Inseparable (3 page)

Chapter Three

“You broke your toe,” Abby giggled, looking at my plastered foot.

“More to the point, Abs, a very attractive boy who may or may not be a druggy rapist broke my toe,” I grinned in spite of myself. Abby laughed again.

I loved hearing her laugh. That was probably one of the things I missed most. Her laugh. She could find humor in almost any situation, right up until her death.

“Lil, he’s not a bad guy. Just trust your gut,” Abby smiled at me. I wasn’t exactly sure what that meant. Was she saying all the rumors weren’t true? I was about to ask her when I felt my arm being pulled…

“Lil.”

I struggled open my eyes to see Kella crouched down beside me with a coffee and two slices of toast.

“What time is it?” I grumbled, struggling to sit up, which was proving difficult with the weight of the cast.

“It’s nearly midday,” She grinned, handing me the coffee. Midday? Shit, they were some serious pain killers!

“Shit,” I yawned. I’d slept close to twelve hours.

“How’s your foot?” Kella asked.

“Sore,” I admitted, “But I’m okay. I’ll rest it today and hopefully feel better tomorrow.” If I felt like this tomorrow, I’d struggle to get through the day. Kella nodded.

“Good plan. I’ll be around most of the day if you need me. I just have to pop out for some food shopping. Let me know if you need anything,” She kissed my forehead, and left the room.

After my coffee and toast, which was a great way to start the day, I got out of bed, reaching for my crutches. My first few steps were crazy; I wobbled all over the place, nearly toppling over more than once.

Surely these were some kind of safety hazard?

After several trips up and down the hallway, I had them mastered. Using them was hard work though, and my underarms ached like crazy from bearing the weight of my body.

For most of the day, I slept on the couch in my shorts and t-shirt from the day before. I hadn’t even bothered trying for a shower. Kella joined me on the couch for the midday movie, then went shopping.

She cooked me dinner, helped me find an outfit for my first day, and even helped wrap my leg in plastic so I could shower.

“You’re such a good friend,” I smiled at her as she helped me into the bathroom.

“I’m only doing this so I can perve on you,” She joked, helping me out of my shorts. I giggled. Kella had seen me naked plenty of times, so I knew that wasn’t true. Her sexuality had never bothered me, nor had it ever made me feel uncomfortable being naked in front of her. She slapped me on the ass.

“Call out if you need a hand drying yourself,” She said, closing the bathroom door.

Showering in a cast was difficult, and it was only day one. The doctor said it could be up to six weeks, although I might be able to ditch the crutches after three. As I lathered myself up, my mind wandered to Dane. I’d never spent this much time thinking about a guy, but to be fair, I’d never had a guy break my toe either.

Regardless of Kella’s warnings, I couldn’t not think about him, and every time I did (which was often), my heart raced, I felt light headed, and I felt sick. As much as I was dreading college tomorrow because of the whole broken toe thing, part of me couldn’t wait to see Dane again. Of course, that same part of me was also panicking about Dane seeing me in a cast.

I dried myself off without too much trouble. Wrapping my robe around me, I yawned. The pain killers made me tired, so I had another early night. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been in bed before midnight on two consecutive nights.

I woke up to my alarm at eight the next morning. If I dreamt of Abby, I didn’t remember it. The painkillers did make me hazy though. The thought of not seeing Abby in my dreams, or at least not remembering, made me anxious.

I always remembered. Every little detail.

After allowing Kella to drive me to my first class, I hobbled from the parking lot to the lecture hall. Her first class wasn’t until the afternoon, lucky bitch. Apart from the odd look here and there from curious passersby, Kella was right.

Nobody really gave a shit.

My first class was Sociology 101. It was a class I’d previously completed, but due to the assessments not matching up exactly, the school had refused to credit me for it, which was a huge pain in my ass.

Outside the lecture hall, I waited in line with other students, listening to them talking and giggling in their little groups, trying to pretend I was preoccupied with my schedule.

“You’re new here, right?”

I turned to the source of the voice. A girl standing to my left smiled at me. She looked friendly, dressed in her leggings and oversized sweater. Her petite frame and long hair reminded me of Kella, except this girl’s hair was a fiery red. I nodded.

