chapter 3

Gabriel's POV:

Friend  

That word was kind of foreign to me. Sure I had Daniel as my best friend but he was my only guy friend and friend in general. It has been years since I have had another friend, let alone a girl as a friend. When I was in high school I had plenty of girlfriends that were consider my friend but never one who didn't want to sleep with me. Carmen sure was different than most girls I have ever met. She has not thrown herself at me, not even once. If I wasn't so shocked I would be hurt.  

Ever since I have met her she has surprised me. She wasn't like other girls who tried to hide how smart they were, didn't eat nothing in front of people because she didn't want to become fat, and she was someone who stuck up for herself. Whenever I was around her she wasn't afraid to voice her thoughts and that was something I liked. It got boring easily when a girl always agrees with what you say, something different is a good thing.  

As I walked away from her dorm building I couldn't shake the smile on my face. When she asked me if we were friends I didn't know what to say honestly. Were we friends? Did I ever actually hate her? Carmen sure knew how to get under someones skin and make them like her. There was something about her that you couldn't hate. I don't know if it is her niceness, or innocence that drew me in or what. When I did reply saying that we were friends and seeing her smile like that I felt my pulse quicken. Her smile was breath-taking to say the least. An unknown feeling erupted inside of me as her smile making a small voice in my head a promise that I would make her smile like that again.  

This night hadn't turned out at all like I planned. For the past week I had been avoiding her. I really didn't have a good excuse as to why I was but I just did. When I taught her some moves about fighting I could feel the wall I had built around myself starting to crack. It scared me to say the least when I got home that night. I forced myself to stay away from Carmen all week, which honestly wasn't that hard to do considering we didn't have much classes together anyways. She was actually the reason I decided to go to the party.  

****  

Flashback to earlier...

Tonight I was going to go to this stupid ass party to get her off my mind. All week Daniel had been bugging me about going to come sorority party here on campus. It wasn't like I didn't like a good party, because I do but today I just didn't want to go. But when I saw Carmen and her friend walking together towards the football stadium I couldn't keep my eyes off of her. She drew me in like a moth to a flame.  

Angry at myself I accepted Daniel's offer to go to the party, hoping to drink and sleep Carmen away from my mind. A good fuck would probably do me nicely anyways. Of course we had shown up late because Daniel took his own sweet ass time getting ready. When he finally left the bathroom he looked the exact same way he did before.  

As soon as we stepped foot in the house Daniel took off to get us something to drink. I tried to stay off to the side but sadly my tactic didn't work, not even 5 minutes later I had some girl sliding up to talk to me. While I did come here to fuck Carmen away from my thoughts I couldn't seem to focus on the girl in front of me. It was stupid considering how hot the girl was and she was practically all over me. Her long dirty blonde hair fall down her back, a tight dress hugging her toned body. A body definitely worth seeing without clothes on.  

Daniel had left me alone with the girl and was currently grinding against some girl that had bright green hair. I was making casual conversation with the girl in front of me while sipping my beer. I quickly ran out of alcohol and I knew that in order for me to actually forget about a certain someone I'd need more. Telling the girl I would be right back I turned to head to the kitchen. It was than I smashed right into someone, that someone being a girl.  

I steadied both of us before I took in the girl. The dark brown hair covered her face making it hard to see who it was. I was about to move her out of my way when she moved her head up and I caught sight of who it was.  

"Carmen?" I asked. She didn't even seem to recognize me or anything for that matter. Her blue eyes were darting around the room, they were glazed over with tears that I knew would fall any minute. "Carmen!" Seeing her on the verge of crying I wanted to know what happened. Did someone make her cry? A feeling of protectiveness encased me wanting to know exactly who did this to her.  

When she did finally answer I knew what I had to do. I didn't even think twice about pulling her against me and taking her outside to my car, away from here. Carmen was seconds away from breaking down and I knew she did not want everyone to see that. I don't know what really possessed me to save her from the party and take her somewhere. It was like I was on auto-pilot. Everything about wanting to forget her going straight out the window.  

I listened as she sobbed in the passenger seat of my car. Her small body was curled into a ball and it shook as she cried. I tightened my hand on the steering wheel forcing myself not to reach out and rub my hand on her back to sooth her. I sucked at emotional stuff especially comforting someone when they cried.  

I really wanted to know why she was crying but I knew she wouldn't tell me. Whenever she calmed down she probably would just clam right up. I had a small feeling it had something to do with a guy, which made my blood boil even more. I didn't have a claim on Carmen, hell I didn't even like her, but thinking that some guy tried something on her did not sit well with me.  

Because I was on auto-pilot my hands directed me in the direction of one place I knew Carmen would love. Somehow I just knew she would like it, it was my own special place to go to think and get away. I focused on the road while Carmen continued on crying. I was lost in thought that I didn't notice she had stopped crying and was now just hiccuping. My hands itched on the steering wheel to reach out and grab her hand.  

I had no idea why I even wanted to comfort her nor why I wanted to find the person who did this and hit him. I had barely even known Carmen for 2 weeks and she already had this affect on me. My thoughts scared me but I pushed it all aside so I could help Carmen. She needed someone right now and I was going to be that person. 

End of flashback...

Although the night didn't start off the way I had thought I was glad what happened, happened. I know it was terrible but I was glad Carmen ran into me at the party and let me take her to the field I always go to. I hated that she got hurt and ended up crying but we had a good time afterwards. I knew she didn't want to explain everything to me so I just ended up talking about astronomy, which did the trick of helping Carmen.  

We had spent a good 3 hours talking about absolutely nothing but it was fun. I learned little things about Carmen. How she would tap her finger against her thigh when she was deep in thought, how her nose would scrunch up when she was confused or thinking a little too hard. She of course didn't notice that I would stare at her. I was doing it unconsciously that I didn't even notice it at first.  

When I noticed that it was getting late I reluctantly told her we better go, even though I didn't want to move. It was nice laying here not worrying about anything. The silence of the field was nice and just made you feel peaceful. Not to much I had a very pretty girl next to me who was wearing an outfit that I couldn't keep my eyes off of. I tried hard not to stare but I couldn't help it, I was a guy after all.  

Now here I was walking back to my place thinking the entire night over. The night that seemed almost perfect in a way. I was slowly becoming friends with Carmen even though a small voice in the back of my mind was telling me differently. For once I wasn't listening to the devil on my shoulder telling me I couldn't have anyone. Even if I couldn't have Carmen maybe we could be friends. That alone was a scary thought but it wasn't enough to stop me. For some reason I did not want to push Carmen away anymore, she was like a little delicate flower that I had to protect and if I didn't she will break apart.  

Carmen was starting to do something to me and I had yet to figure out if it was good or not.