- C H A P T E R • T H R E E -

When you are close to me I shiver

When you are close to me I shiver (shiver)

~Shiver Shiver- WALK THE MOON

-Seraphine-

I was curious.

Who was this guy? What does he want with me and why does he have mischief tattooed across his knuckles?

I had always been told as a child that my curiosity would land me in trouble. I could hear my mother's warning: "Don't go sticking your nose in everything that smells good." I mentally sighed. We were currently en route to a McDonald's a few blocks away from the Frat house.

So much for not sticking my nose in everything that smelled good.

I tried to calm my wary thoughts and focus on the soft classic rock pouring from the classic car's radio. We pulled into the the restaurant's barren parking lot a few moments later.

"Welcome to McDonald's how may I help you?" The young girl working the cashier said, but sounded as if she wanted to do anything but. It was a bit past midnight on a Friday but inside the eatery it seemed to be a ghost town. "Hi, can I get a Bic Mac with a large Sprite and a large fry and one apple pie." Ash ordered smoothly. "Anything else?" The lady asked annoyed. "And can I get um-" he focused his warm blue eyes on me-"what was it that you wanted, that spicy thing?"

I wanted to chuckle at his use of 'spicy thing'. "A spicy McChicken with no cheese please." He repeated my order back to the girl behind the counter. "Your food will be right out." She dawdled to the back.

Ash led us to one of the many deserted booths in the back by the window. He gestured to the empty cup in his hand. I nodded my head in understanding.

I took a seat, choosing the one nearest the door, and tried to relax myself in the uncomfortable booth but failed. My fingers tapped against the dingy white table with unease.

I only agreed to this in a rare moment of fearlessness but now I all the fear and reservations came back tenfold.

What did he want from me? I couldn't be in that much danger, I mean, what kidnapper takes their victim for food before abducting them?

Regardless of the reasonable doubts floating in my mind, the unreasonable anxieties anchored down.

I'm definitely gonna be on a Dateline episode.

Moments later Ash waltzed back over to our seat.

"Are you sure you didn't want a drink? I don't mind grabbing you one." He stood at the table and nodded towards the fountain drinks. I shook my head at his offer, the foodie in me deserting it's familiar appetite. "Nah I'm good, thank you though."

He swiftly took a seat across from me and joined on my wait for our food. I sneaked a glance at the baffling figure in front of me. His messy jet black hair I could see myself combing my fingers through it with an ease I'd never have with my own kinky hair. My eyes traveled to his stuning blue eyes that sparkled with humor. He must've found my ogling amusing.

"What's on your mind," his playful tone temporarily bringing me out of my reverie. I squinted my eyes in concentration. "I'm trying to figure you out."

"You're trying to figure out if I'm going to hurt you, you mean." He now had a small grin on his lips.

He peeled the paper off his straw, instead of just hitting the straw on the table until it tore through the paper, and stuck it through the top. I watched as he brought his eyes back up to mine and wrapped his lips around the straw, taking a long sip.

I gulped, the action making my mouth dry up. I looked down at the dingy white table, busying myself with a lone crumb. "Are you?" I hadn't yet looked up from the interesting crumb, realizing how stupid it would be to question a potential captor. Who would be stupid enough to admit to crime that they're about to commit?

"I can assure you, I mean you no harm." I raised my eyes to his, a serious yet gentle look overtaking his pale face.

"Order number 125!" The young blonde from behind the counter yelled.

———————

I placed another full box on the floor of my bare dorm room floor. I let out a fatigued sigh. I was in process of moving out of my lonesome dorm room and into Ariel's bachelor pad. We first-jokingly- talked about moving in together at the start of the semester but Ariel's persistence is truly a force to be reckoned with.

The dorm wasn't anything spectacular to look at, simple one bedroom with a kitchenette set against the far, dark beige wall. It wasn't much but it gave me my first taste of freedom and adulthood and for that I was grateful.

"Hey, you all set?" Ariel strolled into the empty space. I took a final gaze around me, making sure I had packed what few belongings I had brought with me to school.

"Yep, all good," I hoisted a small box out of the small pile on my hip. We made our way out of the quiet fourth floor dorms, which wasn't uncommon on a Saturday morning. We stepped out of the peaceful building and made our way to his modified '04 Ford Mustang GT.

"Can you pop the trunk?" I was a little winded from our brief walk to the car, the humid morning air nearly sucked the moisture from my body.

"Nah I can't, I got speakers in there. Just put 'em in the backseat." An annoyed huff seeped from lips. How big does he needs his speakers to be? I pulled the front passenger seat forward and placed the box in the back.

"How many boxes do you have?" Ariel had just put away the two boxes he was carrying and popped his head up over the car. "I probably have, like, three or four more big boxes." I was not looking anticipating making another trip to my old dorm and back in this humidity. As if sensing my reluctance, Ariel spoke. "We can go ahead and drop these off at my place then. There's not enough room for the rest."

We both filed into the car and headed off to our soon-to-be shared apartment. Ariel's place wasn't too far from school thankfully, it was still within walking distance. Soon Ariel stopped by the curb of a large red and brown brick stone building with the name St. Gabriel's waving proudly on four large green apartment flags with white lettering.

I stared up at the impressive building. It looked to be about seven stories tall with large windows that I'm sure displayed picturesque views of the city. I quickly paused my gawking and began gathering my meager belongings. I pulled a box from the backseat and made my way around the well manicured lawn to the pristine sidewalk. I pulled open the door to the air conditioned lobby and held it open for Ariel as he marched through with the remaining boxes.

