Dart and Dash - Mary Smith Page 0,16

the car, Daisy was going on about one of her sorority sisters. Garnet was standing in front of me, with her earbuds in, staring up at the sky.

“Ready?” I tapped her on the shoulder.

She nodded, and Daisy started off first. I easily caught up to her, and Garnet followed behind us. The only sounds I focused on was the gravel crunching under my feet. We continued our pace for several laps. Finally, Garnet said she was done.

“You two can keep going, but I’m done.” She slowly walked over to the bench and laid on it.

“Come on, this is our last lap.” Daisy went over, tugging on her arm.

“D-O-N-E, Daisy. I’m not going to move from the spot until I am attacked by wild animals.”

I chuckled. I didn’t think Garnet realized how dramatic she was, but she was just like Daisy in that manner.

“Let’s go home, girls.” I announced to them.

“Thank you.” Garnet huffed, sitting up. “I need a beer anyway.” She began cutting through the park, instead of staying on the trail, which was a shortcut to the car.

I saw Daisy’s eyes filled with worry. “She’s fine.” I whispered to her. “Let’s go jump into the shower together.”

“That sounds perfect.” She winked at me, letting the worry fall away.

Chapter 10 – Dash

My plan was to lift weights after Tuesday’s practice, but I had to skip it after I saw the flyer hanging in Corbly Hall’s bulletin board that morning. Once practice was done, I raced home to change.

When I came back out of the house, I noticed Garnet sitting on her porch with her iPad. When I crossed the street, I took in her whole appearance. She had on black skinny jeans with shredded holes in them and a deep purple tank top. I didn’t know what type of bra she was wearing, but her cleavage looked good enough to bury my face in and never leave.

“What are you doing right now?”

“Well, genius,” she looked up at me with her stunning brown eyes. “It looks like I’m reading.”

I smirked at her. “I didn’t realize you knew I was a genius.” I could see she was trying to hide her smile.

“What do you want, Dash?”

“There’s a reading of The Raven tonight, put on by the poetry club. You want to go?”

She popped up from her chair. “Hell yes, give me one minute.” She ran into the house. In a flash, she came out with her purse, and we headed back to campus. We walked through the center of campus until we reached Lindley Hall.

Once we found the room, we settled in the back, and listened intently to one of Poe’s most famous works. No matter how many times I heard the words, they still stirred emotions in me.

I glanced over at Garnet, and I saw tears pooling in her eyes. I reached over and took her hand. I wasn’t like Dart, gentle or comforting, but there was something about Garnet.

Twice this girl has been in my bed, and twice nothing has remotely happened. Did I want something to go on between us? Sure. Garnet was stunning, and I’ve seen her shake her hips on the dance floor. She had been drunk, but she’d had rhythm.

When they had finished reading the poem, we all stood up clapping. They announced there would be more soon, and I won’t lie—I was excited about it.

When we walked out of the building, I asked Garnet if she was hungry.

“I could tear up a Fat Patty’s bacon cheeseburger right now,” she moaned, licking her lips.

“Let’s go.” We walked up to Third Avenue to the hottest restaurant in all of Huntington.

Luckily, we didn’t have to wait long before we were seated. Since Garnet and I both knew what we wanted, we ordered right away.

I didn’t realize how hungry I was until the waitress sat down the bacon cheese fries in front of us.

“Dash, I wanted to apologize again for telling Daisy we were together.”

“Garnet, quit it. I think you’ve said sorry to me a hundred times since then.”

“I know,” she dipped her fry in ranch dressing. “I was mad at her, and it just spilled out.”

“Garnet,” my voice was firm. “Let it go. However I do have a question?”

“Shoot.”

“Why the tattoo and that quote?” It was something I’d wanted to ask her since I had seen the magnificent artwork on her body.

Garnet shrugged. “I always wanted a tattoo and The Raven is my favorite, and I like the quote.”

“So, what is it about Poe that you love so