Emancipating Andie

chapter FIVE



Andie stood at the gas pump, her arms above her head as she twisted to stretch her back. The little beep sounded, signaling that her credit card was approved, and she turned to the pillar where the paper towel dispenser was mounted on the wall. Grabbing a few, she kept them in her hand as she removed the nozzle from the gas pump and inserted it into her gas tank.

Chase exited the small food court in the center of the rest stop with a white plastic bag dangling off his wrist. As he approached the car, he reached in and pulled out a bottle of water, holding it up in offering. She mouthed a thank you, and he nodded in acknowledgment before he slid back into the passenger side.

It was getting late, she thought as she yawned for the third time. She would have to stop soon. She had looked at the map of South Carolina a little while ago; if she could make it another hour or so, they could stop in Yemassee for the night.

A few minutes later, the sharp click of the gas tank reaching capacity snapped her out of it, and she placed the nozzle back on the pump before tossing the paper towels into the trash can. Using her knuckle, Andie pressed the button to decline a receipt and walked around the front of the car before sliding back into the driver’s seat.

She brought her hand to the ignition, freezing when she saw the way Chase was looking at her.

“What?” she asked.

“What the hell was that?” he asked through barely contained laughter.

“What the hell was what?”

“Did you just use paper towels to hold the gas pump?”

“Yeah, so?”

He looked down and pinched the bridge of his nose as his shoulders shook with laughter.

“Laugh if you want to. Do you have any idea how disgusting those things are? How many people touch them in a day? People who are sick? Who just went to the bathroom and didn’t wash their hands? No one ever cleans those things. They’re like disgusting little petri dishes.”

He looked back up at her, trying to straighten his expression, but that lasted about a third of a second before he burst out laughing again. She ignored him, starting the car, and just as she was about to put it in drive, she saw him reach for his door handle.

“What are you—”

But he was already out of the car. Andie put it back in park as she leaned over, looking out the passenger window. He walked over to the gas pump, running his hand down the front of the nozzle before removing it. After a second he glanced up at her, tossing it back and forth between his hands a few times before returning it to its place. And then, just for good measure, he ran his hands down the front of the pump itself, up along the sides, over the price stickers and the buttons to select the fuel grade. He turned then and got back in the car, shifting to face her with a tiny smile on his lips.

She rolled her eyes. “Point taken. You’re still alive. For now, anyway,” she added, looking at his hands with disgust.

Chase still hadn’t moved; he sat in the same position, watching her, his smile slowly growing more pronounced.

Andie pulled her brow together. “What are you doing?”

She saw him shift slightly in his seat, bringing his body a bit closer to hers, and she shot him a warning glance.

“Chase, I swear to God…”

She was obviously not as intimidating as she thought.

He lunged at her and she screeched in protest, attempting to get out of the car, but he grabbed her hand before she could reach the handle.

Andie sucked in a breath and froze.

It was like a static shock, only not unpleasant, a fuzzy electric tingling that shot up her arm the second he touched her, settling in her chest.

As soon as she gave up the fight, he reached over and took her other hand, sandwiching them between both of his.

She could feel the warmth of his skin permeating her own as he pressed his palms together, and then he began to rub his hands over hers, his movements gentle but determined.

It felt like forever before he finally released her, although somewhere in the back of her mind, Andie knew it couldn’t have been more than a few seconds. She sat frozen, her eyes on him.

He met her stare as his lips twitched with the effort to contain his smile.

Andie turned abruptly, reaching into the backseat and grabbing her purse. She sifted through it quickly until she came up with a tiny bottle of hand sanitizer, squeezing a generous blob onto her palm and rubbing her hands together as she tried to avoid his gaze.

“Thirty-three seconds,” Chase said, and she looked up at him. “Not bad. We’ll keep working on it,” he added with a wink.

Andie shook her head, trying to ignore the sensation she felt in her stomach. “What the hell is wrong with you?” she murmured.

“A lot of things,” he said with a laugh.

