500 Days (33 page)

“
A warning next time would
be nice. This would have been pretty hard to explain to my date if
he decided to come in.”

Casper sat up at the mention of my date.
“What kind of guy goes home with a girl on the first date?
Seriously Alex, you should get rid of this guy now. He sounds like
he’s just trying to get in your pants.”

“
You’re one to
talk
.
And I would
never have let it get that far and Reece is nothing like that. He’s
actually a gentleman.” Casper laughed. “Oh what would you know?
Have you ever even had a date before?”

“
Several.”

“
One that hasn’t ended
with you going home with them.” I sat down in the chair to take off
my boots while he thought it over. “See, if it takes you that long
to think about it then I already know the answer is no. Now, if
you’ll excuse me
I’m tired and I’d like to
go to bed.”

He laid back down putting his arm behind his
head and patting the spot next to him. “Casper.” I stood with my
hands on my hips. He was starting to kill my buzz.

“
We can snuggle and have
girl talk,” he winked.

I laughed so hard it hurt. “Cas, you are not
capable of girl talk and neither am I.”

“
Okay,” he sighed, sitting
up. “Where do you want to go to lunch tomorrow?”

“
I don’t care. You pick,
but right now I just want to sleep.”

He got up and gave me a kiss on the temple.
“See you tomorrow.”

“
Goodnight
Casper.”

I was late for my first class. I had over
slept and had to hall ass all the way across campus. I quietly
slipped in through the back and grabbed a seat on the end. I opened
up my notebook ready to take notes when I couldn’t find an
implement to write with. Shit.

I smelled him before I felt him. Dangling
over my shoulder was a pencil. I looked behind me to confirm my
suspicion. “What are you doing here?” I asked Casper.

“
This isn’t the bathroom?”
I narrowed my eyes at him. He jumped over the row of seats and sat
in the one next to me. “I do go to school here, remember? And last
time I checked this was a classroom.”

“
I meant in this
class.”

“
Sociology? I’ve always
had a fascination with the human mind.”

“
Yes, particularly with
the female kind. Is this so you can figure out how to trick women
into sleeping with you?”

He placed his hand over his chest, feigning
hurt. “Alex, I thought we were past all of this?” I rolled my eyes.
“So, what you want to do tonight?”

“
Casper, can we talk about
this later?” I said, still searching for a writing instrument. He
handed me the
pencil. I took it and tried
to focus on the lecture, which was hard to do with Casper sitting
next to me. I knew he was looking at me and his closeness was
sending goose bumps up and down my arm. “Cas, it’s hard to pay
attention with you staring at me.” I tilted my head slightly to
look at him.

He smiled playfully. “This class is boring
any way. What you say we get out of here?”

“
No. I’m actually here to
learn, not to get some new pickup lines.”

“
I bet I could teach you
more than this stuffy old teacher could.” I raised a brow at him.
“What do you say? We make our own lesson?” I turned back to the
professor who droned on and on. Two kids to my left were passed out
and a few to my right struggled to stay awake, their heads bobbing
up and down. I turned back to Casper, his eyes were pleading. I’ll
admit I found it hard to stay awake in this class half the time. I
decided to take Jack’s advice of taking chances and took the
risk.

“
Let’s go.” Casper’s smile
widened. He collected his things while I stuffed my books back into
my messenger bag. We quietly made our way out the back. I squinted
at the bright sun. “Now what?”

“
It’s time for our first
lesson.” He grabbed my hand and pulled me to his bike letting me
know his car was still in the shop. I got on without any more
questions as to where he was taking me.

When we pulled up to our destination, I
shifted in my seat to look at him. “A bar?”

“
What better way to study
human interaction.”

“
Casper, it’s nine o’clock
in the morning. What bar is even open that early and who the hell
is even drinking that early?”

