Suddenly Booked

Chapter Six.

How the hell had the two of us ended up together here of all places?

Damn me and my sh*t luck. Not only had the doctor made me cry in front of my mom and Bastian as he examined my leg, but the elevator in my dorm was under maintenance, and we had been forced to take the stairs.

Any other time I wouldn’t have minded taking the stairs to my fourth floor dorm room, but in this cast and with crutches, it would have taken me ages to get up there.

Unfortunately, I hadn’t even been given the option because Bastian, who had insisted on coming into the building with me and mom, came up with the brilliant idea of carrying me up the stairs.

Mom, who was going to have to carry the crutches, seemed pleased by his idea and there were too many people around for me to throw a fit about it, so with no other options, I gave in.

When we had gotten to the stairwell, I reluctantly handed mom my crutches and turned to place my hand on Bastian’s back. He was taller than me, so I was hopeful that he would squat down so that I didn’t have to jump onto his back, but if I needed to I would.

“Blayke, what are you doing,” my mom asked as she pressed a few places on the crutches and folded the damn things in half.

Sometimes I forget that she’s been a nurse for as long as I’ve been alive, but at times like this, it makes it a bit hard to forget.

“What do you mean,” I asked as I hobbled a step closer to Bastian, who still had his back to me, but was slowly turning towards my mom who was beside me.

“Blayke, you’re not seriously thinking about jumping on Bastian’s back? Did you forget that you’re wearing a dress, young lady?”

Arms still up in his shoulders, I looked down at myself as if I had to check for myself about what I was actually wearing. But even as I looked down at my front, I let the words slip out of my mouth without thinking.

“Come on mom, it’s not like anyone is gonna see my a**, this time I have panties on.” I watched her face fall, flush, and then get a bit angry. Maybe it was because she realized what I was referring to, or maybe it was due to the wink I threw at her. Who knows?

I felt Bastian’s shoulders tighten up, and I didn’t know if he was shocked, annoyed, disgusted, or something else, but a part of me felt unsettled at his reaction. Why would the words confirming exactly what he thought about me bother him?

“Blayke. Please stop. This is not the time or the place for jokes like that.” My mom was definitely not in the mood for any further jokes about my little mishap, so I decided to let it go for now.

Still, I was fully set on getting the worst piggyback of my life from Bastian, but as mom hitched the crutches up under her arms and made her way around us to the stairs, he turned and looked at me fully.

For a moment, he didn’t say anything. He was wearing his usual Clark Kent glasses and his dark hair was flopping into his face, so I couldn’t see his eyes. The unsettled feeling was still there, and I was about to tell him to turn back around when he bent down and scooped me up in his arms.

Too shocked to say anything, I just let out the most embarrassing yelp ever and grabbed onto his shoulders to hold on for dear life.

Being carried like this was a new experience. I was neither light nor petite, so I can’t say that this has happened many times in my life, but I was hopeful that this would be over quickly and with the least amount of witnesses possible.

My heart was racing and not only because I was still trying to calm myself from Bastian suddenly grabbing me the way he had.

No, it was because the moment that I felt my body up against him, the image of him coming out of the shower last night filled my thoughts. Recalling what I did after the fact wasn’t helping, and only made me want to squirm away from him.

Damn me and this damn body of mine! Damn me and this f*cking libido and burning desire that wasn’t getting any better the more I felt my body warm every place that I could feel myself touching him!

Bastian had started following my mom up the stairs and all I could do was stay as still and quiet as I could. Now that I wasn’t grasping onto his shoulders, I kinda felt weird about what to do with my hands.

Did he detest the touch of my hands on him? Was he just doing this because he was trying to make a good impression on my mom?

When we had that first dinner, neither of us really elaborated on our relationship, or lack of one. I had been curious to know if maybe he had spoken to his father either before or after and told him about me.

If he did, then what would he have said? I saw the way that Mikael looked at me at the table. I wasn’t sure if he had maybe heard of me before. Well, I mean, of course he’s heard about me from mom, but I wondered if Bastian had ever said my name to him?

Whoa, what the f*ck am I thinking? Why the hell would that have happened, and why did I even care?

More annoyed with myself than anything, I was even more conscious of myself. Deciding that I didn’t care one way or the other what I did with my arms, I kept them wrapped around Bastian’s neck and lay my chin on his shoulder.

This was bad enough without having to look at his stupid face, so I stayed in this position the entirety of our climb up to my floor.

