by June Kramin
“Annnnd…”
“And what? That was uncool.”
“Katie? It about time someone pops that cherry of yours.”
“I’m hardly a virgin, Court.”
“So stop acting like it. I swear you haven’t gotten laid since second term.”
“Just because you keep a revolving door on our dorm room doesn’t mean I have to try to keep up. Besides, I have a date with Rex tonight. Remember?”
“You putting out, finally?”
“I don’t know. Maybe.”
“You’ve been keeping the poor guy hanging for over a month.”
“Since when is that making a guy wait?”
“Since the eighteen hundreds,” Courtney said with a laugh. She finally stood. “Well, shit. I’m up. Might as well get to class. Hey, you think this kid has a friend?”
“Where would you fit him in?”
“Har-de-har-har. Have fun with Rex tonight. I want details tomorrow.”
“You got it.”
“Don’t forget to put a sock on the door knob for me.”
“I won’t come back here,” Katie said.
“Good. Because I have a sex date with Ronald tonight.”
“Again?”
Courtney shrugged. “He’s good. What can I say?”
“Try ‘no’ once in a while.”
“Why would I want to do that?” She quickly dressed and headed for the door. “Ta! Love you!”
After the door closed behind Courtney, Katie flopped on her bed. She wished she knew why thinking about Dustin gave her butterflies in her stomach all of a sudden.
“He called you ‘cupcake,’ for crying out loud,” she argued with herself. “What was he? Eighteen? Get over it, Katie. Think of Rex. Think of hot sex finally with Rex. You have this night coming. Happy birthday, princess.” She continued to talk to herself as she got ready for class, then stormed out, hollering at herself for talking to herself.
Dusty waited for Kaitlyn at the bar of the burger joint. He had to try again with her. He knew she had a date with Rex the day after her birthday, but he had no choice to look for her tonight. With a little luck, since he wasn’t currently in the picture, dates would get screwed up in his favor. He didn’t want to have to kill a night here, wasting precious time to set things straight. Katie had admitted to him that in her original past, she had slept with Rex on this night. He had to make sure that didn’t happen. He was thrilled to see them walk in together just after six. One thing went in his favor, he hoped his luck would hold out.
Katie was half way through her beer when she finally noticed him. He couldn’t text her like he had before and had been subtle about trying to get her attention. He gave her a gentle wave and saw her begin to cough as if she were choking. Rex patted her back. Shit. This was not going well already. She pointed up to Dusty, Rex walked around her chair and headed over. Double shit. Katie stood, blocking him from coming over. She said something to Rex, then made her way over to him. This was going to be interesting. Dusty spun around, acting as if he didn’t see her coming.
She tapped him on the shoulder. “What do you think you’re doing? Are you stalking me?”
“Sort of.”
“Sort of? What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“We’re meant to be together, Katie. I can’t have you going through with your plans tonight. You can’t sleep with him.”
Her cheeks flushed and she stepped back. “Excuse me?”
He held her hands. Again he tried to give them a kiss. This time he got away with it. “You’re my destiny, cupcake. Please send Rex home.”
Dusty saw Rex rushing to the bar. Oh boy. Here we go again.
“Look, you!” Rex shouted
Dustin quickly spun Kaitlyn around and pulled her back to him, wrapping his arms around her. “Protect me from your big bad boyfriend, Katie.”
“Dustin, stop it. This isn’t funny.”
“What gives, Kaitlyn? You know this creep or what?”
“Sort of, Rex. I’m sorry.” She turned as best as she could with the way Dusty held her. “I don’t know what you’re trying to pull, Dustin. I’m on a date. Please let us eat. Whatever it is you think you need to tell me, you can do it when I’m not with someone else. I’m not going to ask you again.”
“No can do, cupcake. Look, Rex, is it? I’m sorry, but you’re messing with my destiny here.”
“Your destiny?” Rex said, taking a step closer.
“Yup. Sorry. The lady is mine. You’ll have to find another.”
