The Lies We Breathe

Chapter 19 Wed, Aug 9th: Look who wants to spend time with me now

If Blake was in the library, he was hiding well. I looked everywhere for him and he was not there.

Damn it!

After going through the raws of books several times, I bumped into Josh and his girlfriend.

"Hey, have you seen Blake?"

"Have you looked for him back at the staircase?" Josh replied glancing at the back door. I should have known that something was up. But I had already wasted fifteen minutes looking for Blake, and was in a hurry to finally get it over with. So I headed for the backdoor.

I found Blake pinned against the wall by some red-haired girl. Her body was firmly pressed to his and one of his hands was holding her firmly against him. His shirt was open and she was sucking on one of his nipples.

The sound of my gasp made Blake's head turn in my direction. There was annoyance in his eyes.

"Sorry," I mumbled backing off. I quickly stepped back inside the library and closed the door.

OMG! I hurried back to my usual desk.

"I guess you found him," Josh called after me with laughter.

I wanted to disappear. As soon as I reached my desk, I sat down and pulled out my books. My face was still red. I tried reading but the image of Blake with the girl plastered all over him was still flashing before my eyes. I shook my head in the hopes of shaking off the image. But to no avail.

That woman again! Did she have any common sense at all?

"Don't mind her," whispered the girl I was, lowering her redhead to my neck. She was right. Why should I mind her?

I whirled her around and pressed her to the wall. She's been trying to get me for a while now. Since I had little success in getting that girl out of my head with the help of Becky, I decided yesterday to try someone new, and this girl was the next best choice.

I let my hands run up her body. She was a looker. I liked her full lips. She smelled nice and was all too willing. I pulled up her shirt to better see her breasts.

She had beautiful skin though and I found the freckles on her chest sexy. But then I immediately flowed. There was just a fucking flower tattoo staring back at me.

As always, I immediately lost interest and stepped back.

"What is it?" She asked.

"Nothing," I replied giving her her shirt back.

Fucking tattoo. Never understood why people would put some stupid flowers, or some freaking inspirational quotes, or a stupid Micky Mouse on their bodies.

"Are you leaving?"

"Let's just forget this ever happened," I told her opening the door.

A few minutes later Blake emerged and sat down across me as if nothing had happened.

"So quick?" I said pealing my eyes off the book.

"It would have lasted longer if there wasn't an unpleasant interruption," he replied drily. The condescending look he gave me spoke volumes.

The redhead that Blake was with also emerged. She gave us an angry look as she headed for the exit. Blake didn't even bother looking after her. It seemed like all his attention was on me now.

I raised an eyebrow.

"Wrong place, wrong time. Again," Blake said giving me an accusing look.

"I'd say it was you who was at the wrong place and wrong time doing whatever you were doing," I mumbled giving him a quick glance. His shirt was buttoned up now, but I could see some lipstick on his neck. "I believe there is a rule against that in the Guide to Highridge..."

"Surely you should know by now that some rules only apply to people like you. For someone like me, there are no rules." It sounded like he was stating the obvious.

"If there are no rules, why were you hiding on the staircase then?"

"The girl wanted privacy. I am a gentleman after all."

At that, I had to stop myself from laughing out loud.

"Yeah, right."

"What do you want?"

"There a project we must do together. I hate it, but it is what it is."

"Look who wants to spend time with me now."

"Don't be an idiot. There is nothing I want less. But I need a good grade in this subject, and I will not allow you to spoil things for me."

"And what will I get in return?"

"What do you want?"

"I want you to break up with Liam." He was serious, I could tell.

"I won't do that," I replied firmly. How he dare ask something like this from me?

"Don't tell me you have feelings for him? Last week you were kissing another guy. And this week you've upgraded, I guess. What an efficient little gold digger you are!"

I jumped to my feet, my fists clenched. He raised one of his eyebrows at that. I closed my eyes for a moment and took a breath, then sat down again. I didn't want to make a scene, not in this place.

"Go to hell!" I said instead.

"Good luck with the project," he replied standing up. I watched him walk out as if he owned the world. And again, I replayed in my mind the moment I threw a book at him and wished I could do the same again.

I was stuck. Stuck with him. Stuck in this situation. What was I to do now? Getting this project finished and getting a good grade, suddenly felt like something that would never happen.

I tried reading, but my mind kept going to the scene at the staircase. I tried to shake it off, think of Liam instead. In the end, I packed up my stuff and went looking for the real Liam in the hopes that that would help.

"How did it go with Blake?" Liam asked me when I found him. He pulled me in for a kiss and I gladly returned it.

"He's not budging," I replied. My face flushed slightly remembering once again what had happened at the library.

"You will get him around," he said with more confidence in me than I had myself at that moment.

"Eventually, but it might be too late for me then. I need to get him to work with me on this. ASAP."

"Then perhaps some sort of a peace offering is in order," Liam said.

"Yes, he wants me to break up with you."

"He said that?" Coldness crept into Liam's voice.

"Yes." I studied his face with interest. Something was going on with those two and it was bugging me. I wanted to know more about them, about what had transpired with Jessica. But I knew I needed to bid time. I also kept wanting to ask him about Justin. But somehow I feared the answer. This was all I had wanted for years. Maybe I preferred to be in denial?

"What did you reply?" he asked studying my face.

"I said I won't, of course. And there is nothing else that I have that he would possibly want. Except maybe leaving the school for good."

"Don't give up that easily."

"What are you doing tonight?" I asked.

"Nothing much. Just hanging out with the guys," Liam replied. But he averted his eyes and then changed the topic altogether.

I had a feeling there was something he wan't telling me. And that it had something to do with the message the Rileys passed on to Blake.