Page 7

‘Clara?’ Colton asked once again, confusion written on his face.

I didn’t realize I was plainly staring at him, while my mind went off in a turmoil over what could have possibly led me to end up in this situation.

How did I manage to run into Colton twice this week?

‘Colton. Hey,’ I greeted him.

Once I finally got over the shock of running into him, only then did my mind register the warm sensation that was on my arm. Looking to see where it came from, my eyes met with Colton’s right hand gripping it.

I must have been looking at his hand for a bit too long, when he finally let go of his hold.

‘Oh, sorry,’ Colton apologized, pulling his arm back. ‘Are you okay? I’m sorry for bumping into you like that. I was reading some texts on my phone,’ he explained, gesturing to his phone in his other hand.

‘It’s okay,’ I reassured him. ‘My mind was occupied elsewhere too, so I wasn’t really focusing on where I was going either.’

My words hung in the air between us and the silence that followed got a bit too long. So, I thought I would save us from the awkwardness and go about my way.

Just as I was about to say goodbye, Colton asked, ‘Were you leaving?’

So, I guess we’re making conversation now.

‘Yup. I think I had enough partying for the night,’ I answered. And that’s when I noticed our collision had happened because we were walking towards each other. ‘Did you just arrive?’

‘Yeah,’ he said sheepishly. ‘To be honest, I wasn’t thinking of coming, but the baseball team was here. So, I thought I’d drop by and hang out for a bit.’

To think … that if I had left a bit earlier … I could’ve avoided running into him here …

‘Plus, someone has to be the designated driver,’ he added.

‘You don’t drink?’ I blurted out before I could stop myself, my curiosity getting the better of me.

‘Not when I’m driving.’

My head jolted back slightly at his words. I did not expect that from him.

‘You seem surprised,’ he read the expression on my face.

‘I am, a bit,’ I was truthful. ‘That’s very responsible of you. So do you always drive your teammates home?’

‘Most of the time,’ he shrugged. ‘But I don’t mind, driving them home is a small price to pay than having them drive themselves home.’

‘That’s really sweet of you to do that.’

It was. It’s nice to have someone looking out for you that way.

A small but genuine smile made its way to his face. ‘Thanks.’

God, he looks even cuter when he smiles.

‘Well, go and have fun,’ I told him, pushing that thought away. ‘It was nice talking to you. I’ll see you on Wednesday.’ I waved at him and moved past, ready to start my night walk back to the apartment.

But as I made my way down the sidewalk to the end of the street, I heard my name being shouted.

‘Clara, wait!’

Stunned, I halted my steps to a stop. Turning around to see who was calling me, I was met by the sight of Colton walking towards me in quick strides.

‘Where did you park your car?’

I narrowed my eyes at his sudden question. ‘I didn’t. I don’t have a car.’

A questioning look appeared on his face. ‘Did you order an Uber?’

‘No.’

‘Is someone picking you up? Your boyfriend maybe?’

For the life of me, I couldn’t tell why he specifically mentioned boyfriend. But I decided not to dwell on it. ‘Nope. Don’t have one of those either.’

‘Then how are you going home?’

‘By foot,’ I gestured to my feet.

‘You mean, you’re walking back?’ he asked somewhat outrageously, alarmed by my plans.

‘Yeah,’ I confirmed. ‘My apartment isn’t too far from here—a thirty-minute walk. Tops,’ I pointed in the direction of my apartment building.

Colton seemed to be lost in his thoughts mulling over something. When he finally made up his mind, he said, ‘Let me drive you home.’

What.

‘What?’ I verbalized my thought out loud, a bit bewildered by what he had said.

I must have misheard him; there’s no way he just offered to drive me back to my apartment.

‘Let me drive you home,’ he repeated.

Turns out I had heard him correctly.

‘That’s not necessary,’ I told him. Sharing a class was still safe territory curse-wise, since we didn’t really have to talk to one another unless absolutely necessary.

But being in a car together seemed to be pushing it a bit too far for my liking.

‘And you should already be inside, hanging out with your teammates.’

‘They can wait,’ he answered without missing a beat. ‘Come on. My car is parked over there.’ He started heading towards the fleet of cars chaotically parked on the driveway. His steps slowed down to make sure I could catch up with him.

Think of an excuse. Any excuse.

‘Are you sure about this? Won’t your girlfriend be mad?

