by Rebel Hart
“Yeah, but ditch the sleeves first,” Sydney growled back before hooking my arm and dragging me toward the elevator. “What the hell was that?”
“I don’t know. I saw myself in her.”
The elevator doors opened, and Sydney and I climbed on. She pressed the button for the lowest level, and the doors closed and started to take us down. “You’re kind of a dork, but you’re not that bad.”
“I could have been if you didn’t blow into my life like a fucking tornado.”
Sydney furrowed her brow. “Is that a compliment or an insult?”
I kissed Sydney’s cheek, leaving a bright pink lip imprint behind. “Yes.”
Sydney ducked her head to view her reflection in the metal plate surrounding the elevator buttons. “That’s hot. I’m keeping it all night.”
Presper’s living towers all had underground parking to combat the issue of Utah’s typically snow-light but ice-heavy winters. The lowest level the elevator would go to was the parking garage, and when it reached the floor, the doors opened, and the loud buzzing of the garage screamed in. Many of the East Tower’s students were in the garage, piling into cars, bumping music, and excitedly chattering, all no doubt headed toward the same party we were bound for. We walked off the elevator and immediately heard a loud yelp.
“God damn!”
Sydney and I looked over, and Henry, dressed handsomely in a pair of dark slacks and a dark blue button-up under a light gray vest, jumped up from the bench he was sitting on and started bouncing up and down.
“Look at my girl! Excuse me.” He reached for a random student passing by. “Excuse me, sir. Look at my girlfriend. She’s so hot, right?” The kid opened his mouth, but Henry pushed him away. “If you answer that, I’ll kill you.”
He turned back toward Sydney and held out his arms, saying, “Damn. I can’t believe I have to take you into public looking like that.”
Sydney walked into Henry’s arms and gave him a kiss. “You’re one to talk, looking like that. You’re gonna have to keep me from fighting every woman who looks at you.”
I smiled at the cuteness of their display. I imagined being able to do that with someone, and it made me fuzzy. For a reason I knew but didn’t want to accept, when the image jumped through my brain with me in Sydney’s shoes, it wasn’t Kai who was receiving me. I pushed it away. I was too close to finally being with Kai. It didn’t make sense to confuse myself now.
Henry looked over at me and smiled. “Hey, Nina.”
“Hi.” I stepped over to them, not subtly looking around for the other person I expected to see. “You look great.”
“Thanks, so do you.” He pointed at Sydney’s cheek. “You did this, then?”
I shrugged. “Guilty.”
Sydney stared at me for a minute and then rolled her eyes. “Where’s Devon, babe?”
“He’s just finishing getting dressed. He was running late from the Dean’s Club, so I told him I’d come down and meet you two. He should be down any second.” He turned his attention back to Sydney. “Honestly. How are you this stunning? It’s criminal, and I should know. I’m a lawyer.”
Sydney held out her wrists. “Oh, lock me up.”
Henry smiled. “That’s cops, but I don’t care. You’re so beautiful.”
“It’s cute but also kind of gross,” a voice whispered into my ear, and my heart beat so hard that I was afraid it was going to stop. I looked over my shoulder, and Devon was standing behind me. “Hey, you.”
“Hi.” I smiled at the image before me. Devon was wearing a pair of cream-colored pants with black combat boots over them. He had on a simple white t-shirt under a black, unbuttoned suit coat, and a black, wide-brim hat. “Wow. You clean up nice.”
“I was just about to say the same about you,” Devon said. “Be honest, how much do you wish you were wearing a hoodie right now?”
“More than anything in the whole world,” I replied, and Devon laughed, “but I guess I can not wear a sweatshirt for one day.”
“You’ll just have to wear two tomorrow.”
I nodded. “Yes. Two sweaters, two pairs of jeans, and maybe a scarf for good measure.”
Devon’s eyes glinted as he took me in, and I didn’t shy away from the attention. It wasn’t until Sydney slid up to me and linked an arm through mine that I broke his gaze at all.
“Doesn’t she look stellar, Devon?” she asked.
