Forever Altered

by D. J. Pierson

  Is she saying what I think she’s saying? “You’re letting me in?” She nods her head once. “You’re giving me a chance?” She nods again. The overwhelming happiness that fills my chest is too deep to describe. Alyssa wraps her arms around my neck and this time when I kiss her, she doesn’t pull away. Kissing her is like nothing I’ve ever experienced before, nor could I ever feel again if she left me. Pulling away from her and looking in her eyes, I say what she needs to hear, but she’ll only believe when she sees it. “Just so you know, I’m not going anywhere.” She starts to look away, but I don’t let her. “You’ll see.”

  “I guess we will.”

  “This totally beats watching a football game with a bunch of guys.” I cannot help the smile on my face. She goes into her room to wipe her face and I can see she’s laughing at me.

  “We’ll see if you are still saying that after dealing with me for a couple days.”

  I walk up behind her and wrap my arms around her waist, so her back is against my chest. My chin rests on the top of her head. “Alyssa, I’m going to be dealing with you for a whole lot longer than a couple days.” She puts her arms on top of mine. Eventually, we go out to the living room and sit on the couch. A new sense of calmness has come over me and there is nothing I want more than to have a normal night alone with her. “What do you watch on Monday night?”

  Alyssa yawns as she curls up next to me. “Nothing really. Put on whatever you want.” She hands me the remote, then grabs one of the pillows that are piled on the opposite end of the couch. She puts it on my lap and lays down. There is a blanket on the table next to me, so I tuck it around her.

  “You want me to head out so you can go to sleep?”

  She rolls her head slightly, so she can look up at me. “No. I want you to stay right here with me.”

  My arm automatically goes around her. “Good. I wasn’t planning on going anywhere.”

  Chapter Ten

  Alyssa

  The morning brings a new, beautiful day. The sun is shining so bright it’s filtering through the navy blue curtains Leah hung in our room. Neither one of us is a morning person. All of a sudden, I remember I didn’t fall asleep in my bed last night. How the hell did I get here? My mood darkens because the thought of what happened with Rocco only being a dream is completely devastating. When I glance over to my phone, there is a piece of white notebook paper underneath it. My mood instantly changes back. Across the front of it is “Sunshine” written in messy boy handwriting. It causes me to chuckle a little and even roll my eyes.

  Good Morning!

  I’m sorry I left without saying goodbye, but I didn’t want to wake you up. You looked so peaceful and I heard you haven’t been sleeping very well lately. It took everything I had to go to class this morning. If I didn’t have a test today, I’d still be there with you. Have a good morning. I’ll check in with you later. Thank you for letting me in. I promise you won’t regret it!

  OXOX

  R

  Did he stay with me all night? There’s no way he would have slept on the couch sitting up like he was. How the hell did I not hear all three of my roommates come in last night? The sound of Erin and Julia talking in the living room startles me. They never got up early. My phone says it’s almost eleven. Shit! How did I sleep so late? Even though there is still plenty of time before my class starts, I hate sleeping in. After sending a quick text to Rocco apologizing for falling asleep on him, I quickly make my bed then jump in the shower. When I get out, Leah is back from class and my friends are waiting for me in the living room. Leah even brought us lunch from our favorite salad place.

  “Please, come join us for lunch, Lyss,” Julia says patting the empty chair beside her. They are all impatiently waiting to hear what happened with Rocco last night. Why did I have to fall asleep before they got home? The smile on my face tells them all they need to know, but they want to hear me say it anyway.

  “Tell me right now. You can eat later. What did we miss last night?” Leah is the worst of all of them.

  “You missed a fire drill,” I say looking at the text Rocco sent while I was in the shower. Did you just wake up??? I text back telling him that I did and he should be paying attention in class, not texting me.

  “Get the hell off your phone and answer me. I know we didn’t only miss a fire drill.” Did I mention how impatient Leah was? Erin finds this comical.

