Midnight Kiss

by Sarra Cannon

  “Perfect. We’ll need to get on the road early Friday.”

  “But I have three classes.”

  “And perfect attendance. I’m sure you can miss one of each. This is going to be epic!” She hugged me around the neck.

  I decided not to point out that she’d called the trip epic twice. “I’m sure it will be.”

  “I’m going to text Chad and let him know.”

  “Great.” I picked up my textbook and tried to get back into my reading. Not that social phenomena particularly interested me.

  “He says awesome. We’re going out on Bourbon Street for Halloween and everything.”

  “Cool.” I plugged a set of headphones into my phone and turned on some music. Reyna would never stop talking if I didn’t, and this method usually worked better than telling her to shut up.

  I made it through all of three paragraphs before she pulled one of my ear buds out. “You’re the best. Just wanted to tell you that.”

  “Yeah, Yeah.” I smiled.

  “I need caffeine. Want to go over to the Java Circle to read? I heard they’ve got that white hot chocolate stuff you love.”

  “Sure.” Reyna knew the way to my heart. Hot chocolate. I had a mild addiction.

  “Great. We can strategize costumes on the way over.”

  I laughed. “I’ll go with the cat idea if I don’t find anything else.”

  “There’s no reason not to. It’s classic.”

  “All right, I’ll stick with it. It’s not like I have a lot of time.”

  “Nope. We leave in two days.”

  “Exciting.”

  She pushed my arm playfully. “Please try to get hyped up, for my sake.”

  “Of course. If nothing else I’ll get hyped about the food. I’ve heard it’s amazing.”

  “See.” She linked her arm in mine as we headed toward the stairs. “There’s always a bright side.”

  Chapter Two

  Seven hours is a long drive. Add on an extra two hours thanks to traffic, and it’s pretty much endless. I wasn’t the one driving, but sitting in the passenger seat with Reyna driving wasn’t much better. She didn’t ‘believe’ in GPS. Instead she tossed a tattered old map on my lap. “I know where we’re going, but we have that just in case.”

  Although at first I missed the familiar computer generated voice reading directions, it didn’t take long to get used to using a paper map again. It brought me back to my childhood. My dad’s one of the types that is all about life skills. Evidently reading maps was still a life skill in his book, because he made my brother and I master the art before the end of elementary school. I planned to call him later and thank him.

  A few hours into the drive I decided to ask some more questions about Chad. Reyna had been surprisingly reticent on the subject. For a girl who usually gave details, way too many details, her silence made me a little suspicious. “Are you ready to tell me about him?”

  “He’s just a guy I knew.”

  “Knew how?” I turned down the radio.

  “He’s the one who got away,” she said in barely a whisper.

  “What?” I said in anything but a whisper. Hooking up with an ex-boyfriend was always a bad idea. I knew from experience. “We’re going to New Orleans so you can hook up with an ex?”

  “Calm down.” She looked right at the road. It wasn’t for safety reasons. She was avoiding my gaze.

  “So how do I fit in? What am I going to do while you guys reconnect?” I resisted the urge to use air quotes.

  “I don’t know what’s going to happen. I just couldn’t do it alone. I needed my best friend with me.”

  Best friend? Did she really see me that way? “Since we’re hours from Atlanta I’m coming, but I wish you’d been honest with me from the beginning.”

  I was such a pushover. I could practically hear my brother lecturing me. He said I couldn’t spend my whole life as a doormat. He was right, but that didn’t mean I knew how to change it.

  “His roommate’s single and excited to meet you.”

  I groaned. “I am not hooking up with the roommate.”

  “I never said you had to. I was just letting you know. He’s really cute.”

  “Wonderful.” Reyna might as well have been getting a degree in matchmaker for all the effort she made trying to set other people up on dates. It wasn’t something she was particularly good at. To be honest, I couldn’t think of a single success story.

  She changed lanes and gunned it to pass a truck. I held onto the ‘oh my god bar’ for dear life. She reduced speed once she was settled back in the right lane. “I really owe you for this. I promise I’ll make it up to you.”

