by Nella Tyler
She looked up at me and I realized we were both swaying a little on our feet as we stood next to the rollercoaster ride. Instead of waiting for her to tell me I could kiss her, I leaned in and just barely brushed my lips against hers.
Nicole started against me, but a moment later she reached up, draping her arms around my shoulders. I deepened the kiss slowly, sliding my tongue against her lips, and Nicole opened her mouth without even a second’s hesitation. My heart started pounding for reasons that had nothing to do with the rollercoaster.
After a few minutes—I had no idea how many—I finally pulled back. “I don’t think anything else here can possibly top that,” I told Nicole, looking down into her face. She smiled slowly, her cheeks flushing pink.
“I think you’re right,” she said, her hands tightening on my shoulders. “Should we head back to the dorms?” I licked my lips; I could taste the cotton candy that Nicole had eaten just before we’d gotten onto the rollercoaster.
“I don’t want the night to be over yet,” I said quickly. “Maybe we could relax and watch a movie or something back at the dorm?” Nicole’s eyes narrowed, losing some of the dreamy quality they’d had when I first pulled out of the kiss, but when I started to think I’d overstepped my boundaries, she nodded.
“As long as you really mean it about watching a movie,” she said, raising one of her dark eyebrows.
“I won’t push you to do anything you don’t want to do,” I said. I brought my hand up and drew an X over my chest. “Cross my heart.”
“Okay then,” Nicole said. She licked her lips and smiled, her blush deepening. “Let’s go.”
Chapter Five
When Ty let me into the building, holding the door open for me, I started to ask myself if I had made the right decision. I believed him when he had said that he wouldn’t push me to do anything I didn’t want to do; but I knew too many girls in my classes had gone up to guys’ rooms to watch a movie or to study and had to run out when the guy started to get more and more aggressive.
Stop being paranoid. He’s been really nice all night. Give him a chance. If he screws it up now then you’re only one building away from your own dorm. Ty took my hand in his. “Do you want to take the elevator?” he asked me, pausing in front of it. “I’m on the third floor.”
“I really prefer the stairs,” I admitted, looking up at him. “The elevators in these buildings kind of scare me.”
“More than the rollercoaster?” Ty smiled, but I could tell he wasn’t trying to make fun of me.
“Oh totally,” I said, nodding quickly. “At least if you get thrown off the rollercoaster, you’re probably going to die instantly. If you get stuck in the elevator you’re sitting in there for hours and hours.” Ty chuckled and started walking down the hall toward the stairwell.
“You know, that actually makes a lot of sense,” he said. He pushed the bar on the door and held it open for me, letting go of my hand. “I got stuck in the elevator in Birch my sophomore year.”
“Oh god—that’s my nightmare,” I told him, shaking my head and shivering. “If I ever have to take the elevator down and I’m on my way to class, I’m convinced I’m going to get stuck in there, and spend like—the entire day stuck, and miss all my classes.”
I started climbing the stairs and Ty followed behind me; I tried not to think that he was going to be getting a great view up the back of my skirt, but I couldn’t help the suspicion. I glanced over my shoulder and realized that Ty was following too close behind me to actually look up my skirt—or even at my ass. Something about that made me even happier that I’d agreed to go up to Ty’s room with him.
Ty opened the door for me again at the third floor and I followed him to his dorm room. Like all the dorms at West Central, Ty’s room had two “bedrooms” and a common area, with the bathroom split so that there was a shower and a sink on one end and a toilet and a sink on the other end of the room.
Ty and his roommate had covered their common area walls with posters, and somehow moved out the tiny TV that came with all the rooms in favor of a bigger flat screen TV, hooked up to an Xbox.
“The couch is clean, I promise,” Ty said, turning the electronics on. I sat down, laughing.
“I didn’t actually think that it might not be until you said that,” I told him. Tyler shrugged.
“Guys are all pretty much slobs,” he pointed out. “I just wanted to make sure you knew that I had cleaned up the place for you a bit—not because I expected you to come over, but I hoped. And I thought that it would be better to clean up and not have you come over than to not clean and have to deal with the shame.”