  Looking over at the three of them, I shrug my shoulder and plop into the seat between Julia and Leah. “We decided to give it a try. We’ll see what happens. I’m not going to think too much about it. Just see how it goes. Another broken heart really isn’t something I need right now.”

  Erin passes over my salad. “And?”

  “And what?” I repeat taking it from her.

  “You were passed out on his lap when we all got back. He didn’t want to move because he was afraid he’d wake you up. Poor guy,” Erin says shoving food in her mouth.

  My phone chimes with another text from Rocco. Class isn’t nearly as important as talking to my girl! Leah takes the phone out of my hand. “He’s ridiculous.” She’s smiling and shows the other two before handing it back to me. Both of them declaring how adorable they think he is. I text him how I like the sound of that. “And ‘poor guy’ my ass. He couldn’t have been happier. Tyler and I woke him up when we came home around midnight. I told him I’d tell you where he went if he wanted to head out. He flat out refused. He didn’t even carry you to bed until this morning before he went back to his room to get ready for class. I told him to leave you there because you’d be up soon and how you’ve fallen asleep there plenty of times.” Another text comes through. He wants to stop by after his class. Can’t wait is what I send back. Leah shakes her head smiling. “I am so happy for you, Lyss. I really hope this works out for you. He really seems to care about you.”

  “Me too,” I say too excitedly. I really need to be careful about Rocco.

  “So…?” Julia asks. I look at her confused. “So, how was he in bed?” Erin chokes on the water she is taking a sip of and smacks Julia’s arm. “What? Oh, come on. You want to know, too. Damn, we’ve wanted to know this for a long time.”

  “I didn’t sleep with him. Not that it is any of your business!” I snap.

  “We’ll know soon enough,” she whispers to Erin like I’m not even in the room.

  Conversation now shifts from me to Leah’s upcoming Halloween party. It’s an annual event sponsored by the Education Department and Leah volunteered to take charge of it this year. I’m surprised she wasn’t demanding the position freshman year. She’s extraordinarily good at telling people how to do things her way. Of course now that she is running it, I don’t have a choice but to go. The last two years, for some reason, there was something going on at home that I had to get to. I despise dressing up for Halloween, but of course Leah is making me.

  “So, you girls are going to help me paint The Rock, right?” The Rock is a huge boulder on the lawn in front of the Hamilton Building. Clubs and organizations paint it to advertise for events or meetings they are having.

  “What? Don’t you have a committee to do that?” I loathe painting, too.

  “Yup. You guys.” Leah smiles. Bitch. “We have The Rock for two weeks, so we are doing it this Sunday. Hope you girls have painting clothes with you.”

  “Did you girls pick out your costumes yet? Julia and I are going as naughty school girls. You should join us,” Erin says winking at me.

  “No way!” I glare at Leah. She offered to get our costumes. Since I was so miserable over breaking up with Jeff when she asked me, I agreed because it would be one less thing for me to think about. She knows me well enough to know what type of costume to buy.

  “I know. I know.” Leah sighs holding her hands up in surrender. “We are going as butterflies. Purple for me and blue for Lyss, of course. I already ordered them and they should be coming in this week. I cannot wait to see them! Oh, remind me when we are out shopping on Saturday to lo
ok for shoes. I’m thinking we will need either white or silver.”

  “Really? Butterflies? How boring!” Julia announces. I’m not sure, but Leah may have winked at her. I should probably be concerned, but since I’m in such a good mood I’ll ignore it for now. “You should just ditch her, Leah. Join us and make the prude over there do her own thing. Maybe she can go as a nun or something like that.”

  “Watch it, bitch! I know where you sleep,” I warn her, but she just laughs. Leah and Erin are chuckling at our friendly bickering.

  “Jules, do you remember who is currently calling himself her boyfriend? Not to mention, she was single for about a month. Alyssa, just ignore her. She’s clearly just jealous.” Erin is always the peacekeeper.

  “Damn right I’m jealous.” I turn to look at her. “You know you are, too, Erin. You’ve seen that body she hides most of the time. If the male population here saw that, we’d have to put a revolving door in.”

