Authors' note: This is my first attempt at a story. So feedback is certainly appreciated. It gets off to a rather slow start but hopefully will pick up a bit in later chapters. I have the first few chapters mostly done but I can't make any promises as to how quickly I'll be posting new ones after that. I can however promise that I'll finish it at some point if you're patient. Hope you enjoy the experience of reading as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Hats off to little_blonde_jug for her thoughtful editing.
Chapter 4: Bree and Ty have their first date.
I woke to find her looking at me intently from her side of the couch. It was hard to place her expression, though there was the faintest hint of a smile on her face.
The sun was just raising and her hair almost looked red in the morning light. Our legs were still tangled together and our hands were barely touching. We'd just spent most of the night on a rather uncomfortable couch, but it was a remarkably pleasant way to wake up.
"This couch is turning into my favorite place. Did you sleep okay" I said as I lost my fight with a morning yawn.
She just nodded and then got a crafty look on her face.
"I could use some breakfast, but do you think you could help me with something first?" she asked.
"Sure, what did you have in mind?"
"How about we go wake up my room-mate so that I can get a few things from my room?"
The crafty look was still there as she started to extricate her legs from mine and got up off the couch. I did the same and gathered up my bag, grabbing hers at the same time. I made a little bowing gesture and let her lead the way.
The 'Do Not Disturb' sign was still on her door when we arrived. She pulled it off the door and tossed it down the hall before unlocking it. She then bounced into the room with a spring in her step I'd never seen before. I followed to find her room-mate and the frat clone sprawled out on the bed. They were mostly covered but the roomie had a rather nice breast poking out one side of the sheet.
Of course I looked, I'm a guy, remember?
Bree proceeded to grab a bag and started throwing a few cloths into it. She wasn't making much effort to be quiet and her roommate cracked an eye. She started to make a nasty comment to Bree, she spied me and cut herself off in mid sentence with little yelp as she pulled the sheets around herself. This in turn exposed frat clone who by this point had started to wake up as well. He reached for some sheet to cover himself, pulling it off of her in the process. The resulting fight for covers was pretty damn funny and I couldn't figure out if they were yelling more at each other or at us. By this time Bree had gotten her bag packed and had grabbed her shower kit as well. She had the biggest smile on her face as she walked by, grabbed my hand and led me out of the room. She continued to hold my hand as we walked down the hall without closing the door behind us. It slammed a few seconds later muffling the yelling that was still going on between Barbie and Ken.
Bree gave my hand a quick squeeze before letting go as she looked up at me and simply burst out laughing. I joined her as we walked down the hall, she lead me into the elevator and pushed the button for my floor. She waited till after the doors closed before leaning against the wall and wiping a few tears from her eyes.
"That felt so good. I should have done that a month ago!" she exclaimed.
"It was pretty fun. Don't think you made any friends there though."
"Don't think I had any there to start with," she responded with a rueful smile.
I couldn't disagree with that.
"So why are we heading to my floor?" I asked.
"Well, I need to put my stuff someplace while I wait for Summer to wake-up, don't I?" was her matter of fact response.
"My, my aren't we a little presumptuous this morning?" I said, though I made sure to smile as I did so.
"Not usually, but with you I'm considering making an exception"
"Why Ms. Harper, are you calling me exceptional?" I quipped.
"The jury's still out Mr..." she trailed off there towards the end as she realized she didn't know my last name. The associated blush was a thing of beauty.
"Well, seeing as we've spent the night together twice now I suppose I can introduce myself. Tyler Ryan Knox, at your service," I said this last with a slight bow and what I hoped was an ironic tone.
Bree blushed a bit more and then did a rather respectable courtesy.
"Brianna Lynn Harper at yours, kind sir."
We dropped her stuff in my room and headed down to grab a long leisurely breakfast as we waited till she thought Summer would be awake. We eventually headed back up to my room and she picked up her stuff and headed to Summers to grab a shower and get ready for her day.
I was surprised at how sad I was to see her go.