“Dustin…” Katie tried squirming out of his hold, but Dusty held her firmly.
“Real tough guy there, using the lady for cover,” Rex said as he grasped Katie by the arm, pulling her to him.
Dustin let go of her and stood. He remembered he’d come off as a jerk last time he pulled this, but he didn’t see another way to handle the situation. Katie simply could not leave with Rex. He couldn’t hang out here and wait a couple of months for her to be done with him. His thoughts trailed to the kids. He wanted to get home. Anger raged inside him for having to fight for the woman he already had.
“Outside!” he shouted to Rex, determined to make it there this time. He was going to win her over with bravery and persistence.
“Stop it! Both of you!” Kaitlyn screamed. She stormed away toward the table. Dustin started to go after her, but Rex planted a solid punch to his chin and sent him flying backward, knocking him down flat.
Dusty’s world went black. He heard arguing and felt a crowd gathering around him, but he couldn’t shake the cobwebs clear from him head. The words, “I’m not going anywhere with you!” finally sank in. Katie was now fighting with Rex. Maybe this was going to work after all.
His eyes cracked open slightly. “You need help?” the manager asked Katie.
He was standing above Dusty, Katie was on her knees at his side.
“I don’t know,” she replied, gently shaking Dusty again. “Dusty! Are you with me? Dusty!”
Dusty was still woozy but he could see Rex was now a lovely shade of red. Rex shouted over the commotion. “You leave with me now or you can stay here with that lightweight chicken shit.”
“I’m staying, you brute!” she said through bared teeth.
“Have it your way.” Rex picked up his coat and stormed out of the restaurant.
“Dusty,” she said, shaking him again.
He finally focused on her and managed a smile.
“Welcome back to the living, oh strange one. You sure have a funny idea of how to get a girl to go out with you.”
“Not well played, huh?” Dusty rubbed his chin.
Chapter Five
“You have a death wish or something, cowboy?” Katie said as she drove Dusty’s car. “You shouldn’t start a fight you can’t finish.”
“Cowboy? You’ve never called me…uh…I got the girl, didn’t I?”
“My, you are an articulate one.” She shook her head. “I wouldn’t go as far as saying you got the girl.” She frowned at him. “I almost kicked your ass myself.”
“Yeah, well, almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.” Geez. Is that the best you can do?
“Good lord. I haven’t heard that since grade school.”
“Glass chin and a witty little sucker. What more could you want in a guy?” Dusty felt as if he was reading a script from his past.
“You find this amusing?” Katie scolded.
“I’m sorry. I know you’re looking for an explanation. I wish I could give you one that you’d understand.”
“I’m not an imbecile. At least I wasn’t ten minutes ago. I’m not so sure what I’m doing with you now, though.”
“You’re my lobster, Katie.”
That made her laugh out loud. “So you’re a Friends fan. That still doesn’t explain what the hell this is.” She pressed and turned several buttons on his dashboard. “Does this thing ever heat up?”
“Only on a good day. That’s why I thought you knew me. You made that com
ment about the heat going out in my car.”
“That was just a joke. That’s why I don’t have a car. All college kids can afford is shitty beaters, but they end up putting more money into them than a car payment. I had no idea I was sitting with the poorest bum in the school.”
“You’re not even close.”
“So enlighten me, Mr. High-Finance-can’t-keep-your-tab-current-at-the-coffee-shop-and-drives-a-chariot-like-this.”
“I think I need to get you drunk first.”
She laughed. “You’re not getting into my pants. You owe me a burger.”
“Pull up to the Burger King.”
“Big spender.”
“You’re hungry and it’s convenient. I promise I’ll take you to a nice dinner at Chez Pauls some night. I’m really sorry I couldn’t come up with a better way to get you out of there.”
She pulled in the drive-through and held out her hand. He put a twenty in it.
“I can’t tell you how much I despise fighting,” she said as she pulled up to the window.
