Kissing Carter: A College Romance

by Zara Rivas

  I turned the doorknob and started pulling on it as if that would help the door open. Not to mention I'm sure Carly would be more pissed about me coming to her to report a broken door, rather than a missing key.

  "You're not trying to break in, are you?" A male voice asked.

  I threw my long hair over my shoulder, turning to see who had spoken. My eyes met a pair of dark blue ones. I let go on the knob and put my hand back into my purse, searching around. "No, I'm just looking for…my key!" I told him, pulling it out.

  "Well, that's good. Cause otherwise, I'd have to report you, and I already decided to try to steer clear of Carly as much as possible."

  I laughed and looked him over. He was about my height, thanks to the damn giant genes I received from my father, with those deep blue eyes, a slightly crooked nose, and a sweet smile. Now that I was out of panic mode, I realized he was actually kind of cute.

  "She is pretty awful," I agreed with him. It was pretty sad after dealing with one meeting with her; everyone could tell what kind of person she seemed to be.

  "I'm Elliot, by the way. I live three doors down from you," he said, gesturing towards the direction of his room.

  "I'm Harper."

  He smiled at me. "Harper, huh? I'll have to make sure I remember that."

  He probably expected me to melt at his words, but little did he know that with the number of times I've been hit on, I've become at expect at pick up lines. And that was a pickup line. However, he did seem kind enough, and like he could be a genuine person, so instead of telling him to hit the road, I decided to play along.

  "You better. When you least expect it, I'm going to quiz you on it."

  He laughed. "Do I at least get some study materials to prepare for this?"

  It didn't take a scientist to read the pretext in his words. Part of me wanted to pull him to me, to see how his lips felt, but I was on a mission. "Maybe another time, I have to go."

  "I hope I didn't offend you, I was just teasing you back," he explained, probably sensing my retreat.

  I gave him a soft smile. "You didn't, and I just have something I need to do."

  "Okay," he said, nodding at me. "I will see you around Harper."

  I opened my door and walked in, closing it behind me, as if it was a barrier between Elliot and me. It wasn't that I didn't trust him; it was myself that I didn't trust. Taking in his eyes and that smile was starting to make me forget that I was trying to get something more than physical attraction if that was possible.

  "What do you guys want on the pizza?" Ashley asked, tossing the take out menu towards us.

  I groaned, even though I could eat pizza every night, and rubbed my hand over my stomach. "So, this must be how the freshmen fifteen starts…"

  Jenna, Ashley's cousin, started laughing as she started to braid her jet black hair. When Ashley had suggested having a movie night instead of going out, I was hesitating about it. I was anxious to get out and see the nightlife that the campus had to offer, but I had cramps, and a huge pimple is starting to form on my chin, so I decided to stay in. I have to admit; I think I had made the right choice. It was nice getting to know Ashley more, considering we were sharing a room that was the size of my closet back home.

  "Yeah, right," Ashley said, holding up her finger to us as she called the pizza place, even though we never answered her question about what topping we preferred. It didn't matter, I'd eat anything, well, besides anchovies.

  "Your hair is like a Barbie doll's," Jenna told me as she sat down behind me on my bed, starting to pull my hair into a long braid.

  Ashley ended the call and threw her cell phone on her bed, opening our dorm room door. "The pizza will be on the way shortly. Can we take a minute to talk about how cute the boys in our hall are? Elliot included," she told me with a teasing grin.

  I had made a mistake to tell Ashley about my run-in with our neighbor, so of course, she had to find out who he was.

  "Yes, they are," I said, trying to shake my head at Ashley, with was hard to do considering Jenna was holding it in place. "But I'm trying to turn a new leaf. Take things slowly, and to stay away from those hot kisses that make you forget how to think."

  "I hate to tell you this, Harper, but no matter how fast or slow you go, a guy can still crush you. My boyfriend broke up with me after three years," Jenna told me.

  "I know, I'm just tired of dating the same type of guy, over and over."

  Just then, Carter appeared in our doorway, leaning against the frame. He smirked when he saw my hair in a braid. "Hey, Rapunzel-"

  "Carter!" I said, trying to cut him off. The last thing I wanted was for Ashley and Jenna to hear that lame nickname that Carter had given me somewhere along the years and refused to stop using it.

  His eyes flickered on them as if he was noticing they were there. He gave them his charming smile and his usual nod. I glanced at them, and they were staring at him in awe. I shook my head at them, knowing if they saw the side of him I did, they wouldn't be looking at him that way.

  "Carter, this is my roommate Ashley, and her cousin Jenna," I said, gesturing to them. "Now, what do you want?"

  His eyes landed back on mine. "Well, thanks to you, I got an ear full from mom-"

  "Your mom?"

  He laughed softly. "Charlotte."

  "Oh, that. Sorry about that, but I'm sure Noah has already helped her get over it." I told him, wondering why he bothered to come to my room over something he could text me about.