The Xbox booted up and Ty sat down next to me on the couch, picking up one of the controllers.
“What do you want to watch?” I bit my bottom lip and tried to think of what the “right” answer would be while he logged into Netflix.
“Something funny,” I said, shrugging. “Something easy.” Ty nodded and flipped through the comedy section, frowning in thought.
“How about The Addams Family?” I grinned.
“That’s definitely funny and definitely easy. Sold!” Ty started it and we settled in together on the couch.
My heart was beating fast in my chest as Ty turned the lights down; I twitched a little bit when he put his arm around me to pull me closer, but he didn’t try to grope me or cop a feel. I took a quick, deep breath, and after a few moments I was comfortable enough to cuddle up to him, kicking my boots off to bring my feet up onto the couch and tuck them under my legs.
After a while, I was completely at ease; Ty’s body was warm against mine, his fingertips slid up and down along my arm in a kind of constant caress that didn’t make me think he was about to try and put the moves on me.
“Is it weird that I kind of wish I had a relationship like Gomez and Morticia?” Ty snickered.
“Who wouldn’t?” he gestured with his other hand to the TV. “I mean, they’re madly in love with each other. And apparently neither of them can actually die. That’s a solid life goal.” I giggled.
“The living forever part is kind of out of reach,” I said, looking away from the TV to glance up at Ty’s face. “But the madly in love thing is great.”
I licked my lips. In spite of how nervous I’d been, I couldn’t help but remember the kiss that Ty and I had had at the fair; I definitely wanted to try it again, and as soon as possible. I shifted against him, trying to think of how to signal that I wanted him to kiss me without being too obvious about it. Ty’s hand slid up along my arm to my shoulder and tightened, and I looked up to see him looking down at me.
“If I’m being too pushy…” I shook my head and turned around to face Ty completely. I licked my lips and brought my face up to his, and hesitated for just a moment; Ty took advantage of my pause and pulled me closer, wrapping his arms around my waist as his lips connected with mine. I shivered, closing my eyes, and kissed back, pressing my body against Ty’s.
Even the idea of the movie went away completely as Ty and I began to kiss each other more and more passionately—I couldn’t have kept track of what was happening on the TV even if I had wanted to. Ty’s tongue slid along my lips and I opened my mouth, shivering as my body started to heat up little by little.
Ty’s hands started to move along my curves, caressing me slowly. I let my hands start to wander, nervous but turned on at the same time, my whole body tingling. I moaned against Ty’s lips as he barely brushed against my breasts with his hands and then retreated, tickling my ribs on his way down to my hips. I writhed against Ty, trembling as his kiss deepened and our touches started to get hotter.
Ty groaned and I could feel the hard ridge of his erection straining at the front of his jeans pressing up against me. I could feel myself starting to get wet, my whole body on fire as Ty somehow slid us both down onto the couch, cradling my body against his, holding me close even as he explored my body with his hands. He broke away from my lips and kissed along the column of my throat, nibbling at
the spot where my pulse fluttered and licking just underneath it.
I whimpered as Ty’s hand moved down to the hem of my dress, his fingertips brushing along my thighs. Part of me wanted him to keep going; part of me wanted to tell him to take me then and there. But the thought of giving into it right away made something inside me go cold and tight. Don’t go too fast; you went too fast with Dillon and look where that landed you. Ty brought his lips back up to mine and kissed me hungrily, and I waited to see if he would make a heavier move, if he would try to start taking my clothes off.
His hand slowly worked its way up along the outside of my thigh, almost tickling me, his fingertips cold against my hot skin, and I thought to myself that Ty was obviously different from Dillon—but I still couldn’t let myself go through with it. I wanted to wait—I wanted to be sure of who Ty was before I had sex with him.