I followed Ariel's steps towards the polished elevators. "This place looks expensive and it's not on campus, how are your parents paying for this?" I didn't want to sound rude or cross any boundaries but from what he told me, his parents, a high school Spanish teacher and a sales associate at Sprint who coaches little league baseball on the weekends, would never be able to pull enough funds to support their son without the help of financial aids.

The shiny silver doors slid open and we strode in and Ariel pushed the button for the fifth floor. "My grandparents offered to pay for school." He shrugged, seemingly nonchalant. He didn't elaborate and I didn't push. The elevator dinged and opened up to reveal the fifth floor. Ariel walked out first onto the crisp ocean blue carpet and began leading the way to his place.

He stopped at room 527 and made a gesture with his arms, displaying how full they were. My mind clicked. "Oh, my bad, Where's your keys?"

*****

"That's enough exercise for the week," I groaned and belly flopped on my my undressed full sized bed. We had finished bringing in the last of my things a few hours ago now they were put in their respective places.

Ariel's place was a gorgeous two bedroom two bath with an elegant kitchen, equipped with stainless steel appliances, and large windows placed throughout the whole apartment. My room wasn't much bigger than the dorm on campus but it had spacious closet which was a plus. The walls were a painted a monotonous egg shell white with silver accents and matched beautifully set against the deep brown hardwood floors.

The room was scarcely decorated, the moving boxes laid in a heap on the floor and the contents of most of the boxes were set up neatly on the small desk situated against massive windows, and my clothes, which took up two and a half boxes, had taken almost no room in the roomy closet.

I was resting my exhausted muscles, creating faces out of the the textured paint on the high ceiling when Ariel barged in.

"Are you good? You got everything unpacked?" He stood in the doorway, wearing a plain white tee and navy blue basketball shorts with a strange devious look spread across his handsome features. I sat up, suddenly dubious of his odd behavior.

"Yeah, why?" My eyebrows shot up quizzically. He stepped into the room fully and took a seat at the edge of the bed facing me. "Great." He flashed his usual megawatt smile. "Now spill." In mere moments his face hardened. "What-" My sentence never made it past my lips. "Last night, you disappeared. Where were you? You never texted me ba-" His whole body stilled. "Were you with somebody?"

The look on Ariel's face absolutely terrified me. His eyes were widened, his nostrils were flared, and his smile was ever-growing in size. "Who was it? Did y'all kiss? Did you do more than kiss?" He suggested flirtatiously. I felt my mouth open and close a few times before I could properly form a sentence. "It wasn't even- we just got McDonald's." I look down at the plain white sheets, engrossing myself with the wrinkles. I heard Ariel smack his lips and concluded that he was dissatisfied with my brief synopsis of my night out with Ash. I peeked at him and saw he had crossed his arms. I rolled my eyes and delved into my night.

"And then we gave each other our numbers and he dropped me off and that was it." His clear blue eyes and captivating smile were still vivid in my mind when we parted ways. "Did he text you yet?"

"Yeah actually, he asked if we could meet up later," I confessed. I internally chuckled at the mask of confusion that overtook Ariel's handsome features.

After only half an hour together I was really starting to like him, and I was terrified. I felt like a little kid again, running away from my crush on the playground. "It's cool though. I'm not gonna stress about it." Disregarding my act of indifference, Ariel placed a firm hand on my shoulder and a small smile appeared on his face. "I know just what you need." Was all he said and then we were out the door.

Ariel led us on foot to O'Doherty's, a small dive bar not far from the apartment. The bar was located on the corner of the street with red brick and black paint trimming the one large window at the front of the building and around the entrance door which was propped open. "This place has the best club sandwiches, just what you need for a distressed heart." He teased.

I shoved his shoulder, "My heart isn't distressed." I heard a small whatever escape his lips before we reached the small restaurant and he held the door for me. We entered and I took in the easygoing atmosphere of the place.

There wasn't much seating, only a dozen or so red stools placed around the bar, two large booths taking up the whole back wall, and two more tables with four chairs seated at each, situated towards the front the the building. The lighting was minimal in the daytime due to the large window, but a huge red and white Budweiser and four industrial pendant lights overhanging the bar were lit, illuminating the endless array of alcoholic beverages. By the exit door, to the right of the bar, hung a simple dart board that showed years of use.

Other than then the young male bartender I spotted whipping down some glasses and chatting with two other guys by the bar, the place was nearly desolate.

With no bell to announce our entrance, the bartender had made no move to end his conversation leaving Ariel to shout out a greeting to get his attention. "Can we get two club sandwiches please?" Ariel asked when he finally gained the guy's awareness.

"Yeah, give me a sec." He nodded his head at his friends and called for someone on the other side of the door behind the bar. "Yo Rambo, we got customers!"

Ariel tapped my arm and nodded towards one of the tables. We settled in at the table and I pulled out my phone to past the time. "Are you gonna text him back?" I shot Ariel a bored stare over my phone. "No, I don't need the distraction."

I looked back down at my phone, a crease between my brows.

"Sorry about the wait," I watched the hands that placed two plated sandwiches on our table and recognized the tattoos covering them, barely any skin showing from under them. My eyes shot up to his face, his blue ones shining with arrogance.

"Hello Sera."