My Obsession with Chloe Claire: BOOK ONE

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Chloe's P.O.V

I went back to my dorm that night feeling a weird sensation in the pit of my stomach. How did I let Luke Armstrong convince me to go to the stupid frat party with him? I took my laptop out of my backpack, set it down on my desk, and put my backpack in the floor next to my bed.

My heart started to pound wildly thinking about what had happened during the past couple of weeks. I've felt things that I haven't felt in a long time, and I owed it all to Luke. There was no going around it. I liked Luke Armstrong. That much was clear to me, but there was something else that bothered me. The way Luke had been acting around me lately...well...it wasn't exactly normal...or was it? I must have been crazy to think that I lived in a world where Luke Armstrong could ever like a girl like me... but was it? I wasn't so sure.

Luke was just acting differently lately, or had he been acting like this the entire time? He was such a good guy, offering to hang out with me the whole time at the Halloween frat party. He could only have offered it out of pity or that he genuinely liked me enough to hang out with me for that long. It was one or the other. I just couldn't quite decipher which one it was. My heart was telling me one thing while my brain was telling me another.

I stared at his contact in my phone and smiled at the silly picture of Luke I had taken in class. Maybe I should start listening to my heart for once.

"I'm here!" Hailee called out into our dorm as I heard the door open.

I opened my door to my bedroom and peered around the corner to see Hailee throwing her keys on the kitchen counter, carrying a coffee in her other hand. "Hey Hailee," I smiled uneasily and walked out of my bedroom.

Hailee scrunched up her eyebrows and analyzed me with her bright blue eyes. "What's wrong, Chloe?"

"Nothing," I said and rubbed my left arm as I leaned against the wall.

"Come on," Hailee rolled her eyes. "You can't just expect me to think that you're okay when you're acting like that."

"Acting like what?" I bit my lip.

"Like that, jeez Louise," she shook her head, her tight, bouncy curls shaking from side to side.

I wanted to tell Hailee what I was thinking, but I was worried about the outcome. She liked Luke, but so did I. I wondered if I should stop liking him because of her. It didn't seem fair. Someone's heart was bound to get broken, and it might as well be mine.

"What is it that you want to tell me?" she asked as she plopped on the couch, her arm resting on one of the sailor pillows.

I sat down in the arm chair and cleared my throat. Should I even tell Hailee? Nope. "I decided that I'm going to the Halloween frat party," I said, my eyes looking down at the coffee table as I rubbed my hands against the tops of my thighs nervously.

Hailee's eyes lit up. "Really?" she asked excitedly.

I nodded. "Really."

Hailee set her drink on the coffee table and squealed, jumping up and down.

I hope we aren't bothering our neighbors.

"That's great news!" she said and grabbed my hands. "So, what made you decide to come?"

"Uh..." I trailed off, feeling my cheeks turn a bright pink.

Hailee studied my face for a moment and pushed up her glasses, her blue eyes widening. "Oh. My. God."

"What?" I asked nervously, bouncing my right leg up and down.

Hailee sighed and folded her arms. "I thought we went over this a million times already, but oh well, guess I'll have to say it again," she said, sipped her coffee and sat down.