Face the Music (23 page)

By the time I made it to my desk
,
I was exhausted.  The crutches fell from my arms and hit the floor with a loud thud.  Sam and Melody watched
as I collapsed into my chair.

“What the heck
happened to you?” asked Melody.

“Long story.”  I did
n’t feel comfortable explaining
that I had been
assaulted,
even though I was sure Sam had already h
eard the whole story from Jake. 
“Grab your stuff and get to work,” I ordered.  “Let me know i
f you need any help, alright?”

Sam looked like he was going to say something
,
but changed his mind.

For lunch I limped down to the snack bar.  Jake was there with his friends from the night before.  “Hey!”  I said breathlessly, falling into a chair.  I gasped when I saw the dark ring around
his eye.

“Hey
,
yourself.” 
He glanced at my foot and then looked at my
face
and scowled. 
My bottom lip was fat, and I had some scrapes
and bruises
along
my cheek. 
“That looks like it hurts.”

“Forget about that
, t
hese cru
tches are killing my armpits.”  I rolled my shoulders. 
“
You
don’t look too good yourself, Jake
.”

“Pretty hot, huh?”  He closed his eyes and gave me a profile view.  “Chicks dig tough guys.”

“Tough guys don’t u
s
ually end up black and blue,” I teased.

Jake shrugged.  “The asshole took a cheap shot.  B
ut I had him pinned in no time.”  He flexed his left bicep.  “Two time all-state wrestling champ, baby.  That’s right, I got the moves.”

I had to laugh at th
at mental picture-
Jake wearing a skin
tight singlet
.

Jakes friends got up and left, and he
looked at me, all humor gone. 
“Seriously though, are you okay?  It’s a good thing those guys hurried out of there like they did.  I could have killed
that son-of-a-bitch
after I saw what
he did
to you.”

I rested my hand on top of his.  “You know w
hat?  I’m fine.  Really, Jake, t
hank you. 
If you hadn’t shown up when you did,” I shook my head, “I don’t know what would have happened.”  Act
ually
,
I think we both had a pretty good idea
, b
ut t
he last thing I wanted to do was dwell on
it
.  The sooner I could
forget
the better. 

Chris
walked by
, stopping only to stare at Jake’s black eye.  “Geez, man.  What happened to your face?”

Jake grinned and winked at me.  “She played a little rough last night.”

Chris’s eyes got wide
when he looked at me
.

“A bar fight,” I explained, shaking my head at Jake.  “Don’t ask.  How are you feeling?”  He had more color than the last time I’d seen him.

“I’ll live.  I take it you two had an
interesting night?
”  He glanced
down at my black and blue toes, curiosity written all over his face.

“It was one for the books
.”

A skinny blonde not too far from our table bent over to pick something up.  Jake’s eyes followed her every move.  Chris snorted and shook his head.

I struggled to prop myself up on the crutches.  “Well
,
boys, it’s been fun and all, but I have t
o get over to the university.”

I threw away my trash and headed down the hall.  Chris caught up with me.  “Allie, wait.”

I stopped and turned around.

“What’s going on with you two?”  He glanced towards Jake
, who was chugging a Mountain Dew
.

“What do you mean?”

He looked at me seriously
, his eyes soft
.  “Is he good to you?”

I nodded even though I really didn’t understand what he was asking.  “I’m not sure what you mean.  Jake is a
nice guy.  W
hy?”

“Sometimes I wonder if,” he shook his head.  “Nev
er mind.  Do you need help getting back?” 

“No, I can make it. 
Thanks. 
You sure you’re feeling okay?”  I balanced the crutches and rested a hand on his shoulder.

“I’m
on the men
d.”  He covered my hand with his.  “M
y God
, what happened to you
last night
?”  He
reached
up to caress my bruised cheek.
  His touch
was
light
,
but the sensation that
jolted
my insides
could have registered on the Richter Scale.

“Just a misunderstanding.  No big deal.”

“It looks like more than a misunderstanding. 
I
f you need something, you know you can come to me
, right?
”

I shrugged, determined to not make a big deal out of it.
  “Sure.”

He let out an exasperated sigh.  “I have something for you.” 
He dropped something into my hand
.  “I believe this belongs to you.”

I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw Grams’s diamond earring.  I was so shocked that I was at a loss for words.

“You said you lost it.  I figured it came off when you fell,
so I went back to the Plaza
to look for it.  It was under a bush at the top of the terrace.”

Unable to speak, I balanced my crutches against the wall and wrapped my arms around his neck.
  I couldn’t even imagine how long it must have taken him to find it.

“Thank you, so much,” I choked out.  “You don’t know how much this means to me.” 
He hugged me back,
squeezing me tightly and
burying his face in my hair.

Chapter 13

I was surprised to find Chris waiting
for me
outside the front doors of the studio
on
Monday morning.  He handed me a coffee
.  “T
all, skinny, sugar-free vanilla mocha.  I hope I remembered
that right
.”

“Good morning! 
That’s perfect, thank you
!”  I took a sip.  The warm, chocolaty-vanilla concoction was the perfect way to start my day.  It only made it better that it had come from him.  “Mmmm, it’s fabulous.  What did I do to deserve this?”

He pulled the door open for me.  “Just thought you’d enjoy it.”

Coul
d a man be any more wonderful
? 

“Feeling better?”
I asked when we were inside.

“Much better, thanks.  I spent most
of
the weekend in bed.”  His voice sounded
a lot
stronger
. 
“How are you?  Do anything fun?”

“Not really.  I hung out with Molly while Emily worked.  But look!  No more crutches.”  I swung my arms out to my sides.  “The swelling in my leg went down, so I’m back in the boot.”

He
gave a stiff smile that didn’t reach his eyes
.  “That’s great.  Hey, I have to get to rehearsal in a few minutes, but I wanted to ask you something first.”

“Alright, shoot.”

He ran his forefinger
back and forth
across his bottom lip
.  The act was extremely distracting. 
“I was hoping that, if you had Friday night free, maybe we could go get some dinner.”

I stalled.  “Friday…”   Of course
,
I had absolutely not
hing planned, and even if I did
I
would have canceled it, but I didn’t wan
t to come across as too eager.
  But then again, w
hatever happened to my resolution of keeping
a
distance?
  The internal struggle was agonizing.

“It’s just dinner,” he
urged
.  His smil
e was annoyingly persuasive.  “But i
f you’ve got other
plans or something
.”

“Dinner, huh?  Well I guess we have to eat, right?”

“So it’s a yes, then?”

“Sure.”  I knew I’d be
kicking myself for this later.

***

“What’s up with you?” Emily asked.  “You’re in an awfully good mood.”

She was getting dressed for work, and I hovered in he
r doorway, grinning like a fool
.  “Chris asked me to have dinner with him on Friday.”

She looked up from her buttons.  “
I thought you weren’t interested in Chris.
”

“I’m not.  Well, not really.” 
Just t
otally, utterly, head-over-heels
.
  I shook my head to quiet the unsolicited comment from my inner voice.

She cocked an eyebrow.  “
Sure, whatever you say, Allie. 
Where are you going?” 

“I don’t know.
  He’s going to pick me up.
”

“What are you planning to wear?”

“I haven’t even thought about
it
yet.”  That was the truth, and I worried as I did a mental inventory of my closet.  “
I’m wide open for ideas.
”

“Don’t worry about it. 
I’ll take care of everything.”  She pulled on her sneakers and grabbed her purse.  “Can’t chat now, I’m going to be late for work, but I’m
so
excited for you!”