by Ashley Blake
“Okay. Hey, come here.”
I hesitated. “My face is a mess and my makeup is everywhere, trust me it’s best if you don’t get a close-up.”
“You’re being silly. Please come here.”
I reluctantly walked over to him, quickly wiping under my eyes, hoping I got the worst of it.
He pulled me down to him for a quick peck on the lips.
“Have a good day.”
I couldn’t help but smile at him. “You too.”
I literally felt like I floated up the stairs to my room. Katie was fast asleep and I quietly grabbed my things and went down the hall to shower. I was in heaven as I replayed the previous night over and over. His kisses everywhere, his touch, his voice, how sweet he was to me, all of it I replayed. There was no question in my mind that Jonathan and I were an official couple, and I was going to have to force myself to focus in class that entire day. It wasn’t even 7:00 a.m. and I already couldn’t wait until 8:15 p.m. came.
I was in my own world as I showered and as I wandered back to our room, Katie was just waking up.
“Where have you been all night missy?” Her voice was groggy but her curiosity was sharp and clear.
I decided that I was just going to tell her, no need to be coy about Jonathan anymore.
“I was with Jonathan.” I gave her a knowing look and then went to our closet to find clothes for the day.
She shot up in bed and I burst out laughing. “You what?!”
“You heard me.” I didn’t even try to stop the huge smile that spread across my face.
“Skylar Miller, I want every single juicy detail! You still owe me the story of what happened at dinner with his parents!”
“I cant right now Katie, I have class at 8:00 and I have to grab breakfast first. Can you do lunch around 12:30?”
“Um, yeah, I have a break from 11:50 to 2:00.”
“Okay, I’ll meet you at the cafeteria and I promise I will tell you all about it.”
That seemed to satisfy her, so I finished getting ready and she slumped back down under her covers. I grabbed my backpack and headed off to breakfast.
I don’t know how I was able to focus in class, but somehow I absorbed everything the professor was saying. I think the fact that I didn’t have to worry about what was going on with Jonathan and I really helped me be able to concentrate in class. That probably sounds pretty pathetic, but you know what it’s like when you have a huge crush on someone and those feelings just overwhelm you? That’s what I was dealing with but I had to get my feelings about him under control or my schoolwork would suffer, and for me that was not an option. So I was really happy that things seemed to be on track with us.
I had three classes that morning and then it was time to meet Katie for lunch. She was already waiting for me by the time I got there and she barely waited for me to say hi before she started in on me.
“I have been dying to hear what happened last night. Tell me everything and don’t rush through any of the details!”
I didn’t mind telling her because I knew that she would be happy for me. I didn’t have to worry about any sort of jealousy with Katie.
Her wide eyes and excited expression made me giggle. “Okay, I won’t leave out the good stuff, I promise!”
We got our food and sat at a table by ourselves so that we would have privacy, I didn’t want everyone to know about Jonathan and me, at least not yet.
“Remember I told you we were going to dinner with Jonathan’s parents?”
“Yeah, how was it?”
“They are super nice and my parents and his parents really hit it off, it was kinda weird. But that wasn’t the weirdest thing. Guess who else was there?”
“Oh my gosh, who?”
“Boobs McGee.”
The look on Katie’s face was priceless. “You are kidding! What was she doing there? Wait, was he trying to go out with both of you at the same time?”
“Well, that’s what I thought when I first saw her, but you’ll never guess the reason she was there.”
“Tell me, tell me!”
“Wait for it…she is his cousin!”
“No way! But she always looks like she wants to jump his bones, how gross!”
“Well, I should be more clear, she is his cousin by marriage.”
“Huh? I’m confused.”
“His dad’s cousin married her mom so, technically, they’re not related. You should have seen the way his mom looked at her, she is definitely not a fan. Oh, oh! And Barbi is not her full name, it’s really Barbara, so all of that Barbi with an “i” crap was just that, crap!”
“Wow, I can’t believe it!”
“Yeah, and she even tried to get Jonathan to go to her room that night, can you believe that? In front of his parents she was full on flirting with him and mama did not likey at all!”
“Ugh, she’s so disgusting, such trash. How did Jonathan handle it?”
“Well that’s the frustrating thing, he feels sorry for her because her mom has basically abandoned her for her new husband. Oh, did I mention that she is his third wife and they have been married for less than a year? I think Jonathan doesn’t want her to feel alone and that is why he is nice to her. I really should be happy about that because it shows what a good guy he is, but I just wish she wasn’t around.”
“Don’t worry about her, she’s not worth it. Besides, it seems to me like Jonathan has now made it pretty clear that he wants to be with you. So tell me the good stuff, why didn’t you sleep in our room last night, missy?”
Katie slid me a prodding but teasing look and I couldn’t hold back my smile as I thought about Jonathan.
