Julien’s laughing now. “I said she did them, but that girl wasn’t happy about it. I had to resort to bribes to get her to finish the last several miles. I’m in it for another round of bad karaoke and a crappy Hallmark movie.”
“Are you two running again tomorrow?”
“That’s the plan. I hope you don’t mind.” I see disappointment cross Elijah’s face even though he tells Julien’s he understands.
We hear the balcony door slide open and Liz’s melodic voice as she says, “Talk to you both on Thursday.” She sits back down and notices none of us have touched our plates.
“You guys didn’t have to wait for me.”
“You’re worth waiting for,” I mumble as I take a huge bite of food. Liz pretends she doesn’t hear me, but I see her cheeks redden.
“How was your first day?” I ask her because I hadn’t seen her at all until I met up with her and Julien after their organic chem class.
“It was really good, actually. I got roped into a Wednesday evening study group, but the girl, Meredith, who suggested it is pretty cool. She’s like this tiny little bundle of energy. Julien, speaking of study groups. Want to study together for chem? It’s just a lot of reading this week, but we can quiz each other with questions.”
“I need to check my training schedule for soccer. The team’s meeting tomorrow afternoon so I’ll know better how much free time I have this semester.”
“I can’t wait to see you play.”
“I’ll make sure to reserve an extra ticket for you to sit with E, Jay, and Ry. They have special seating reserved for family members and close friends. Our first home match is in a month.”
“I want to ask Ryder if I can go back out to the track again. It was so much fun. He taught me how to drift. Maybe you guys can come next time.”
“When Ry told us, I think my mouth dropped to the floor. He showed us one of the videos he took with his phone from inside the car.”
“I thought it was badass,” I compliment her.
It really was. There must be so much more to Liz than I ever knew, and I thought I knew everything about her. These latent qualities that are peeking out have me more intrigued and I would love nothing more than to peel back more of her hidden layers, learn more about the girl I have loved most of my life but who is clearly still a mystery to me. Apparently, Liz has a bit of a bad girl side. It shouldn’t surprise me. She loved watching the races at the Fields, loved that adrenaline rush. She also really liked it when our sex was rough and dirty. Jesus, now I’m hard again. I focus on eating my food so I don’t embarrass myself.
After dinner, we clean up and settle down together in the living room. Liz says she has some calculus homework to do, so me and the guys put on ESPN and chill in front of the television. Liz puts in her earbuds to listen to music while she works. I take out my phone and snap a picture of her when she’s not looking. Julien ribs me with his elbow. I forward it to him. Elijah falls asleep on the other end of the couch, snoring lightly.
When Liz closes her textbook and pulls out her earbuds, I notice that it’s already past ten. I hear the front door open and in walks Ryder.
“Hey, any dinner left?” he calls out and stops dead when he rounds the corner to see us with Liz who is sitting on the floor.
He looks at her, then me and Julien, then back to her. “Hey, Elizabeth.”
Elizabeth
It’s been quite pleasant spending the evening with Julien, Jayson, and Elijah. Things are more relaxed between Jayson and me after he apologized, and he’s been giving me space and respecting my boundaries. If only Ryder were here, then my night would be perfect. I hate that we have to keep what’s happening between us a secret, but I get why. Even though Jayson is behaving better, I can feel him watching me. If he and I are in the same room, I know his eyes are glued on me. I feel the hairs on the back of my neck go up and it makes me squirm.
Ryder said he would call or text me when he got home tonight, but I want to see him again so badly. I’ve been working on classwork for the past hour, hoping that he would come home before it got too late. Once ten o’clock rolls around, I am about to pack up and head back to my apartment when he walks through the front door. My heart thuds in anticipation when he rounds the corner, all six feet of him, looking sexy as hell in a black t-shirt and jeans.
“Hey, Elizabeth,” he says, nervousness and uncertainty apparent in the way he suddenly stops when he sees me sitting on the floor, his three best friends sitting on the sofa behind me. Elijah passed out a half hour ago.
“Hi.” I try to control the breathiness of my voice but fail miserably. “I put your dinner in the fridge for you. I can go heat up the pasta if you’d like.”
“Thanks. I need to go clean up first.”
“How was the race?” Jayson asks him, feet kicked up on the coffee table, eyes glued to whatever game is on.
“We did some quarter milers. I won all four times.” I watch his handsome face split with a smug grin. “Be right back.”
Ryder walks down the hall to his room.
“I need to get going myself, especially if we’re running tomorrow,” I point to Julien. “I will admit that my legs are sore so I may not be able to last ten miles.”
“We can do however many you want.”
“You’re tricking me, aren’t you? I cut out early and you get to weasel out of owing me my bribe prizes.”
Julien winks at me.
“Do you mind if I use the restroom before I go?”
“Liz, you don’t have to ask our permission. Our home is your home,” Jayson reminds me.
When I get halfway down the hallway, I take a peek over my shoulder to make sure that Julien and Jayson aren’t looking. Luckily, they are engrossed with the game they have been watching. I carefully open Ryder’s bedroom door and slip inside, closing the door behind me with a silent click. I immediately stop breathing when I turn around and see his naked back and am disappointed when he puts on a fresh shirt. I lean against the door, hand to my chest, trying to hold back my pounding heart. I am in so much trouble with this man.
