I could feel the woman inside me growing her courage. Yet, courage in my mind versus courage in real life was the complete opposite. Sure I could rip out her hair in my thoughts, but given the chance, I’d surely chicken out. That was me, the chicken in disguise.
Still, every time I thought about being alone at college with Josh, I thought about all the things I could do to finally make him see me as a woman. Not just a friend. Finally, nothing would stand in the way of what I wanted.
***
I had my key, which made it official. I was moving in.
Standing in Ivy Hall (the girls’ dorm), I stared up at the ceiling of the main entrance. There was intricate twining of ivy stretched along the wooden beams. The ceilings must’ve been twenty feet tall. With three floors of rooms, the size of this building was massive yet breathtaking. I can remember the tour I took there my junior year of high school and how it felt surreal to be inside of it, but now it felt like it was exactly where I belonged.
“Where did your mom go?” Josh inquired as he came up next to me.
My eyes were still fixated on the ceiling above. “She had to go. Once she met with the administrative office to make sure everything was good, she left.”
“I thought we were going to do lunch?”
“She forgot about an appointment, besides I’m not very hungry.” My stomach was in knots. I couldn’t eat if I wanted to. The nerves of the day had taken over.
Josh’s arm draped over my shoulders. “Okay. Whatever you want. How about we get you moved in?”
Glancing into his beautiful eyes, I agreed. Besides, I needed his muscles for the heavy lifting.
Luckily my room was on the second floor and not the third because with no elevator it was a bitch to haul my stuff up the stairs. Clearly, I was out of shape.
My roommate wasn’t there when I opened the door, but her stuff was already settled. I was starting a semester late, so she’d probably been there since August. Her side of the room was tidy and neat. Thank goodness for that, but it was also very dark. The only thing I knew about the girl was her name, Letty.
Josh threw himself on the open bed with his arms sprawled out. “These beds suck, and they’re too damn small.”
Probably not too small for me, but seeing him lying across it made it look tiny. He was a big boy.
I climbed in next to him and snuggled closely into his side. “Yep,” I wiggled to get further on the bed to keep from falling off. “It’s going to be tough trying to sleep on this twin size mattress with your big ass next to me.”
He squeezed me tighter into his hard chest. “It’ll be fun trying, though.” His chest slowed as his breathing did. “I’ve missed you.”
“Me too,” I admitted. It felt comforting in many ways knowing that I’d have him there. My stomach eased and nerves gently subsided. “Come on. We’ve got at least one more load to carry in, and I want to see your place after I get settled.”
He groaned before climbing to his feet.
“Are there any good coffee places nearby?” I asked, curious if there was one within walking distance that I’d be able to go to before class.
“I know a great one. We can go in the morning.”
“Okay, but not too early,” I agreed, a bit too cheerfully. For someone who isn’t a morning person, coffee is a lifeline. I needed it as much as I needed oxygen especially if I had to get out of bed before nine in the morning.
We finished unloading my car, and Josh left me to get unpacked while he went to take a shower. The dorm room was a decent size for two people. There were two twin size beds, two desks, and two nightstands. The closet was a bit small for two people, but my roommate didn’t seem to have many pieces hanging. And according to her side of the room, I’d say she was very low maintenance.
I was maneuvering my mint green fitted sheet over the back corner of my mattress, when someone cleared their throat behind me. My body was twisted in an awkward position and my butt was stuck up in the air.
Glancing under my arm, I saw a petite girl standing in the doorway. I flipped around to meet her gaze. “Hey,” I waved.
“Hey,” she spoke so softly that I barely heard her.
“Sorry about the mess. I’m Paislee.”
“I’m Letty.”
She was beautiful. It was my first thought as I stared longingly at her face. She had long, dark, wavy hair and icy blue eyes.
Wow!
“I promise to clean this mess up as quick as I can.”
“It’s fine,” she said as she stepped around the array of boxes.
She was reserved and very quiet. She never said anything more as I continued unpacking. The room was so silent that I nearly jumped out of my skin when a text message came through my cell. She didn’t seem to notice, as she was lost in the pages of a book.
Josh was on his way.
I stacked the rest of my unpacked boxes neatly at the foot of my bed, before making my way into the common room. I didn’t bother saying goodbye to Letty. Without truly knowing her, I wasn’t sure how she’d react to my interrupting her reading. If there would be a battle, I wanted to be sure I chose them wisely. It was only my first day.
“Hey, gorgeous! You ready?” Josh strolled into the room like he owned the place. No one else was around to be swooned, just me. And dammit he could swoon the pants right off me.
This weekend.
I swallowed the lump in my throat. This weekend I was going to tell him. I had to get it off my chest before my heart exploded. He loved me, and I loved him. What could go wrong?
“Ready.” I tucked my Chapstick in my pocket along with a twenty-dollar bill, just in case.
We made the five-minute walk to Lotus Hall a.k.a Testosterone Alley. That was the seriously the nickname. I couldn’t make that crap up. Lotus Hall was the guys’ dorm here at the University of Trinity Northwest. It was one of the oldest buildings on campus, and in my opinion, it was the greatest. The architecture was unbelievable. There were statues on the lawn that dated back to the late eighteen hundreds. Trinity didn’t become co-ed until the fifties, so the girls’ dorm –Ivy Hall, was much newer. But it didn’t compare in size to Lotus. They had five floors, compared to our three.