“Yes. You could tell?” I joked, trying to tame my nerves. “I’m Lily,” I said, relieved to have someone to talk to.

“Nice to meet you Lily. I’m Gem,” She glanced down at my foot, “What happened?” She asked.

“I tripped. Over the footpath,” I lied, positive my face was glowing. She laughed.

“Yeah, those footpath things can be hard to master,” She joked. I relaxed, and smiled at her, loving her personality instantly. Some people you could just tell right away you were going to like. Gem was one of them. Come to think of it, so was Dane.

“So you live around here?” I asked. She nodded.

“Yep. Born and raised here. Well, the next town along, but close enough. I thought about getting into a college in LA or somewhere, but I didn’t think I could handle a long distance thing with my boyfriend,” She blushed, as if embarrassed that she’d worked her education around a guy.

“I’m the opposite, I couldn’t wait to get away,” I replied. Everything about home reminded me of Abby. Getting away had meant I could finally try and move on with people who didn’t know about my past.

The door finally unlocked, and, to my embarrassment, everyone hung back to let the cripple on the crutches through first. My face reddened as I hobbled through the double doors. Even the teacher smiled at me sympathetically. Great.

“Thanks,” I mumbled to everyone, my head down so I didn’t have to make eye contact with anyone.

I took a seat in the front so I didn’t have to try and master the stairs. I could just imagine me, losing my balance and falling flat on my face. That would be a good look, and if it was going to happen to anyone, it would happen to me.

“Do you mind if I sit here?” I looked up and saw Gem.

“Please,” I smiled, relieved. Having someone to talk to made me feel like I fitted in, and took my mind off everything. She sat down next to me, “So, what’s your major?” I asked.

“Human Resources,” She smiled, rolling her eyes, “My dad owns several large companies, and it’s kind of expected that I go work for him after college,” She made a face. I got the feeling that was the last thing Gem really wanted.

“My major is Psychology,” I smiled, “Which I’ve always wanted to do. I get the feeling working for your dad is not really your choice?” Gem laughed, her pretty face lighting up.

“It’s that obvious? No, well my love is art, specifically painting. I’ve been painting since I was like five, but apparently that’s not really a relevant or acceptable career choice…” She rolled her eyes, “Thank god my father has no control over my electives,” She joked.

I smiled. Gem was nice. Really nice. I’d only known her for twenty minutes, but we already felt like friends.

I glanced around. The lecture hall had filled up pretty fast, to the point where free seats were few and far between. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a familiar mop of hair.

Shit. Fuckety fuck.

My heart raced as I looked at him, Dane, sitting in the back row. His head was down, as if he were asleep. I quickly turned around facing the front, then I turned around again, unable to resist another look. If I thought I could’ve gotten away with snapping a picture of him, I probably would have. My weird behavior caught Gem’s attention.

“Are you okay?” She asked, concerned. She glanced around, trying to figure out what had freaked me out. I forced a smile, debating whether to tell my new friend about Dane or not.

“Yeah, it’s just…well, I met this guy on Saturday when I was enrolling in classes, and he’s here. I’m really hoping he doesn’t see me,” I explained. Gem looked confused, not that I blamed her. “I
may
have been too busy staring at his ass to notice he had in fact stepped back…onto my foot,” I added, blushing.

Gems face lit up as she began to laugh, “Really? Oh, now you have to tell me who,” She squealed softly, her voice barely above a whisper.

In spite of myself, I smiled. I wasn’t sure why exactly, but I found myself wanting to tell her. Whether it was me feeling comfortable with her, or just me wanting to find out more about him, I didn’t know. Maybe it was a little bit of both.

“Dane Hansen,” I whispered, nervously awaiting her reaction.

“Dane Hansen?” She repeated, her voice far above the whisper I would have appreciated. Several students surrounding us stopped their conversations to stare at Gem. Her eyes grew wide.

“I’m so sorry,” She gasped, clapping her hand over her mouth, as she realized just how well her voice had carried through the hall. My face flamed as I stared straight ahead, too terrified to look around.

