The Rules We Defy

Chapter 4

"I never said I was having lunch with you," I said, catching up to him.

"You need to eat, right? And you're bored? So we're having lunch. What do you like? Mexican? Italian? Burgers?"

I grabbed his arm, making him stop. "Hold on. Why do you keep trying to get me to do stuff? Coming to my room last night. Finding me at the track. Making me go to lunch. Are you stalking me or something?"

"Do you feel like you're being stalked?"

"No, I guess not."

"Then I'm not stalking you." He turns and starts walking again. "I was just trying to be nice. But you're making it very difficult. I thought people from the Midwest were supposed to be friendly. I'm not getting that vibe from you at all."

He says it jokingly, although I'm sure he agrees with the statement at least somewhat. I definitely haven't been friendly to him.

"The friendly thing is a myth. We just say that to attract tourists." I race to keep up with his fast pace. "Why are you making such an effort to be nice? You don't even know me."

"Because I know it sucks to be in a new place where you don't know anyone. My dad sent me to boarding school in London back in seventh grade and I hated it. I didn't like any of the people there, and I hated being so far from home. I started sneaking out at night hoping they'd kick me out of school. It didn't work, so I set my room on fire and within a week I was back home."

"You set....what?! Nevermind. Where is home?"

"About half an hour from here." He opened the residence hall door for me. "That's why I figured I'd show you around town. I know everything about this area." He stops at the door to my room. "Don't take too long. I'm starving."

"Want to meet me back here in fifteen?"

He looks at me with a confused expression. "You mean like fifteen minutes? Can you get ready that fast?"

"Uh, yeah. Why? Didn't you just tell me to hurry up?"

"I've just never met a girl who could be ready in fifteen minutes. I was thinking you'd need at least an hour."

"An hour? Who takes an hour to get ready for lunch?"

"I guess not you. Okay, fifteen minutes. I don't even know if I could be ready that fast." He took off through the door to the upstairs.

I showered and quickly dried my hair, then threw on shorts and a white t-shirt. To keep things simple, I only wear black or white shirts. Years ago, I realized that trying to keep up with the latest colors in fashion was both stupid and expensive. So I decided to just go with the classic black and white. I could have gone all black, but then I would get a reputation as some goth chick and I didn't need people talking about me more than they already did. That's why I mix it up with white.

Seventeen minutes later, Dominic comes racing back out of the stairwell. I'm standing outside my door waiting for him.

"Damn, you weren't kidding," he says. "You really can get ready that fast."

"So what took you so long? Had to style your hair or something?" I can't seem to stop hurling insults at this guy. Maybe because I know I'd never date him.

Firstly, I've already decided that I'm not getting into a relationship in college. And second, a rich, popular, pretty boy like Dominic would never date someone like me.

"I'm going to ignore that," he says, walking down the hall without me. He seemed a little mad. Maybe I took it too far. I catch up with him when we're outside.

"Hey, I didn't mean to piss you off. I'm sorry."

He stops and smiles at me. "So you can be nice. You just choose not to be."

I smiled back. "Exactly. So you might want to bail on lunch. I used up allmy niceness just now, and you may not be able to handle whatever I say next."

"I can handle it." He walked up to a black BMW in the parking lot and open the passenger door for me. "So what do you want to eat?"

"I thought we were eating on campus."

"The dining halls aren't open yet. Didn't you read your housing packet? They don't open until Tuesday."

Shit! What am I supposed to do for food for the next few days? I'll have to take a cab or a bus to the grocery store. Good thing Cody gave me money.

"Are you getting in or are we going to stand here all day?"

"Oh, um, can't we just walk somewhere? I can't get into cars with strangers."

He laughs. "You sound like my little sister. She's six."

I feel my face getting hot. "Yeah, I didn't mean it like that. What I meant is that I don't know you that well, so I don't trust you to drive me somewhere."

"Really? Am I that scary?"

I looked him up and down. He doesn't look scary. He looks hot. White polo shirt, light colored shorts, sunglasses, deep tan.

"Do you want references or something? Because I know Jasmine, your RA. She'll tell you I'm perfectly safe to be around."

He stands there waiting for me, the door still open. "Come on. I thought Midwest people were trusting."

"Trusting is just a nicer word for stupid or naive. And I'm neither one of those things." I hesitate, not sure what to do. He seems all right, but I've seen plenty of pretty boys tried for murder on the news. And around here, he could easily dump my body in the woods and nobody would ever find out.

"Hey, Dominic." Jasmine walks by, waving at him.

He calls her over. "Jaz, wait. Come here for a minute." She walks over to us. "Tell the new girl I'm normal and not some crazy psychopath."

She looks confused. "What?"

"She's afraid to get in my car because she doesn't know me well enough. She wants references and you're it."

"Um, okay." She turns to me. "I've known Dominic since middle school. Sometimes he can be an ass, but the majority of the time he's a good guy." She turns and walks away.

"What the hell? I'm not an ass," Dominic yells at her.

She yells back. "The ass part is for breaking up with my sister!"

He shakes his head. "I went out with her sister one time. I didn't ask her out again and Jasmine's been pissed at me ever since.

Anyway, you got your reference, so can we go now?"

"I guess. But I know self-defense, so if you try anything, you're going to be in some serious pain."

"Noted." He waits for me to get in, then shuts my door.

As we were driving away from campus, I remembered that I didn't have any money. "I forgot my cash. Go back and I'll run in and get it quick."

"It's on me. Don't worry about it. " He keeps driving.

"I don't like owing people. Turn around."

"You won't owe me anything, Jessica. It's just lunch." He turns onto the main road. "I was thinking we could stop by a deli, grab some sandwiches and then head to the park. There's a lake there with picnic tables."

"Yeah and you can dump my body there while you're at it." I slapped a hand over my mouth, not believing that I said the words out loud. The image was in my head, but I wasn't supposed to verbalize it.

"Are you for real? Where do you get this stuff from? Horror movies?"

I realize that I'm the one who sounds like a deranged lunatic. If anyone should be worried about their safety, it was him, not me.