  "Yeah, I bet," he said, running his fingers through his hair. "I was just about to head to the movies and wanted to see if you were interested in coming along…" he paused, looking back at Ashley and Jenna. "You guys can come along as well." He gave them another smile.

  I narrowed my eyes at him, feeling uneasy that he was so nice. That was very unlike him. "Sorry, but we just ordered a pizza-"

  "Which you are welcomed to stay for," Ashley added in, giving him a flirty smile, throwing in a small hair toss as well.

  "Thanks, but I'm going to head out to the movies. Another time," he gave her a quick smile before he walked away.

  Once he was out of earshot, Ashley and Jenna started squealing. I knew what was coming; it was the same thing that happened whenever new friends of mine met Carter.

  "How do you know him? He's so hot," Ashley said, fanning at herself, pretending like she needed to cool off.

  "And why are you not hooking up with him?" Jenna asked. "I would be."

  I stood up off the bed, shrugging my shoulders as I admired my braid in the mirror we had hanging on the wall. "I grew up with him; our parents are close. He likes to push my buttons and annoy me."

  "I wish he'd push my buttons," Ashley said, and I shook my head at her, laughing.

  There are certain things they should warn you about before you go to college. For instance, all you hear about is the freedom you will have when you are out of your parent's house. What they don't tell you is that while you have freedom, you most certainly will not have privacy.

  I was slowly adjusting to having a roommate, even though it seemed hard to believe I would ever get used to the fact that her alarm clock would wake me up an hour before I had to be up every morning. But I was growing accustomed to the other aspects, such as her bed only being 7 feet away from mine, and that we were practically living on top of each other. I didn't even mind that she didn't seem to know any boundaries when it came to borrowing my things, and I have even managed to block our her snoring by pretending it was a sound machine. And even though it might sound like I was complaining about her, I don't think I could've been paired with a better person than her.

  However, while you go to college, knowing you will lose privacy in the dorm room, you don't think about how you also lose it in the bathroom. No matter what time of the day you go to take your shower, there are at least two other girls in there. And even though you are in your shower stall, there is still a slightly awkward feeling to it. Not to mention, I love to sing in the shower, and that's k
ind of hard to do when you're never alone. If it sounds like I'm complaining here, well, I am.

  In addition to never being alone, another thing I didn't expect was how intense the classes were, right away. It might have been the fact I was never a very serious student before, but I gasped looking at each syllabus I received. I was only taking basic classes since I still haven't figured out just yet what I wanted to major in, which my parents weren't too happy about. But I figured it was a better idea to wait until I was sure, rather than changing my major a hundred times.

  That is how I found myself at the library on a Friday night studying, after my first week of classes. At least I wasn't alone, Charlotte and Carter decided to join me, though I was beginning to think it was a bad idea to have them here. Well, at least one of them.

  I looked up at Carter, then back down to his hand, which was tapping his pen loudly against the table, and he read over the paper in front of him. I closed my eyes, exhaling yoga style, but that was all futile when I opened my eyes, and he was still going at it.

  "Carter, do you have to do that? I can't concentrate," I snapped at him, as loudly as I could in a whisper voice.

  He looked up from the paper, and I swear he started tapping it harder. "It's not that big of a deal."

  "The noise is distracting. I've been reading the same sentence over and over," I told him.

  "That has nothing to do with me, you probably don't understand it," he said, giving me that smirk of his.

  I reached across the table quickly, trying to grab the pen out of his hand. Unfortunately, he had a cat-like reflex and pulled his hand away before I could get to it, causing my hand to slap against the table.

  "Jeeze, Harper, if you wanted to hold my hand, you could've just asked."

  "I was not trying to hold your hand!" I told him, my voice rising.

  Charlotte slammed her book shut, causing both of us to look over at her. "Enough, seriously. I can't concentrate when you guys are at each other's throats."

  She put the cap back on her highlighter and started gathering up her things, tossing them into her book bag. I reached over to grab her arm, feeling guilty for ruining her time studying.

  "I'm sorry, don't go," I told her.

  Carter held up his pinkie finger. "We'll behave, I promise."

  She shook her head at us, her short blond hair falling over her face. "I'm leaving, you two can kill each other for all I care," she told us, pushing the hair away from her face.

  After I watched her storm away, I turned my attention to Carter, glaring at him. "Nice going," I told him as I stood up, walking away from the table and towards the psychology section.

  "What are you talking about? It wasn't my fault," he said, on my heels.

  I let out a short laugh. "Yes, it was. If you would've stopping tapping the damn table as I asked-"

  "You never technically asked me to stop. You just asked if I had to do that."

  I rolled my eyes at him, even though I was in front of him, and he couldn't even see me do it. I continued walking past the rows of books, the lights above lighting up as we walked underneath them. "You knew it was annoying me, you could've stopped, but that was your intention," I told him, turning down the aisle to my right.