  “Oh my God!” My face is probably so red.

  “Anyway, can we please get back to my party plans?” Leah interrupts laughing. “The food is being delivered around seven fifteen. There is no way I am using on-campus catering, so I hired a caterer on Main Street here in Madison.”

  “That was a good idea. Did you make sure to include that on the fliers you had had printed?” Erin asks her.

  “Of course.” Leah almost sounded insulted. “The Pub is providing and serving the alcohol. Don’t worry about not being twenty-one. I’ll take care of our drinks. The party is from eight to midnight. No one is using the room all day, so we can go in and decorate any time. I’m thinking maybe we should have everyone meet there around eleven. This way we have plenty of time to come back here to change into our costumes instead of over in the Student Center. Sound good? Am I forgetting anything?”

  “You will have more than the four of us to decorate, right?” I need to clarify.

  “Yes, smart-ass. The whole department will be there for that part. I even think some of the faculty will be stopping by to get it set up. I’m more concerned about the clean-up.”

  There’s a knock at the door and I jump up to get it, ignoring the remarks my friends are making behind my back. Opening the door and seeing Rocco standing there feels even better than when I saw the note on my dresser this morning. I greet him with a warm smile.

  “Hey,” he says giving me a kiss on the cheek as he walks by me.

  “Hi. How was class?” I ask letting the door close behind him.

  He sits in my seat at the table and holds his arm out for me to sit on his lap. “Boring as hell. It did brighten up a little once this girl started texting me.”

  “Haven’t you had enough of her on your lap in the last twelve hours?” Julia asks sarcastically.

  “Nope,” he replies as I sit on his lap and watch her roll her eyes.

  “Good thing I have a class to get to. I wouldn’t want to lose the lunch I just ate.” She gets up and goes into her room to get ready.

  “You have no room to talk, you slut,” Erin calls after her.

  Julia laughs from her room before responding. “Don’t I know it?” She can be pretty funny sometimes.

  “What’s up? What is all that crap?” Rocco is pointing to the pile of papers and folders Leah has for the party spread out in front of her.

  “Stuff for the Halloween party. You guys are coming, right? It’s for my department and I just happen to be in charge of the event this year. It’s going to be awesome.” Leah is practically leaping out of the chair with delight.

  “We went last year. It was a good time. I’m sure it will be even better this year.” He wraps his arm around my waist.

  “What will be even more fun than the party is helping to paint The Rock on Sunday.” I wink at him and he chuckles.

  “Let me guess. She volunteered you guys to paint it with her?”

  “Yup. Aren’t we the luckiest roommates in the whole entire building?” I tease and blow her a kiss.

  “Damn right you are. I will drag your asses there by your hair if I need to.” I don’t doubt her for one minute.

  “I’m just teasing you, Leah. You know damn well that I’ll do anything for you. Giving you a hard time is what I do.”

  “If you offer my roommates food when they are done, they will gladly help you. They only sit around on Sundays watching football,” Rocco tells her as he’s rubbing my back.

  “Done. Will you ask them for me?”

  “Absolutely. I’ll let you know later.”

  “Thank you so much!” He nods at her.

  Leah, Erin, and I clean up lunch before Rocco and I go into my room. He lays on my bed on his back, tucking his arms behind his head. I sit next to him pulling my legs up next to me. Leaning on him like this, I can feel how sculpted his abdomen is. Julia’s question about how he was in bed pops into my head and I instantly think how much I’d love to find out right now. Damn it. I have to think about something else, fast.

  “I’m sorry for falling asleep on you last night,” I tell him hoping my face isn’t turning color again.

  “Don’t be. It was one of the best nights of my life.” He’s so adorable when he grins like that. I really hope he cannot read my mind.

  “Seriously? Sleeping half sitting up on my couch was one of the best nights of your life?” I raise my eyebrows. There’s no way he can be telling me the truth.