I broke away from the kiss, panting for breath, and every nerve in my body screamed that I was making a huge mistake, stopping the make out session. “Can—can we stop?” I looked up into Ty’s eyes. For a second they looked almost drugged; but he nodded, taking a quick, deep breath. His hand slid out from underneath my dress and he hugged me tightly for just a moment.
“I never want you to feel uncomfortable or pressured,” he told me gently. “Any time you want me to stop, just say the word.”
I smiled, feeling the tingle work through my body—it almost made me want to tell him I’d reconsidered, that he could do whatever he wanted to me. But instead I just kissed him once—quickly—on the lips.
The feeling of his mouth against mine was almost enough to make me start the make out session again; but then I heard keys clattering against the door to the room and I sat up just in time to see Ty’s roommate walk into the room.
“Hi,” I said nervously, feeling my cheeks burn with a blush. Ty grinned, giving my hand a quick squeeze.
“Welcome back, Andy,” Ty said, barely looking over his shoulder at his roommate. “This is Nicole.”
“Hey, Nicole,” Andy said, giving me a quick wave. He was maybe a few inches taller than me, with sandy brown hair and blue eyes, and something about him made me sure that he was studying computer programming or something like that, in spite of the fact that he was wearing a pair of jeans and a t-shirt like just about everyone else on campus always did.
“I’ll give you guys some privacy.” I giggled and looked at Ty. I knew if I stayed much longer, we’d start kissing again, and if we started kissing again, I wouldn’t be able to resist the temptation of doing more.
“Actually,” I said, slithering free of Ty’s arms and grabbing my shoes and purse. “I should probably head back to my dorm. I’m sure Ash is worried about me—she thinks I’m the kind of gullible fool who’d go on a date with an axe murderer.” I looked at Ty and smiled, even as my cheeks burned with a blush. “I’ll talk to you later, I guess.”
“I hope you will,” Ty said, grinning up at me. I hurried out of the room, unable to fight back the big grin that seemed to be permanently frozen on my face. I felt giddy, lighter than air. I thought that when I got back to my room and went to bed, I might actually glow in the dark. I couldn’t wait to see Ty again.
Chapter Six
The day after my first date with Nicole—the morning after—I made a point of texting her right away. I’d been thinking about her all night; from the moment she left my dorm room, I had been on fire for her. I didn’t even mind that she had left me rock-hard and almost ready to beg for her to touch me—it made me want her more. As soon as I got up, I took my phone off of the charger and found her number in my contacts list.
Hey…I hope you had a good night’s sleep, I wrote. I tapped send and made myself put the phone down. I went into the shower half of the bathroom and brushed my teeth, trying to resist the urge to check my phone until I was done.
When I went back into my room, I saw that my patience was rewarded; Nicole had responded. I had to take a cold shower, and then a hot shower because I was freezing. I chuckled to myself even though the thought of Nicole in the shower, naked with the water pouring down on her was enough to almost make me hard again all on its own.
Do you want to grab lunch? It’s too late for me to get breakfast. I started changing into jeans and a t-shirt, thinking about everything I had to do that day. I had a big test on Monday that I needed to be ready for; I wanted to spend as much time with Nicole as possible, but I had to stay focused. I figured that lunch would be okay—and if Nicole was trying to decide whether or not she wanted to go on another date with me, it couldn’t hurt to see her again.
Sure thing! I missed out on breakfast too. I missed my alarm. My heart skipped a beat in my chest and I grinned to myself.
“Hey, Andy!” I heard my roommate’s door open in response to my shout.
“What’s up?”
“Want to go to lunch? I’m going down there with Nicole.” There was a moment of silence.
“Yeah, sure,” Andy called back the next moment. I heard him go back into his room and gathered up my keys, my wallet with my ID in it. I checked the time; I would need to head back up and start studying as soon as I could, but I thought I could spare at least about an hour. And hadn’t Alex been on me about finding a girl that would inspire me to do something other than studying all the time? I was just following his advice.