  “Just don’t completely ditch me. That’s all I’m asking.”

  “I won’t.”

  “Didn’t anyone ever tell you not to make promises you can’t keep?”

  She laughed. “Trust me on this one. I don’t even know if anything is going to happen. He invited me as a friend, remember?”

  “You really believe that?” I didn’t. A guy wouldn’t invite an ex to stay with him unless he planned on rekindling the old flame—or getting her in bed—or most likely, both.

  “I do. We flirt and stuff, but it hasn’t passed that.”

  “If you say so.” I wasn’t in the mood to argue, but I steeled myself for a long few days. Hopefully I’d be able to navigate New Orleans on my own.

  ***

  I checked the address twice after Reyna parked along the curb. When she said we’d be staying in an off-campus apartment I assumed it was going to be a complex or something. Instead we were parked in front of an old house that looked like it should have been condemned. Ok, that might be a slight exaggeration, but it didn’t exactly have curb appeal.

  “You coming?” Reyna asked leaning in through her open door. Miraculously she didn’t look like she’d been sitting in a car for seven hours. Now me on the other hand, that was an altogether different story. I’d barely slept the night before, and even if I wore makeup it wouldn’t have covered up the bags under my eyes.

  “Yeah, I’m coming.” I reluctantly unbuckled and got out. I wasn’t looking forward to what I knew would be an awkward introduction.

  Reyna pulled out my duffel in what she probably viewed as a peace offering. I put it over my shoulder and followed her over to the questionable looking set of stairs. I tentatively touched the bottom step before taking a deep breath and following her up to the porch.

  She knocked on the door, and I was surprised it didn’t fall off the hinges.

  A guy with brown hair opened the door and pulled Reyna into his arms. “Hey, Baby!”

  My stomach dropped. Baby? They were on pet name terms?

  “Hey, Chad!” Reyna kissed him on the lips playfully. “We made it.”

  He rubbed her back in a very familiar way. “I’m glad you decided to make the trip. I promise to make it worth your while.”

  I just stood there in the doorway holding my bag. I wished I had the nerve to clear my throat, but I didn’t want Chad to hate me already.

  I settled on a light sigh that came out sounding like more of a grunt.

  “Oh, sorry.” Reyna stumbled back from him. “Chad, this is Daisy, my amazing sorority sister and roommate.”

  “Hey, Daisy. Thanks for going along for the ride with my girl, Reyna.”

  Yeah, I was on my own for the weekend. “Of course. Anything for Reyna.” Door Mat. Door Mat. I repeated to myself.

  Chad and Reyna exchanged a look, and I knew it had something to do with me. I assumed it couldn’t be good so I showed myself into the cramped apartment.

  I eyed one worn out leather couch. I assumed I’d be sleeping there. I walked over to drop off my stuff and noticed a few suspicious stains. Gross. Completely and utterly gross. I was so glad I’d brought a sleeping bag with me. At least I wouldn’t have to sleep right on the thing.

  “Hey.”

  I turned and nearly collided with a guy with spiky black hair. “Hi.”
r />   “I’m Shaun.”

  I looked around Shaun to see Reyna flirting with Chad. Might as well make friends with the roommate. At least Reyna had been right about one thing, he was cute. “Hi Shaun, I’m Daisy.”

  “Really? Like from The Great Gatsby?”

  “Uh, yeah.” Wow, a guy my age who knew something about literature.

  “Cool. Listen, just to put it out there, you can sleep in my bed if you want. I wouldn’t want to subject you to the couch.”

  I shook my head. “Oh, that’s okay.” First he appreciates literature and now he’s a gentleman? Double points.

  “Come on, I saw you eyeing it’s, uh, worn in condition.” He smiled, immediately putting me at ease.

  “I was just glad I brought a sleeping bag.” I felt like a weight had been taken off me. Things might not be quite as awkward as I anticipated.

