by Emma Tharp
As much as I want to be standoffish with Gavin and hate him for hooking up with Lexi, he's making it difficult. Plus, what right do I have to him anyway? It isn’t like he’s my boyfriend. We’re lab partners. That’s it.
"Come here. Check this out." He opens one of the textbooks to an article. “Someone did a similar study to ours, just using different bacteria.”
I take the seat next to him and scoot closer.
He looks directly at me, his face mere inches from mine. I could combust at any moment. This closeness is killing me.
"Thought we could use this to cross-reference," he says.
My back is damp with sweat. Maybe the thermostat is broken.
His closeness, his scent, his mere presence is all too much. I need space and air. I bolt up out of my chair and sling my bag over my shoulder. "You know what? I'm not feeling well. I promise to be more prepared for the next lab."
With that, I hurry out of the lab without even helping him clean up.
As much as I try to fight this, Gavin is working his way in. I'm powerless before him.
How am I going to get this guy out of my head when I'm forced to be this close to him?
Once I’m outside, I jog to my car and unlock it. My mother’s call from earlier comes to mind. I have to wonder why my dad set her up to make the call, other than to put in a good word for Hunter. It was so random, I’m still not sure what the call was really about.
What would my parents think if I dated someone like Gavin? He’s the opposite of Hunter in every way. And they’re so up in my business. I have a feeling Dad wouldn’t approve of me dating a guy with a bad boy vibe, and not the clean-cut trust fund guy.
I don’t know what’s going on with my parents, but I have a feeling the call today was only the tip of the iceberg.
Eight
Gavin
What the hell was that about?
I rush out of the room after Stella, only to find her jogging down the hall.
Should I go after her?
If she needed help, she would've asked me. Maybe. Instead of following her, I go back into the lab to clean up.
As I wipe down the table and put my textbooks back into my bag, my mind flashes to five minutes ago when Stella jumped out of her seat like she was allergic to me and ran off. She said she wasn't feeling well, but she wasn't pale or gray. It was something else.
I throw my bag over my shoulder, turn off the lights, and lock up the lab.
A small, weak part of me is hurt by Stella's actions. What did I do to make her run away from me? Every time I'm with Stella, I'm drawn to her, and I thought she felt it too.
When she first showed up to the lab, she was a little cold, but as time went on, she seemed to warm up to me. I wanted to prove to her that she could trust me as her lab partner and she doesn’t have to worry about getting screwed over like she did last semester.
Turns out, that wasn't good enough. I'm stupid as fuck for letting her get under my skin.
Despite the internal war going on in my head, the next night, I let a group of the hockey guys talk me into going to a house party. A sorority house party.
More specifically, Stella's sorority house party.
I shouldn't be here. What good could come of it? But I want to see her even though I know I shouldn't. I need to know she's okay and ask her why she ran off yesterday. It would have been nice if we had bio class today. I’d have confronted her then. But we didn’t.
In the back of the house, my hockey brothers and I decide to play beer pong. We set up the table and pour beer into the cups.
"We're up next." Justin crooks his finger toward me. "We play the winners, Miles and Jett."
"Do you think that's a good idea?" I ask Justin. "Miles is like the Kobe Bryant of beer pong. He never misses."
Justin swats my arm. "That's what makes it fun."
"All right. Let's do this." I pick up a ball and bounce it into their first cup.
Justin and I high-five each other just as Miles drinks the beer out of the cup.
"Don't worry. You guys are mine!" Miles shouts from the other end of the table before taking his shot.
The ping-pong ball crests over the edge of the cup and sinks in.
Justin lifts the cup and drinks it.
We're all feeling pretty good after the few rounds of shots we took almost as soon as we got here. As the game progresses, Justin and I work on knocking back the last of the six pack we brought with us. It wasn't my intention to get drunk tonight, but the buzz is nice.
I scan the crowds of people, and disappointment hits me in the chest. I haven't run into Stella yet tonight.
"Who are you looking for, man?" Justin asks as he throws the ping-pong ball and misses all of the cups.
"My lab partner, Stella. This is her sorority. She took off without warning yesterday at the lab. Left me to clean up afterward."
There wasn't much to clean and that didn't bother me. What did was the way she left.
"What the hell, man?"
Jett lands a shot in one of our cups. I pull the ball out and drain it.
“I have no idea what happened,” I say. “It's like she needed to get away from me as quickly as possible, without warning."
"Women are impossible to read."
"No shit." Yet here I am wasting countless hours of mental energy attempting to figure her out.
Justin finishes his beer and crushes the can between his hands. "Good luck trying to understand women. It's a hopeless cause. We need to find more beer."
"You stay. I'll go find some," I tell him as I walk away.
I roam through the living room, then the kitchen. There's no sign of Stella anywhere. Sure, I told Justin I was looking for beer, but I want to see Stella first. I head outside, but there aren't many people out here and she isn't one of them.
Where could she be? Is she in one of the rooms with another dude?
The thought churns my gut.
When I’m back in the kitchen, a frat boy calls out my name. I think his name is Trip or something pretentious like that. I stroll over to him and he hands me a shot.