Surely her voice wouldn’t have carried that far, would it? There were a lot of rows between Dane and us. Slowly, I turned my head in his direction, convinced that he wouldn’t have heard her, but for some stupid reason I needed to check. What I wasn’t prepared for was to see his eyes firmly on me. Our eyes met, and he grinned.

Shit. I quickly turned back around to continue my minor breakdown.

“Okay, you can’t just say that and not elaborate,” Hissed Gem, her eyes begging me for more information. I turned to her, my eyebrow arched.

“Really?” I said sarcastically. I immediately felt bad. She looked really sorry.

She blushed, “Okay, so I wouldn’t blame you if you never spoke to me again. I’m so sorry. It’s just, I was shocked to hear his name,” She muttered, shaking her head.

“Why?” I asked curiously. My need for information outweighed my annoyance right now. What was with this guy that at the mention of his name everyone went into a spin?

“He has a lot of baggage,” Gem said, her eyes wide, “As in
a lot
.” She repeated.

“Like what?” I pressed.

“I went to the same high school as him. He was in a year above me. When I was in my freshman year, his sister went missing. As in abducted. She was only, like, six or seven or something,” Gem shook her head, “He went crazy after that. Went from being a nice guy to always in trouble, always picking fights.”

“Wow,” I breathed. My heart went out to him. At least I’d had closure with Abby. He never would have had that with his sister. I didn’t blame him for losing the plot. Losing a loved one was a big thing to have to go through, especially when you're only a kid.

“There’s more,” Gem added, “So by senior year in high school, he was under control. Focused. A completely different person. Come freshman year at Fairhaven, he is one of the top boxers in the country for his age, popular…then one day, he quits,” Gem shrugged her shoulders as if she still trying to understand herself.

“Nobody sees him for like months, now suddenly, he’s back, but he is pretty much a recluse. Keeps completely to himself. Never goes out. He used to have women hanging off him. Now, you never see him with
anyone
.”

Gem’s description pretty much matched what Kella had told me to the tee. Definitely plenty of reason to stay away from this guy, no matter how attractive I thought he was. Abby’s words repeated themselves in the back of my mind, and strange as it was, if my dead sister thought he was okay, then maybe I should give him a chance.

Maybe I’d keep that thought to myself though.

After a somewhat boring class, I waited until the whole hall had emptied out. Or more to the point, I waited until Dane had left. I spied him out of the corner of my eye as walked towards the exit, the sight of him had my heart rate increasing. What the hell was wrong with me?

Lily, behave

He was almost out the door when he turned around and began walking in my direction. What was he doing? I quickly kicked my crutches under the seat next to me. The good thing about these seats was I could hide my leg quite well by crossing my good leg over the other and moving them slightly back under my seat.

“Hey,” Dane stood in the row behind me, leaning against the chair next to me, his voice as smooth and as sexy as I remembered, “I just realized I never introduced myself the other day, but you already know my name, right?” He said, grinning. My face flamed. I was going to kill Gem.

“Yes, I overhead the admin lady say your name the other day,” I fibbed.

“Right,” He said slowly, his smile widening, “So, if you already knew my name, you must have been talking to your friend about me,” He waited for me to answer, his eyebrows raised. He had me, and he knew it.

“I may have been telling my friend about the guy that barreled into me,” I admitted frostily.

“Barreled into you?” He laughed, “I stepped back, and you didn’t move!” He exclaimed laughing. That was true, but I couldn’t admit that to him.

“Don’t you have another class to get to?” I asked, so badly wanting this conversation to be over.

He laughed, “I do actually,” He said, straightening up, “So, you know my name and all that. Do I get to know yours?” He asked.

“Lily,” I finally answered, deciding there was no harm in him knowing my name.

“Well Lily, I had better be going,” He turned to walk away, then turned back suddenly, “Lily, do you want to grab a coffee with me later?”

“I can’t,” I said, swallowing hard, “I’m meeting someone.” It wasn’t a complete lie, I was supposed to meet Kella. Besides, I still didn’t want him to see my foot. Dane nodded, my rejection not appearing to faze him in the slightest.

“See you next time, Lily,” He said, flashing me a smile as he left the hall.