When Worlds Collide

I pulled into the parking lot around the corner and strode with purpose towards the office. I looked into the store windows as I passed out of habit and that’s how I saw her in the diner. My shoulders relaxed just a little before the thought that she might’ve already been to the recruiting office had me bolting through the door.

Her head came up at the sound of the door slamming back into place and the cup froze halfway to her mouth. Her eyes went wide no doubt from the look of anger on my face. I walked over and took the seat across from her, biting my tongue before I yelled at her the way I wanted to.

Not that I have anything against yelling at her, just not here. But once I get her ass alone… I just looked at her for the first few seconds until the waitress came over to see if I needed anything. “Just the check please.” I didn’t take me eyes off of her as I spoke to the older woman, who pulled a slip from her pocket and placed it on the table.

I snatched it up as the pain in the ass reached for it. “I can pay for my own coffee thank you very much.” I ignored her and got enough money for the coffee and a tip. “Let’s go; and before you give me any shit know that right now at this very minute I have no problem dragging you out of here by your fucking hair. Now get up and let’s go.”

She must be off her game because usually she would’ve told me something like, ‘my hair isn’t long enough to pull.’ Instead she flounced out of the chair and tried to beat me out the door.

I caught up with her on the sidewalk and took her elbow, steering her back in the direction of my car. I knew she’d gotten a ride down here because she didn’t have a car. “Would you stop dragging me around? I’m not your little toy you know.” What the hell was she going on about now? It wasn’t important. I’ll get to the bottom of her shit once I had her in the privacy of the Rover.

I sat her in the front passenger seat and belted her in. “You move from this seat and I swear to you you’ll regret it.”

“Oh so now I’m gonna be the one with regrets. I thought that was your thing.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Go baby, before I do something I’ll regret.” She mimicked what I believe she thought was me and I remembered the words I’d said to her the day before down by the lake.

“That’s not what I meant you little idiot.” I gabbed her chin and pulled her lips to mine, kissing her hard before letting her go. Shit, I’d just done that out in the open and I wasn’t going to kid myself that no one saw. I’m not that lucky. Fuck!

I wanted to handle things myself, in the right way. But if it gets out that I was seen kissing her face off in the fucking town square there would be no hope of that.

I slammed the door and walked around to my side. She had a look of bewilderment on her face when I climbed into my seat and took the wheel. “Well what did it mean then? I heard what I heard. I’m not stupid you know.”

“No, but right now you’re giving a very good impression of it. A minute before I said that I also told you that I want you in my bed the first time I fuck you. Which part of that sounds like I regretted what happened?” She refused to look at me, which meant she wasn’t listening to a thing I say.

“That’s not what it sounded like. It sounded like you regretted our kiss.” See, innocent. She doesn’t even know how to be coy, how to hide the hurt that I’d caused her. For me, that’s a breath of fresh air. In this town, among my circle, it’s like leading a fucking lamb to the slaughter.

“We’ll talk about this when we get home. Did you… did you go to that office?” My guts tightened and I gripped the wheel as I awaited her answer. I saw the shake of her head out of the side of my eye and released the breath I didn’t know I was holding.

I started the car and pulled out of the driveway before I was able to speak again. I don’t know what I would’ve done had she already signed her life away. I was finally able to breathe easy again since her mother uttered those words.

She looked down at her lap and played with her fingers, her little face set in a pout. I reached over and lifted her chin while keeping my eyes on the road. “I’m sorry I hurt you with my words, but that’s not what I meant okay.”