by Ashley Blake
“I think you’re walking with the wrong girl, where is your girlfriend Jonathan?”
I cut my eyes sideways at him and saw him set his jaw, clearly annoyed at my question.
“It is late and you shouldn’t be out here by yourself.” His tone was terse as he ground out the words.
“I can take care of myself just fine Jonathan Hunter, I don’t need you to protect me.” I let out a loud huff and sped up, trying to get away from him.
His stride increased with mine keeping pace with me and I couldn’t shake him.
“I’m sure you can take care of yourself Skylar, but I am not going to let you walk back to the dorm alone at this hour, so just slow down and let me walk with you!”
I stopped in my tracks and turned to him, glaring into his eyes.
“I do not want to be around you, don’t you get it! Now go away and leave me alone!” I spun on my heel and stalked off but Jonathan caught up with me in two seconds and grabbed my arm spinning me around to face him.
“I am not going to leave you alone at this hour, that is not going to happen!” He let go of me and ran his hands through his hair in frustration, looking at me with almost desperate eyes. “I don’t know what it is about you, but I can’t leave you alone Sky, I just can’t.” He gathered me in his arms and his lips came crashing down on mine. My knees nearly betrayed me and I began to feel them buckle as I reveled in his kiss. My stomach did somersaults as I decided to follow my heart and not my head. His fingers laced through my hair holding my head so that he could devour me with kisses. His tongue slid over mine and he gently sucked on my bottom lip, teasing my lips with his tongue. I let out a soft moan as my arms crawled up around his neck, pulling him closer, feeling his arousal and pressing my body to his.
We stood there, under the bright lights, completely engulfed in each other when we heard footsteps in the distance. It snapped me back to reality and the realization of what had just happened began to sink in. For just a few minutes I forgot that Jonathan had a girlfriend and for just a few minutes I allowed myself to get lost in him. But then I remembered Barbi and her hanging all over him and him seeming to like it, and I wanted to kick myself for letting him kiss me again.
I pulled away from him and wiped my lips staring at him with a bit of remorse.
“We shouldn’t do that Jonathan, you have a girlfriend.”
“Sky, it is not what you think.”
“Look, I can’t deal with this right now, I’m tired. Let’s just get back to the dorm.” I started walking and he fell in step beside me.
“You have to let me explain.” His voice was intense but I didn’t want to hear any excuses, at least not right then. I was mad at myself for what I had just allowed to happen, but I did want to hear what he had to say for himself eventually. I was so hoping that he wasn’t the cheater that he appeared to be, but I would have to hear him out later. I was thoroughly exhausted.
We walked up to the door of our dorm and he slid his card to buzz us in. As we started to walk toward my room I stopped and turned to him.
“You don’t have to walk me all the way, I’ll be fine from here.” He started to protest but I held up my hand. “Look Jonathan, I’ll listen to what you have to say tomorrow, okay? I’m just really tired right now.”
He reluctantly agreed and I thanked him for walking me back. My growing feelings for him were starting to mess with my head.
Before I could stop him, he leaned down and kissed my cheek, his scruff gently scratching me. “I’ll see you at our meeting tomorrow at 4:00. Sleep well.”
I walked off to my room, trying really hard not float on that cloud that was under my feet. The whole thing would be so much easier if he wasn’t so damned gorgeous and irresistible. I thought about his kisses as I got ready for bed and crashed.
Chapter Six
I don’t think I comprehended one thing that was covered in all of my classes the next day because all I could think about was my 4:00 meeting with Jonathan and what he had said to me the night before. His words ‘It’s not what you think’ kept playing over and over in my mind. If it wasn’t what I thought, then what was it? It was so obvious that Barbi was into him and he seemed to like the attention from her, so what was I missing?
I bolted out of my last class when it was over and I rushed back to my room to wash my face and freshen my makeup. Even though I knew I shouldn’t, I wanted to look nice for him. Maybe I had completely misunderstood the whole Barbi thing, I mean he did kiss me again and he said he couldn’t stay away from me. I bounded off to meet him and I allowed myself to feel hopeful about where things could go with us.
As I rounded the corner into the lobby Jonathan was standing in front of the room where we were supposed to be meeting but his back was to me, and it looked like he was talking to someone. As I got closer, I saw the boobs before I saw anything else and my stomach dropped into my toes. It’s not what I think, huh? Barbi was standing about six inches from Jonathan apparently talking so low that he had to lean down to hear her. He had a huge smile on his face and once again he looked perfectly happy to be around her. To anyone who didn’t know them, they looked like they were a couple.
I walked right past both of them without saying a word and went into the room and sat and waited for Jonathan. Since this was a requirement I was going to keep the conversation strictly about school, I wasn’t going to give him any opportunity to make it about anything else. He was trying to play me and I was not one to be played. I needed to get him out of my life before I was in too deep.