Andy and I headed down and out of the building, and I walked across the courtyard to the next building down, the one that Nicole’s dorm was in. After a few minutes, she appeared at the entrance with her roommate Ashley at her side, and I thanked god that I’d gotten Andy to come with me.
“Hey, Ashley—this is my roommate, Andy,” I said to the other girl, pointing to Andy.
“Hi, Andy,” Ashley said, smiling at him. Nicole met my gaze and we both grinned at each other: it was kind of perfect in a way.
“I, for one, am starving,” I said. “Let’s get across campus before I pass out from hunger.” Ashley and Andy fell into step together and I took advantage of the moment to put my arm around Nicole.
“Anyone looking at us would think this was a double date,” Nicole said, glancing up at me as we walked across campus together.
“It kind of is,” I pointed out. “Is Ashley single?”
“I think so,” Nicole replied, frowning in thought. “I’m not 100% on it though. She keeps things from me.”
“Terrible habit for a roommate,” I said, shaking my head. “Andy just got out of a relationship like…the month before the semester started. So if Ashley is single, it would be kind of perfect.”
“Oh god, think of how cheesy it would sound, though,” Nicole said, shaking her head and grinning. “Though that’s reason enough to try and set them up.”
“Let’s see how they do over lunch,” I suggested.
We’d gotten to the dining hall right at the beginning of lunch; since it was the weekend, there weren’t very many people waiting in line. Ashley and Andy seemed to be hitting it off pretty well, from what I could see while we took our turns scanning our ID cards. The food wasn’t half bad—or maybe I was feeling more optimistic about it than usual, with Nicole at my side.
We wandered around the serving area, looking at all the options, and both of us settled on a hamburger and fries. I grabbed a salad to go with mine, and Nicole got soup and some of the steamed vegetables. Ashley and Andy caught up to us when we got to the drinks station, still talking about some TV show they both were into.
“I’m just saying the earlier seasons were better,” Ashley told Andy, grabbing a cup and putting it under the tap for the Dr. Pepper. “I feel like they’re not even trying to keep it in the story anymore.”
“Well it’s been around for ten seasons,” Andy countered. “Things start to go kind of crazy when you’ve already covered all the normal stuff.”
“What are they talking about?” I looked at Nicole. She snorted.
“I guarantee you it’s probably Bones,” she said, sighing. “Ashley’s obsessed with it.”<
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“It’s a good show!” I shook my head and we all went into the dining room with our trays, looking around for a table. Since it wasn’t that busy, in a matter of a few seconds we were all making a beeline for one of the smaller tables next to the windows. I sat down across from Nicole, and Andy sat across from Ashley.
“Can we talk about something else?” I looked at the other couple at the table. “I have no idea what either of you are talking about.”
“What are you up to this weekend?” I shrugged in response to Nicole’s question.
“Mostly studying,” I told her. “I’ve got a huge test on Monday to look forward to. You?”
“The same,” Nicole said grimly. “On the plus side, since I am no closer to understanding the chapter in Psych than I was before Game Night happened, Ashley has to help me with it.” We started comparing classes, talking about professors and the different TAs everyone was stuck with.
“Man—if you’ve got Peters, then you need to absolutely make it to every class,” Andy told Nicole. “She cares more about attendance and trying than about the actual work you put out, so as long as you at least make an effort you should get through it okay.”
“I swear,” Nicole said, shaking her head. “I feel like I’m absolutely hopeless some days. Everyone else has their majors all picked out and I still have no idea what I want to do.”
“That’s not a big deal,” I told Nicole. “Andy didn’t settle on his major until last year. He bounced from Physics to pre-med before finally deciding that he was going to study up on computer programming and launch his own app company when he graduates.”
“I keep telling her,” Ashley said, pushing her plate aside as she finished her tuna melt, “that she just has to figure out what gets her excited, and then she’ll know what she wants to major in.”
“That would help if I didn’t feel like I was probably going to fail all of my classes except for Introduction to Academic Life,” Nicole said, rolling her eyes. “And even then I’m not sure I’ll do better than a C.”
