Turning towards me, she smirks at me. “It only took you a week to figure that out? I guess you’re not as slow as I thought.”
“Hey, my brain was scrambled on the Afghan concrete a couple of months ago. Cut me some slack, sweetheart.”
“And there it is again. I was wondering if we’d be able to make it through one conversation without you calling me that, but I guess not.”
I shrug, not sure what to tell her. “That’s your fault. You’re just so damn sweet that I can’t help it.”
She laughs as she settles into the couch and hits the play button on the remote. It’s weird since she’s practically a stranger, but I feel more comfortable around her than I have around anyone else in a really long time.
About an hour into the movie, I find that I’ve been watching her more than the show, and I can’t help but feel ridiculous jealousy when she comments on how she’d love to be in a Mark/Leo sandwich. It’s irrational, but the part of me that wants her can’t help it, even if I’ve already resolved not to go there.
She must feel the burning on the side of her face from my watching her because she finally turns away from the television to look at me, mistaking my staring for something else.
“What’s up? You all right? Need a pillow for your back or your arm or something? You can just ask me if you need anything. That’s what I’m good for, remember? I refuse to get you a bell to ring whenever you need something, but I don’t mind you asking.”
Shaking my head, I tell her, “No, it’s not that.” And she frowns at me.
“Oh, geez, do I have pizza sauce on my face? I swear, Dad’s been telling me since I was a kid to slow down while eating it, but it’s my favorite and I get a little crazy whenever I have it in front of me,” she says, looking at me sheepishly as she wraps her sleeve around her hand and goes to town trying to wipe off her face.
I know I should tell her that’s not it either, but I’m getting a fucking kick out of watching her, which causes me to chuckle. She stops what she’s doing and her eyes narrow.
“I don’t have sauce on my face, do I?” she asks.
“Nope, but it was pretty damn hilarious watching you try to get it all off,” I tell her, prompting her to scowl at me.
“Well, then why the hell were you staring at me, you creep?” she asks as she turns the TV down a little bit.
“I was just remembering something that Jace told me last night, and I realized that I still don’t know that much about you.”
Her forehead wrinkles as she turns towards me. “What’d he say?”
“He was telling me about how you work at Austin Peay.”
Nodding, she answers me. “Yep, I work as the liaison in the Veterans Affairs office. If you’re looking to get back into school, I’m your girl.”
“Nah, I’m good. I finished up my degree in International Relations when I was in Iraq in 2008 and right now I have no desire to go back to school. Maybe one day. How long have you been working there?”
“Umm, it’s been a little over two years. I like it. It’s how I found out about this volunteering gig, and it’s nice to help out the military in the community, making sure that they’re using their benefits in the most efficient way and all that.”
She’s not looking at me as she’s talking, and I wonder if there’s more to the story. “Have you been in Clarksville since your dad was stationed at Ft. Campbell?”
She shakes her head and takes a long sip of her wine. “No. Dad’s been here for about ten years. Unusual for the Army, but with his surgical position, they haven’t made him relocate too many times. He has gone on several tours overseas, though. Once I graduated high school, I decided to go to UT to be close to him, and then I got a job in Nashville, working at Bell South.”
“So how’d you end up back here? Were you looking to be back in the area?” I’m genuinely curious about how she ended up back here, and this seems like a step in the right direction of getting to know her.
She’s playing with the strings on the sweatpants she changed into earlier. Not looking at me, she answers. “About two years ago, my boyfriend at the time got an academic job at Austin Peay and wanted me to come with him. I lucked out that there was a position open. At the time there was no question about moving here, especially with Dad being so close by.”
I’m wondering if this is the asshole she alluded to during that whole cheating miscommunication thing. “And you’re not dating him now?”
“No. Absolutely not,” she says abruptly. “That’s been over for months.”
I know I’m pushing my luck, but my curiosity gets the best of me. “So what happened there?”
She looks up at me, no longer avoiding my gaze. She shrugs before challenging me. “Are you going to tell me all about your sordid past and what made you so quick to think I was a cheating whore?”
Jesus, she doesn’t ever hold back from what she’s thinking. I shake my head, knowing that I’m not touching that topic with a ten-foot fucking pole.
“Yeah, I didn’t think so. Look, we both have issues with our pasts—obviously—and we’re not ready to talk about them. So let’s just leave it at that, okay?”
“Sounds good to me,” I tell her. And it does, because as much as I want to know about this guy, I have no desire to talk to her about Megan and bring all that back up.
She settles back into the couch and turns the volume back up. We finish the rest of the movie in a comfortable silence as we polish off the rest of the wine. I’ve never really been a wine drinker, so it surprises me how relaxed I feel by the end of the movie. For the first time since I can remember, I think I’ll actually be able to go to bed without having to take a pill, and I’m so fucking thankful for that. Sure, replacing a pill with alcohol isn’t exactly ideal, but it’s kind of a step in the right direction. Okay, maybe not, but for right now, that’s what I’m telling myself.
Once the movie is over, she stretches, making a show of how tired she is. I’m racking my brain to come up with a way to get her back in my bed again. The thought of waking up to her wandering fingers crosses my mind, and I smile at the memory even though I know there’s not going to be a repeat performance. Getting up from the couch, she collects our empty glasses and takes them to the kitchen. She comes back into the room, lingering by the hall.
“I’m going to hit the sack. I’m exhausted,” she tells me, yawning wide.
I nod, and she starts to walk away.
I can’t let this night end with that, so I speak without thinking. “Hey, Charlie?”
She turns around and looks at me, waiting for my next thought.
“Friends?” is all I can get out, and I know I sound lame as hell.
But then she smiles wide at me. “I’d love that, Knox. Friends sounds great,” she confirms before she turns away and I watch her gorgeous ass walk down the hall.
My dick isn’t exactly soft anymore, and the thought of getting in the shower crosses my mind, but I’m not about to have a repeat performance now that Charlie’s in the house. Situating myself, I settle in on the couch to watch more TV, trying to get her out of my mind.
THE REST of the week passes quickly as we fall into a comfortable routine, and surprisingly, we haven’t argued in days. She officially has to be out of Lucy’s apartment today, so she ended up spending the night there last night. As she was leaving, she let me know, telling me that she wanted one last night with her friend before she left for the summer. I shrugged like it was no big deal, but later on in the night I had to keep the television on for background noise because it was too damn quiet without her around. She’s only been here for less than a week and I’m already getting too used to having her in my space.