But she hadn’t been talking to him.

She was overtired. That was the problem. She missed Colin. She had cabin fever from being in the car too long. She was shaken up by the whole germ thing. She rattled off any reason she could think of, any reason as to why she would have reacted that way to his hands on her.

Any reason but the most obvious one.

She tossed her purse into the backseat and put the car in drive, and as they pulled out of the gas station, the interior of her car had never felt so confining.

A minute later they merged back onto the highway, and Andie noticed the sign that alerted them to the upcoming toll.

“Damn it,” she said, reaching awkwardly behind her and feeling around for her purse.

“What’s wrong?”

“I forgot about the toll,” she said, stretching her arm a little further.

“Here, I got it,” Chase said, shifting to reach into his back pocket for his wallet.

“No, it’s okay. The EZ-Pass is in my purse,” she said, arching her back as she tried reaching further behind her.

Chase unbuckled his seat belt and turned, leaning into the backseat and coming back with her bag. He turned on the interior light and Andie reached to take her purse from him, completely horrified when she saw him sit back in his seat as he started rummaging through it.

She sat up straight, feeling completely unsettled. She couldn’t even be sure if Colin had ever been in her purse. It implied a certain level of intimacy, she thought, almost like letting someone go through your drawers, or your closet.

“Here,” he said absently, handing her the EZ-Pass as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

“Thanks,” Andie said softly as she took it from him, noticing that he made no move to return her bag to the backseat.

They went through the toll, and she held the pass up to the windshield. As soon as it registered, he leaned over and took it from her before dropping it back into her bag. Just as he turned to put her purse back behind them, he stopped, reaching his hand into it again.

“What are you doing?” Andie asked abruptly.

“Does this particular tube of makeup have sentimental value?”

She glanced down to see him rolling a tube of mascara through his fingers.

“What? No. Why?”

He held it up to her. “Because there’s a date written on it.”

Andie glanced down again, noticing the small neat numbers he was referencing, the ones she had written along the side of the tube with an extra-fine silver Sharpie.

“Oh, that.”

“Yeah, that. So what happened two weeks ago that was so important you decided to commemorate it on the side of your lipstick?”

“That’s mascara. And nothing important happened. That was the date I bought it.”

Chase looked at her, the most comical confusion on his face.

“You’re supposed to throw mascara out three months after you buy it. Otherwise, you can give yourself an eye infection.”

There was a slight pause before he said, “Is that so?”

She reached over and plucked the mascara from his hand, dropping it back into her bag before she pulled it off his lap and tossed it into the backseat.

Chase reclined in his seat. “You know something, Andie? If we could find some coal for you to sit on, we could both retire early.”

She whipped her head toward him, her eyes wide; the corner of his mouth was lifted in a self-satisfied smile as he looked down, opening a small bottle of Pepsi.

She heard him laugh to himself just before he brought the bottle to his mouth, and in that moment, something came over her.

Andie brought her foot down hard on the gas pedal, and as soon as the car accelerated, she slammed on the brake. She saw Chase fly forward and then back as soda gushed over his chin and down the front of his shirt.

He brought the back of his hand to his mouth, immediately looking out the window for whatever caused Andie to hit the brakes so suddenly.

“What the hell was that?” he asked frantically.

Andie shrugged. “Payback.”

After a few seconds of silence, she turned to look at him. He was staring at her with such complete shock that she had to bite her lip not to burst out laughing.

Just before she turned her eyes back to the road, she saw him shake his head.

“I seriously can’t decide if I’m more angry or impressed right now,” he said, and she smiled triumphantly as Chase reached behind his head and grabbed his shirt, pulling it off in one swift movement.

He used the shirt to wipe off his face and chest before balling it up and tossing it into the backseat, and out of the corner of her eye Andie could see him reach for his drink again. He uncapped it and took a long sip before slowly screwing the top back on.

