by Ashley Blake
A kind of quiet appreciation fell over the room as the girls seemed to literally swoon. His velvety deep voice was even sexier than the voice I’d heard the night before.
I didn’t hear anyone else after he spoke and his name kept playing over and over in my head until I felt Katie nudge me. I snapped out of my reverie and was completely confused as to why she was nudging me repeatedly until I glanced around the room and noticed that everyone was staring at me. Oh my gosh! It’s my turn!
I felt so silly and I could feel my cheeks burning as I’m sure they turned crimson red with all eyes on me. I tried to play it off and act like I wasn’t as flustered as I felt.
I waved my hand, in a short wave, to the room. “Hi, I’m Skylar Miller and I am from Chicago.”
I felt relieved when my turn was over and I was just beginning to relax a bit when Mr. Gorgeous caught me off guard.
“City or suburbs?” His eyes had me spellbound and for just a second, there was no one else in the room. I couldn’t believe he was actually talking to me!
“City, right in the middle of it all.”
“Me too.” His eyes held mine and the heat between us was palpable.
The room was silent for a little bit too long and I could feel all eyes on us. Thankfully he kept it moving by having Jenn, who was sitting on the other side of me, pick up where I left off.
Katie leaned over and whispered to me so that no one else could hear her. “What was that all about with Mr. Hottie?”
“I have no idea, but he is so gorgeous isn’t he?” My voice had a bit of a lilt when I talked about him and it was really hard to hide my excitement.
“He is beautiful! I told you he’s into you Sky.” She gently leaned into me, nudging me, as her words hung in the air.
“No, he was just being nice.” I tried to sound nonchalant as I shot down her suggestion, but I secretly hoped that it was true, and then silently scolded myself. This is not part of the plan!
“Oh really? Then why can’t he take his eyes off of you?”
I glanced in his direction and his eyes were fixated on me. I normally wasn’t a shy person, but I suddenly felt very shy with him totally staring at me for the second time in as many days. Oh my gosh, he is so hot! I tore my eyes away from his when I realized that everyone was getting up and leaving the room.
Katie was chatting with a girl next to her and Jenn was talking with a guy next to her so we were all still sitting on the ground. I wanted to get a snack from the vending machine, so I got up and told Katie I would see her back in our room. As I walked toward the stairs, Jonathan was standing there. My heart was hammering against my chest and my mouth went completely dry, as I got closer to him. I had to stop myself from turning around to look behind me to see who he was looking at because those gorgeous eyes were trained right on me. He smiled at me and I swear it felt like all time had stopped as I walked up to him. Don’t get sucked in Sky, he probably is like this with every new girl he meets.
“Hi, Skylar right?” Are you kidding me with that gorgeous face?
“Hi, yeah, but my friends call me Sky. It’s Jonathan, right? Weren’t you in the band I saw last night?” I am weak. Everything I told myself about guys went flying out the window.
He smiled at me and I don’t know that I’d ever seen anyone more beautiful. “Yeah, that was me. How did you like it?”
“You guys were amazing, I had a really good time.” I smiled at him.
“Good, I’m glad. I’ve been singing with them since we were all freshmen and I’m hoping that we still sounded decent.”
“Honestly Jonathan, I’ve been to a ton of concerts and seen a ton of bands, and you guys were easily one of the top three that I’ve seen.”
“Hmmm, top three, huh? What do we have to do to be number one?”
I was so tongue-tied I didn’t know what to say. I was actually standing there talking to the lead singer of Sonic Blaze and easily the most gorgeous guy I had ever seen, and I was a frozen mess. I never thought a guy to get to me like he did. It must have shown on my face because Jonathan looked concerned.
“Hey, I’m just teasing you. It means a lot that you think we’re top three, especially since you live in a big city. I’m sure you’ve seen some really cool bands in Chicago.”
Him saying that put me at ease and thankfully my brain started to work again. “Yeah, seriously, I thought you guys were really good and I can’t wait to see you guys again at Fall Festival.”
“We play at a spot in town every other Friday if you want to check us out sooner. I’ll let you know the schedule as soon as we get it.”
“Okay, cool, thanks.” This cannot really be happening right now.
“So Skylar, your friends call you Sky, huh?”
“Um, yeah.” I didn’t know where he was going with that.
“Well, maybe if you let me become your friend I can call you Sky also.” There was a bit of a twinkle in his eye and he was so incredibly adorable.
I smiled at him. “I think there could possibly be a very good chance of that.” I normally was not the flirtatious type but I couldn’t help myself, he was so good-looking!
He grinned and had the most perfect smile. “Oh really? Awesome. So, college isn’t so bad so far, huh? Which floor are you on?”
“It’s pretty cool so far. I’m on this one, the first floor. Which floor are you on?”
