by Nella Tyler
But I couldn’t get her out of my head. I went up to my room, and stared at the TV for a little while, pretending to watch whatever it was that I’d put on but actually thinking. Nicole had been avoiding me—but she hadn’t actually said she didn’t want to talk to me, or see me, again.
How terrible would it be for me to call her? Just to see how she was doing, and to ask her if we could talk? We hadn’t seen each other in months, and I had spent the whole time missing her, even while I was burying myself in work.
I pulled my phone out of my pocket and took a deep breath. Worst-case scenario, she doesn’t take the call, or she’s blocked your number and you’ll go straight to voicemail, I thought as I pulled up Nicole’s contact information.
I took another quick breath and made myself tap the ‘call’ icon and brought the phone to my ear, waiting to find out whether or not the woman I had fallen in love with was blocking me on her phone. It rang—once, and then twice, and I thought to myself that even if she hadn’t blocked me, she might either be in class or just not take my call at all, let it roll over. I listened as the phone rang a third time. If it went to voicemail, I told myself not to get upset—she could be in class, or in the library.
“Ty?” My heart stuttered in my chest and I closed my eyes, relief and sadness and joy rising up in me all at the same time.
“Hey,” I said, trying to keep my voice calm and level and completely neutral. “I’ve been thinking about you a lot.” There was a long silence on the other end and I felt like my heart was going to drop to my knees.
“I’ve been thinking about you too,” Nicole admitted.
“I just…” I took a deep breath. “I’ve been thinking about the way that things ended between us. I know you’ve kind of been avoiding me and I probably should have said something sooner.”
“It’s okay,” Nicole said, sounding almost breathless.
“Well, I was hoping that you’d at least be…that you’d be okay with at least meeting up with me, maybe grabbing some lunch together at the dining hall, so we could talk about this?” I paused, and the silence on Nicole’s end of the line nearly killed me. “I’m not expecting you to like, immediately want to date me again or anything. I just want to talk about what happened. It’s been driving me crazy and with graduation around the corner, I don’t want to leave anything unsaid between us.”
There was another pause, and then Nicole spoke, and relief flooded me.
“I can meet you for lunch,” she said quietly. “I’m comfortable with that. I’ve been thinking about you a lot, too, and I guess…I guess I was just waiting for something like this so that we could actually talk about things.”
“I’ll meet you in front of the dining hall at 12:05,” I suggested. “That way we can avoid the first big rush for lunch.”
“That sounds good,” Nicole said. She sounded strange—but I had to hope that it was just because she was feeling as weirdly emotional as I was feeling.
“I’ll see you then,” I said. I didn’t want to hang up, but I knew I had to. I took a deep breath, mumbled a goodbye, and ended the call.
Chapter Nine
When I hung up with Ty, I wasn’t completely sure how I felt. Part of me felt glad—glad that Ty had made a move, glad that he apparently couldn’t stop thinking about me, glad that he wanted to see me. But I couldn’t stop thinking about the reasons that I’d pushed him away in the first place. We were closer than ever to the end of the year; he would graduate in less than a month. Why would he want to have anything to do with me now?
I checked the time; it was eleven in the morning. I had an hour to get ready to meet with Ty. I pressed my lips together and tried to decide whether I really wanted to go through with it or not. If I did want to go through with it, exactly how should I look? Did I want to remind Ty of what he was missing—or did I want to show up looking the same way I did every day?
I played with my hair for a moment, smiling to myself at the memory of how everyone I knew had reacted to me cutting it. Had Ty seen the new style I’d put my hair into? I had no way to know.
I decided abruptly that I was going to absolutely make sure that I looked as beautiful as possible when I met with Ty. All that was going to happen, I told myself, was that Ty was going to make a lot of explanations about Kelsey, and I would explain to him that I’d cut things off because I didn’t want to be a rebound, and that would be that. Looking my best would give me some confidence; it would make it easier not to get lost in his gray-green eyes, weaken in the face of his smile.