  Shaun laughed. “Really, I’d only offer my bed if I wanted to. Save the sleeping bag. Besides, I wouldn’t want to leave you out here with our other roommate around.”

  “Other roommate?”

  “Yeah. Duncan. He’s a weird one.”

  “Oh.” Reyna hadn’t mentioned a third roommate in the apartment. Interesting omission. In order to avoid any unnecessary drama I decided not to ask more about Duncan. If he was really that weird hopefully I wouldn’t even meet him.

  “Here, I’ll help you with your stuff.” Shaun grabbed my duffel before I could stop him.

  “Really—”

  “I’m telling you it’s not a problem,” He interrupted.

  Reyna caught my eye and winked. I shook my head in return. If she thought she was playing matchmaker she had another thing coming. Nice or not, I wasn’t interested in hooking up with some random guy. If that’s all I wanted I might as well have just continued trying my luck with the dating pool at East Madison.

  “Reyna? You coming?” Chad called from the doorway of his room. Wow, he was moving fast. I hoped Reyna knew what she was doing. Hopefully they were on the same page.

  “Looks like you have someone to keep you company.” Reyna grinned. “I’m going to take a quick nap with Chad.”

  “Oh, a nap?” I rolled my eyes. “Enjoy that.”

  With a sigh I walked into Shaun’s room. The room was sparsely furnished with just a bed and a desk in the corner. His walls were bare which surprised me. I guess most guys I knew at school had posters and stuff up. His looked like he’d just moved in. A window AC unit sat precariously on the sill appearing like it could fall at any moment.

  “I just changed my sheets today.” He gestured to his bed.

  “Really?”

  “Yeah. I always do laundry on Fridays.”

  “And you change your sheets?”

  He laughed. “You don’t wash yours?”

  “I do, but most of my guy friends don’t with any regularity.”

  “Oh, that’s kind of gross.”

  I laughed. “Are you as much of a neat freak as me?”

  “I prefer to think of myself as orderly.”

  “Orderly. That works too.”

  I took a seat on the edge of his bed. My guess was that Reyna’s ‘nap’ was going to last awhile.

  Chapter Three

  “The Boot isn’t anything special, but it’s where we always start.” Chad was all smiles as we walked toward the unofficial campus bar of Tulane.

  “Cool, we’re up for anything.” Reyna appeared equally happy, ever so often stealing glances of her hand held by his. If I didn’t know any better I’d say this guy really meant something to her.

  “Great.” It was already Friday night. All I had to do was make it until Sunday morning and we’d be on our way back to campus.

  “What’s the scene like at EMC?” Shaun asked.

  “It’s a big Greek scene.” Which was why joining a sorority was a no-brainer. Social life pretty much revolved around it. “There’s obviously tons to do in Atlanta, but we’re just outside the city.”

  “So you’re in a sorority?”

  “Yeah. Delta Mu.”

  “Nice.”

  “I’m guessing you’re not Greek?”

  “No, it’s not really my scene.”

  “Cool.” I didn’t care whether he was or not, but there went a potential conversation. “So this is an eighteen and up place?” I didn’t particularly feel like broaching the whole fake ID subject.

  “Yeah. You’re good.”

  “Ok, great.” Our conversation was getting stilted so I really hoped we got there soon.

  We turned a corner and suddenly we were surrounded by crowds of college students. Evidently this was where everyone hung out on Friday night. The door to the bar was wide open, but a large guy who couldn’t have been more than twenty-two or so sat at the door. I showed him my license and he grunted something. I assumed that meant I was fine so I trailed the others inside.

  The bar was smoky and crowded as I followed the others. One long bar spanned the back of the space, and loud music blared from speakers somewhere.

  “I’ll get us a pitcher.” Chad dropped Reyna’s hand, and we searched around for a place to sit.

  “Shaun, hey.” A guy called him over. Reyna and I followed him.

  “Hey, man. Mind if we join you?”

  The guy looked Reyna and I over. “No feel free.”