“Stellar doesn’t describe it,” Devon replied. “No offense, but you may wanna put some distance between the two of you.”
I was worried that Sydney would take Devon’s joke the wrong way, but she just clung onto me. “I’m forever telling her she’s prettier than me, but she won’t listen.”
“Because I’m not,” I grumbled back.
“Okay,” Devon and Sydney said in unison and laughed.
Henry jingled his keys in the air. “All right, we’ve been standing around long enough, kids. Let’s get this show on the road.”
We climbed into Henry’s car—Henry and Sydney in the front, and Devon and I in the back—and Henry joined the line of cars waiting to get out of the parking garage. I could feel Devon’s eyes on me, and when I looked over, thinking he would look away, he just held my stare until my body burned so hot that I was forced to look away. Devon was becoming dangerous in my life. I tried to keep my brain focused on certain definitive facts, like the fact that I was technically attending the party with Kai or that Devon was still seeing Taylor. I tried to think of anything to keep my mind in a safe place, which was a difficult task with Devon’s cologne filling the car.
“So, Nina, exactly how early did you finish all your homework this week?” Sydney asked jokingly.
“By Wednesday night,” Devon answered for me, “apart from her English project.”
“Whoa, Nina, your voice has gotten deeper,” Henry said with a laugh.
I shrugged. “He’s not wrong.”
“Does she rub off on you, at least?” Henry asked.
“Not as much as I’d like,” I responded, and Devon and Sydney dramatically turned to look at me. I didn’t know what the looks were about at first, and then when it hit me, my face started to burn. “I meant with homework. He procrastinates a lot.”
Sydney turned away from me with a smirk on her lips, but Devon kept a lusty look on me that had me shifting uncomfortably until we pulled up in front of the house hosting NewSem. Henry found a spot within a block of the house, and we climbed out. Henry and Sydney immediately wrapped themselves up and started talking happily, leaving Devon and me behind.
“We’ve lost them,” I said.
Devon laughed. “I knew that was gonna happen.” He looked over at me. “Is that okay?”
I nodded. “Yeah. That’s okay.”
Henry and Sydney mingled only as much as they had to before they were out dancing among the crowd. Devon and I found a quiet corner, and Devon collected a beer for himself and a soda for me. We stood drinking, occasionally greeting the different people we recognized as they passed us by, but ultimately, just enjoying one another’s company.
“See? This isn’t so bad,” Devon said.
“It’s not. You’re right.” I flicked the brim of Devon’s hat. “I didn’t realize you were a hat guy.”
He chuckled. “I’m not, usually. I decided to try something new. How does it look?”
“It looks really good.”
“Good enough to go home with me at the end of the night?” he asked with a wink. “Maybe even sleep together?”
I laughed at the joke our unique situation presented, but the idea of sleeping with Devon had the most intimate parts of me humming with anticipation. I started to imagine slowly peeling off Devon’s layers and letting him give in to the urges that had caused more than one animalistic gaze in the past. To say that I was turned on would’ve been an understatement.
Devon whistled. “Well, if I’d known it would be that good, I would have done it a month ago.”
I was sure I was b
lushing from being caught, but I didn’t back down. If we were amidst a cat and mouse game, I found myself beyond willing to be the mouse. “Before or after you kissed me?”
“Oh, wow,” Devon said. “You got jokes. All right. I see you, Nina.”
I laughed, and Devon joined in. If my entire night went that way, I wouldn’t be mad. Devon was beyond pleasurable company. We sat and continued to talk for about forty-five minutes. The party started to thicken with nicer-dressed guests, and I wondered if they’d come over from the Fall Ball. As I considered it, I scanned the crowd for Monica, curious to see if she actually took me up on my offer.
“Looking for Kai?” Devon asked.
“Huh?” I looked at him, confused.
He stared back at me just as confused. “What? I thought you’d be looking for him.”
“Oh!” I scared myself with how quickly I’d pushed Kai from my mind in Devon’s presence. “Y-yeah,” I lied. I didn’t want to let on that Kai had been flowing in and out of my brain for the past couple of hours instead of the typically constant presence. “I guess we’re having our first date tonight.”