I hurried into the shower and told myself to take no more than twenty minutes; fortunately I’d shaved the night before, so I was able to focus on washing my hair, exfoliating and scrubbing my body, letting my conditioner sink in as I thought about why it was that Ty would pick right at that moment to decide that he absolutely had to talk to me. Had he seen me? Had he just gotten up the courage to finally contact me? I had toyed with the idea of blocking his number at the same time that I was avoiding him. I was glad, in a way, that I hadn’t. If I had blocked him, what would Ty have done? Shown up on my doorstep? Or would he have just continued to back off?
I thought about what I’d told Ashley a few weeks earlier, about how I felt about Ty and the fact that he hadn’t made any move to try and find out what had gone wrong between us, or to try and win me back. I wasn’t sure I even wanted him to try—but I also wasn’t sure I wouldn’t feel disappointed if Ty didn’t make a try to win me back.
I stepped out of the shower and went into my room, opening my closet and my dresser up to try and decide what I wanted to wear. It was getting closer to summer every day—part of the reason I had cut my hair into a chin-length bob—and I had plenty of options that I almost thought would suit the situation. I tried on one thing after another but I wasn’t satisfied with any of the dresses, or skirts, or shorts that I put on.
I didn’t really know how I felt about seeing Ty, about agreeing to meet with him. My stomach twisted and churned and I thought to myself that I wasn’t sure that I would even be able to actually eat lunch while I was so nervous. I considered calling Ashley in and asking her what she thought, what I should wear, but then I didn’t want to hear her comments about Ty and me.
I finally settled on a camisole-dress, burgundy with tiny cream-colored flowers, along with a pair of ankle boots and a cardigan. I blow-dried my hair, fluffing it up, running the brush through it to make sure it stayed straight the way I wanted it to. With only about ten minutes left before I needed to be out of the dorms, I decided to make my makeup simple. Just a little bit of concealer where I had the odd zit or two, a swipe of lip color, some mascara, a little blush to give my cheeks some color.
I was so nervous that I looked pale under the blush, and I almost decided to wipe it off—but a little blending fixed the problem, and after a few moments to gather my courage, I got my phone, my wallet, my keys, and took a deep breath before I left my dorm room and headed downstairs.
I couldn’t really believe how nervous I felt about the meeting with Ty; I had told myself over and over again that there was nothing left between us, and that I didn’t care about him anymore—I knew when Ashley had caught me “stalking” him that it was almost certainly not true, but I had still tried to convince myself that it was for the best. After all, my grades were actually halfway decent for the spring semester, without the distraction of dating someone, or hanging out with friends, or the occasional study session that ended in sex rather than memorizing facts.
I checked the time again; I was very nearly late. I couldn’t quite make myself hurry, even knowing that I was possibly going to be late. I still didn’t know how much I wanted to see Ty in order to reconcile, or if I wanted to see him so that I could finally, completely, close the door on our relationship. I even thought that maybe I was mostly seeing him out of a sense of guilt. If I had come forward, if I had been direct and explained to him months ago that I was afraid of being a rebound, that I couldn’t be comfortable with someo
ne who apparently still had some kind of feelings toward his ex, I wouldn’t have left him wondering all this time.
I got closer to the dining hall and nearly turned on my heel and fled. I wanted to see Ty—I was hungry to see him—but I was also afraid of seeing him again. I was afraid that I would just lose it; start crying, acting like a fool, promising him the moon and the stars if he would just forgive me.
I forced myself to keep moving forward. I would see this confrontation through, and I would come out on the other side. I took a deep breath and a few more steps toward the dining hall entrance.
Just when I was certain I had myself completely under control, that I would be able to see Ty, to talk to him without crying or getting upset, fully composed, I spotted him. He was standing against one of the pillars outside of the entrance, and in that moment, he just looked so amazing: so comforting, so real, so much of what I had wanted and itched and burned for ever since I’d made the decision to push him away.