She took her eyes off the road for a second to look over at him. The interior light was still on, and she could see him clearly: the way his arm muscle flexed with the simple act of putting the cap back on, the strong definition of his chest. And his stomach. Where Colin’s was flat and smooth, Chase’s was cut, every sinewy muscle visible under the taut skin.

“What?” she heard him say, and she quickly lifted her eyes to his face. He laughed as he leaned over to put his drink back in the bag at his feet. “If there’s soda on your seats, it’s your own fault.”

“Are you gonna put your shirt back on?” she blurted out.

Chase froze, looking over his shoulder at her with the most maddening smile. “Why? Is this bothering you?”

“I just…” Andie sputtered, floundering through her response. “I mean, what if we get pulled over or something?”

“If we get pulled over, this could only work in your favor,” he said, running his hands over his chest.

Andie tried to stifle a laugh. “My God, you’re insufferable.”

He grinned before he reached behind them and grabbed his sweatshirt from the backseat. Chase pulled it over his head and looked at her, chuckling to himself before he reached down and started rummaging through the plastic bag between his feet again.

He came up with a small paper bag, spotted with what looked like grease stains.

“What did you get?” she asked.

Chase reached up and turned off the interior light. “There was this little mom-and-pop candy shop at the pavilion back there,” he said, digging his hand in the bag and pulling out something that looked like beef jerky. He took a bite and groaned loudly, closing his eyes as he dropped his head back against the seat.

“What is that?”

“Chocolate-covered bacon.”

She whipped her head toward him, completely revolted, and he extended his hand to her. “Want some?”

“No! That’s disgusting!”

“You’ve had it?” he asked, taking another bite.

“No.”

“Then how do you know it’s disgusting?”

“Because it’s chocolate-covered bacon,” she said, like it should have been obvious.

Chase shoved the rest of the piece in his mouth before licking the pad of his thumb. “Do you like chocolate?”

“Of course.”

“Do you like bacon?”

Andie sighed. “I know where you’re going with this. I like coffee. I like salad dressing. That doesn’t mean they’d taste good together.”

Chase laughed, digging in the bag again. “You never know. Coffee-flavored salad dressing. It could be a million-dollar idea.”

“Doubtful.”

“How do you know? Think about it. We’re surrounded by incredible ideas that probably sounded bat-shit crazy when someone first came up with them.”

Andie snorted softly, shaking her head, and Chase said, “Like the inventor of lipstick. Someone decided women would look prettier if they painted their mouths with colored wax. You think everyone hopped on board with that right away?”

Andie tilted her head in agreement. “Touché.”

“Like if I said, ‘You know what would make a woman look more enticing? If she smeared cow shit on the side of her face,’ I’m sure I’d have some naysayers at first.”

Andie burst out laughing. “Somehow I don’t think that’s the same thing.”

Chase shrugged as he handed her a piece of the bacon. “Just try it.”

She exhaled in acquiescence, knowing he wouldn’t stop until she humored him. Andie reached over and took the piece he offered, popping it in her mouth. She chewed slowly, the salty grease of the bacon mixing perfectly with the creamy sweet of the chocolate.

It took all her effort not to groan the way he did.

Andie swallowed, glancing over at him. He was watching her, a huge grin on his face. “You can say it. I won’t gloat.”

She licked her lips with a tiny shrug. “It’s okay.”

He chuckled, sitting back in his seat as he popped another piece in his mouth. Andie watched him out of the corner of her eye as she nibbled on the side of her lip. After about forty seconds she had expended the last of her self-control, and she reached over, rummaging in the bag and pulling out another piece.

He smiled knowingly, and she pointed at him with the bacon strip. “You said no gloating.”

Chase held his hands up in surrender, laughing to himself as he rested his head back on the seat and closed his eyes.

A little under an hour later, they pulled into the parking lot of the Holiday Inn Express. She was completely exhausted, and she could tell by the gravelly timbre of Chase’s voice that he was moments away from sleep himself. They peeled themselves out of the car and trudged with their bags into the lobby.