“
The perfect people you
should be studying.” He held out his hand to help me off. I
hesitated. He rolled his eyes and lifted me off the bike. We walked
into the dingy, dimly lit bar. I was surprised to find that it was
in fact open and customers lined up around the bar and in booths.
Casper dragged me to a booth in the corner.

“
What are these people
doing here?”

“
Most of these people work
third shift. So this is their nightcap. Others, alcoholics, lonely
people who have nothing better to do.”

“
And how do you know all
this?”

An older woman, in her late forties,
strolled up to the table. She had on a tight black shirt that was
cut low in the front and hip hugging jeans. She carried with her a
pen and pad that she had stuffed in her small red apron that was
wrapped around her mid-section. “Morning Cas, what brings you in
here today?”

“
Hey Betty. A field trip
for school. Can we get two beers?”

“
Sure thing sugar, be
right back with your order.”

“
Come here often?” I
raised a brow.

“
I prefer not to limit my
education to one place.” I nodded, trying to keep the smile from my
face.

“
School started two weeks
ago. How come this is the first time I’ve seen you in
class?”

“
There was a mix up with
my schedule, but now it’s fixed…lucky me,” he winked.

“
Pick a major? Or you one
of those brats who only goes to school to party and blow their
parent’s money.”

He narrowed his eyes slightly but I could
see a hint of a smile. “Neither,” he took a sip of his beer. “I’m
just not sure what I want to do.”

“
What do you like to
do?”

He shrugged. “Write and play music.”

“
Ever think maybe about
doing something with your music? If you like it so much why don’t
you pursue a career in the music industry?”

“
What about you?” he
asked. He switched the topic over to me, letting me know this
wasn’t something he wanted to talk about. Something I did
often.

“
Pre-law.” His eyes
widened. “Does this surprise you?”

“
Actually no. You’ve got a
fire inside you. I can see you being a real crusader.”

I laughed. “Nah, I just like to argue.”

Three beers later and I was feeling the
effects. Casper leaned in across the table. “See that guy over
there.” I adjusted myself just enough so I could look without being
obvious. “He comes here every morning after work because he can’t
stand his wife. And that one over there, lost his job a month ago,
and that one over there, his wife died ten years ago. But this was
where they had their first date. He comes here every year on their
anniversary and spends the whole day here.”

“
That’s so sad.” I turned
to see he was trying to hide his smile behind his beer mug. “You
just made all that up, didn’t you?” He shrugged. “You’re a jerk.” I
reached across the table to smack him, making him spill some of his
beer. He laughed.

He slid over in the booth. “Come here,” he
said, patting the spot next to him. I eyed him warily. “I’m not
going to do anything. I swear. I just want to show you something.”
I carefully got up and slid into the seat next to him. He shifted,
putting his hand on my hip, and turning me slightly. I gripped the
table to keep myself from shivering. I didn’t know what it was that
made Casper have this weird effect over me, but when he touched me,
my body reacted instantly. I wanted to fall back into him and pull
his arms around me, but I resisted. “Okay, tell me what you see.”
He was so close I could feel his warm breath on my cheek. I closed
my eyes for a second, enjoying his nearness.

When I opened them again, I looked around
the room. My eyes fell to the middle aged woman at the end of the
bar. Her eyes were tired, her ponytail slowly falling out of its
original position. She wore beat up sneakers, faded black dress
pants, and a stained black shirt. “She’s a waitress who just got
off her shift. She has kids. Every morning when she’s done work she
rushes them off to school and then on her way home stops here to
wind down so she can relax and eventually sleep.” I could feel him
smiling behind me.

“
And what about that one.”
He pointed to an elderly man sitting in the middle of the bar. He
wore a tan jacket. He was bald on top with light gray hair on the
sides. He was flipping a coin over and over on the bar.

“
He’s a recovering
alcoholic. He comes here to remind himself not to drink. He orders
one, but never touches it. The coin is his safety net, his twitch
to keep himself straight.”

Casper sat back and I suddenly felt cold in
the empty space behind me. “You’re pretty good at this. You sure
you haven’t been here before?” he asked suspiciously.