My feet started to move before I could even get over the shock of seeing him; in moments, I was racing toward him, running, tears stinging my eyes and my heart pounding in my chest.
“Oh, god…Ty…” He looked up and saw me and he smiled—just a tiny smile, just a little flicker of joy in his bright eyes and on his boyish face—and then his arms were open, and I threw myself against him, burying my face against his chest, as tears poured out of me. I hadn’t realized how much I had wanted him, how much I had needed him, ever since I’d made myself separate from him.
Ty’s hands moved over my body slowly, caressing me, soothing me, and after a moment the spasms began to abate. I pulled back, feeling more than a little foolish, and looked up into his face. “I’m sorry,” I said, cringing at the thought that exactly what I had hoped to avoid had happened.
“Don’t be,” Ty said, smiling slightly. “It’s pretty flattering, having a girl who’s been avoiding you for months throw herself into your arms.” He licked his lips and held my gaze for a long moment, and my heart started beating faster once more.
Before I could react, Ty closed the little bit of distance between us and pressed his lips against mine. I closed my eyes, melting against him, feeling the heat of his body along every curve of mine. Ty held me tightly, deepening the kiss moment by moment, and I could feel the desire I’d kept pushing to the back of my mind getting stronger and stronger. If I let the moment continue, I knew we’d be hurrying back to his dorm or to mine in a matter of moments, and no talking at all would go on.
I broke away from the kiss, trembling and breathless. “We—we agreed to talk,” I said, swallowing down the taste of him that lingered on my lips and tongue.
“You’re right,” Ty said, nodding, his face serious. “Let’s grab something to eat, and let’s talk about what’s going on between us.”
In spite of what I’d said, I didn’t quite have the strength to leave his arms. I took a deep breath and pressed my body against his for just a moment longer, and then I pulled back and exhaled. “Okay,” I said, nodding. “Let’s do this.”
Chapter Ten
As soon as Nicole had calmed, we went into the dining hall together. In spite of the way that she’d thrown herself into my arms, I wasn’t sure if she was feeling comfortable enough for me to hold her hand. I wanted to give her space—but the fact that she hadn’t resisted my kiss, or told me no, and that she had pressed herself against me for just a moment, gave me a little hope.
I wanted to tell her how adorable she looked, how much her new haircut made her look exactly like a woodland sprite or a fairy of some kind, but I held back. I knew better than to push myself on her; we would have to hash out what had happened to us, and I would have to be patient and listen to what Nicki had to say.
I grabbed food from the different stations without even thinking, without caring what it was that I got, and I suspected that Nicole was doing the same thing. It was like I had to occupy my hands—I needed to be doing something, or I would end up touching her, unable to help myself.
I managed to shake myself out of my distraction long enough to choose the right soda from the dispenser, and then Nicole and I stepped out of the serving area and into the dining room proper. “How about over there?” I pointed to a spot at the end of one of the three long tables that dominated the dining hall. It was empty—but there were a few people only a few feet away.
“I want somewhere a little more private,” Nicole admitted, blushing slightly. “Can we go outside?” I glanced at the terrace. No one was sitting out there—which was rare for the time of year. I nodded.
“That sounds perfect,” I told her, giving her another smile. My heart was beating faster in my chest, skipping a beat every few moments. I was happy to see Nicole, happy to have felt her in my arms—but I was nervous about what she might say to me when we finally got down to the discussion we had to have.
We both walked across the dining room, and I had to resist the urge to take her hand in mine again. I caught a few people who were glancing at us, interested—curious—and I knew that there would be rumors, no matter what the outcome of the conversation was.
For a few moments, Nicole and I sat at a table outside, picking at our food, taking occasional bites. I wasn’t particularly hungry, and the food I’d picked in my distraction wasn’t particularly good. “Do you want to start, or should I?” Nicole looked up from her plate and smiled wryly.