“Hi,” I whisper. Before Ryder can say anything, I’m on him in flash. He gives a small grunt when I push him back on the bed and climb up his delectable body until my face hovers over his, arms propped on either side of his head.
“Hi,” he whispers back to me, his hypnotic copper eyes glazing over with lust.
“I couldn’t wait,” I explain.
His hands pull at my waist and I roll my stomach and torso down until I fit snuggly against him. “We need to be quick, and quiet,” I tell him and bend the rest of the way down.
Our kiss this time is slow and sensual, but just as potent as the one we shared earlier today in the music room. Every part of me tingles and throbs, but I know I’ll need to stop soon. I end our kiss with a gentle suck and bite of his bottom lip. I can feel how hard he is beneath me and wish I had time to slide my hand down the sexy V of his abs. I look forward to doing exactly that on Friday when we have our official first date.
“Fuck, Elizabeth.” I love that I’m able to make him so out of control and needy with just a simple kiss. As I slide back off of him to leave, I trail my lips down his shirt-covered chest and stomach before lifting the fabric up a couple of inches and swirling my tongue around his navel. I don’t know what it is about Ryder that turns me into a mindless bundle of lust and desideratum. All I know for certain is that I find him and his body irresistible.
“Goodnight, Ryder.” I leave him panting on the bed.
“You know I’m going to have to go jack off now, right?”
“As long as you think of me while doing it,” are my parting words as I open his door and peek out to make sure the coast is clear.
Humming all the way back to the living room, I kiss the tops of Jayson, Julien, and Elijah’s heads, then grab my bag. “Goodnight boys,” I sing-song, so happy at this moment from my second kiss with Ryder that I feel like I’m levitating across the floor.
&
nbsp; “Liz, wait. Do you need me to follow you home?” Jayson asks from behind me.
“I’m good.”
“Text us when you get in so we know you’re okay.”
“Will do.” I call back at Julien, “See you in the morning.”
Elijah decides to wake up then and gives me a sleepy wave. “Bye, Liz.”
When I get home, I text Jayson and Julien to let them know I’m safe and sound. I take a quick shower and slip on my usual bedtime outfit of boy shorts and a tank top. Slipping under my covers, I take a selfie with my phone and send it to Ryder.
Me: Goodnight Ryder.
Hellcat: You’re killing me here. You are so fucking sexy.
I lick my lips. I can still taste him on me.
Me: Thank you for saying yes.
Hellcat: Thank you for asking me.
Me: Was this how it was like before between us? I feel like my body is on fire.
Hellcat: This is so much better than before.
Hellcat: I’ve half a mind to come over there right now and finish what you started in my bedroom.
Hell yes!
Me: I’ll see you in the morning after Julien and I get back. Bring more donuts
Hellcat: Anything for you, Elizabeth.
Me: Goodnight Ryder.
Hellcat: Sweet dreams baby.
Baby.
For the first time since I arrived, my dreams are full of only Ryder. Fantasies of him keep my nightmares away and I wake up the next morning more than ready to tackle Julien’s ten-mile run. I need to pack my bag for school as well as put in a change of clothes so I can shower at the boys’ condo after breakfast. I have an appointment with Dr. Clairemont and then a couple of classes later in the day. When I open my bag and take out my calc textbook from last night, a silver origami star falls out. Curious, I pick it up and notice some writing peeking out from one of the folds. I unfold it to see a message.
“You aren’t just a star to me, you are my whole damn sky.”
Chapter 15
Elizabeth
The smell of musty books and old paper circulate in the air as I walk through the library, looking for the study room Meredith reserved for us. Once I find room three, I turn on the lights and get situated, waiting for her and Trevor to arrive. We were given our first group assignment today on South Pole Station, so it was only natural that Meredith, Trevor, and I work together as a group. We’re to compare and contrast the fiction story with articles, papers, and videos on climate change and have to present a group project about pop culture’s treatment of global warming by the end of next week.
Since I have time to kill while I wait for Meredith and Trevor to arrive, I ponder over the past couple of days. I had a lot to talk about with Dr. Clairemont during our bi-weekly session yesterday. Mostly about Ryder, but also about how things were better between me and Jayson, and how much fun I was having with Julien. I haven’t had any more memory flashes since, and the reprieve has been wonderful.
Speaking of Julien, he owes me two more bribe prizes. I found an online store that does cheap custom print jobs and ordered his pink T-shirt. It should arrive sometime next week. Julien’s soccer training schedule is all afternoon practices, so we still get to run with each other every morning. I have to skip tomorrow, however, because of my MRI which Ryder is taking me to.
I haven’t seen much of Jayson other than when he meets me and Julien after chem class and in the mornings for our usual breakfast at their place. Jayson said since I’m taking a shower there every morning that I should leave some of my stuff at their place, like toiletries and clothes, so I’m not having to pack a bag every day. When I showed up this morning with hair care products, soap, and a couple of days’ worth of clothes, he acted like it was Christmas morning. He unpacked everything himself.