I slid down my leg to put both feet on the
floor. “I’m a quick study.”

We spent the next hour guessing what
everyone’s back story was and the more we drank the more ridiculous
was the story we made up. I never laughed so hard in my life. My
phone vibrated in my pocket, distracting me. It was Declan.
“Hello?” I answered.

“
Where the hell are you?
You missed class today.”

I turned to Casper. “Shit,
what time is it?” He looked at his watch, squinting. I laughed and
pushed his hand down, trying to steady it so I could look myself.
“Wow is it really twelve?” Casper nodded, signaling
for the waitress to bring us more beers. “Oh, and
some of those shot thingies.”

“
Are you drinking? Alex,
it is twelve o’clock in the afternoon.”

“
We’re on a field trip,” I
giggled and then hiccupped.

“
Are you drunk?” she
yelled, making me hold the phone away from my ear.

“
No,” hiccup. “Okay,
maybe.” Hiccup.

“
Jesus Alex. Who are you
with?”

“
Casper.”

“
Put him on the phone,
now.”

I held out the phone to Casper. “She wants
to talk to you and she doesn’t sound too happy.” He waved it off,
not caring and took the phone.

“
Declan babe, you should
–” he was cut off by the loud screeching on the other end. He held
the phone out. “It’s for you.”

I mumbled,
‘wuss’
under my breath
and took the phone back. “I’m sending Jacob to come get you
two.”

“
Nooooo, you can’t send
him. I’m supposed to be the sample. I mean example, good influence.
He can’t see me drunk,” I whispered the last sentence as if he was
standing right next to me.

“
I have no other choice.
He’s the only one who doesn’t have any more classes today and
neither of you can drive. It’s either him or Jasper.”

I sucked in a breath and let out a dramatic,
“Nnnoooooo. You can’t send him.” I turned to Casper, wide eyed.

He waved for me to give him the phone. I
handed it over. “No worries my love. We’ll take a cab.”

“
Oh, good idea!” I
cheered, thinking that was the best thing he could have ever
thought of.

“
Bye D.” He hung up the
phone and tossed it on the table.

“
She is going to be so mad
you hung up on her.” He shrugged, not caring.

“
Pool table is open.” I
jumped up excited. I racked the balls while Casper grabbed us two
cue sticks. “You break.” I bent over and tried to line up the ball.
The more I concentrated the harder it was. I slipped and missed,
cracking up hysterically. “You’re horrible,” he laughed.

“
Okay, let’s see you do
better.” I watched him concentrate. His face scrunched tight and he
looked so cute as he tried to take the shot. The ball barely broke
the triangle. He put his head down on the table,
laughing.

“
Let me try that again.”
His second attempt at least broke up the balls, but he got nothing
in
,
leaving the
table open. I walked around looking for the best shot. Although I
was pretty sure I could take the easiest shot and still miss. “Go
for the thirteen,” Casper suggested.

I missed the shot. Trying to play pool
became more challenging than I thought. Casper walked over to me
and stood behind me. The rush I felt when his body pressed against
mine was unlike anything I had ever felt. I had to steady myself
which was hard to do in my current condition. He wrapped his arm
around my waist, pressing his fingers into my hip, and pulled me
back gently. I leaned forward as he leaned over, holding the cue
stick with me. “Okay, line it up, right, here.” He was so close I
could feel his warm breath on my cheek. “Pull back, and hit it
hard.” I could feel the excitement in his pants as he pushed in
closer behind me. I was so turned on I was gripping the stick
tightly in my hands, unable to move.

“
Ready?” he asked, voice
strained. I nodded, pulling the stick back with his arms still
guiding me. I could feel him shake behind me. He pushed himself
into me causing the stick to shoot up. The ball went flying off the
table and onto the floor near our waitress. Casper fell on top of
me laughing. The waitress came over and placed the ball back on the
table. “Another round Betty,” Casper slurred slightly.