"Cheers," he says and angles his cup toward me.
I grab the shot, tip it back, and slam the cup on the counter when I’m done. The clear liquid burns the back of my throat and blurs the edges of the room.
"Thanks," I tell the guy and start to walk away.
"You want another?" he calls after me.
I shake my head and make my way back to the living room. Squinting, I try to find the blonde hair and green eyes that I can’t seem to stop thinking about.
Maybe I shouldn't have taken that last shot. Who knows what the fuck it was? As I make my way down the hallway to bathroom, I sway slightly and grab the wall for balance.
I jiggle the handle of the bathroom door, but it’s locked. Instead of trudging around trying to find another one, I lean against the opposite wall and wait.
When the door swings open, my breath catches in the back of my throat. It's her.
Her green eyes widen when she sees me standing there.
"Hey." Stella tucks a loose curl behind her ear and looks down before her gaze lands on mine. "I didn't know you were here."
I knew you would be, that's why I came.
Before I can think, I take a couple steps closer, erasing the distance between us. "Yeah. I'm here."
She takes a step back and pushes up against the wall, bracing herself.
"Are you having a good time?" Her voice is small and throaty.
Is she afraid of me? She has no reason to be, but if she thinks she’s going to run off without explaining herself, she’s wrong.
I move to stand in front of her and my heart rate kicks up. "I am now."
Her breaths grow shallow and I watch the rise and fall of her chest.
"Good," she says.
We lock eyes and I move into her, resting my hip on hers. We're so close we're sharing the same breath. She smells sweet, like she has been drinking a fruity, girly
drink.
"I wanted to ask you something," I say as I drag my fingertip down the column of her neck.
"What is it?" Her voice quavers but she doesn't break eye contact.
I ease in closer and bring my hands up, palms on the wall behind her, caging her in. "Why did you leave me the way you did at the lab?"
She shrugs and bites her bottom lip, scraping her teeth over it.
Damn. I want that lip.
Somewhere in the depths of my alcohol-fueled brain, I realize this isn’t the best idea, to put my hands on my lab partner, the girl I can’t seem to get out of my head, but I’m helpless to stop myself.
With the edge of my fingertip, I skim along the contour of her mouth. It’s soft and now I want to know what she tastes like. Every cell in me wants her.
She sucks my finger into her mouth, and fire burns in her eyes.
Oh, really? I didn’t see this coming from her.
She swirls my finger around the inside of her mouth, drawing it way down deep, making me groan, and my body throb.
I grip her around the waist and pull her to me. I tower over her, the heat from our bodies, pressed hard against each other, filling me with desperate need. A steady flow of blood floods my body, hardening every inch.
She parts her lips as I lean down and crush mine to hers. My tongue sweeps inside her mouth as one of my hands tugs her silky hair, angling her closer. She moans into me as I explore her sweet-tasting mouth.
She kisses me back with such intensity, I forget where we are. I glide my hands down her sides and grip her hips, digging my fingers into her soft curves. One of my knees moves between her thighs, settling in there. She grinds into me and I grab her ass, pressing my erection against her.
The calculated self-control I’ve had around Stella melts by the second. The growing tension between us has finally snapped. I’ve never wanted anyone more.
Someone clears their throat. It sounds like they’re right next to us. It’s like being pulled out of a dream, one I don’t want to wake from.
With great effort, I pull away from the kiss.
“Excuse me, is anyone in there? I need to use the bathroom,” a short girl asks, pointing around us.
I didn’t even realize we were blocking the entrance.
“Go ahead,” Stella says. Her cheeks are flushed and she’s almost panting.
The girl steps around us, looking embarrassed for disturbing us. Stella and I make no move to get out of the way.
We stare at each other. Her fingers move to her now swollen, red lips. I can’t read her expression. She glances over her shoulder at the sounds coming from the party.
Just then, Lexi, the girl I made out with the other night, sashays down the hall.
Shit.
Stella pushes away from me and smooths down the hair that I just ran my fingers through. “Hey, Lex, someone’s in this bathroom. You might want to go to another.”
Lexi’s eyes widen as she takes in the scene in front of her. I only give her a small lift of my chin. She seems a little disappointed, but I told her the other night I couldn’t go through with it. This is why. Stella is why.
“Okay. Thanks,” Lexi says, and turns on her heel, marching back the way she came.
With pinched eyes, Stella shakes her head. When she opens them, she points a finger into my chest. "You know I'm not one of your conquests, like Lexi. I don't do one-night stands!"
Before I can say one word, she storms away down the hall, running off. Again. Twice in twenty-four hours. What the hell happened?
How did I royally fuck this up so fast?
Nine
Stella
Oh. My. God.
I felt that kiss everywhere, in every hair follicle, and every single pore. It was hotter than hot. I was freaking humping his leg in the hallway.
Who the hell am I? But, like a cold glass of water getting thrown in my face, Lexi had to come waltzing down the hall to remind me that she and Gavin hooked up recently. That she had him first.
What’s he trying to do? Sleep his way through the sorority house? He’s such a man whore.