“Hi! Welcome to the Holiday Inn,” the woman behind the counter said in a voice that was entirely too bubbly for Andie at that moment. “How long do you plan on staying with us?”

“Just for tonight,” Andie said, shifting the bag on her shoulder and leaning on the counter.

“Excellent!” the girl chirped, causing Andie to flinch. “Would you like a king-sized bed? Or two queens?”

“Hmm? Oh, no, just one bed,” Andie said through a yawn.

“Very well,” she said through a wide smile, clicking away at the computer. Andie looked over at Chase, tilting her head when she took in his rigid posture, his uneasy expression. He opened his mouth only to close it again, running his hand through his hair.

And that’s when she realized what she had just said.

“Wait, no, no!” she said, shaking her head. “I meant one bed for me. And one for him. Two beds. I mean, two rooms! One bed in each room,” she said with a frustrated huff, rolling her eyes at herself.

The woman glanced back and forth between Andie and Chase. “Very well,” she said again, this time more demurely as she went back to her computer. “I’m going to need a credit card, please.”

Chase and Andie each handed her a card, and the woman adjusted her glasses as she went back to manically clicking the keyboard.

“Okay,” she said after a minute, “You guys are in two twenty-five and two twenty-seven. Checkout is at eleven, and there’s a complimentary breakfast each morning from seven to ten. Have a wonderful stay with us,” she practically sang, handing them each their credit card and a room key.

“Thank you,” Andie said softly, taking her things and following Chase to the elevators. He pressed the button for the second floor and the doors immediately dinged open.

He gestured for Andie to go first and she stepped in, hoisting her bag to a more comfortable position on her shoulder. As the doors slid closed, Andie said quietly, “Sorry about that.”

“About what?”

“The whole room/bed fiasco. I wasn’t really paying attention.”

The corner of Chase’s mouth lifted in a tired smile. “Well, next time you plan on propositioning me, you could at least buy me dinner first.”

Andie looked down, fighting a smile as she shook her head, and the doors opened. Once again, he gestured for her to go before him, and they walked down the hall, both stopping in front of Andie’s room.

“Well, good night,” she said.

“Yep,” he said through a yawn, turning toward his door.

Just as Andie slid her card into the slot, she heard him say, “Hey, Andie?”

“Hmm?” She lifted her head to look over at him.

He stared at her for a second before he said, “When did you want to leave tomorrow?”

“Oh. Well, right now we’re about six hours from Tampa, give or take. So, like nine? Is that okay?”

“Whatever the itinerary says,” he said with a salute before he opened his door and disappeared inside.

She smiled softly, opening her door and dropping her bags near the bed. She couldn’t remember the last time she had been this tired. It took every bit of energy she had just to brush her teeth and undress. She put on one of Colin’s T-shirts and crawled into bed, leaning over the side and taking her laptop and phone out of her bag. She fished through her bag again, pulling out the DVD she brought with her. It was one of her favorites, something she knew would make her feel at home while trying to sleep in a strange bed.

She put the DVD into her laptop and laid back against the pillows, grabbing her phone and dialing Colin.

“Hey babe!” he answered, shouting over the voices and music in the background.

“Hi,” she said, smiling to herself.

“Sorry, it’s loud in here! Hold on, let me go outside!”

“No, it’s okay, stay with your friends,” she said, knowing he was at Justin’s bachelor party. “I just wanted to call and tell you we’re stopping for the night. We’re in South Carolina.”

“Alright. What time do you think you’ll be here tomorrow?” he said, still raising his voice over the background noise.

“Probably around four if all goes according to plan.”

“I can’t wait.”

She closed her eyes. “I know. I miss you.”

“Miss you too, babe. How’s it going with Chase?”

“It’s been fine. It’s nice to have someone to talk to.”

“See, I knew you’d have a good time. He’s funny, isn’t he?”

She smiled. “Yeah, he is.”

Just then a bout of laughter exploded in the background, and Andie brought her mouth closer to the phone. “Okay, I won’t keep you from the debauchery,” she said. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Have fun.”

