“Scared, Lucy?” Colin whispered into my ear.
“I don’t get scared. I just didn’t want you to have to endure a second loss. But hey, if you don’t mind humiliation, I have no problem serving it to you.”
“That sounds like a challenge. Did that sound like a challenge, Drew?”
“Care to make it interesting?” Drew added.
“What do you have in mind?” I’m sure they thought we were falling right into their trap.
Colin spoke up first. “If you girls win, we will take you ladies to dinner.”
“I don’t know. That sounds kind of like a treat for you.” I teased him.
“But we’re not talking any dinner. We’re talking tacos...with all the nacho chips and salsa you can eat.” Colin wagged his eyebrows, as if there was no way we wouldn’t be impressed.
“Really? Free chips and salsa? Well that makes it worth it right there.” I playfully shoved him.
“Fine. What about if you win?” Liz liked getting down to the nitty gritty.
“If we win, you buy us dinner.”
“Oh, I see. So either way, you guys get to go to dinner with us.” Liz looked at me and we both shook our heads. Smooth guys.
“But we want steak.” Drew added.
“You get steak, but we get tacos? I don’t think so. You can have hamburgers. And of course, because we are kind, we will let you have all the dinner rolls you want.”
“Well if you’re going to be cheap about it.” Colin conceded, and racked the balls.
As expected, Colin got significantly better with the second game, and since I only hit one ball in my first turn, they were already discussing what we were going to buy them.
“So, Lucy what’s your major?” Colin asked while leaning in close to me. He did it under the guise of hearing each other better, but I noticed that throughout the night he kept making small gestures that ended up with him touching me or being near me in some way. Not that I minded.
“I am going to school to be a journalist. I am hoping to be one of the little guys for the news. You know, the one who does the grunt work that you don’t see? Fingers crossed that will be me.”
“I better get my autograph now.” Colin nudged me.
“Oh, my turn,” I realized, when both Liz and Drew looked at me in anticipation.
“So, it looks like there are a lot more solids on the table than stripes.” I leaned toward Drew like he had been doing to me.
“Looks that way.” Colin answered.
“And the girls are solids, right?” I asked analyzing the table as best I could.
“Yep.”
“Then I need some skills pretty quickly. Maybe you could help me?
“Sure. I could teach you.” Colin smiled.
“Okay. I’ll go, and you tell me what I’m doing wrong.”
A small smile spread across Colin’s face. “I would love to help you with your form.”
I glanced at Liz, who nodded once. After lining up my shot, I hit most of the remaining balls in. Turning to Colin I murmured, “How was that?” before returning to the game.
Two more shots and the game was over.
“Did she just hustle our hustle?” Drew asked, while Liz and I high fived.
“Just so you know, your hustle sucked.” Liz said. “You guys need better game.” As soon as the words left her mouth, Drew came up behind her and pinched her side.
“Hey! Are you guys really that upset because you have to buy us tacos? Just for that we want margaritas too.”
“Top shelf too. None of that Cuervo nonsense.” I added.
“Keep it up, ladies. We may just take you to Taco Bell.” Drew tried to look menacing, which just made us laugh.
After the game, we called it quits to hang out with Annie and the soccer guys. After a few rounds of quarters, Liz took Drew to her room to “show him her art.” He must have been quite the art connoisseur, judging by the length of time it took him to check it out.
Eventually, Colin and I ended up outside on my mom’s old porch swing, looking up at the stars. As the evening wore down, the Indian summer temperatures dropped, and it started to feel more like October. When I wrapped my arms around myself to warm up, Colin put his hands on my shoulders, and rubbed my arms. Once he felt I was sufficiently warm, he pulled me against him.
He held me like that for a long time. We talked about life and tried to find constellations. And when we realized we had no idea where most of the constellations were, we made them up.