It’s for the best anyway.
I’m no one’s sloppy seconds. The sooner I forget that kiss, the better.
Warmth floods my face and upper body. I need a drink to cool off. In the kitchen, Big Ted stands at the counter, pouring a row of shots into red cups for a group of people.
I sidle up next to him. “One of these for me?”
“Absolutely.” He hands me one and distributes the rest to the crowd.
We all cheer and chug back the contents. I wince at its sharp, astringent taste. The drink is harsh going down, but I set my cup back on the counter.
“One more, please,” I say.
“Anything for you.” Big Ted winks and pours me another, and one more for him.
I wonder how many shots he has had tonight. It doesn’t matter; the guy is four times my size. I bet he could drink the entire bottle and not feel it.
After I slam my second, then third shot, my body feels lighter than air.
I find myself glancing around the kitchen to see if Gavin followed me in here. There's no sign of him and worse, there's no sign of me forgetting about the kiss. My body heats up like an inferno even thinking about it.
"One more, please." I throw Big Ted a playful grin and he pours me a refill, this one fuller than the last.
"You're really looking to party tonight, aren't you, pretty lady?" Big Ted taps his cup with mine.
This shot stings down the back of my throat worse than the others. It appears to have done the trick because everything in the room seems to float.
"Abso-freaking-lutely!” I put my hand up to high-five Big Ted and when I go for his, I completely miss, sending me into a fit of giggles. “I’m taking a walk.”
I fumble my way down the hall, looking for Harper. Who am I kidding? I want to see Gavin. Who knows why? There’s nothing to say, but I would like to ogle at him again—from afar, because he’s nice to look at. Even though I know I should steer clear of him, my body seeks him out.
"Hey, girl. What's up?" Harper stops me in the living room and grips my shoulders. "Are you okay?"
I hiccup. "Yeah. I'm great."
"Perfect. Now I need you to tell me all about that kiss."
"What kiss?" Did she see me kissing Gavin?
Harper rolls her eyes and has a sip of her spiked seltzer. "Did you kiss more than one person tonight?"
This throws me into another fit of giggles. "No."
"Well, I saw you in a hot and heavy make-out sesh with that hot hockey player. Tell me all about it."
My cheeks feel fireball red. "What did you see?"
"It seemed like you guys were seconds away from screwing, right there against the wall."
I cradle my head in my hands and sigh, but the room starts to spin, so I open them again. "It was stupid. I never should've done it."
"Are you sure you're okay? Your cheeks went from bright pink to pasty white."
I grab the spiked seltzer out of her hand and chug half of it, hoping it will cool me down. It does the opposite and my stomach turns.
"I'm going to go lie down."
Harper nods and takes the drink from my hand. "Good idea. Need any help?"
If you could somehow get Gavin out of my head, that would be fabulous.
"No. I'm sure I'll feel better once I get some rest."
We hug, then I make my way to my room and do a crash landing on my bed.
Everything whirls around me with no sign of stopping. Why did I take all of those shots? I vow to myself—and mean it this time—to never to drink again. Or kiss Gavin.
I close my eyes and hope sleep comes soon.
Someone needs to turn off the lights. I wince as I crack one eyelid open. The sting isn’t from the lights; it's the sun streaming through the open curtains, landing directly on my face. My head pounds, and the memory of doing endless shots with Big Ted last night has my stomach rolling. Again.
As I roll over and attempt to sit up, the room spins around me.
I'll wait a few more minutes to get up.
Someone knocking on my door has me opening my eyes again.
"Hey, can I come in?" Harper opens the door and peeks her head in.
"Only if you have pain relievers." My voice sounds like I gargled rocks all night long.
Harper steps into the room holding a bottle of ibuprofen and a glass of water. "Thought you could use these."
"What gave it away?"
She takes a seat on the edge of the bed. “You were a little tipsy last night.”
Oh, God.
I tug the blankets over my head and sigh. Why did I drink so much last night? And why did I make out with Gavin?
Harper pulls my covers back and hands me three pain tablets. "Here. This should help with a hangover."
"Will it help with the regret?"
"The kiss or the drinking?"
I take the pills from her and swallow them down with a few sips of water.
"Both. But I regret the kiss more than anything. His name is Gavin and he’s my lab partner for biology. How am I going to face him?" I glance at the clock on my nightstand. "I'm supposed to have class with him in forty minutes."
She pats my leg. "You’re going to waltz into lab with your chin up, acting like nothing happened."
"Do you think that'll work?"
"Fake it till you make it, baby. But I do have to ask, why you regret it so much? Why can't you just date the guy? The kiss between you two looked super sexy!"
It was. The hottest kiss of my life. "Gavin isn't the dating type. He hooked up with Lexi recently. He's a man whore and I’m not going to be a notch on his bedpost."
"Suit yourself, but he looks like you could have some fun with him." She pretends to fan herself.
"Not helping."
She hops up off my bed and heads for the door. "Okay. Okay. I'll stop harassing you. I hope you feel better soon and have a good day."
She blows me a kiss.