“Good night, babe.”

“Good night,” she said before ending the call. She stared at the phone for a second, twirling it between her fingers before she finally placed it on the nightstand, and then she clicked off the light before she rolled onto her side to face her laptop.

She was just on the verge of sleep when her phone beeped, signaling that she had a text message.

She rolled over and grabbed the phone, checking the screen. The sender was a number she wasn’t familiar with.

“Who the hell is this?” she mumbled to herself, pressing the button to open the message.

I can see you.

She sat up in bed, brushing her hair out of her eyes and glancing around the room before she lunged to turn the light back on. The shades were drawn, the closet was open, and she had been in the bathroom. There was no one in there.

She gave the room one last scan before she looked down, her fingers moving over the keypad.

Who is this?

She hit send, realizing that if someone was messing with her, she had just made a stupid move by playing into it. She should have just ignored it. Her phone beeped again and she glanced down, opening it quickly.

You’ll know soon enough. I’m almost to room 225.

Her heart rate increased slightly as she slid off the bed, walking over to the door that adjoined her room with room 227. She knocked on it softly. “Chase?”

“Yeah?” came his muffled reply.

“It better be you texting me, or we are packing up and getting the hell out of Dodge.”

She heard him burst out laughing and her shoulders relaxed a little.

“Was it you?” she asked.

There was some shuffling before the sounds of him unlocking his door, and she followed suit, sliding the deadbolt aside. They opened the doors at the same time, and she didn’t need to hear his answer. The look on his face said it all.

“You’re an ass,” she said, and he laughed again. “How did you even get my number?”

“Colin gave it to me when we made these plans,” he said, his eyes dropping to take in what she was wearing.

She could feel the immediate blush burning on her cheeks as she remembered she was only wearing a T-shirt, and she brought her hands down to her sides, gripping the hem with her fingers and tugging it down.

He brought his eyes back up to hers. “I didn’t wake you, did I?”

“No, I was watching a movie.”

“What movie? Gone With the Wind?” he asked with a smirk.

She tugged the shirt down a little further. What the hell, she thought, not like this moment could get any more embarrassing. “No. Dumb and Dumber.”

He threw his head back and laughed. “Now that’s more like it. What channel?”

“It’s not on television. I brought it with me,” she said, gesturing with her head to the laptop that was on her bed.

His face fell slightly. “Oh. Damn.”

The words were out of her mouth before she could even think about what she was saying.

“You can come watch for a little while,” she said. “I mean, if you want,” she added softly, looking away from him and tugging her shirt down a little further, surprised that the seams on the shoulders weren’t ripping.

His expression straightened until it was unreadable, and Andie watched his throat bob as he swallowed. “Um…yeah, okay,” he said, “maybe for a few minutes.”

She turned, her fingertips still gripping the hem of Colin’s shirt as she scurried over to the bed, hopping in and quickly pulling the covers up around her waist. She slid the laptop down to the foot of the bed and scooted all the way over to the right, giving him ample space.

He walked over to the bed, one hand rubbing the back of his neck, and Andie kept her eyes on the computer screen as Chase climbed on, staying above the covers. He propped a pillow up against the headboard and leaned back against it, crossing his arms over his chest.

There was enough room between them to fit another person, which eased some of the tension Andie felt in her body since the moment the invitation had slipped from her mouth without permission. She settled back into the pillows just as Harry said to Lloyd, “What’s in the briefcase?”

“Man,” Lloyd said, “I would have to be a lowlife to go rooting around in somebody else’s private property.”

“What, is it locked?” Harry asked.

“Yeah, really well.”

A giggle escaped Andie’s lips just as a throaty chuckle fell from Chase’s, and they both looked over at each other, smiling.

She turned onto her side, snuggling into the comforter and attempting to keep her eyes on the screen, but her blinking became more and more lethargic until finally, she couldn’t keep her eyes open anymore.

The last thing she remembered was hearing Chase’s quiet laughter before she finally succumbed to sleep.