All of that ended up a vague memory. The only part I remember in detail was when, after the tap had run dry and most everyone was gone, Colin made a joke about how I had yet to fully experience his awesomeness. I laughed, and told him that I would believe it when I saw it. His smile remained, but he raised his eyebrows, letting me know that he accepted my challenge.
The song 'Pull Me Down' had just started to play. He tilted my chin, and leaned in so close I could almost feel his lips against mine. Instead of kissing my lips, he lightly kissed the corner of my mouth. He followed that kiss with one to my cheek and my jawline, before grazing my neck with his teeth. He kissed my neck; lightly touching it with his tongue, then slowly worked his way back towards my mouth.
Somewhere along the way, the night air had lost its chill. I licked my lips briefly, not taking my eyes off of Colin.
Gently placing his hand on the nape of my neck, Colin guided my lips close to his, then stopped and smiled. He knew what he was doing to me. I tried unsuccessfully to look unaffected, but we both knew that I was no longer the one doing the teasing.
Finally he pulled me in and kissed me, slowly at first then with increasing intensity.
Everything seemed to stop in that moment. I was only aware Colin.
My mind wandered to the Colin I met yesterday. He had been apologetic. Sweet yet tentative. Charming, yet worried about me.
That Colin wasn't kissing me.
The lips that kissed me belonged to a man who held no hesitation. Every brush of his hands as they drifted from my hair, to my neck and down my sides to my waist was deliberate. Every touch of his lips guided me with assurance. He only stopped long enough to grab my hand and haul me to his lap, where he immediately returned to assaulting my senses.
I committed every bite of my lip, graze of his hands, whisper in my ear and taste of his lips to memory.
We kissed like that until we were so tired we stumbled inside and fell asleep on my couch.
I hated to admit it, but he was right. I hadn’t fully experienced his awesomeness before that moment.
That night I knew.
Chapter Six
The We’ll Always Have Tacos Mix
Why is my whole right side asleep?
I woke up feeling disoriented. I was on my right side, with my right arm stuck underneath me and my left leg bent forward. I tried to turn over, only to come close to falling off the couch. The only thing keeping me from landing on the floor was Colin, his arm wound loosely around my waist.
I turned my head toward him as best I could. He was still sleeping. I slowly pulled away so that I could get up and shake my arm loose. It was starting to get its feeling back, which hurt like hell.
I snuck upstairs and ran into Drew, who was presumably doing the walk of shame through my hallway.
"Hey, Drew." I drawled playfully.
"Hey, Lucy. How was Colin last night?" He teased back.
"He didn’t do anything but sleep, so probably well-rested. How about you?"
"Who needs sleep?” his smile made me laugh.
I shook my head as I walked past him to shower and change.
By the time I got downstairs, everyone was sitting in the family room, eating bowls of cereal and drinking coffee. Liz was sitting on the floor in front of Drew, resting her back against his chair. They looked cozy.
Annie stayed with James at his house, so it was just the four of us.
As soon as Colin saw me, he smiled widely. “Hey there. Hope you don’t mind,
I’m eating your Frosted Flakes.” He pulled the pillow off of the couch so that I could sit beside him.
“Sure. Help yourself.” When I sat down he handed me a mug.
“Thanks.” I smiled at his thoughtfulness.
“Sure. Anytime you want me to steal your coffee then offer you a cup, let me know. Liz told me that you take it black.”
We all relaxed in silence, still tired from the day before. After breakfast, the guys helped us clean up from the party, then got ready to leave. On the way out, Drew whispered something to Liz that made her laugh then planted a wet kiss on her lips.
Colin grabbed my hand, pulling me into the room where we kept the pool table. “Thanks for letting me crash your party.” He pulled me to him so that he could kiss my neck, finishing with a kiss on the lips.
“There was a party here?” I laughed then returned the kiss.
Just before the kiss became intense Colin pulled back. “I keep forgetting. I need your phone number.” he handed me his phone so that I could type it in.