Not even five seconds later he was right behind me and he closed the door behind him before sitting at the desk. He sat there for a minute, his eyes perusing all of me and then they settled in mine.
“It’s good to see you Sky.”
I returned his gaze with a cool stare. “What’s the first question you have for me?”
He seemed taken aback by my cold demeanor and I think he could tell that I was not in the mood to play nice and he didn’t push me. He shifted in his chair, glanced down at his notepad and then looked back at me, his eyes betraying what he was feeling. There was a longing there that I did not need to see. It made it much harder to stay mad at him. But all I had to do was remember the scene with Barbi I had walked up to a few minutes earlier, and the angry feelings came back. Why did she have to wear such slutty clothes all the time? It was so trashy to have your tits out all over the place. Focus Sky, Jonathan is talking to you.
“Well?” He sat there waiting for my answer.
“I’m sorry, what did you ask?”
“What three things do you hope to achieve this year?”
“Oh, right. Well, I want to prove to Mr. Cohen that I am a viable candidate for his internship program next year, I want to get straight A’s in all of my classes and I want to have a good year.”
“A good year? What do you mean?”
I gave him a hard look and tried really hard not to narrow my eyes at him. “I mean that I don’t want to have to deal with any bullshit this year. I want the people that I meet this year to show me their true colors from the beginning so that I don’t have to question their motives. I don’t need any distractions while I am trying to focus on school.”
A loud, heavy sigh escaped his lips. “Skylar, if you’re referring to me I have been nothing but honest with you.”
He looked at me and I could see that he was exasperated but in that moment I didn’t care, I knew what I saw when I walked in here and what I had seen too many times in the past week. I pushed my seat back and stood up and looked down at him, annoyance written all over my face.
“Are we done here?”
“Sky, come on, don’t be like this.”
“I’ll take that as a yes.” I grabbed my bag, walked out and it took everything in me not to slam the door.
As I walked back to my room, Barbi was sitting in our lobby and she gave me a sly smirk as I strode past her. I wanted to knock that smirk right off of her plastic face, but I just loo
ked right through her and kept walking.
***
I buried myself in books for the next few weeks and I was able to avoid Jonathan for a long time. I would occasionally see him leaving the library around the same time he had run into me that one night that he kissed me, and I always waited until he was well out of sight before I left. Thankfully, our library was huge so I was able to barricade myself in a back corner on the seventh floor and none of my friends, including Jonathan, had discovered my special spot.
It was Wednesday night and I was super excited because parents’ weekend started Friday and my parents were coming the next night. I wasn’t as homesick as I thought I would be but I couldn’t wait to see them. It was almost midnight and I had just finished up another long night in the library, and I was smiling to myself thinking about seeing my parents as I waited for the elevator. The doors opened and my smile immediately went cold as my eyes fell upon Jonathan’s gorgeous face. I could see his eyes brighten when he saw me and he was the last person I needed to see. No, no, no! I wanted to turn and bolt but that would have made me look like a coward, I was mature enough to deal with this. I pushed my shoulders back and stepped into the elevator, careful to stand as far away from him as possible. I stood looking straight ahead and did not speak.
I could feel Jonathan looking at me. “Hi Skylar.” If only that voice didn’t sound so sexy.
My belly flipped and it took everything in me not to turn around and throw my arms around him.
“Hello.” My response was curt as I kept my eyes focused on the door in front of me. The elevator seemed to take an eternity to get to the first floor. C’mon elevator, hurry up!
“Are your parents coming this weekend?” He sounded genuinely curious.
“Yes.” My response was once again curt, and I didn’t try to have a conversation with him. The silence was deafening and I had to be on the slowest elevator in history.
“Mine are too.” I could hear sadness in his voice.
I didn’t respond, I just wanted to get out of there.
“Sky, am I so repulsive that you can’t even look at me?”
Hearing him sound like that made me feel awful and I almost dropped my guard, and then the elevator opened.
“There you are!” Boobs McGee was standing there in a black, tight midriff top and even tighter jeans, blonde extensions draped over one shoulder.
Really? I have to see this right now? I gave her a withering look as I stepped off of the elevator and quickly walked out of the library without answering Jonathan’s question and without looking back.
As I climbed into bed a few minutes later, I thought about the elevator and my mind wandered to the look on his face when the elevator opened and he saw me. Why was he looking at me like that if he was taken? There was no way he could try to tell me that girl was not his girlfriend, she was waiting for him at midnight and he didn’t seem at all surprised! Ugh! Jonathan Hunter get out of my head! I stared up at the ceiling in the darkness as thoughts of his soft lips on mine flooded my brain. I wanted so badly to kiss him again and I wished that I didn’t. I was trying my best to stay away from, but how long could I do that before my heart took over? He has a girlfriend, he has a girlfriend, he has a girlfriend. But did he really? I drifted off to sleep dreaming of Jonathan’s kisses.