  Sometimes being a girl did come in handy. I took a seat next to Shaun, knowing Reyna would want the two seats on the other side of the table so she could sit with Chad.

  I made some more awkward conversation. That seemed to be the theme of the evening. When Chad arrived with the pitcher of beer I gulped down my cup in record time. I needed something to take the edge off. After about an hour we left the Boot and piled into Chad’s car to drive over to a place called the Bull Dog. This one had a different crowd. It seemed a little bit older, but definitely still college.

  As I stood sipping my Abita beer, it was a local beer I was told I had to try, I largely tuned out the conversation of the group we were with. They’d stopped even pretending to include me, and it wasn’t worth the effort to push myself in. Instead I people watched.

  That’s when I saw him. Tall, broad, and blond, he stood out in the sea of students. Even flanked by two equally tall and attractive guys, he commanded all of my attention.

  He was too far away to see the color of his eyes, but whatever they were they probably fit perfectly with his chiseled features. The guy could have been a model. As hard as I tried, I couldn’t pull my eyes away from him.

  “What are you staring at?” Reyna asked. She’d separated herself from Chad for the moment.

  “Nothing.”

  She followed my line of vision. “Oh. Which one?”

  “Blond.”

  “Of course.” She laughed.

  “Hey, I’ve dated guys with dark hair.”

  “Yes, but when given the choice you want a blond.” She brought her beer to her lips.

  “So? We all have our preferences.” Reyna always went for the brooding types, although Chad didn’t fit that description.

  “Go talk to him.” She nodded toward him.

  “Yeah… right.”

  “Why not? If he isn’t interested you never have to see him again.”

  She had a point. That was the upside of being hundreds of miles from home.

  “Come on. Live a little. He’s gorgeous. You can’t give up this kind of chance.” She placed her empty beer bottle down on the table.

  “Only you can make talking to a guy sound like a monumental life event.”

  “Not a monumental event, but a fun one. Go ahead.”

  “Fine.” Normally I would have just stood there staring at the guy, but she was right. What’s the worst thing that could happen? I wouldn’t have to worry about running into him again or anything.

  I finished my beer and set it down before forcing myself to walk toward the three inhumanly attractive guys.

  I stopped right next to him. “Hi.”

  He didn’t say an
ything.

  I tried again. “Hi there.”

  He gave me a funny look. “Hi? Can I help you?”

  “Can I help you?” His friend with the black hair elbowed him. “Ignore his manners, he’s rusty.”

  “Oh.” Humiliation had taken on new meaning.

  “Shut up.” He glared at his friend before turning back to me. “Is there something I can do for you? Do we have a class together or something?”

  I wanted to run, but I forced myself to hold my place. “No. I was just saying hello.”

  “Ok, hello.” He just stared at me, and I was ready to be swallowed into the floor.

  His friend with brown hair shook his head before turning to me. “Sorry about him.”

  I couldn’t take a second more. I spun around and headed back to Reyna.

  “How’d it go?” she asked. She’d already returned to Chad’s side so I didn’t want to talk about it.

  “I’m not feeling great. Any chance you guys want to go home?”

  Chad put his hand around Reyna’s waist. “We can definitely head back.”

  I probably earned points from the guy, my request meant he’d get laid sooner. “Thanks.”

  “Should we wait for Shaun and the others?” Reyna asked. Shaun disappeared within twenty minutes of us arriving at the second bar. He’d run into some of his other friends.

  “Nah, he’ll probably stay out late, and I’m sure he can find another ride.” Chad started heading toward the entrance.

  I stared at the floor as we passed by those guys again, but I allowed myself one glance as we reached the stairs. They were still in the same place completely oblivious to my exit. Wow, talk about a strike out.

  Reyna noticed the direction of my glance and she leaned in to whisper, “Don’t worry about it. We all have those nights.”

  I smiled to make her drop the subject, but I was pretty sure Reyna had never been shot down by a guy like that before. At least I was able to leave.