“Thank God you remembered,” I laughed, relieved that I finally had a way to communicate with him.
As soon as I handed him his phone, he texted me. “Now you have my phone number too.” He waited for me to add it to my contacts then grabbed my hand. “So... do you think I could take you out sometime? I mean we already have the tacos, but if you want to do something a little more...like a date?”
I smiled at his uncertainty. I liked both Colins, but while the Colin that kissed me made my knees buckle, this Colin made me smile.
“Sounds great. For both. With and without tacos.” I answered quickly, happy to have the pressure taken off to come up with an excuse to see him again.
“Okay then. I need to think up the perfect date. I will call you with the details.” Then he kissed me again, this time slowly like he was trying to memorize my mouth.
“Dude, let’s go. My mom’s gonna be pissed if we don’t help her move her furniture.” Drew’s interruption ended our moment.
“I’m coming.” Colin rolled his eyes, and squeezed my hand before turning to leave. “I’ll call you soon.” He glanced at me with a look that I could only imagine was a promise of what was to come, then turned and left.
Chapter Seven
The Don’t Mess With Bad Ass Chicks Mix
Colin lied.
And I was wrong.
He wasn't adorable. He was a spineless, lying asshole.
It had been over a week and no word from Colin. He must have been planning a pretty fanfreakingtastic date since after five days he still hadn’t had a chance to pick up his phone to text me. Even Drew had the decency to call Liz to get together sometime and ‘hang.’ Unfortunately, he played dumb when she asked what was up with Colin.
What was worse was that I finally got up the nerve to text him, just to ‘casually’ check in. So casually in fact that I planned the text ahead of time, with Liz and Annie there to be sure I exuded just enough casualness to let him know I didn’t care either way. Mostly I just added ‘or whatever’ to everything I said.
My hope was that he somehow lost his phone, rendering him unable to find my number. Therefore my call would be met with relief over finally being able to talk to me. Or something similar to that.
No such luck.
"Hey, Colin? It's Lucy."
"It's good to hear from you." Colin texted me back right away.
"You too. Hadn't talked to you in awhile. Thought I would check in." The girls gave me a thumbs up at my casualness.
“Glad you did. Not a great time tho. Can I get back to you later?”
Seriously?
"Don't worry about it. Probably going to be too busy."
Not the best way to handle the situation, but in my defense, we practiced casualness, not maturity.
"Don’t you think maybe he was in the middle of something so it was, in fact, not a good time, and that he was, you know, going get back to you later?" Liz asked.
"I don't know. Maybe." I answered sullenly. "But how long do I want to wait this time for him to get back to me? He said ‘sometime.’ Not in a few minutes. Not later today. Not even soon.
“I see your point.” Annie said, while pondering the situation.
“Yeah, you’re right.” Liz added. “Now that I think about it, what kind of guy does that? He felt terrible about hurting you, but didn’t even check in on you. Especially considering he specifically said he was going to call you for a date. He’s obviously a... Annie, tell her what he is. My limited vocabulary prohibits me from using a word that best fits his description.
“Um...Douche canoe?” Annie shrugged.
Liz snapped her fingers and pointed to Annie. “Yes. That’s good. I like that.”
Despite my pissed off mood, my friends made me laugh. And as the evening progressed, they had lifted my mood considerably. We decided to turn it into an impromptu Colin bashing complete with s’mores and pumpkin lattes.
Over the next few days, I concentrated on my classes, almost totally, but not quite completely, forgetting about Colin. I reasoned with myself that since we only knew each other a couple days, I really shouldn’t waste my time thinking about him. Only I wasn't sure how to go about not wasting my time thinking about him.
By Friday, I was really starting to tick myself off. I had prided myself on not being the kind of girl to swoon over a guy- any guy, but especially the general population of douche canoes. Even when my ex-boyfriend cheated on me, I gave myself a few days to mourn, chalked it up to lesson learned, and moved on.