“Oh,” Devon responded. “So he did ask you out?”
“Yeah.” Earlier I’d been so excited to tell Devon that his advice had worked, but now I felt a pressing urge to change the subject.
“Congrats,” Devon replied. “He’s headed this way.”
“Really?”
I looked over my shoulder and saw that Kai was sifting his way through the sea of students, dead set for me. He looked good, too, in a pair of designer sweatpants, a black button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and a pair of black boots. He was attractive, but he was not as attractive as Devon. Our eyes locked, and he smiled and waved a hand. I waved back.
I turned back toward Devon, unsure of what I’d say, but he was smiling at me. “What?”
Devon shrugged. “Nothing. I’m happy for you. This is what you wanted, right?”
I nodded. “Yeah.” It was what I wanted. Kai was the one I wanted.
“Hey, Nina.” Kai held his arms open, and that time, I did fold into them.
All of the hesitation I’d been feeling jumped out the window as Kai wrapped his arms around me. Maybe I was getting distracted by Devon, but there was still a part of me that liked Kai a lot. It felt good to be held by him, finally. I pulled away and started to say something, but Kai was staring up at Devon, who was looking back at him, unflinching. The air between them was static and tense, and I couldn’t figure out why. I’d have to ask one of them later, but Devon broke the hold and looked down at me.
“I’m gonna go mingle. See you.”
“Okay. See you later.” I watched as Devon walked away and cursed the disappointed gnawing in my stomach.
“Nina?”
I jumped a little and looked at Kai. “Huh?”
“I said, should we go find somewhere quieter?” Kai asked.
“Oh.” I laughed. “Sorry, I’m not a big partier, so I got distracted. Yeah.”
“Cool. Come on.”
Kai reached down and took my hand, and my heart fluttered when he linked his fingers into mine. I locked eyes with Sydney as we passed by the dance floor, and she gave me a thumbs up. Kai pulled me to the base of a staircase. He stood aside so that I could walk past him up the stairs to the next landing, and I noticed that the stairs continued up another floor, but Kai placed his hand on my back and pushed me forward a little, so I stepped forward into the hallway on the second floor. There were five doors on either wall, and Kai took me, with some purpose, to the fourth door down on the right side.
We walked into a room that looked unlived in, but it still had a nicely-made bed in the middle and a table with a couple of chairs off to one side. I started for the chairs, but Kai kept a hold on my hand and pulled me toward the bed. I hesitated but relented to his strength as he sat down on the bed’s edge and pulled me down next to him.
“This is better,” Kai said.
I nodded and tried to calm the rampant pounding in my chest. I’d been that close to Kai before, but never in such an intimate setting. “It is.” The thrum of music from downstairs was muffled by the floor that separated us from the party, but it meant I could speak and hear Kai more clearly. “So, how was the rest of your day?” I asked.
Kai chuckled. “Seriously?”
I furrowed my brow. “Yeah? Is that a weird question?”
“No, not typically. I just thought we were gonna cut the bullshit a la our conversation from earlier.”
I tried to replay what Kai and I had talked about that morning. Sure, he’d mentioned getting more than a hug, and I knew that his mind probably went further than mine, but I didn’t expect any of that to happen when we’d barely been in one another’s presence for ten minutes.
“I mean, I thought we’d talk a little first, at least,” I said.
Kai’s hand curled along the side of my neck. “We’ve done enough talking, don’t you think?”
“I…”
My thoughts all died when I realized Kai was leaning in. My brain went into panic mode. Years of waiting for that moment were all colliding into one another, and there wasn’t a single part of me that could figure out how to react. Instead of doing anything logical, I froze, and a few seconds later, Kai’s lips were on mine.
Oh my god.
I was kissing Kai. No, Kai was kissing me. We were kissing. I placed my hands on Kai’s stomach, and his other hand clasped my neck. His tongue smoothed along my bottom lip, and reflexively, I parted them, letting it slink inside. I hummed in satisfaction at the connection. Even if his kiss wasn’t as good as Devon’s, it was Kai, and that was enough to excite me to no end. Kai’s hands slid down my neck and under my jacket. They slid down my arms, forcing the jacket down, and I realized that Kai was ten steps ahead of me.