“I told Garrett you were coming, and he was excited to see you again. I just hope he has pants on,” Josh explained as we walked up the stairs that led to the second floor.
“Um, does he usually walk around with no pants?” He was completely dressed the last time I was in his dorm room.
Josh shook his head. “You never know what’ll happen when he’s around. I’ve seen that boy naked more than I care to admit.”
Oh hell!
Thankfully the last time, he decided against the birthday suit. Two naked guys in one night would have been way too much for me to handle. Although…
Nevermind.
There was no way I could picture Garrett commando. I shivered at the thought.
Josh made a loud knocking sound on the door before opening it, and I assume it was to warn him. I realized that he’d fixed the door, since he broke it in the last time I was there. I bet that cost him a small fortune.
Please let him have pants on. Please oh please.
“Garrett!” Josh yelled.
“Joshie!” A husky familiar voice yelled back.
I stayed huddled behind Josh’s back, afraid of what I might see.
“There’s that pretty thing,” Garrett said peeking his head around Josh’s back.
Shew… He was wearing clothes. A warm smile came upon my lips. I liked Garrett a lot. It was going to be nice having him around. He was the epitome of fun. Well, at least what I’d seen from him so far.
“Hey Bear,” I said tackling him into a hug. He was such a lovable guy. I couldn’t help myself.
He squeezed me back, lifting my feet up off the ground. “You’re the only one allowed to call me that.”
I nodded into his shoulder.
“What’s the plans for tonight guys? No parties I hope. I�
��m not ready for that yet.” I implied having remembered the last party all too well.
“How about lunch?” Josh suggested.
“That’s perfect,” I replied.
“Let me get a quick shower, and I’ll be ready.” Garrett moved about the room with a little bounce in his step. As far as I could tell, he couldn’t sit still if he wanted to. He’d make good use of some ADHD medication.
Seriously.
Making myself comfortable on Josh’s bed, I tucked myself into his side. I could feel the heat generating off his body. This sudden feeling of exhaustion took over my body. Maybe it was the crash from the morning coffee, or maybe I overworked myself with all the moving. Either way, the weight of my eyes became too heavy for me to hold open. I drifted off to sleep in Josh’s arms.
Six
Josh
I had tried to ease my way out of the bed and from under the weight of Lee, but it wasn’t happening. I had one ass cheek already hanging off the side of my tiny mattress. One wrong move and I’d be ass first on the floor.
“Lee,” I nudged her shoulder. She didn’t budge or show any signs that she was going to wake up. “Lee,” I called again, a little more urgently.
Her eyelids fluttered open slightly so I gave her another nudge. Once she opened her eyes, she smiled up at me. “Hey,” she said sleepily.
“Hey, beautiful,” I responded. “I’m going to need you to move because I have to take a leak.”
She snickered.
“I’m not into the whole Golden Shower thing.”
She cocked her head and gave me a confused look.
“I don’t pee on people for pleasure. So unless you’re into that sort of thing, then you’d better move.”
She slid out from my side at record speed. “Ew, you perv.”
I had to tiptoe run to the bathroom while holding my crotch, to seriously keep from pissing myself. She was so funny, and easy to tease.
“Shit! It’s four o’clock. Why didn’t you wake me up? We missed lunch.” She yelled.
“You missed lunch.” I opened the bathroom door. “I had a burrito, and there is probably some left over in your hair.” There wasn’t really any food in her hair. I just rested my burrito paper on her head earlier as I ate.
She curled her lip, as she patted her hair. “You pig. I’m starving.”
“We’re meeting Garrett and Tex at seven to eat. Can you wait til then?”
“Uh, yeah.” She nodded. “Maybe I should run back to my room and shower.”
She was acting strange all of a sudden, unlike herself. She ran her fingers swiftly through her hair and stood up quickly.
At nineteen, you’d think I would have girls all figured out. That was a big, fat, no. I’d known Lee since she was nine years old, knew her better than any other girl in the world, but she was still like a Rubix Cube to me. One minute you think you understand, and the next minute you have an odd red in a row of yellows. They should’ve come with user manuals.
“I’ll swing by to get you around seven okay?”
She just looked at me. Her demeanor was frazzled, and I wondered if I’d ever seen her look like that. Was it something I’d said?
“You alright Lee? You look like you’ve lost your marbles.”
“Oh, um, yeah. I’m fine. I just jumped up too quickly. I’m not awake yet. Maybe I need more coffee? Maybe I slept too long?” She dazed off.
I laughed. “Yeah, you’re not awake yet. I’d go with that answer. You good to walk to the dorm by yourself or do you think you might get lost along the way?”
“Ha, ha, smartass. I’ll be fine.”
“There’s my girl.” I winked. “See ya at seven.”
***
As I was walking over to Ivy to pick up Lee, my phone started buzzing in my pocket. I forgot that I’d changed it to vibrate earlier while Lee was sleeping, so the vibration scared the crap out of me.
