How He Saved Her

Chapter Two

Aurora



My first thought is: what the heck? Then my mind unravels and a whole book of questions pop in my mind the boldest being Why is he talking to me?

Confusion written all over my face, I say,"What?

He repeats his previous statement again making me release an impatient breath. Does he think I didn't hear him the first time?

"Why?", I ask in a whisper and attempt to look at him. His hair has started to curl at the ends at the sweat in his hair from playing basketball. He shakes his head, his ears reddening at the tip. "It was…", he stops looks at me and then says,"They kept pressing the situation and I saw that you were the only one ithe bleacher so I kind of said it was you."

I grab for my phone and pick up my backpack off the floor by my feet and stand up. "I'm not sure what I should say, but I need to leave", I say not looking at him and attempting to climb down the stadium. I trip on a stair and fall down and feel him move toward me.

"Don't", I say stopping him before he can put a hand on me. I look back and he pockets the hand he had extended toward me. I feel dizzy, I should go I think. I get off the floor and make it down the stadium.

"Are you okay?", he asks confusion written in his voice. I ignore him and walk ahead before having to stop and catch my breath against the brick of the school. Why did I come all the way back here? I can't walk anymore.

"Are you driving home?", he asks and I try to ignore the sound of his voice. My mind is whirling and my thoughts are scattered. One thing for sure is that my foot hurts so bad I feel I'm going to start crying. Blowing out a breath my mind repeats a mantra: You're Strong.

I get off the wall and attempt to walk again only to stop by the wall again. I blow out a raspberry and turn to the guy, my face sweating. "Why are you still here?"

"You need to take pain medicine", he says ignoring my question.

"I need to get home", I say , trying to get my voice higher in an attempt to not feel so weak.

"Are you walking home?", He asks and I nod slowly. He makes a sound of disapproval and then says,"Hand me your backpack, it's weighing you down, and then hop, I'll help you." He reaches out a hand toward me and I stagger away.

"Don't touch me", I say closing my eye and feeling the rush of fear pass through me again. I open my eye to find him a step away from me and instead looking at me with soft eyes.

"Just hand me your backpack then", he says and I take it off and drop it at his feet. He picks it up with two fingers and swings it over his shoulder like it had weighed nothing. "Come on, we'll walk to my car." He starts walking and I hop toward him trying to not look stupid.

"I can walk home", I say as we head into the parking lot. He turns to me and shakes his head,"I'll drop you."

"I don't…", I trail off having wanted to say, I don't feel comfortable around you, but instead say,"I don't know you."

"I'll drop you off, I promise. I wo–"

"Don't even attempt to touch me okay?", I say softly my voice breaking as we make it toward the cars. I hear voices from ahead of us and a loud voice calls out,"Oli."

I look to my right as the guy waves a hand toward his friend and his friend laughs. "Is that your girl?"

"It's uh", he stutters and then nods,"Yeah."

"What's her name?", his friend asks walking toward me and I feel the need to hide. It was bad enough Oliver towering over me but another one? I take a step back but the new guy doesn't seem to notice as he approaches us.

"Aurora", Oliver answers with a soft smile and I tell myself that I should replace the other memories of this one. But the thought escapes as soon as I see my father shouting at me in my head again. "Rory", he says too and I tune back into the conversation.

"Well", the guy turns toward me and extends a hand toward me,"I'm Austin." I freeze and blink a few times but the hand remains. I try to claw my hand away from my sides but it doesn't move, it doesn't want to move. Oliver glances down at me, sees the panic on my face and down to my fidgeting hand and then turns to his friend.

"Austin, I think Rory would like to go home. She sprained her ankle earlier and had been delayed due to our practice so it's been killing her. Right, babe?", he says glancing at me. My mind blanks at his words but I manage to nod and Oliver waves goodbye to his friend.

"I'm really nice, I promise", the friend shouts to me as he leaves. I look at Oliver but he only laughs at his friend and says,"See you later, man."

