Like What You See?

 

Chapter 3

 

“Look, I need to get back to class, so if you wouldn’t mind, uh, leaving, that’d be great.” I say to Chase and side step him. Forget that he’s my assignment! I’ll ask for a new one. If I can do that…which I probably can’t, but still. It’s worth a try.

Chase blocks my path. I sigh. “What do you want?” I ask him, frustrated. He smiles.

“Is that a general question, or specific?” He asks me and the blue in his eyes turn more intense.

I throw up my hands. “Just tell me what you want!” I yell. He’s still smiling, which doesn’t help. He has to be the most frustrating individual I’ve ever met!

“To be honest, I don’t know why they sent me here. I received a call two days ago saying that I needed to find Skye Dawson and help her.” I’m about to say something but he holds up a hand to stop me. “I asked what I needed to help you with and they told me I was to guard you.”

I snort. “Guard me? What am I, a precious diamond? I can take care of myself, thank you very much.” I say proudly. Chase smirks.

“Yeah, they told me that you would say that. But whatever, if you think you can handle everything yourself than fine.” He says and then shrugs. He turns around and starts to walk back to the forest. Why is he going into the forest?

“Hey, wait!” I call out. He turns around, eyebrows raised questioningly. “What do you need to guard me from?”

Chase isn’t smiling anymore. He stops walking and gestures for me to follow him. I hesitate.

“I’m not going to kidnap you, Skye. But unless you want that guy listening in on our conversation, the forest would be the best place to talk.” He explains. I turn around to look for “that guy”. It’s Danny Walker. Comic-book lover who once told me that Spiderman was real. I wave at him. He blushes.

“Fine, you win.” I say to Chase and walk towards him. Unfortunately, the way towards the forest is downhill (steep, downhill), and I’m not exactly wearing hiking shoes.

Chase waits for me walk to him and when I reach him I pause and look down the steep path. “I have a feeling me getting down this hill is not a likely task.” I say warily. Chase laughs—the throaty sound sending shivers down my back.

“Alright, sweetheart, I’ll help you down.” He says sarcastically. I huff and cross my arms.

“No, I’ll just um, stay up here.” That’s my pride talking. Chase rolls his eyes but stops laughing at me.

“Give me your hand.” He orders. I frown and hold out my hand. He grabs it roughly; sending more shivers down my back, and pulls me closer to him. Not in a romantic way, so don’t go getting your hopes up. I have a feeling there will never be anything romantic between Chase and I. He’s so grumpy and…arrogant almost. It’s quite annoying.

But still, he is extremely nice to look at.  

With my hand in his he starts walking down the path, not at all bothered by its steepness. I stumble behind him, and grip his hand so I don’t fall. His hand is big and warm, and right now, it’s my ticket to not falling on my face and rolling down the rest of the hill, so I hold onto it like the lifeline that it is.

My dark wash ripped jeans are ankle deep in dirt, and my feet keep digging into the ground. I let out a yelp when I loose my shoe and step barefoot into the muddy hill. Chase stops walking and turns around, eyebrows raised.

“I lost my shoe.” I explain, pointing up the hill to where my shoe is sticking out of the ground. Chase snorts.

“I’ll wait here.” He says and I frown.

“Fine,” I mumble under my breath. I hike up my jeans and turn around, ready to conquer the hill. My first step is shaky and my feet sink in the mud. I try not to shudder at the feeling of dirt in my toes. My second step up the hill isn’t much better. A twig or something equally pointless is sticking out of the ground and I step on it with my barefoot. “Damn!” I shout. I can feel Chase getting ready to say something—probably something smart alecky—so I continue up the hill, ignoring the throbbing in my foot. I stumble and fall into the mud. My jeans are now covered in mud. That’s so freaking wonderful.

Finally, I’m at my shoe. I grab it roughly and slip it on my foot. Unfortunately, my foot is bleeding quite badly, and I don’t want to get blood in my shoe so I can’t keep it on. I take it off and hold it in my hand. I look down the hill where Chase is standing, shaking his head.

“Can we just talk up here?” I ask. He groans. Impatiently, he takes a few steps up the hill and picks me up. I let out a surprised sound as he holds me in his arms like I weigh nothing. In less than a minute, we’re in the forest, and Chase sets me down on a fallen tree. It would have been quite nice of him, if when he set me down I hadn’t fallen into wet moss and gotten green all over my jeans. I glare at him.

We’re in a clearing in the forest, far away from the school that literally nobody can hear us. I shudder. What if he is going to kidnap me? Then nobody will be able to hear me scream!

I inch away from Chase, trying to be discreet. He sees me and rolls his eyes.

“Honestly, Dawson, don’t flatter your self. I am not going to kidnap you.” He says will exaggerated patience. I pretend to look hurt.