“It’s obviously not my sport of choice either.”
Dusty carried in the bags of food when they reached his home. After putting them down to take off his coat and help Katie with hers, he longed to press her into the wall and kiss her the way they did last time, as well as have the animal sex that followed, but he didn’t think she had warmed up enough to him yet for that. Bummer.
He led her to the sofa instead. “Want me to put in a movie?”
“I think I’d rather talk.”
Dusty put on MTV for background noise. He really hadn’t thought this through. He wasn’t sure blurting out the fact that he time traveled to save her roommate was the best way to handle this. She’d probably react the way she would in their present. He’d seen a force five conniption and didn’t care to ever see one again.
He sat down but stood right back up. “I’ll grab a couple of beers.” He came back with two Leinenkugel Honey-Weiss, wishing he’d thought to buy the berry ones she liked. Katie promptly drank almost half of hers without putting it down.
“Do you want something stronger?”
“I have a feeling I’m going to need it,” she said, finally putting the beer down. She unwrapped her burger as he stood back up. “You can eat first, Dustin. I’m sure getting knocked out gives you an appetite.”
He grinned at her. She was playing tough, but he knew what made her tick. He had no doubt she wouldn’t be here if she wasn’t interested. They had been through enough together that he could read her every mood. He didn’t need time travel and a script on his side. Although it didn’t hurt.
“Actually, it doesn’t. But thanks for asking. And you call me Dusty, sweetheart. Er… I mean… call me Dusty, okay…Katie.” He sat back down and unwrapped his burger. They took a few bites in silence before Kaitlyn started up.
“You mind telling me what I’m doing here with you?”
“I happen to know from a reliable source that you find me charming and irresistible.”
In the middle of a bite when he said that, Katie began to cough and had to cover her mouth to keep food from flying out. Dusty stood and patted her on the back. “Shit. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” She drank another swig of beer to wash it down.
“I have a horrible habit of trying to kill you on our first dates.” His eyes went wide. There was no recovering from that one.
“Try to kill me?” Amazingly, there wasn’t fear behind her voice. She did reach for her beer and finish what there was of it. He went to get another and returned with a bottle of cherry schnapps, Jagermeister, and the cups to make the specialty shots.
“Cherry bombs? No side of roofie to go with it?”
“I keep putting my foot in my mouth. Maybe this will help untie it. I swear I’m harmless.”
“I know you are. I’m not an idiot. Maybe I am for being here, but something tells me I’ll make it out alive.” She poured them each a drink and they clinked glassed before downing the shots. She reached for her burger again as she asked him, “So, you going to tell me why you keep referring to me in the past tense? You keep talking about things like we’ve done them before.”
“I’m sorry this is…hard to explain.”
“You know, that’s starting to drive me crazy.”
“What is?”
“All your pausing when you’re talking to me. I’m not that intimidating to talk to.”
“Sorry, I can’t help it. I’m nervous. You’ll think I’m off my nut when I get around to it.”
“Too late. I already think you’re off your nut.” She poured another round of drinks and promptly downed hers, not waiting for him.
“You don’t usually drink like this. What gives?”
She slammed the glass on the table. “See! Dammit! What the hell is this? Are you some kind of freak stalker or what?”
“I once said the same thing to you. Shit. I’m sorry again. This isn’t helping.” He downed his shot and kneeled in front of her. “Before I tell you, I need something from you.”
“What’s that?”
“A kiss.”
“A kiss? Why do you want a kiss?”
“Because you will probably run out of here screaming and I’ll never get to see you again. I’ll throw myself off a bridge, never again knowing the softness of your lips, or be able to taste how sweet you are. You’re my world, Katie. I’ll tell you everything, but I need a kiss first.”
She hesitated. He was beginning to feel he really had blown it, but then the unthinkable happened. She leaned into him and pressed her lips to his. All the worry and weight fell from his shoulders. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her possessively. It was she who parted her lips first, searching for his tongue. Forgetting when and where they were, Dusty leaned her back onto the loveseat where she was sitting and stroked her sides. Her eyes suddenly opened and she put her hands on Dusty’s chest.