I was sure that he was just as eager to put me down as I was, but instead of dropping me the moment both of his feet were on the landing, he asked, “which way to your room?”

He didn’t have to ask because mom knew exactly where it was and had already been heading towards it.

I really wished he wouldn’t have asked. Not because I didn’t want him to know where my room was, but because not only did I feel his warm breath sweep across my shoulder and chest, but I could feel the rumbling in his chest as he spoke vibrate against my own.

Hell, had anything felt this intimate and awkward at the exact same time? I truly wasn’t sure and that made this all the more uncomfortable.

Bastian’s strides had caught up with my mom pretty quickly and, thankfully, my room was close to that side of the hall, but I still prayed that no one that I knew was still around school right now.

The semester had ended last week and if things had worked out as they should have, I wouldn’t be here either, but I needed the three of us to just get in the damn room already, so he could finally put me down.

Mom had a key to my room and was opening it up, but it felt as if she was purposely taking it forever, maybe even on purpose.

I knew my face was probably as pink as the f*cking panties I was wearing and when my mom had the door open, I practically jumped out of Bastian’s arms.

“Sorry, I’m getting a cramp in my leg,” I uttered breathlessly as I bent over and rubbed my hands up and down my leg.

Yeah, it was complete bullsh*t, but I had no other choice. There was no way that I could let him keep me holding me like that.

I glanced to the side through my hair that was still framing my face for cover. Bastian had turned and was talking to my mom, who had walked over to the small closet where my three large bags were still on the floor.

She was in the middle of thanking him and apologizing at the same time, but I didn’t miss when he quickly turned to look at me before turning back to her and responding.

I was not okay. There was no way that I was going to be able to let this guy take me back down the stairs like that.

Sweet baby cheeses, why the hell was I letting Bastian of all people get me all worked up like this? For f*ck’s sake, I couldn’t stand him on a good day. Maybe I hit my head in that accident?

That had to be the reason. Boys were for my amusement. I used them to help boost my ego, fulfill the needs that I didn’t feel like having to deal with myself, and to get some free meals out of it.

No, Bastian had proved to be worse than all the rest of the a**holes I’ve met in my life who have judged me before they got to know me because I had given him the chance to know me and he had still gotten everything wrong.

Jess had said that for a couple of weeks after I stopped meeting him for tutoring that I had seemed down, but I don’t think that’s what it was. I was angry and hurt that he had turned out to be so mundane.

“No, I’ll go ahead and take these down to the truck and then come back up and help get Blayke down.”

Uh! I was seriously about to turn and grab the first thing I could and chunk it right at the back of his big stupid head!

Luckily, or unluckily, depending on who was looking at it, mom moved faster and bent down to grab two of the bags. The suitcases I had were large and all had wheels on them. She stretched out the handles and leaned them onto their wheels.

“Don’t be silly, Bastian. I know you’re probably tired from having to carry Blayke all the way up here. Let me take these down, and then I’ll come back up and get the last one, so you can help with Blayke.”

I didn’t miss the small hesitation in her words and neither did Bastian. A small chuckle came from him and the nose seemed to grate on my overly sensitive nerves.

How dare these two talk about me like I’m not here, or worse, talk about me as if I’m some small inconvenient child.

“I could just sit on one of the cases and slide down the stairs so that no one has to worry about carrying my heavy a** down the stairs. What do you all think about that?”

I know that I was being immature, but I couldn’t hide my feelings. As much as I hated to admit it, they had made me feel, well, bad.

Call me a f*ck up or a screw-up. Tell me how I always do sh*t to ruin things. Yell and scream all the things that you think about me. That I could handle. I’ve always been able to handle that.

This. Them being so sweet and kind and talking around in circles and about me as if I was just a small girl who had slipped and fallen while playing outside was too much.

Dealing with mom and her newfound self was one thing, but having to deal with both of them being friendly and kind and excusing my bad behavior was worse than being called a dumb sl*t or a party girl wh*re.

“Oh Blayke. If we let you do that, you would end up hurting your leg even worse. You know what the doctor said.”

Mom seemed to just brush off my remark as nothing more than jibber jabber from her petulant daughter. She quickly turned towards the door and called out as she left, “I’ll be right back you two. Don’t go anywhere.”

Yeah, like I could even if I wanted to, she had hooked the folded crutches to the handle of one of the cases and taken the crutches with her. I was literally stuck here.

For a few minutes I could hear her as she banged her way down the stairs with both of my cases. I silently begged her not to break anything I had packed inside of them.

