He grabbed my hand and pulled me closer to him. “Hey, he was the one who asked for it.”
“No, he didn’t. He asked me out. We went out, how is that asking for anything?” I pushed back and landed back where I was sitting.
He lowered his eyes, “I’m sorry. I just wanted him to know we were back together.”
I cocked my head and raised my brow, “Back together? When were we ever together let alone back together?”
His face flooded with guilt. “Well, I mean, we were spending a lot of time together, so we were kind of together,” He shrugged, “And besides, it isn’t like you were into him. No harm no foul.”
I folded my arms across my chest, “Boys are so weird. Yes, we spent time together, as friends. I have guys who are friends,” ok not really, but I could have if I wanted to. “And just because we were friends doesn’t mean you own me. It isn’t like we were dating or anything.”
The memory of the girls telling me how jealous Tyler had gotten in the weight room came forward in my mind. “If you liked me, or wanted to date me, you could have asked like a normal guy.”
He tossed his hands up, “I did! A ton!”
I back peddled a bit. “Ok fine, maybe you did ask me out, but it wasn’t like we were dating, that’s what I’m trying to say.”
“But we did go out once,” he leaned in again, “and you had a great time.” He barely was on the chair now, his knees touching mine.
The air was growing thick, he was just so dang cute. “I did.”
“And then you got sick and had to go home, remember?”
Kinda. Not exactly how that went, but that’s ok. “So, what’s your point?”
“My point is, I like you. You like me, so no, I don’t want another guy thinking about you. I don’t want another guy looking at you, and I don’t want another guy doing this,” his lips were on mine and I melted. What was I mad about? My mind swam, barely making it to the surface.
I pulled away, "Ok, but you don’t get to say who I talk to, or who I am friends with.”
His lip pulled up at the corner. “Like I could tell you anyway,” he shrugged as he wove his fingers back through my hair.
That was it. I couldn’t think when he did that, his hands flexing in my thick mane made my mind forget my own name.
His lips traveled to my neck again, and I seriously felt the chill in my toes. How did he know how to do that? His curls wrapped around my fingers and I marveled at how they felt. Like corn silk in late summer. Like Satin. I opened my eyes to catch a glimpse of it and screamed.
My voice sent Tyler flying back and my entire body began to tremble with cold. I stood shakily and headed to my shelf.
“Savanah, what happened?” Tyler’s words were lost in my brains focus to stay standing. To stay in the present.
A knock on my door just added to the mayhem. “Damn it.” I grabbed the salt and headed for the door.
I pulled it open to see my neighbor, peering past me into the room. “Are you ok?” Her eyes looked from Tyler then to me.
I shook my head, still trembling, trying to find an excuse that would make this seem less ridiculous.
Tyler’s arm was around my waist. “Sorry, she saw a spider. She hates them. Scared the crap out of me too.”
I leaned into his arm, trying to show affection, and letting my neighbor know that everything was alright.
“So, did you get it?” She looked around us, obviously searching for a dead arachnid or the remnants there of.
“Um, no, it ran under the bed,” there, that explained my shaky form. “I will never sleep again,” I laughed a little.
Tyler ran his hand up my back. Still providing support and trying to show comfort.
“Ok, well good luck finding it.” She took one more glance around and headed back to her room. I lingered in the hall, door open to continue to prove that I was ok, that Tyler wasn’t attacking me. When her door closed, I sprinkled the salt heavily on threshold. How could I have been this careless? I hadn’t salted in months. My room was not protected at all.
I shut the door, and Tyler waited patiently until I sat down. He resumed his place in his chair.
I met his eyes ashamed that I reacted like that. “Sorry. That wasn’t your grandpa.”
He smiled, “Well that’s good, because I was going to get really concerned if you had that type of response.” He grew serious. “What did you see?”
I inhaled, “Well, I call him The Creeper. He is super sketchy and is just not good,” I shook a chill off again. “I have only seen him a few times, but never inside my room. Usually, I’ve seen him in the stairwells, and stuff like that. Never in my room.” My skin crawled thinking he had access to my personal space.
“He’s been here before?”
“Yeah, actually one time was the night of the basketball game. We were getting ready with the door open and he was standing in the hallway.”
“And you have no idea who he is, or what he wants?”
I shook my head, “I don’t want to know. He is evil. I can tell. He is just not – he’s not safe.”
“Are you ok?” His voice was tentative, and I could tell he was waiting to relax until I gave the ok.
I nodded, “Yeah, sorry. Mood killer, party of one,” I pointed to myself. “Good cover with the spider.”
He nodded, “No