"Bye Rory", Austin shouts heading to his car and I try to calm my racing heart. Without saying a word to me, Oliver walks ahead to his car and opens the passenger side door. I stare at the deep green jeep as he places my backpack on the floor and then steps back waiting for me to get in. I continue staring at it and he pulls down something that gives me a lift. Clearing his throat, he says,"Get in."

"And you promise–", I start before he cuts me off.

"I heard you before Austin spotted us, I won't touch you."

"You pr–"

"I promise, Aurora", he says and my heart hurts at the name.

"Call me Rory", I say getting in the car and he nods before closing the door behind me. I pull down the seatbelt over my chest and then pick at my nail. Oliver gets in the car and starts the engine. He glances toward me and places his phone on the dashboard in front of me. "Put your address in there", he says softly.

I pick up his phone, noticing how much nicer it is than my old phone I keep for emergencies and books and type in my address. I place the phone back on the dashboard and he takes it back. He turns on GPS and drives toward my house silently. When he reaches my street, I find my voice and ask,"Why did you call me your girlfriend again?"

Oliver stops at a red light and turns to me, his lips in a frown so different than the last twenty minutes I've known him. "I made a mistake."

I wait for him to go on and he sighs,"I dragged you into this mess. If we broke up today that would be unrealistic as I just told my friends today but I also don't want you playing along to something you don't want."

"Oliver, you know I can't be your girlfriend", I say avoiding looking at him and instead playing with the sleeves of my sweatshirt.

"It would be fake", he says and I frown.

"But there are so many things wrong with this. First, I will not let you touch me so how are people going to believe this. And second, I'm not…well", I say stopping abruptly.

"You're not what, Rory?", he asks and the light turns green fortunately so he doesn't look at me anymore.

"I'm not", I take a deep breath,"Your type."

"How so?", he says.

"I'm, well, I'm me. I don't talk to anyone whereas you are a student athlete so you know everyone adores you", I say heat rising to my cheek at the expense of talking so much. He glances at me for a second before turning back to the road.

"I need someone like you though. Someone who is unexpected for me and so girls will back off me."

"Girls are attacking you?", I ask in a soft whisper and he nods.

"Partly the reason I've been telling them I have a girlfriend. They have been pestering me about it so I gave in and said it was you on the court today."

"And you chose me because I was the first person I saw?", I ask.

"Yes and no", he starts,"Yes and also because you were at the practice so it was easy to pick you. Girlfriends support their boyfriends."

"But nobody is going to believe it", I say.

"They will. I'll tell them this is a lowkey relationship and that we don't do any PDA."

"It's just", I say and slump back in my seat, stopping.

"What is it?"

"I'm not your type of pretty", I say heat rising to my cheeks at my words. He glances at me for a second and I watch as a slow smile takes over his face. My heart beats fast at his smile, it was caused by me. I avert my gaze and look down at my lap nervous.

"You are pretty", he says and I start to open my mouth to object but he continues. "You are. And what do you mean my type of pretty?"

"Well you're pretty", I say and then close my mouth,"I mean, well you know what I mean. And I'm not…"

Oliver chuckles at my rambling and I take notice of the dimples he has, so prominent that it's a surprise it's not there when he isn't smiling. "Rory, you are. You are my type of pretty but more."

"You're just saying that", I say trying to calm my racing heart. The first time a guy has ever called me pretty.

"Trust me. I didn't just pick you out because you were the only option. I picked you because you were pretty", he says and I feel my head buzz with sudden excitement.

"But, Oliver you know that…", I trail off hugging myself.

"I won't touch you", he says pulling into my driveway.

"So how are we going to pull it off?", I say picking up my backpack and avoiding his gaze.

"We'll see tomorrow after I pick you up. Now, don't worry too much about it,but do figure out what you want out of this", he says and I nod.

"Thank you, Oliver. And uh also for the compliment", I say getting out of his car. I wait for his reply before shutting the door.

"Happy to do it, Rory. When should I pick you up?"

"7?", I ask and he nods. I close the door and walk toward my house. On the outside it seems that my dad is not home, but I know that he is and seeing how late I am, I am scared to go. So, I turn to him one more time and say,"Thank you."

"Don't mention it", and then he drives off and leaves me to face my own consequences.