“I am one floor down, the guys nicknamed it the dungeon.”
“It can’t be that bad.” I felt so comfortable talking with him, it was as if we had known each other forever. But I had to admit it was really hard not to gawk at his beautiful face.
“Nah, it’s really not, I actually like it. It’s so different from what I’m used to.”
“Oh really? And what are you used to?” My curiosity was getting the best of me and I hoped I didn’t sound like I was prying.
I saw a shift in his eyes and he looked visibly uncomfortable and then completely changed the subject. Okay, guess he doesn't want to share that info, at least not yet.
“So how long have you lived in Chicago?” His voice was pure butter as his gorgeous dark eyes held mine.
I found myself tongue-tied again and realized that I was staring at him and not saying anything when I heard him say my name.
“Skylar?”
I snapped out of it and shook off my embarrassment. “Oh, right, sorry! Um, all my life. We’ve always lived in the city. And you? How long have you lived in New York?”
“Same. All my life.”
“Have you always lived in Manhattan?”
“We have. It’s pretty cool. I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else.” He paused as his eyes roamed over my hair and settled in my eyes.
I started to feel uncomfortable under his stare so I thought of anything to ask him. “So, what year are you Jonathan? Are you a senior?”
“Yep. About half of the R.A.s are juniors and the other half are seniors. I like it because I get to help the new students get acclimated and I get my own room.” He leaned in close as if he was sharing super secret information and held his finger up to his lips. “Don’t tell anyone, but that is the main reason I took this job.” At first I thought he was serious but then he broke out into a wicked grin.
I playfully swatted him on the arm and smiled. “You’re silly! I believed you there for a second.”
“I had to have a little fun with you. Seriously though, if you have any questions or need anything, my door is always open.”
“Thanks.” He seemed really nice and I just wasn’t expecting that from someone so gorgeous.
My stomach growled and I quickly clasped my hand over it hoping to muffle the sound but not doing a very good job. He raised his eyebrows and a small smile turned up the corner of his mouth.
“Sounds like someone is hungry.”
I could feel my cheeks getting warm and I wished so badly that my body didn’t react that way because it was so hard to hide. Instead of wallowing in my embarrassment I decided t
o just ignore it and smiled back.
“I am a little bit. I was actually on my way to grab something from the vending machine.”
“Oh, I didn’t mean to hold you back from your snack. If I had known that you were so hungry I wouldn’t have stopped you. Let me make it up to you by treating you to anything you want from the vending machine.”
I wanted to pinch myself because this gorgeous guy did not seem to want to leave my side!
We walked down to the vending machine and Jonathan was very sweet and let me pick out anything I wanted. I didn't want to look like a pig so I picked a bag of pretzels and nothing else, but it felt good to have him right next to me and it also felt really natural. I didn't want our time together to end but I still had a little bit of unpacking to do so I told him I was going to go back to my room.
“Do you mind if I walk you to your room?”
Do I mind? You can come in and stay! “Not at all, thanks.”
He walked me to my room and we were standing outside my door chatting about the classes we had that next week when Katie walked up behind him. She mouthed “Oh my god” and I had to stop myself from giggling at her look of amazement.
“Oh, hi guys.” She tried to sound nonchalant but I could hear an edge of excitement in her voice.
I felt of pang of apprehension about Jonathan talking to Katie. She was so pretty and I was sure that my time with him would be over once he looked at her, but he glanced at her and said hi and then turned his full attention back to me. He was barely fazed by her looks which shocked me because Katie was stunning, like super model stunning. She stood there anxiously waiting for me to formally introduce them so I reluctantly did so.
“Jonathan, this is my roommate Katie, Katie, you’ve met our R.A. Jonathan.”
“Yeah, hi.” She looked like a star struck tween and it was so cute and funny.
“Hey, so how are you liking it here so far Katie?”
Katie turned into a giggly tween right in front of my eyes. “Oh I love it! I can’t wait for all the parties!” She looked mortified and she quickly slapped her hand over her mouth as she stared at Jonathan with wide eyes, and then she dropped her hand. “I didn’t mean for that to come out like that. What I meant to say was I’m excited about everything, but I know that studying come first.”
Jonathan let out a soft chuckle. “Don’t worry about it, everyone needs to have fun once in a while. Would you agree Skylar?” I don’t know if he was trying to flirt with me but I felt the whole room disappear as he looked at me, his eyes so focused on me. I couldn’t even get so much as a sound to come out of my mouth. Thank goodness Katie was a chatterbox!
“Hey, your band was amazing last night, we had a really good time.” I was really proud of Katie for restraining herself from jumping on Jonathan because she looked like she wanted to pounce.
