LbA: I Spy

When I opened my eyes, Aaron was looking at me, inquisitively.  I raised an eyebrow at him, and wrapped my arms around myself, cold.  “What are you doing here?” I questioned.

“Stalking you,” he deadpanned.

I stared at him, blankly, unsure if he was joking or not.  I mean, he had been kind of crossing paths with me a lot.  I mean, Lincoln isn’t huge, but it isn’t tiny, either.

He cracked a smile, then.  “I’m joking, lighten up,” he quipped, playfully punching my shoulder.  “I was running.  That’s all!”

“Oh, right,” I acknowledged, embarrassed.  I quickly noted his sweatiness, again. 

“And you’re locked out.”

“Thank you, Captain Obvious.”  I was frustrated.  Although it wasn’t okay for me to be snippy with him for this situation.

“He-ey,” he soothingly called, “can I help?”

I sighed.  “No, sorry.  I mean, thank you for offering.  I’ll probably just buzz up and down the list until hopefully someone lets me in.”

“I can wait for you,” he offered, “so you aren’t out here alone.”  He looked around, casually, though perceptively, and rested his hands on his hips, I figured normally where he gun was holstered.  I wonder if he felt naked without it.

I half grinned at him.  “I think I’ll be okay right in front of a common area in broad daylight...”

“I know.” He smiled at me, but it didn’t reach his eyes.  “I think I’ll wait anyway.  I need a breather.”  And the look he was giving me, told me not to challenge him.

I shrugged.  “If you want.  But you’ll probably get cold.”

“Nah,” he countered, sitting down on the step in front of the door.

I started at the top and buzzed down each room number, praying for an answer, or at least a “who’s this” from the intercom.  But no such luck.  I took the two steps over and plopped down next to Aaron and rested my face in my hands, my elbows on my knees.

“Let’s play a game.”

I looked over at him, intrigued.  “What kind of game?”

“We’re going to play ‘I spy’ and you have 10 guesses to get it right.”

“We’re outdoors!  I could ask you 200 questions and still not get it right!”

“Humor me,” he sweetly said.

“And if I don’t get it?”

“You have to let me buy you a beer.”

“And if I win?”

“You get to let me buy you a beer,” he smiled mischievously at me.

I laughed.  “We’ll see.”

He started, “I spy with my little eye, something brown.”

I looked around at the wide open space with multiple cars, buildings, and wildlife (aka squirrels).  “Is it a tree trunk?”

“Which one?”

“Seriously?”

He grinned, “No.  It’s not.”

I frowned, concentrating, looking at all the brown options.  I made eight more of what I thought to be quality guesses, but they were wrong.  As I was contemplating my last one, the wind started blowing, loosening a strand of my hair and blowing it across my face.  I pulled it away from me, and looked at it.  “Is it my hair?”

“Ding, ding, ding!  We have a winner!  It looks like I’m now stuck with the burden of having to buy you a beer!”

I rolled my eyes at him, but laughed at (or with) him.  “Well, it’s your lucky day, I suppose.”

I slyly looked over at him, and saw him studying me.  The wind blew again, wrapping that same annoying strand around my face.  He reached over and grasped it, taking it and combing it with his fingers behind my ear.  I froze, his touch sending goosebumps down my arms.  He paused with his fingers still entwined in my hair right behind my ear, his face now serious but tender. 

And although the moment lasted mere seconds, it felt like hours. 

And that is how we were sitting when I heard the door to the building pop open.  I jerked away, as if being caught red-handed doing something naughty, and he slowly recoiled his hand. 

I turned to see Victoria standing there with an amused expression on her face.  Of course it had to be her.  “One guy not enough for you?  You bring multiple guys home within weeks?  Trashy.”  She said it with all the poison she could muster in her voice, but there was something else in her eyes.  Words meant to hurt and/or embarrass me.  But her look...  Pity?  Jealousy?  Hate? I couldn’t quite tell.

I clenched my jaw shut, but wanted to reach out and slap her.  I could feel the heat rising up my neck to my face.

Aaron quickly stood up, reaching out his hand to her.  Seriously?  What is wrong with him?  He smiled a sickly sweet smile.  “Hi, I’m Aaron, and you are?”

Her eyes darted between Aaron and me, her expression changing to uneasiness.  “Um, Victoria.”  She hesitantly stuck her hand out and grasped his.

Apparently limply, because Aaron exclaimed, “Girl, you need to work on that handshake!  It’s like grabbing a dead fish!”

Her eyes widened, clear mortification clouding her face.  “Oh.. uh, okaaayy.” 

“And I’m not sure what you were trying to say to my friend, Aleah, here, but she’s quite the opposite of trashy.  Not a slut, as you seemed to be implying, and not ‘bringing me home,’ as you were trying to infer.”

He was quite a bit taller than me, and towered over Victoria, who was looking up at him like a puppy being scolded.  I was shocked that he was defending me.  I was watching the exchange, and it seemed as if they didn’t even know I was there anymore.  Victoria wasn’t saying anything, and I saw her finally break Aaron’s gaze and looked past him.  I turned my head and saw Luke striding up towards us.  Victoria let go of the still open door and flitted between us, towards Luke.  Aaron reached out and grabbed the door before it closed. 

Victoria was animatedly talking to Luke, who was looking at Aaron and me.  They started walking out to the parking lot, and Aaron lightly grabbed my elbow.  “Hey,” he said gently.  “Are you okay?”

I snapped out of the trance I seemed to have been in and faced him.  “Yeah, sorry.”

“That’s them?  Who you talked to Brad about?”

“Oh, yeah.”

He pulled out his cell phone from his pants pocket.  “What’s your number?  I’m going to text you so you have my cell.  If you need anything, please let me know.  Plus, I’m going to need your number anyway, for that beer I now owe you,” he added, trying to lighten the mood.

I smiled appreciatively at him.  “Thanks.”  And I told him my number.

“For nothing,” he said as he slid his phone back into his pocket and took off jogging again.