“He wanted to talk to me after parent’s weekend was over and we were going to go the student union for a snack around 8:00 but plans kinda changed.” I could feel myself blushing.
“Really? Spill the beans please.” Her grin was infectious.
“Katie, I can’t spill all the beans, but I will say that Jonathan is the best kisser ever. I could barely control myself with him!”
“Did you control yourself?”
“Yes, but I don’t know for how long. I have never felt like this about anyone, it’s like we were made for each other, everything is so easy now that the whole Barbi thing is cleared up.”
“Wow, so you guys are an official couple. I knew he was into you that first night we saw him sing. I’m really happy for you Sky. I’m sure you’ll get a few nasty glares once the whole campus finds out he’s off the market.”
“Katie, just don’t let it be you that tells the whole campus. I just want it to kind of happen, no gossip. Promise me?”
“Oh fine, take all of my fun away. I really wanted to rub it in a few girls’ faces, but I won’t, I promise.” She pretended to pout for a second but then shot me a devilish grin. “Can’t I just rub it in Barbi’s face, just a little?”
“Katie, no! C’mon!” I had to hold back my giggle.
“Okay, fine. Party pooper.”
“You’re silly. Don’t you have a class to get to?”
She looked at her watch. “Oh man, I’m going to be late!” She grabbed her book bag and I told her I’d take her tray up for her.
“Thanks Sky, I’ll see you later!”
I took the last sip of my soda and grabbed our stuff to throw away. I had just placed our trays in their stack when I saw Barbi and her boobs walk into the cafeteria with the biggest man whore on campus. He was a senior and apparently had been with over 50 girls the year before. They deserved each other. She glanced at me and quickly dismissed me. So much for wanting to hang out with me, skanky tramp. We both knew she was lying when she said that, and we both knew that it would be a cold day in hell before it happened. I walked out of the building feeling good about Jonathan and me and I couldn’t wait to see him that night.
Chapter Fourteen
The afternoon passed quickly, thank goodness, and I showered and changed before meeting Jonathan at the library. I got there at a couple of mi
nutes before 8:15 and he was sitting on a bench reading a book. I smiled when I saw him and walked over to him and lightly touched his shoulder. He looked up at me and smiled.
“Hey!” He stood up and gave me a quick peck on the lips. “You look pretty.”
I felt myself blush as he gave me a slow once over, and I smiled back at him.
“Thanks, you don’t look so bad yourself. Where do you want to go study?”
“Let’s go to the seventh floor, it’s pretty secluded up there.”
“Hey, that’s where I usually go when I don’t want anyone to find me.”
He pointed back and forth to our heads and grinned at me. “We must have that ‘great minds think alike’ thing going on.”
“I think so,” I said as I smiled coyly at him.
We found an empty table and Jonathan sat across from me and we laid out our books and notes and dug in. Every now and then we would glance up at each other at the same time and Jonathan would smile and wink at me, and I swear the butterflies danced like crazy in my belly. It was so nice to be there studying with him, not wondering how he felt about me. We were so easy with each other and everything between us just fell right into place. Here I was, studying with the hottest guy in school, when just a few short months ago I didn’t think I would ever let anyone in again.
We studied until almost 1:00 a.m. and then we gathered our stuff and went back to our dorm. He held my hand as we walked back together and we gently swung our linked hands as we strolled back to the dorm. After we were inside, Jonathan turned to me and put his arms around me, his eyes searching mine.
“Will you stay with me tonight?”
I wanted to, I really did, but it was so late and I was exhausted. I started to turn him down but he cut me off.
“Just to sleep Sky, I promise. I like having you in my bed next to me, and besides we can sleep in since we both don’t have class until 10:30.”
I was too weak to say no to his gorgeous, pleading eyes.
“Okay, just let me wash my face and stuff and grab my PJ’s, and I’ll be down in a few minutes.”
“You can sleep in one of my t-shirts, you don’t have to bring PJ’s, besides you look super sexy in my shirt and I like it.”
I could feel the color flooding my cheeks as I smiled at him. “Okay, I’ll be down in a few minutes.”
Katie was sleeping so I was careful to be quiet as I grabbed my shower caddy with my toothbrush and facial soap. I washed my face in record time and then I went down to Jonathan’s room and couldn’t wait to cuddle up with him.
I changed into his t-shirt which nearly swallowed me like the last one, and climbed into his bed next to him. He turned out the light and I could see his face faintly in the dark as we lay facing each other. He gently stroked my hair and then raised my chin and kissed me on the lips.
His voice was soft in the dark. “I’m so glad you’re here, Sky.”
“Me too.”
We drifted off to sleep, wrapped in each other’s arms and there was no where in the world I would rather have been.
His performance was canceled that Friday so I didn’t get the chance to see him play again. Jenn was super bummed but I reminded her that they would be playing at Fall Festival in a few weeks.