“Hello,” I answered quickly.
“Hey, Josh. It’s Brynn.”
Wait, who? I stopped walking for a second trying to remember. No, I wasn’t a whore. The name just didn’t sound familiar to me.
Brynn, I thought to myself. The long pause wasn’t helping.
“We met at Fox’s party.”
Ah! Damn! “Yeah, hey. How’s it going?”
Wait…
I didn’t remember giving her my number. Had I?
“I’m great actually. I was just calling to see what you were doing tonight? I thought maybe we could meet up.” Her voice was very sexy over the phone. It’s no wonder I let her lick my sack.
Too bad I had plans for the night. “I’m sorry. I can’t. Maybe another night though.”
“Sure,” she replied. “Call me.”
Oh, I will. “Okay,” I responded before ending the call. My pants tightened at the thought of her on her knees in front of me. I know it was wrong, but it felt so right.
I made my way through the crowd of people and headed towards the double doors of the girls’ dorm. The common room just outside of Lee’s bedroom was occupied this time. A couple of girls were watching TV as I made my way inside. When I knocked on her door she answered almost instantly.
“Damn girl.” My eyes grew wide. She had legs for days in the dress she was wearing. “I’ve never seen you wear that dress.” I eyed her suspiciously. She looked good enough to eat.
“It’s new. Mom took me shopping before Christmas. She said I needed college clothes. You like it?” She asked as she slipped a pair of lace-up black boots over her feet.
“What’s not to like?” I answered honestly, as I rested my shoulder against the doorframe. “You do know that’s a dress, right?”
She peeked out from under the hair that lay sprawled across her face so that she could roll her eyes at me.
That black dress had no sleeves, no straps, and barely covered her ass. There wasn’t even enough material to spare bending over. I’d only seen the girl wear a dress maybe twice since I’d known her. She just wasn’t the dress wearing type.
“I like it, okay?” She tugged tightly on the bottom of her dress as she stood up.
“Okay. You ready?”
She reached for her jean jacket on the bed and slipped it on. “I’m starving.”
The heels of her boots stomped across the wood flooring as we made our way out. Normally I’d walk beside her, but after I caught a glimpse at that dress from behind, there was no way.
The way her hips swayed back and forth, hot damn. I bit my bottom lip hard to keep myself in check.
That was my best friend.
Best friend, you idiot.
Under the makeup, curled hair, and barely there dress, she was Lee. But dammit I was still a man. I knew a pair of killer legs when I saw em’. I also knew that my body liked hot legs. For a split second, I considered pushing her forward gently to the side of my car and rubbing my hard dick over the ass of that dress.
Best friend, you idiot.
“I could use a beer.” I called out from behind her as I hit the unlock button to the Camaro.
“Ooooo. Good idea. You get drunk, and then I can drive us home in the Camaro. I love that plan.”
“You’re out of your mind woman.” I shut the car door behind me. “No one drives this baby but me.”
“Put it in drive big boy. I’m ready for the biggest burger you can find me.”
That’s my best friend.
Seven
Paislee
All these years I’d been standing idly by watching Josh date this girl and that girl. It was my fault for not telling him how I really felt in the first place. Maybe I thought that he’d come around and that his feelings for me would change. We just got so complacent with each other. I let him have so much power over me, in ways that no one would understand. Even I couldn’t understand it. It’s a weird feeling to know that you mean everything to someone; while at the same time you’re not close enough to have them. I never really dated, never had a serious boyfriend. I was a lovesick fool f
or Josh. I was like the princess locked in the tower waiting for her prince charming to rescue her. It was foolish. Sometimes you have to take matters into your own hands and slay the dragon yourself. This black dress was my weapon of choice, and no blonde haired dragon was standing in my way this time.
That boy underestimated my powers. He wanted sexy, so that was just what I gave him. He should be careful what he wishes for.
Glancing out the window of the Camaro, I silently thanked Mom for convincing me to buy the black dress. It worked like a charm. Yes, I was a bit uncomfortable, but it was a small price to pay for that look Josh gave me. If I couldn’t convince him that he wanted me in that dress, then I could never convince him.
He put the car in park outside of a place called RACK Bar & Grill. I’d never heard of it. Josh said they were well known for their barbecue, but that they had a pretty awesome burger.
SOLD. Burgers were my favorite.
The inside of RACK seemed much smaller than it looked from the outside. The place was packed and there was a line by the hostess booth of people waiting to get a seat. They were jammed in there like sardines. It must’ve been the most popular hangout in town.
Josh took my hand and weaved us through the crowd of people. I tugged on his arm when we walked right past the hostess booth. We weren’t celebrities. We should’ve waited in line like everyone else. We walked all the way through the array of tables towards the back of the room, and that’s when I spotted Garrett. It hadn’t dawned on me that they would’ve already had a table. Here I’d thought Josh new the owner or something.
Off to the right of the tables was a small wooden platform set up like a stage, and a flashing sign that read “karaoke.”
Aw, yikes.
I had a feeling this night was going to get very interesting.
On the far side of the square, high, bar table, sat Garrett and Tex.
Do you love me? (Trinity Series Book 1) Page 5