One of those had my laptop and tablet inside of them, I just couldn’t remember which one right now.

So, stranded in my room, unable to leave on my own, is where I find myself. Bastian had taken out his phone and was feverishly texting away.

Since I had no idea what to do with myself, I hobbled over to the bed and threw myself onto it. My comforter smelled like the lavender laundry detergent I use, and I felt myself relax into the big blanket.

Maybe it was out of habit or the familiarity of being in “my” space, I let myself get too comfortable. My eyes were closed, I had rolled slightly onto my side, and I had pulled my legs up under me.

Unsure if I was still tired or if I had just been so tense from earlier today, I didn’t realize that I had started drifting to sleep. At least, not until I felt the sudden and unexpected pressure on the bed beside me.

My eyes flew open at the same time my mouth did, “what the actual f*ck!”

I still didn’t know how I had somehow gotten that comfortable in such a short amount of time, but I couldn’t hide the confusion that I knew was plainly visible on my face when my eyes met with Bastian’s.

“Did you seriously fall asleep and forget that I was here? I guess you’re more irresponsible than I thought?”

Even though I knew I couldn’t have been that deeply asleep, I hadn’t been able to put my guard back up in enough time and his words had left a stinging bite that I had been unprepared to block.

”That’s me, queen of all things reprehensible and as stupid as possible. My mom must blame my father for that.”

Bastian had sat on the edge of the bed near the small footboard, but as I slowly stretched out my legs, he still felt too close.

The bottom of my dress had risen up around my thighs. I really needed to remember that I was wearing a dress, and a rather small one at that.

Keenly aware of his closeness, I tried to inconspicuously adjust my dress, but the moment my hands had gone to the hem, I saw his gaze flick to my hand and then away just as quickly.

I watched him slowly glancing around my room as I finally sat up and scooted to the opposite end of the bed.

“Do you not have a roommate,” he asked so unexpectedly that I didn’t hesitate before responding to him.

“No, for once, I really lucked out right.”

I had been looking at some of the drawings I had up on my cork board, but when he didn’t say anything, I turned to see why, when I noticed him staring at me.

“What,” I asked a little unsettled as my eyes met his, and I noticed the serious look on his face. “What,” I asked again, just softer and with the concern that I was feeling seeping into my voice.

Blue eyes that looked both beautiful and cold were all I could focus on. I had already let my guard down and let his words hurt me once today. I couldn’t handle any more from him, not after all last night and earlier today.

Never did I let men make me feel so, well, whatever it is that Bastian is making me feel. I turned my head quickly and tried to get up off the bed, but again, I seemed to forget about that damn leg.

Practically, stumbling off the bed, I tried to correct my balance by throwing out my arms to reach for the headboard, but ended up toppling off the bed. I ended up meeting the floor in a way that I was unfortunately starting to get used to.

“Blayke, what are you doing,” came a voice I knew well. Jessica was running into the room that still had the door open and my eyes had gone straight to her face and, for the second time in not so many seconds, I was lost for words.

Scrambling to sit up and get to my feet as best I could, I moved in a way that I knew would cause pain and probably swelling in my leg later, but it didn’t matter, because I hadn’t seen Jess since the other night and I needed to know what happened because her face did not look like she had been in an accident.

“Jess, who did this to you,” I asked breathily. I was right. The pain will probably kill me later tonight, but it didn’t matter right now. There was no way that her face could look like that from being in a car accident.

Jessica had reached me as I had finally gotten to my feet. She was wearing black leggings and a pink oversize sweatshirt, but it was obvious that the black cap and sunglasses were not because it was sunny outside.

As her hands went to my shoulders, mine went to her face. I felt her wince, and it only made me want to rip the glasses off even more, but I moved my hands softly, so I didn’t cause her too much pain.

Tears were falling from my eyes as I saw what she had tried to hide. Her right eye looked as if it was bleeding and swollen. The skin around her eyes and her nose were purple and bruised and there was a healing cut on her lip.

Quickly trying to look away from me, she looked down towards my newly bandaged leg and gasped, “God Blayke, are you okay?

Did you break your leg? Why are you here? Where is your mom? And who is this?”

How the hell did I answer her when all I wanted to do was yell and scream and find out who had done this to her, because there was no way this happened in our accident.

And I really wish that I had at least answered her last question because, before I had a chance to say anything, Bastian stood and extended his hand and said the worst thing ever.

“Hi, I’m Bastian, Blayke’s new brother.”