“Easy, big fella. I agreed to the kiss. I didn’t give second base a green light.”
“I couldn’t help myself.”
“And apparently I couldn’t either. I’m sorry. I don’t want to give you the wrong impression about me.”
“You were going to have sex with Rex tonight.”
“How do you…why do you think that?”
“Not so easy, is it?” He liked that he now had her stammering for words.
“Rex and I have been dating for a while. Judgmental much? ”
“You don’t need to defend yourself.”
“Why are you making me feel like I do?”
“I promise you, that’s not what I’m trying to accomplish.”
“Exactly what are you trying to accomplish?” Irritation was flowing in her tone.
“I want you.”
“I thought I made myself clear. I’m not sleeping with you. You still kind of creep me out.”
“I’m not talking about sex. I want to be a part of your life.”
She picked up her now cold burger. With her mouth still full, she said, “Fine. If I ever need a ride in a freezing piece-of-shit Nova, I’ll give you a call.”
“It’s a Chevelle and I need more than that.”
She reached for the new beer, but Dusty picked it up first. He opened it and handed it to her.
“Thanks,” she said before taking a gulp. He could tell she was trying to think of what to say. “I admit you’re a great kisser.” Dusty grinned at her words. “But we need to go slow here. You haven’t exactly won me over in the charm department. I don’t know what makes you think I’m some kind of catch here, but seeing as how Rex will probably never speak to me again…” Katie just let the sentence hang as she played with her fries.
“You want me to heat them up?”
“No. I’m not hungry anymore.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault. I drank too much.”
“You gonna hurl?”
“No. Why?”
“It’s just that every time�
�shit. Sorry. I’m doing it again.”
She leaned back and crossed her arms. “We never did get to why you do that.”
He gently ran the back of his hand over her cheek. “I’m not your stalker, but I have loved you for a few lifetimes, Katie. You love me, too. Give yourself time to figure it out.”
She looked deep into his eyes. He could almost see the wheels spinning and expected her to kiss him again. Instead, she reached around him and poured herself another shot. After downing it she said, “That’s pretty smooth talking there, law boy. You taking creative writing on the side?”
“How’d you know I was in law school?”
She pointed to the books on his desk. “Real tough one to figure out.”
“Ah ha!” Dusty stood and walked over to his desk. “Captain Skinnard to the rescue!”
“Who?”
“My book. You lo…you should read my book.”
“You wrote a book?”
“Sort of. It’s not done, but I’d love for you to take a look at it.” He walked over to his desk and shuffled through it.
“I don’t have time for a lot of reading. My school load is pretty heavy.”
“That’s okay. Just get to what you can.”
“You have to know I’m in veterinary medicine and not English. Don’t expect much for editing.”
“I know you get straight A’s, but that’s not what I’m after anyway.” He thrust the partial manuscript in front of her. She concentrated on the nebula he used as clip art for the cover page.
“I’m not a big sci-fi fan.”
“That’s okay.”
“Well, I’m glad you said ‘that’s okay’ and not ‘I know.’”
“I’m getting better at this.”
Katie took another sip of her beer, then stood. She faltered a little and Dusty rushed to her side, steadying her. “Where’s your bafroom?”
Crap. He’d let her get drunk. Now there was no telling how tonight would go. He walked her over to the bathroom, leaving her wobbling by the toilet. “You need help?”
“I can pee by myshelf, thankuverymuch.”
“If you toss your cookies, there’s a spare toothbrush in the second drawer.”
“I’m not gonna…aw shit.”
Dusty quickly pulled the door closed. He gave her a few minutes before he tapped on the door. The faucet was running, so he gave her another minute. She opened the door and stood there in her t-shirt and underwear. The bottom of the shirt barely covered her up. “I need to lie down.”