Chapter Seven
The next morning I woke up and lay in bed for a few minutes, thinking about my run in with Jonathan and Barbi. Frustrated, I shoved the covers off of me and hopped out of bed. Katie had an 8:00 class that morning so she was already gone. As I reached to open the door to go take a shower down the hall, I noticed an envelope with my name on which had been slipped under our door. I picked it up and closed my door so that I could read it.
Skylar,
I need to talk to you. Meet me in the student union at noon.
Jonathan
I stood there not knowing how to react. On one hand I was super excited that Jonathan wanted to see me, and on the other hand I was confused because if he did have a girlfriend he was being pretty obvious about trying to cheat on her. Did he think he was so incredible that he could get away with doing whatever he wanted? Did he think he could have any girl he wanted at the snap of his finger? His arrogance was starting to piss me off and I could feel the anger boiling up inside of me. He thinks he can just summon me like that? My initial reaction was to just blow him off but I was curious to find out what he had to say for himself. I needed to hear from him why he was pursuing me if he was linked to someone else. I stomped off to the shower and mulled over what to do.
As I was drying my hair, I decided that I would go meet Jonathan, but I was going to go at 12:30 just to see if he would wait for me. If he was sincere, he would be there. I trotted off to class, trying to suppress the nervous butterflies that were building in my belly. When my class was over at 11:50, I took my time making my way over to the student union. I stopped by the library and checked out a couple of books that I needed and I dropped them off in my room. Katie was studying at her desk when I walked in.
“Hey, what are you up to Sky?”
“Jonathan wants me to meet him over at the student union.”
“Really? He’s got a lot of nerve. I see him with Barbi all the time, she’s always hanging all over him. Did he say what he wanted?” Katie didn’t like Jonathan anymore because she thought he was a player.
“No, just that he needed to talk to me.”
She rolled her eyes. “His problem is that he likes you but he’s not single. He needs to make a decision. Either break up with Barbi so that he can be with you, or just leave you alone.”
“I don’t know what his deal is Katie, but it’s driving me nuts. I’m going to go see what he wants, I’ll keep you posted.”
When I walked into the student union it was a little bit after 12:30 and, even though I was late, as I looked around the room I had a sinking feeling because I didn’t see Jonathan anywhere. If he had really wanted to see me he would have waited for me. Just as I turned to leave, Jonathan was right there.
“Fashionably late, huh?” I started to smile at him because I wanted so badly for things to be okay with us but I didn’t want to be a part of his game, so I quickly pursed my lips at him. Why does he have to be so good-looking?
“Did you just get here Jonathan?” I didn’t even try to pretend that I wasn’t annoyed.
“No, I have been waiting here for you since 11:55, I must have been in the bathroom when you walked in. I thought you weren’t coming.” His gaze held mine and I could see a longing in his eyes. “I’m glad you did, thanks for meeting me Sky.”
“I don’t have very long. My parents will be here at 3:30 and I haven’t had lunch yet.”
“Do you want to go grab a bite to eat? I haven’t had lunch yet either.” He looked hopeful and I instantly put the kibosh on that.
“No, Jonathan, I don’t want to go get something to eat with you. What did you want to talk to me about?” I tapped my foot impatiently, waiting for his answer.
He looked uncomfortable as he glanced down at my tapping foot. “Can we please go sit, just for a few minutes? I promise I will be quick.”
I let out a huff and turned toward the crowded room looking for a table. “Fine. How about there?” I pointed to a table a couple of feet away from us.
Jonathan shook his head. “No, there.” He gestured to a secluded corner of the room that had an empty small table.
We walked over and I sat down and crossed my arms waiting for him to speak.
“Sky, you have totally misunderstood what is going on. Barbi is not my girlfriend. I promise you I am not lying about that.”
I studied him trying to see if I could tell if he was telling the truth. He didn’t squirm or look uncomfortable under my stare so maybe he actually was telling the truth.
“It certainly looks like it. Every time I see you she’s hanging all over you, and you don’t seem to mind. So what am I supposed to think?”
He started to speak
but my ringing phone interrupted us. It was my mom and I immediately answered because I thought something must have happened since they were supposed to be in the air. She shouldn’t have been calling me.
“Hi mom, is something wrong? Did you guys miss your flight?”
“Oh honey everything is fine and our flight was fine. We’re here at the hotel, did you have lunch yet?”
“You’re here right now? But you guys aren’t supposed to land until 3:30.”
“Oh no, did I say we would be there at 3:30? I was confusing our trip to see you with our trip to see your brother. We landed a little after 10:30. I’m sorry about that Sky. Do you have any more classes today?”