  “Definitely. A night where you tell me you are giving me a chance to be with you, you sleep on my lap, and I carry you to your bed is without a doubt the best night ever.” My face is starting to hurt with all this smiling I’ve been doing. “I’m planning on taking a nap when you go to class, though.”

  “You sure this is what you want?” I’m serious now. “I hear that I tend to be a little high maintenance sometimes.”

  “Bring it on,” he says. I lay down on the pillow next to him and Rocco turns up on to his side, so he can face me. His puts his arm around me.

  Leah comes in and lays on her bed across from mine. “You two are so cute, I may actually throw up.”

  “After you get back from class, how about we go out to dinner?” Rocco asks me and I immediately start to shake my head no. He speaks again before I have a chance. “Why not?”

  “You were with me last night. Your friends are going to start hating me if I take you away from them. Don’t you always go out with them on Tuesday nights?”

  “There’s no way they would hate you for that. Actually, they may love you for that.”

  “Screw them,” Leah interjects. “Let your boyfriend take you out to dinner.”

  “I like your roommate,” he says.

  “Of course you do,” Leah has to add.

  “Seriously, though. Leah tell him you understand my point, too.”

  “I do, but if you guys are going to date, they will have to learn to share him, Alyssa.” She couldn’t just agree with me and shut the hell up?

  “Who invited you in here, anyway?” I toss one of my pillows over at her.

  “I don’t need an invitation, girlfriend. I live here, too!” She throws it back.

  “Okay. Fair enough. How about I take you out to dinner and then afterwards, since you have to go to bed before dark, I’ll meet them at the bar?”

  Leah’s laughs. “Bed before dark,” she repeats.

  I ignore her. “How can I say no to that face?”

  He leans over kissing me. “Perfect. I’m going to go take a nap then. Someone kept me up too late.” Jerk. “What time is your class over?” I tell him it’s over at five o’clock and he says he’ll pick me up a little after five. He says goodbye to Leah and heads back to his room.

  I roll over into the space Rocco just left and feel myself sigh as I stretch out.

  “What’s wrong?” Leah asks getting up and fixing her bed she just wrinkled.

  “I’m waiting for someone to tell me this is all a really bad joke. That he really has no interest in me.”

  She’s shaking her head at me. “Get up
. You have to get to class.”

  “Thanks, Mom,” I say getting out of my bed and doing the same exact thing Leah just did to hers. We really should seek the help of a professional.

  When I walk in to my Development of Theater class about twenty minutes later, the girl Rocco was talking to outside of Cell Bio yesterday comes up to me. I didn’t even know she was in this class. She has a look of disgust on her face. Did I do something to her? And what the heck was her name again?

  “Alyssa, right?” she asks.

  “Yeah,” I answer suspiciously and continue to walk by her to my seat on the far side of the room. She’s following me. Wonderful.

  “So, Rocco tells me that you and him are together now. Is that true?” She is playing with her hair the same way she was in front of Rocco yesterday. Does she even realize she does it?

  “Is there a reason you are asking me?” I’m snapping at her. Her attitude is very aggravating. I don’t even know this girl and she is standing here questioning me about my relationship.

  “Well, I just wanted to let you know, whatever his fascination is with you, it won’t last long. Rocco isn’t the one girl kind of guy. Some of us don’t mind that kind of thing, you know,” she informs me and flips her hair over her shoulder.

  “I’m not concerned,” I say ending the conversation and turn to get my binder and homework out of my bag. She walks over to her friend two rows over.

  “Seriously, Carrie. What the hell is wrong with you?” Carrie. That’s her name. She’s not happy with her friend’s reaction.

  “That girl needs to know her place. If Rocco is finally going to settle down with someone, you think it’s going to be with her?”

  “It’s none of your business what he does with anyone. What makes you think he’d pick you? Don’t forget, he’s never picked you.” I have no idea who this girl is, but I like her. She gets up and goes to sit in a different seat leaving Carrie alone. That may be someone I don’t actually mind getting to know.