The next two weeks passed pretty quickly and I slept in Jonathan’s room every night. We fell into a pattern of studying together almost every night and then I would sleep in his room. Physically, we fooled around a bit but we hadn’t had sex yet, but I knew it was coming soon and I couldn’t wait to be with him in that way. We were both swamped with homework so we didn’t actually have a lot of time to talk to each other in that time. We studied together almost every night until we could barely keep our eyes open, but we didn’t have a lot of down time with each other so I was really looking forward to that.
Chapter Fifteen
That following Friday was Fall Festival and Jonathan’s band, Sonic Blaze, was playing in the gym, which was huge, and I was really excited because a dance floor area was being set up. He told me that he would be singing every song to me and he wanted to meet up after so that we could hang out together. I was super psyched because we didn’t hang out at all the weekend before, Jonathan had to go home for the weekend for some business thing with his family’s company, so I couldn’t wait to spend some quality time with him.
I was dying for classes to be over that Friday, and the second I was done for the weekend I rushed back to my room to meet Katie. We went to an early dinner off campus at this greasy, but delicious burger place, and then we went back to our room to get ready. We were meeting a bunch of people over at the gym for the concert and Katie could not stop talking about it.
“This is so cool because the lead singer is your boyfriend! I feel so cool!”
“You are cool Katie.”
“So are you! We’re too cool for school!”
“Okay, I spoke to soon. Nerd alert!” I teased her and she playfully swatted my arm. We were giggling like kids when Jenn came to our room.
“Oh my gosh, you both look amazing! Tonight is going to be so much fun you guys, I can’t wait! Jake said the guys were taking bets on how slutty Barbi’s outfit is going to be.”
We all let out a devilish giggle.
Ugh, I had forgotten about her. She was one person I was really not looking forward to seeing. I hadn’t seen her for a while, which was nice, but I was sure she was going to be hanging all over Jonathan again and I knew that that night, I wouldn’t put up with it. He had made it pretty clear to me that his eyes were fixated only on me, and I didn’t want big boobs Barbi to try and overstep her boundaries. I would tell her off if I had to.
“Jenn you look gorgeous too! So, do you have your eye on anyone yet?” I gave her a teasing smile as I grabbed my ID.
“I do, but no one as gorgeous as your guy.”
I was a bit taken aback by that but then realized that I shouldn’t be. Well, I guess Jonathan was my guy and the whole campus probably knew by now since we were together so much.
“My guy?” I raised an eyebrow at her and feigned ignorance.
“Yes, your guy, the gorgeous Jonathan Hunter. He only has eyes for you and I know that at least a dozen girls are super bummed. We all see the way he looks at you Sky. I hope I meet a guy who looks at me that way one day, Jonathan is definitely smitten.”
I smiled to myself at that thought and I couldn’t wait to see him at the concert.
We got there around 8:00 and the gym was packed and the band was going on at 10:00. Music was blaring from the speakers in the wall, and it was decent, but everyone was waiting for the good stuff, the live stuff. Fall Festival was sponsored by the Inter Greek Coucil, and since the whole campus was invited, there was no booze, it was a totally dry party.
The dance floor was set up on the far side of the gym away from the door and the music was just loud enough, but not so loud that we couldn’t hear each other talk. Katie told me there was an after party at one of the frat houses and there were going to be plenty of kegs there. I didn’t really care about how many kegs would be there because I just wasn’t into the drinking thing.
“Jonathan and I have plans after but we’ll probably stop by the party.”
“Okay, cool.”
I didn’t see Jonathan anywhere and I tried to be super low key about looking around for him. I didn’t want anyone to think I was obsessed even though it was heading in that direction. After 30 minutes, still no Jonathan. I thought that I would at least get to see him before he went on stage. After another 30 minutes I tried to hide how bummed I was that he wasn’t there yet and I decided to lose myself in dancing with my friends.
I was still dancing 10 minutes later when I glanced toward the front of the gym and I saw Jonathan leaning down to listen to what Barbi was whispering in his ear. Her boobs were pressed against him as she cupped her hand over his ear and leaned in close. If it was physically possible for steam to come out of one’s ears, that is exactly what would have happened to
me in that moment. Has he been here all of this time and not come over to say hi to me? Maybe I need to give him a taste of his own medicine.
I walked off the dance floor in a huff and turned on my heel to find Ryan, the guy Jonathan said he couldn’t stand, to ask him to dance and of course I wanted Jonathan to see us. He needed to know that other guys were into me and that he wasn’t the only fish in the sea. I know it was probably a little mean to use Ryan that way, but he was kinda sleazy so I didn’t feel too bad about it. I would be able to teach both guys a lesson: Jonathan would learn that he wasn’t the only guy looking my way, and Ryan would learn that he should treat girls with a little more respect. Ryan gave me his full attention when I walked up to him and he had a flirtatious grin plastered on his face.