’ I argued with him. I wasn’t one to mingle in college gossip, but that didn’t mean I was too far out of the loop.

And, according to the gossip floating around, rumour had it that Colton didn’t date, nor did he have a girlfriend.

But that was just a rumor, and it didn’t hurt to at least confirm the suspicion.

The last thing I wanted was to be caught up in some couple drama because of a simple friendly gesture.

‘Don’t have one,’ he confirmed, his steps never faltering.

‘Colton, you really don’t have to do this,’ I tried negotiating with him once again, throwing out one last ditch effort for him to change his mind. ‘I’m really okay with walking back.’

‘Then do it for my peace of mind,’ he answered me, his voice firm. Then, he added in a softer tone. ‘Please?’

It was the soft please that melted the rest of my resolve. Here was Colton, kindly offering to drive me back to my apartment. And here I was, trying to come up with excuses to reject his offer, simply because of a stupid curse.

I re-evaluated my options once again, and honestly, the idea of walking back started to sound less appealing by the second. Curse or not, I was pretty sure I could handle a short car ride with Colton.

‘Okay,’ I finally agreed. ‘Where did you park?’

Colton’s car was parked a bit further from the party venue, since he had arrived late. Whatever space that was available near the house had already been filled.

While walking to his car, I told him the name of my apartment building and the street it was located on. The building was situated on a familiar street, so I wasn’t surprised he knew where it was, without me having to navigate.

We finally reached his car, and just as I was about to open the door to the passenger seat, Colton beat me to it and opened the door for me instead.

‘Milady,’ he said with a teasing smile, a slight bow in his stance.

I wasn’t sure what he was doing, but decided there was no harm in playing along. ‘Milord,’ I answered back. His eyes lit up at my reply and my heart squeezed just a tiny bit at his reaction.

Once I got myself into the passenger seat, Colton shut the door and went over to the driver’s side. As he turned on the engine, music started playing from the car’s speakers.

And it was playing ‘Mamma Mia’.

By ABBA.

My eyes widened a bit upon recognizing the song. But then, I thought it might have come from a radio station. I tried to see what channel he was tuning into, when I saw that the song was playing from a CD. My eyes widened a bit more.

Before I could stop myself, the words were already out of my mouth. ‘You have an ABBA CD?’ I didn’t even try to conceal the surprise in my voice.

‘No.’

‘Oh, is it someone else’s—’

‘I have five of them,’ he clarified.

I’m pretty sure my eyes couldn’t have gotten any wider than they did then, as I whipped my gaze over to him.

‘You have five ABBA CDs?’ I was bewildered by this new information about Colton.

‘Yup.’ He paused while he was reversing the car. ‘It would’ve been all of their albums, but I’m still missing a few of them to complete my collection.’

I’ve always believed that one’s music taste says a lot about a person.

Sometimes, it even takes a lot for people to be comfortable enough to share that part of themselves.

I could tell that Colton might have been slightly embarrassed by me stumbling upon this part of him, seeing how quiet he got.

A shade of red was starting to appear on the tips of his ears.

Trying to think of something to say to save him from the unwarranted embarrassment, I told him, ‘I love ABBA.’

‘Yeah?’ he replied softly, the feeling of unease slowly melting away.

‘Yeah,’ I affirmed. ‘I only know their popular songs though. But from what I have heard, I love them.’

I realized that it was the exact thing to say, when I saw his tense shoulders started to relax, and a smile lit up his face. ‘Let me guess. Are all the songs you know from the Mamma Mia movies?’ he asked, his voice teasing.

‘Busted,’ I admitted. It was true, and I refused to be ashamed because those movies were my comfort watches.

He let out a laugh at my reply, and Lord, if it wasn’t the sexiest laugh I had ever heard.

Get it together, Clara.

‘Okay fine, yes that’s as far as my knowledge of ABBA music goes. You definitely know more of their music than me, if you have five of their albums. Is there any story behind it?’ I asked. ‘If you’re willing to share, I don’t want to pry,’ I then added.

‘Not at all,’ he started, both eyes on the road.

‘My parents are huge record collectors, that’s one of the things they had in common before they even knew each other.

Of course, when they got married, their collections only grew.

My mom usually played whatever record she was feeling for the day.

Since she works from home, every day when I came home from school, music had always been playing. ’

He paused his story when we reached a junction, making sure we were heading the right way before he continued.