The rest of my day was non-eventful other than a few extra coffee breaks at work to make up for the lack of sleep the night before. I met my friend Rachel for lunch and got grilled on the Jen thing. I wasn't quite ready to talk about Bree yet so I kept my late night couch encounters to myself.
I spent most of the weekend working, and didn't see Bree at all, but when I got back to my room on Sunday afternoon I found a note from her asking if I wanted to meet 'everyone' at the library to study. She had nice, neat girl's hand writing, and had signed her name with a flourish and a little stylized flower next to it. I smiled all the way over to the library.
That pretty much set the tone for the next few weeks. Bree and I managed to study together each night, sometimes with Summer and Tammy, sometimes just the two of us. We'd end each night chatting for a few hours on what I'd come to think of as 'our' couch before heading to our respective beds.
Speaking of Bree's bed, things had deteriorated with Bree's roommate to the point where Bree wasn't spending any time in her room. Summer was spending most nights with Tammy and Bree was using Summers bed. Fortunately Summers roommate, Grace, was pretty patient about the whole thing, though I got the impression that the situation wasn't really sustainable for anyone involved.
Spending this much time with Bree made me realize what an exception I was. You see Bree and boys just didn't mix. I never saw her touch a man directly; she'd tense up and pull away at even the hint of contact with a guy. Her tone changed when she talked to them, becoming cold and aloof. She always managed to sit far as possible from any men in the room and she was clearly uncomfortable in situations when she had to interact with them.
I saw her coldly shoot down any number of guys who tried to chat her up. Bree was simply not comfortable around boys.
I was the exception. She was constantly touching me on the hand or arm, playing footsie with me under the table, or otherwise just being close to me. Every once in a while there was a hint of the scared little girl I'd seen that first night. She'd tense up or otherwise pull away from me for no apparent reason, but by and large she seemed remarkably comfortable when I was around.
Now I'm not entirely dense. I had a pretty good idea of the general reasons why Bree might act this way, even though I hadn't pressed her for the specifics. It clearly had something to do with the portions of high school she didn't mention, and her family, which she also still avoided talking about. I figured she'd tell me about it when she was ready. In the meantime I was immensely complimented that I was the exception to her boy thing. I know it's silly, but simply seeing the difference in the way she treated me verses other guys was profound. I mean, some girls flirt with you and do other things to tell you they might possibly like you, but there was just no doubt after seeing Bree's reaction to other guys that I was singular. I was her one exception. I don't think I've ever been paid a higher compliment and I doubt I ever will.
After a few weeks of spending most of my spare time hanging out with Bree I was pretty much hooked. We still hadn't done more than hold hands now and again, but the conversations just kept getting better and better. It amazed me how comfortable I felt around her and my continued status as the only guy she was comfortable with gave me what I can only describe as a warm fuzzy feeling. I kept this last to myself as there had already been threats around pulling my guy card over the British pop thing.
Wednesday of the second week rolled around and I decided to change the script a bit. I knew Bree and Summer caught lunch at the union between classes on Wednesdays so I walked over around noon to see if I could catch her. I eventually found them both in a booth over in the corner of the dining area. Bree smiled as I a walked over while Summer just smirked. I'd texted her earlier to make sure they'd be there and to ask if she'd give us a moment alone.
What, you think I'd leave something like this to chance and not get the best friend to help me? Please, Mrs. Knox's boy wasn't born yesterday!
"How are you guys doing today?" I asked as I walked up.
Brees face lit up. "Ty, what are you doing here?"
Summer managed to answer before I could.
"He's keeping my seat warm while I take our trays back," she said as she got up and walked away with the remains of their lunch.
"I knew there was a reason why I came by," I said as I sat down.
Bree just smiled "So what really brings you here?"
Might as well pull the band aid off quick, no point in drawing this out.
"Well, I was kinda hoping you might be free for dinner tonight."
"Dinner!" Bree actually squeaked when she said the word. Clearly I'd surprised her, hopefully in a good way.
"Uhhhh, sure. What did you have in mind?" she continued sheepishly.
"How about I surprise you? Does 6:30 work?"