I pulled away from him, and he smiled at me. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah. It’s great, I just…” I put a hand on Kai’s face. “I’ve liked you for so long that I don’t want to rush it.”
“I like you, too,” Kai replied. “We’ll go as slow as you need.” He leaned in again, but I pulled away, and that time, Kai’s smile turned to a scoff. “What?”
“I meant, like… We’ve kissed, and we can do more of that tonight, but the rest we can do, I don’t know, in a more romantic place than this?” I snickered. “And maybe after a few dates?”
“A few dates?” Kai said with disbelief. “I thought you wanted to sleep with me?”
“I mean, eventually, maybe? We haven’t even been out yet.”
“I’m on a break with Taylor, but I don’t know that we’re done dating yet,” Kai replied. “I’m not gonna cheat on her.”
I slid all the way back out of Kai’s grasp, pulling my jacket back up to sit on my shoulders properly. “What do you mean? Like, you’re gonna get back together?”
“Maybe? I don’t know.”
I scoffed. “Then what the hell am I doing here? You just said you liked me.” All of a sudden, Devon’s words from the week before hit me. I was just a backup. “Oh my god. Do you only want to sleep with me?”
Kai watched me carefully. “Isn’t that what you want to do?”
I could already feel my emotions rising to the surface. “I gotta go.”
Kai reached out for my hand. “Wait, Nina.”
I snatched my hand away and ran from the room, shocked, upset, and embarrassed at how I’d lashed out at Devon when he was right all along.
18
Devon
I downed a whole beer, trying to chase away the frustration that settled like a solid brick in my stomach when I noticed Kai and Nina disappearing upstairs. There weren’t many reasons that couples went upstairs alone at parties. Given that Nina had been trying to land Kai since the beginning of the semester, and really before that, I had a pretty good guess at what was slated to go on. I expected that Nina and Kai would bump into each other at the party, but I had no idea that he’d formall
y asked her to spend the night with him. If I had, I probably wouldn’t have let myself get so caught up in the way Sydney and Henry’s pairing shoved Nina and I together like a couple, as well. It’d been Henry’s plan from the beginning—if we all hung out together and Henry and Sydney started behaving like a couple, Nina and I were certain to get there, as well.
So much for that plan.
Henry brought me another beer. Sydney had also noticed Nina’s departure and evidently pointed it out to Henry, and though he wanted to stick around and be a supportive friend, I told him to go have fun with Sydney. Just because one of us wasn’t getting anywhere didn’t mean the other one had to be dragged down, as well. I nursed my beer, not wanting to get drunk and do something stupid, and just watched the people—and the stairs—while running down the clock.
“Hey, you. I’ve been looking for you.” I turned around, and Taylor was standing behind me with a cocktail in her hand. She was wearing a form-fitting, silver, sequined dress that showed a lot of her cleavage and legs. “You look good.”
Taylor was modelesque because of her curves and the way her long blond hair flowed down and over her chest, but I couldn’t deny that she wasn’t doing much for me at the moment. “Hey.” I turned to face her. “You look amazing. Good god.”
She kicked one of her stilettoed feet up behind her. “I was hoping you’d like it. Are you enjoying the party? I’ll admit, I was a little surprised that you didn’t want to come together.”
Not once had that thought occurred to me. “Well, we just started dating, and you’re hot as hell. I didn’t want you thinking I was already trying to claim you or something.”
Taylor tilted her head and threw me a seductive smile. “Oh? Do you want to claim me?”
I opened my mouth to respond, but before I could get anything out, Taylor’s eyes traveled past me. Her jaw dropped, and she let out a little chuckle. Her smile grew, and I turned to see what she was looking at. My gaze landed immediately on Nina, rushing down the stairs that she’d just disappeared up with Kai not five minutes earlier. She looked like she was on the brink of tears, and as she reached the landing, she sifted through the crowd of people and continued through the front door.