I also found another silver origami star on my doorstep when I left to meet Julien at five. This one had the message: “Love is not written on paper, for paper can be erased. Nor is it etched on stone, for stone can be broken. But it is inscribed on a heart and there it shall remain forever.”
Ryder hasn’t said anything to me about them, and I don’t want to ruin his romantic gesture by bringing it up. I’ve hung the two stars he’s left for me from my ceiling using string and thumbtacks. I want to be able to gaze up at his beautiful word-filled stars as I fall asleep. Last night I dreamed I was sitting under a tree, one that was sprinkled with a million twinkling stars.
After Lit class this morning, Ryder treated me to a picnic lunch in a quiet, shaded public garden located next to the biology building. When I saw him waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs of Mason Hall, basket in one hand, a single yellow rose in the other, my silly girlie heart swelled with what felt like love. I’ve been falling for Ryder since the moment he approached me in the student center, my memory be damned, because my feelings are real. I felt them that day. I’ve felt them every time we’ve spoken. I’ve felt them every minute he’s near me. I definitely felt them when we kissed. And I feel them now.
Ryder and I spent our secluded hour talking about everything and nothing, our hands continuously touching one another in some way because we both couldn’t stop ourselves. His lips would find a sensitive patch of skin on my neck to nuzzle. My lips would feather kisses along his cheekbone. When we finished eating the lettuce wraps he made for us, he laid his head down on my lap and told me stories from when we were younger. Because I can’t remember them, I asked him to tell me about his mom and dad and two sisters. Ryder explained his plans to finish college with an MBA and take over his dad’s auto garage. I laughed at his stories of Brea and her obsession with American Girl dolls. I felt exhilarated when he told me about a race he did against Elijah at the Fields on his motorbike, and how he tried to impress me by performing a backflip on his bike at the finish line. Unfortunately, our time ended too soon, and he walked me to my next class with a promise to call me tonight after my study group.
“…and I think we need to include something about the political attitudes of climate change deniers to give us a good contrasting argument to make for our presentation.” Meredith is talking to Trevor as they walk in. “Oh, hey, Elizabeth. Hope we aren’t late. Are we late? I’m so sorry if we’re late!”
“Right on time. I was early.” Meredith is like a whirlwind of motion. She’s removing her bag and taking out all her stuff while continuing to chat away.
Trevor sits down beside me. “Hey, Wildcat.”
“Hey, Trevor.”
He leans over to whisper in my ear, “Is she always like this?”
“I only met her a few days ago, but so far, yes. But she’s too adorable so I don’t mind,” I whisper back.
“Are you coming to the party this weekend?”
“Undecided. Can I bring some friends with me if I do?”
“Is it that guy that waits for you after every class?”
I narrow my eyes at him. “Yes, along with some other friends of mine. Would it matter?”
“Are you telling me you’re off the market?” He gives me his twin-dimpled smile and I roll my eyes.
“You guys ready to start?” Meredith interrupts our hushed discussion.
“Yep,” I tell her. “I’ve already found a few articles I think would be interesting, and of course there’s always Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth we could watch.”
“Ooh, that’s good. I love movie nights. How about we split up the reading.” She pulls out a stack of about seven papers she printed out and hands half of them to Trevor. “Elizabeth, you read the ones you found and we can read these. We can take notes on things of relevance and interest and discuss them together. I think we’ll need another study session since the assignment is due next Friday. What about this Friday?”
“I’ve got a date on Friday,” I blurt out before I realize I’m saying it.
“What date?” Trevor asks me when Meredith shouts, “I knew it! It’s that hot guy you’re always with isn’t it? I knew you were lying when you said y
ou guys were only friends.”
I blush feverously and busy myself with flipping through printouts.
“Oh, my God, you’re blushing like crazy!”
“Can we please just drop it,” I plead.
“Meredith, chill,” Trevor tells her. “If Elizabeth wants to talk about it, she will. It’s none of our business anyway. We’re here to work on the assignment, not discuss her love life.”
“Oh, fine,” she pouts.
“Thank you,” I say to Trevor.
“No problem. But I guess it’s now safe to conclude you are off the market. A shame, really.”
“And why is that?”
“I think you already know.”
I think I do from the look he’s giving me.
For the next two hours, we get through most of the papers and part of the book and agree to meet again tomorrow night and next Tuesday and Wednesday as well. Trevor offers to create the presentation using our notes since he’s the most computer-savvy of the three of us.
“You girls want me to walk you out?” Trevor asks us as we pack up.
Meredith is quick to jump on his offer. “That would be awesome, Trevor. Do you mind walking me to my dorm?”
“Not at all. Elizabeth, what about you?”
“I think she already has her ride,” Meredith tells him and points to someone outside the glass windows of our study room.
I glance out to see Ryder leaning casually back against one of the stacks across from our room looking like a GQ model with his shirt stretched taut across his muscular chest and his jeans-clad legs crossed at the ankles. The dreamy sigh I make has Meredith giggling like a five-year old.
Paper Stars Rewritten: Fallen Brook Series: Book 2 Page 13