  "I wasn't it on purpose, believe it or not. And if you would've waited two seconds, I would've-"

  "Whatever, it's over with now," I told him, running my fingers against the books as we slowly walked down the aisle, scanning the title of the books as I did so.

  Suddenly, the lights above the section we were standing in started to flicker, then went completely out. The nearly dark lightning caught me by surprise, and I let out a little scream. I could hear Carter start to laugh at me, so I reached out and gave him a light slap.

  "Don't tell me you're scared," he teased.

  "Of course not."

  "Are you sure?" He asked.

  Was he crazy? It wasn't like we were in the basement or attic in someone's house, we were in the library. Although, with the lack of lighting and the eerily silence due to a mixture of everyone speaking quietly and it is pretty empty since it was a Friday, it was a little creepy. I opened my mouth to respond, then stopped when I felt someone start to tickle my sides. I let out another soft scream, a second before it dawned on me it was him.

  He started laughing again; then, it faded away as he stopped tickling me. But instead of pulling his hands away, his fingertips started digging into my skin. I wanted to walk away from him, but I found myself unable to move. I could feel his body inching closer to mine, and then his lips were unexpectedly touching mine, kissing them softly. Just as my mind was beginning to register what was happening, he pulled away slightly, his breath still hot against my face. He tasted like mint.

  Then, as if he gave up on whatever he was waiting for, his lips were pressing against mine again. This time the kissing was deeper, more urgent, and I felt myself kissing him back. His hands had moved from my sides, and he slipped one hand along the small of my back, pulling me into him, so our hips were pressing together. His other hand was tangled in my hair.

  Even more surprising than the fact that Carter was kissing me, and I was kissing him back, was how the kiss felt. My heart was racing out of my chest, my lips were tingling, and I had to cling to his forearms, sure my knees were going to give away.

  I tried to step away from him, my brain desperate for a chance to think clearly, but he wouldn't let me break apart from him. So once again, I was lost in the kiss, which was getting so passionate, he had suddenly pressed me up against the bookshelf. I could feel a moan building up in my throat, and I knew it was only a matter of time before it tried to escape through my lips.

  Just then, there was the sound of someone clearing their throat. My eyes fluttered open, and I realized the lights were back on. I felt half relieved, half disappointed our kissing was interrupted. Carter must have heard it too because he slowly pulled away from me. I glanced into his eyes, not remembering the last time we were this close, and I couldn't help but think his eyes, which were gold around the pupil and splashed into the light green part of the iris. I never noticed that they were…kind of gorgeous.

  The throat clearing happened again, and we looked over to see a librarian standing there, a frown on her face, and her hands on her hips. Carter jumped away from me, shoving his hands into his pockets. Both of our faces were flushed.

  "This is a library, not a bedroom," she scolded. "So unless you need my help in finding a book, I would suggest you both take your seats."

  I shook my head, walking away as quickly as I could. I needed to get out of here. As I walked to the table, so fast I was nearly running, I could hear Carter behind me.

  "Harper, wait," he said, as I started shoving my books into my bag.

  "I have to go," I told him, avoiding looking at him.

  I rushed toward the front doors of the library, feeling dizzy, and without having the feeling back to my knees, which made it kind of painful to walk. Did that happen?

  My phone was going off like crazy as I opened the door to my dorm. I was too nervous to look at it; I was pretty sure it was Carter. He had already sent me a text asking if we could talk. I ignored his text because I didn't want to talk, not until I could get my mind to stop racing.

  I let out a short breath, then glanced down at my phone to check the missed call. I felt vaguely disappointed when I saw the missed call wasn't from Carter but was from Charlotte instead. I slide my finger across the alert, calling her back.

  "Hi. Are you still in the library?" She asked after she answered the phone.

  I felt my face blush at the mention of the library. "Uh, no. I'm back at the dorm."

  "Did you run back or something? You sound out of breath."

  I was pretty sure my face a shade of red that resembled a strawberry. "No, um, I just, um, took the stairs up here instead of the elevator," I stuttered. I couldn't tell her that Carter probably sucked the air out of my lungs during our make-out session.

  She
laughed softly, probably thinking I sounded like an idiot. "Okay. Well, I was calling to apologize for blowing up like that. It was kind of dramatic for me to leave."

  "It's okay," I said quickly.

  "Since you're probably done studying, do you want to go grab some ice cream? I'll invite Noah and Carter as well if you guys can handle that," she laughed again.

  Considering he just had me pressed up against the shelf, kissing me like there was no tomorrow, I think we would be able to handle being civil towards each other. But I couldn't go, I wouldn't be able to act normal, and Charlotte would know immediately that something was up.

  "I'm not really in the mood to go out, I already changed into my pajama's," I lied.