“Thanks, I appreciate that. I’m glad you enjoyed the show. I was telling Skylar that we play at a spot in town every other week. You guys should come check out a show.” His gaze slid directly to mine and I could feel butterflies playing in my belly.
I thought Katie was going to burst a vein, she was so excited. She tried her best to act cool but it wasn’t really working.
“Oh definitely, we’ll be there. You guys were so awesome I could listen to you all day every day!”
“Cool.” He seemed totally unfazed by her giddiness.
Katie rambled on. “So Jonathan, where are you from? Oh wait, that’s right! You already told the room that you are from New York City. Silly me!”
I really didn’t think that Katie had this goofy side to her and it was good to see that she wasn’t totally perfect. Katie couldn’t stop grinning at him so to help her save a little face, I told him that I should get to bed. Katie snapped out of her daze and told Jonathan it was nice to meet him and she ducked into our room.
He stood looking at me and his gaze was so intense it felt like his eyes were going to burn a hole right through me.
“It was nice to meet you Skylar Miller, you intrigue me.”
I felt butterflies fluttering in my belly and yet again I was tongue-tied. He had an intensity that was palpable and I was so physically drawn to him that I wanted to feel his lips on mine right then and there. I had to say something because I was standing there like a star struck tween myself, so I gave him my best smile.
“It was nice to meet you too Jonathan. I’m sure I’ll see you around, have a good night.”
I went into my room and closed the door before he had a chance to respond to me. I didn’t want him to know how much he affected me and I was sure that if I stood there much longer it would be written all over my face. Besides, it was good for him to see that just because I intrigued him, it didn’t mean I would be putty in his hands, even though it was the truth. He couldn’t know that he had the upper hand here, at least not yet. I would have to make him chase me a little bit, right?
Katie nearly jumped on me when I entered our room.
“Oh my gosh, Sky! Jonathan Hunter? The lead singer of Sonic Blaze? He is so hot!” Her face was beaming as she grabbed my arm and pulled me down to sit on her bed. “Tell me everything! What did you guys talk about?”
I couldn’t help but giggle at her excitement because I was feeling the exact same way but I tried to keep my cool. It didn’t work. “I know! Right? He is so hot! He also seems to be a nice guy.”
“How did you guys start talking?”
“He stopped me on my way to the vending machine and we just started chatting.”
She looked at me, her eyes studying me, and a mischievous smile touched the corner of her mouth. “I could tell that he was interested in you when he couldn’t take his eyes off of you last night at the concert and in the dorm meeting! Can you believe he’s our RA?”
“Katie, a guy like that can have any girl he wants at the snap of a finger. I think he’s just a nice guy and he wanted to chat with someone who was from another big city. He probably thought we would have stuff in common because of that and I’m sure he just wanted to talk about living in a big city. He also wants to promote his band.” Even as I said the words I knew they sounded ridiculous. Katie sat there looking at me with crossed arms, one eyebrow raised, not saying a word.
“Okay, okay, I know that sounds silly and that probably wasn’t the reason. He’s a nice guy but I don’t think there is anything to read into it.” I left out the part about him telling me I intrigued him and how the butterflies fluttered like mad when he looked at me. I wanted to keep that for myself.
“Well the school year just started, so let’s see what happens.” She looked at me with a mischievous gleam in her eye. “You know who he is don’t you?”
I stood there giving her a curious look. Were we on the same planet? “Um yeah, his name is Jonathan Hunter.”
“No silly, I mean do you know who he is?”
“Katie, you are totally confusing me. What am I missing?”
“Sky, that is Jonathan Hunter of Hunter International. You’ve heard of that company haven’t you?”
Oh my gosh! Everyone knew about that investment firm, they had offices all over the world. Suddenly my excitement about the hot guy I had just spent the last hour with turned to apprehension.
“Wow, I had no idea he was a Hunter, well, at least not that Hunter. His family has gazillions of dollars. I am actually in shock.”
Katie was completely oblivious to my changed mood. “I predict that this is going to be a very special year for you!”
I didn’t say anything, I just thought about what she said as I finished unpacking. We were done putting our stuff away at about the same time and then we turned in because it was getting late. Katie turned out the lights and then hopped into her bed as I was getting settled in mine. Jonathan Hunter’s family were billionaires, there was no way a guy like that would ever look twice at a girl like me. He probably thought I came from money too since nearly everyone at that school did. The second he found out that my blood wasn’t blue, I was
sure he would be on to the next one. I started to drift off pretty quickly feeling bummed about what I thought would have been something good. It was just as well, I was sure he had tons of girls on his roster. I needed to remember that my heart was fragile, and I had no desire to have it broken again. The sound of Katie’s whisper gently roused me from my beginning slumber.
“Sky?”
“Yeah?” My voice was a bit groggy and it had traces of sleep masking it.