“You’re the one who asked for a meeting,” she said. “Tell me what you want to know, and I guess…I’ll decide if I want to answer.” That was less than promising; but I took a deep breath and put my fork down.
“What exactly happened between us? I mean, from your perspective.” I licked my lips, thinking of the kiss we’d had only a few moments before. That hadn’t been the kiss of a girl who had absolutely no interest in me.
“We separated,” Nicole said, her cheeks turning slightly pinker with a blush. She looked down at her plate and then up at me. “I mean, I told you at the time…”
“Yeah, but you told me you needed to back off a bit,” I pointed out. “And I know you’ve been avoiding me. If it was just a little space and time you needed that would be one thing.”
“I did need space,” Nicole said, looking away from me as her blush deepened a little more. “I just didn’t…I didn’t feel comfortable with the way things were going.”
“When did I make you feel uncomfortable?” I gritted my teeth to try and control the rush of instinctive anger that came up in me, the defensive instinct to deny everything. “Tell me, please. I want to know if it’s something I can fix.”
“It wasn’t—it wasn’t anything you did, specifically,” Nicole said. She picked at the food on her plate. “I just worried about our future.”
“What had you worried?” I thought about Kelsey—the image of her flashed into my brain. I had finally managed to completely get her out of my life over winter break, after weeks of texting and pleas and insistence that we were meant to be together.
I had told her in no uncertain terms that I was never going to be interested in her, and that nothing was ever going to happen to us. And then I had blocked her everywhere I could think of, and told campus security not to let her into the dining hall, dorms, or student union.
“It’s nothing,” Nicole said, shrugging.
“If it’s nothing you wouldn’t have pushed me away,” I pointed out. “Come on, Nicki. I can take it. I need to know what it was.” Nicole bit her bottom lip and I wondered if she knew just how tempting, just how deliciously beautiful she looked when she did that. “Nicole…” She sighed and looked up, her lips twisting into an expression that wasn’t quite a smile.
“It was Kelsey,” she said. “When—when we went out, you just…you didn’t push her away right off the bat, and you didn’t come after us. And then you didn’t really explain anything about it, and someone told me you’d been with her for three years.”
The words poured out of her in a torrent and I struggled to keep
track of them. “And I thought that if you’d been in such a serious relationship so recently, and if you were graduating so soon, I couldn’t be anything but like—like a fling, or a rebound, or something.” Her eyes watered, and she looked at me with real pain in her face.
“You could never be a rebound,” I said, shaking my head. “I took you to meet my parents, didn’t I?” I sighed. I knew that it had been a mistake to keep Nicole as much in the dark as possible about Kelsey. “I never would have asked you to meet my mom and dad if I didn’t think things were pretty serious between us.” I reached out and took her hand in mine; it was cold, but it warmed after a moment. “I really do want to be with you—and we can find a way to be together after my graduation.”
“That’s…that’s good,” Nicole said, licking her lips and looking down at her plate. “I just…” she shrugged.
“What? What else?” I reached out and put my fingers under her chin, tilting her face upward. “You can tell me, whatever it is.”
“I can’t,” Nicole said, shaking her head.
“I need to explain about Kelsey,” I told her, taking a deep breath. “Yes, I was with her for a long time—three years. I broke up with her after trying everything that I could to make things work between us. And when I say everything, I mean everything.” I smiled wryly. “So by the time I broke things off altogether, I was sick and tired of her.” I took another quick breath. “The night you saw her grinding on me…” I shook my head. “That—I mean, that was a big part of what contributed to Kelsey and I not being able to work out. All I did was to make sure that she got home okay.”
I held Nicole’s gaze for a long moment. “You believe me, don’t you?”
“Why didn’t you just say that the next day?” Nicole frowned.
“I was being a stupid coward,” I admitted. I smiled weakly. “I thought if I made as little a fuss about it as possible, it would be for the best.” Nicole half-smiled.