So why did I keep checking for him when I ran in the mornings? And why, when the phone rang, did my heart jump a little, thinking that maybe he was calling to tell me that after he left my house he was hit by a truck, and therefore unable to plan our date?
By the time Liz and Annie arrived home from class on Friday afternoon, I couldn’t take another minute of myself.
“We’re going out tonight.” I barely let my roommates get through the door before I pounced on them.
“Ladies’ night?” Annie asked.
“Yep.” I was already heading towards the stairs to get ready.
“I’ll tell James that I’m not coming over.”
By the time I got upstairs, Liz was already changing.
I love my roommates.
After we got ready, we grabbed a light dinner at home, then headed out. We didn’t want to be too early, so we took a leisurely walk, making sure to stop at all of our favorite shops along the way. At about 10:00, we arrived at Firm.
While most of the campus was out partying at the local bars, we were at our favorite girls' night spot, kickboxing at the only 24-hour fitness location near campus.
We discovered it when one of Annie’s friends was robbed while walking home late one night. We decided that we were going to learn to protect ourselves. At first we just took a couple self-defense classes, but over time we started trying out anything that looked like fun or could help us become major ass kickers.
One night, on a whim, we decided to check it out on our way to meet some friends at a bar, just to see what it was like at midnight. We discovered that since everyone was pretty much at a bar or a kegger that late on the weekend, we could have the entire place to ourselves.
After that, whenever we needed a night out, we headed to the gym and hung out for hours, trying out all of the equipment and making up challenges.
We had already warmed-up and used the Nautilus equipment by the time we got to the punching bags. We were debating on whether to have a competition to see who could kick the bag the highest, or who could punch every bag in the room in the fastest time, when we heard a noise that made us all jump.
“Is someone else here?” Annie almost whispered, surprise etched on her face.
“No one else is ever here at this time.” I echoed her bewilderment.
“Well,” Liz said slowly, “This isn’t just our gym. And it’s a 24-hour gym. We were bound to run into another member sometime.”
“At 11:00 at night?” Annie asked.
“Well, maybe word got out that all the hot chicks work out here at this time.” Liz clearly thought we were crazy for being concerned.
“Probably.” I agreed, “But we should be careful, just in case. Someone might have seen us come in and followed us to steal our stuff or something.”
“Fine.” Liz conceded. “We can sneak up on them instead. Maybe we can do it while hiding behind gym equipment until we get close enough to take a look. If it looks suspicious we can call security on our cells.”
As we wove through the bench presses and butterfly machines, we realized that we looked like a bunch of idiots acting like we knew what we were doing. While we were pretty freaked out about who was invading our gym time, we were also breaking out into quiet fits of laughter over how we would make the worst Charlie’s Angels.
At one point Annie got her shoelace caught on one of the machines, then tried to save herself from getting hurt. She ended up falling into a half split, half downward dog. Liz and I thought it was hilarious. Annie used words that Liz couldn’t.
Finally, we heard the noise just around the corner from us, near the free weights. There was no way that we could get a good look at the perpetrator without the person seeing us.
Our “plan” was for me to nonchalantly walk by as if getting a drink of water, and if the perp tried anything, I would ask, “Do you know where the bathrooms are?” This would signal the girls to run out and use every move we have ever learned to take down the accused. Since our experience with this kind of thing rested solely on watching reruns of Law and Order, it was the best that we could come up with.
So, I took a deep breath and walked out from behind the wall, trying to glance in the direction of the sound without looking suspicious. I was sure that I saw something out of the corner of my eye, but when I looked that way, nothing was there.
Okay. I’m a little freaked out.
I decided to stand still for a second to take in my surroundings... or maybe it was because I was frozen in place… hard to tell.
After a few seconds of not hearing anything, I decided to head back to the girls- safety in numbers and all. But as I turned to walk back I felt someone behind me, coming from the direction of the bathrooms.
Being Invisible Page 4
