…”

I hang up the phone and get ready for school running out as Pandora was pulling up in a very flashy car. “Hey loser, climb in.” She yells across the passenger seat.

I laugh as I jump in her car. “Wow, this is a really nice car. How did you afford it?” I question as we pull out onto the main street.

“Daddy dearest bought it for me on my 16th birthday. Thought it would make up for leaving me with bitchasoarousrex aka my step-mother aka ‘Marcia’ for a whole month while he went off on a business trip. Little does ‘Marcia’ know that he brought his secretary on this particular business trip and you can bet your ass that business wasn’t the only thing going on.” She spat out angrily, but I guess you can’t keep her down for long. She turned to me with a wide grin, wiggling her eyebrows.

“What did you do last night Blair?” Pandora questions; I shift uncomfortably in my seat unable to hide the blush creeping up my face. “Not too much I was babysitting a kid that lives in my building, that’s pretty much it.” I said trying to keep a straight face.

“Oh really Blair? Just babysitting? Then why pray tell is there a grin so wide it’s nearly breaking your face in half going on right now, hmm? Don’t try to hide things from me girl, I have a sixth sense about this kind of stuff. So…who is he?” She drills, trying and failing to show her excitement.

I sigh heavily and spill the beans. I tell her everything about the strange magical moment from last night. When I finished recounting all of the details I realize we are parked in the school lot and she is turned in her seat facing me jaw dropped. I stare at her warily before she squeals and hugs me nearly knocking the wind right out of me.

“Pandora…can’t…breath.” I manage to get out before she gives me one last squeeze and drags me out of the car and into the school. As we pass the main hallway our school mascot the ‘tree’ is staring at me. Now that I think about it, nobody knows who the mascot is. It’s always been a mystery, but nobody can seem to figure it out. I feel the hairs raise on the back of my neck and the ‘tree’ gives me a bad feeling.

“Blair. BLAIR! Are you even listening to me?” Pandora yells once I realize we are in front of my locker.

“Oh sorry I was just daydreaming.” I said opening my locker. Pandora grins, “You dirty girl. Thinking about Paul at school, and I thought I was bad. You have got it good.”

“What!” I shriek, “No, no no no no I was not thinking anything about Paul and I do NOT have it ‘good’ for him. He is just teasing that’s all, just teasing.”

“You keep telling yourself that. I on the other hand see a very handsome boy who deserves my undivided attention.” Pandora said before sauntering over to a cute boy with glasses. He looks startled as she approaches him, colour flares on his cheeks. Aww he is the cutest thing, and he seems to like Pandora a lot. They talk for a while and the warning bell rings Pandora wraps up whatever they were talking about slips him a piece of paper kisses his cheek and struts over to me.

“What was that all about?” I smirk knowingly at her, in an attempt to make her embarrassed but she just smiles back sighing. “That is my future husband, a little rough around the edges but I do so love a challenge. Now quit dilly-dallying or we are going to be late.” She said smiling happily and dragging me along.

The rest of the day carries on the same boring school, funny Pandora, and blow-your-brains-out Whitney. I felt so relived to finally be done as I head off to pick up Kenny. “Hey brat.” I said once I reach him. “Hey I am not a brat. I am amazing. You should be honoured to be watching over me.” Kenny boasts with his hands on his hips.

“Yeah yeah, your amazing I’m deeply honoured, blah blah blah. Can we go now?” I said with a straight face. Kenny huffs and stomps off ahead of me, I just can’t help but laugh at him. He is so easy to rile up, little firecracker. We head off home and do basically the same thing as the night before except we made homemade oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, ashamedly I made them because Kenny said they were Paul’s favorite. What I was thinking I’m not too sure, to butter Paul up a bit? Yeah because a plate of cookies is enough to…to what, what do I even want from him. To get to know him better maybe, see if he is really as man-whorish as he seems. I just have to remember to have no expectation, that way I won’t be disappointed if things go to shit. Alright it’s a plan.

Kenny has fallen asleep on the couch again. I ran my fingers through his hair nervously waiting until Paul gets home. I glance up at the clock, he should be here any minute. There are nervous butterfly’s swarming in my stomach, my palms are starting to sweat. Jesus. I’m a mess. I really need to calm down. I take a few deep breathes and chant quietly, don’t be nervous.

Not two minutes later I hear the key scraping in the lock, I sit up straight immediately and peer over my shoulder as Paul enters the apartment. He even manages to look good after a full shift at work, I always look like shit, it is so unfair. “Paul.” I whisper quietly nodding to Kenny next to me.

He looks down and immediately takes Kenny to his room to tuck him in again. I sit on the couch frozen with nerves; Paul emerges from Kenny’s room closing the door quietly behind him.

“You guys have a good night?” Paul questions heading into the kitchen and popping open a beer before flopping down right next to me, his side touching my side.

“Yeah, he was great mostly. We made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies too if you wanted some.” I said pointing to the tin of cookies on the table nervously. Paul takes no time at all and grabs a cookie stuffing it in his mouth and humming with pleasure. “Dear god that is one good cookie. Did you make these for me Blair?” Paul asked innocently. I swallow the lump in my throat and tried to find something to say but failing miserably opening and closing my mouth like a fish.

Paul grabs my face gently leans in and whispers in my ear, “Thank you.” Placing a soft kiss on my neck as he pulls away, making me heat up again. “Y-you’re welcome.” I stutter out.

Paul looks thoughtful for a moment before guzzling the rest of his beer and then piercing me with an indecipherable look. “Do you work this Saturday Blair?” Paul said.

OH MY GOD. Is he asking me what I think he’s asking me; holy shit. In all my 18 years I have never gone on a date and now its happening and with a very sexy guy. I can’t even believe it.

“No I don’t work this weekend, why what’s up?” I said trying to sound casual.

“Kenny wanted me to invite you to his soccer game it’s this Saturday at 2. He is really excited and wants you to be there…if you’ll come?” Paul said crushing all my hopes with every word.

“Wow I didn’t even know he played soccer I would love to come.” I said smiling trying to hide my disappointment. So much for no expectations; Paul’s face lights up smiling brightly.

“Thanks this means a lot to him.” Paul said looking nervous for a second before he just smirks at me saying, “Won’t this be fun snuggling up on the sidelines. Just me and you, anything can happen.” And he’s back. I quickly said goodbye and headed to my apartment feeling a little bit happy even though he said snuggle in a pervy way. I can’t help but feel excited about this Saturday, spending the whole day with Paul is better than nothing. Now surviving school this week that is a challenge.