“Well, don’t act like it’s so unlikely. There are all sorts of creeps out there. And for all I know, you’re one of them. I mean, what kind of guy doesn’t even ask a girl if she is okay when her foot might need amputation?” I blink my eyes at him, still feigning hurt. I look at my bleeding foot and sniff. Chase throws his hands up, clearly frustrated.

“For the love of…” He mutters and then storms over to me and sits down beside me on my makeshift bench. “Let’s see.” He says, and when I cross my arms stubbornly he grabs my foot.

“Hey!” I say, frowning. “Careful.”

Chase loosens his grip on my foot and sighs. “Why didn’t you say something?” He asks me.

I shrug. “I don’t know. You’re just so freaking grumpy.”

Chase laughs our loud and I look at him. He looks so much different when he smiles.

“What did you do, step on a knife?” He asks me, staring at my foot. He looks around for something to bandage my foot, and can’t seem to find anything.

“Look, its fine. I’ll just go to the nurse in my school.” I tell him, pulling my foot off his lap. He stops me.

“Sorry, Dawson, not happening. Your school isn’t safe.” He tells me. I laugh at him and then stop when I realize he’s not laughing.

“What, you’re serious?” I ask him. Chase nods. “Fine, Mr. Security Guard, there goes my high school education. What am I supposed to do, never go back to school?”

“I am not a security guard.” Chase says to me. I shrug.

“Po-tay-toe, puh-tot-toe.” I say. He glares at me.

“And to answer your question, you are not going back to school until this is resolved.”

I glare right back at him. “Until what is resolved? You still haven’t told me!”

Chase looks at my foot and sighs. “I need to get you somewhere safe.” He says. I cross my arms tighter, stubbornly.

“I am not going anywhere with you.” I say rudely. Chase sighs and stands up.

“Good luck getting up that hill with a bleeding foot.” He says to me and winks, turning away as if to walk away. I groan.

“You’re a jerk, you know that?” I say, and try to get up. I limp toward him. “Where to?” Chase looks at me limping and shakes his head, mumbling something. He pulls off his tee shirt and I am momentarily frozen. What is he doing?

Before I can form a sentence, Chase points back to the fallen tree, and I sit. He wraps his thin tee shirt around my foot to stop the bleeding. I don’t even feel the throbbing in my foot anymore—I’m too busy staring at his much defined, rock hard abs.

Chase sees me staring and grins. I pull my eyes away, blushing.

“Like what you see?” He asks me. I glare at him.

“Don’t get cocky; I was staring at your scar.” I tell him. Which was very much not true, but it sounds like a good lie. And he does have a scar on his chest.

“Car accident,” he tells me, pointing to his chest. I raise my eyebrows. “My dad and I were driving to a restaurant to meet my mother and all of a sudden a car drives right into us.” Chase pauses. “I don’t really remember much after that. There was a lot of blood and sirens. My father died in that car accident. The doctors said he didn’t have much of a chance, from the way the car hit us. They told me I was lucky to be alive. I wasn’t exactly sure I’d call myself lucky.” He pauses again and looks down at his scar. “Every time I look at this scar, I’m reminded of him. To this day, I don’t understand why I was the one that lived.”

My foot is still in his lap, and I pull it away slowly. “Chase, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know...” I say, at a loss for words. I am such a jerk. Why couldn’t I have just admitted that he had a rocking body and left it at that? Cause I’m a jerk, that’s why.

“I know, Dawson.” He grins at me, “its okay.” He says and then gets up. I get up too, testing my shirt-bandaged foot and finding that I can step on it now.

“You’re shirtless.” I say stupidly, staring again. Chase’s grin widens.

“Is that going to bother you?” He asks me. I look away.

“No. Yes, no. Not really, yeah.” I mumble. Chase laughs.

“I’ve got another shirt in my car, Dawson. Unfortunately for you.” He winks. I slap his arm.

“You are so freaking arrogant!” I say. “And my name is Skye.” Chase glances over at me and smiles.

“Alright, Skye. Let’s go.” He says and we walk towards his car.

“If you turn out to be an axe-murderer I officially have the worst luck.” I mumble as we walk. Chase laughs loudly.

Reviews

[Rusty]

I was bummed that it was so short, I like the story, I would say the same thing about telling her his father died, maybe wait for later on that. thanks for sharing, I can't wait for more.

[Anya]

That was incredible writing and very funny (of course in a good way) :)
"It's quite annoying. But still, he is extremely nice to look at." I laughed loads at that... in fact I laughed quite a bit through it. And here...
"You're shirtless." I say stupidly, staring again. Chase's grin widens.
"Is that going to bother you?" He asks me. I look away.
"No. Yes, no. Not really, yeah." I mumble. Chase laughs. "
I loved that bit.

I can't think of any constructive criticism other then "My father died in that car accident", to me it doesn't seem to roll very well. But that might just be me :)

Oh please please please carry on with it! I love it so much, I honestly really, really do!
And thank you for the message to let me know :)