Kissing Carter: A College Romance

by Zara Rivas

  He filled a new glass with water, and I waited for Carter to walk away, but he didn't. Instead, he kept listening to the girl talk, even as she leaned in closer to him, pretending she couldn't talk over the music. I knew that was what she was doing because it was a move I had done many times in the past.

  As he smiled at her, I found myself getting irked by the whole situation. It was nothing new seeing Carter smile at a girl, hit on a girl, or even hook up with a girl. But for some reason, it was making my blood boil that he had left me sitting at this table to try to make a move with little miss redhead. So much for his promise to Charlotte about not abandoning me. I grabbed my black clutch off the table, walking quickly up to him at the bar.

  "I'm leaving," I announced, interrupting whatever she was saying to him.

  I didn't bother leaving him time to respond; I started walking towards the exit. I knew he was behind me even before he grabbed my arm gently, pulling me to a stop.

  "What are you doing?"

  "I'm leaving. Or trying to," I told him, gesturing down to his hand on my arm.

  "Yeah, I get that. But why?"

  I tapped my foot against the ground, stalling for time until I could come up with another reason other than the truth. "Because… you are rude."

  He let go of my arm, crossing his arms across his chest. He tilted his head at me, an amused look in his eyes. "I'm rude?"

  I nodded, using the opportunity that he let go of my arm to make my way towards the door. He fell in step with me but didn't try stopping me this time.

  "How exactly was I rude?"

  "It's not right to flirt with some girl while you are getting another girl a drink," I told him as we walked outside.

  He gave me a smirk, the amused look growing in his eyes. "You were jealous."

  "I was not jealous."

  The look he gave me told me he didn't believe me, and he wouldn't be completely wrong. "Yeah, well, I wasn't hitting on her."

  I shook my head at him, not sure if I felt relieved or annoyed that he felt the need to explain his intentions to me. We walked back to the dorm in silence; the only noise was from other people walking around us and the noise of my heels against the ground.

  I expected him to make his way towards his room, but instead, he was still walking alongside of me in the direction of my room.

  "I think I can manage from here," I told him as we reached my hallway.

  "Why are you mad at me now?" He asked.

  "I'm not-"

  He laughed softly, watching me as I unlocked the door. "Don't say you're not mad. You've been acting this way ever since…" He let his thought trail off, probably for my benefit.

  "Ever since you kissed me." I finished for him. It was the first time I had said those words out loud.

  He nodded, shoving his hands into his jean pockets.

  "I'm not mad," I told him. I knew I should say more, explain how I felt and why I was acting this way, but the simple truth was that I didn't know myself.

  His hazel eyes looked a bit relieved. "Okay, well, good." There was more he wanted to say, but he didn't. "Have a good night then," he said, giving a soft smile.

  "You too," I told him, pushing the door open, feeling slightly disappointed at the way we were ending the night.

  "Oh, and Harper?" He asked and looked over at him. "I was wrong. You pull off the pink." His voice was low, and when his eyes looked me up and down, I could feel a shiver run through my body.

  Before I had time to stop myself, I was pulling him towards me, kissing him on the lips. I guess that even though my mind didn't know what I wanted, my body did.

  He was immediately kissing me back, his hands moving around my waist, pulling me even closer. My hands made this way up to his neck, stopping there for a moment before they were in his hair.

  The kiss was surging through my body, and it was even more intense than the first one if that was possible. It was so consuming that I didn't even realize we had made our way into the room until I felt the bed against the back of my legs. He pushed me gently, our lips never parting as we fell onto the mattress.

  I was pretty sure I had landed on a hairbrush, but I barely noticed it. Kissing Carter was too amazing to focus on anything else. His hands moved up the side of my body, making this way to my face. His fingers landed by my eyes, then he slowly moved them down to my chin, stroking my face, ever so gently, causing me to melt into him completely.

  Then he pulled away slightly, looking down at me. "You are so pretty," he muttered before he started kissing me again.

  Right when I was ready to lose myself in him fully, I heard a small gasp, followed by a giggle. Carter quickly pulled himself off me, and I sat up, looking over to see Ashley standing in the doorway. We hadn't heard her come in, because we had been too busy kissing to bother closing the door.

  Her face was pink as she looked at us. "I'm sorry, I, uh, didn't realize. I can go."

  "It's okay," I told her, trying to smooth down my hair. "We were, um, just saying goodnight."

  "Goodnight," Carter said, this happy, hazy look in his eyes.

  "Goodnight," I told him as he walked out of the room, turning to give me another smile before he shut the door behind him.

  "I'd say it was," Ashley said with a laugh. She sat down on the bed, grinning at me. "I knew it!"

  "You knew what?" I asked her, placing my fingers up to my still numb lips.

  She rolled her eyes at me as if it should be obvious. "That you two had some thing going on."

  "We do not have a thing going on," I told her, even though I didn't know if that was true anymore.

  "Oh please. I saw how you were kissing, you guys have a thing going on. Besides, all that 'bickering' you guys do," she laughed, using her fingers to make air quotes, "Is just sexual tension in disguise, you aren't fooling anybody. And it's so thick; you can cut it with a knife."

  Was she right? Is that why he always picks on me, and I always do it right back? I knew she was wrong about one thing though; I might have had somebody fooled.

  Myself.

  Carter

  "Carter, are you even listening to me?" Charlotte asked, shooting me a look that let me know I was wearing thin on her patience. It was a look I had become familiar with over the years.

  "Yeah, sorry," I muttered, even though that wasn't exactly the case.

  The truth was, I was too busy checking my phone to see if Harper had replied to my text, to pay attention to what Charlotte was saying fully. We haven't talked that much since her roommate walked in on our last night, and it was making me feel anxious. Even though she had initiated our kiss last night, I knew there was a good chance she would freak out again, and at any moment, start to avoid me. I had told myself I would let her come around this time, but then I caved in and sent her a message this morning. I couldn't believe how weak I was. I also couldn't believe how relieved I felt when she had responded.

  I know I had caught her off guard when I kissed her in the library, hell, I even surprised myself when I did that. It wasn't something I planned on doing; in fact, it had been something I tried not to do for years. I know for her it probably seemed suddenly, but it was something I had thought about for a long time, and at that moment, I didn't have the energy to fight it anymore. So, I went for it, unsure of how she would react. And based by the way she had melted into my arms, I knew she was into it, even if she didn't want to be.

  Normally when I hook up with a girl, I am bombarded with messages and phone calls from her. I never found myself sitting around, wondering what she was thinking or when she was going to talk to me again because as awful as it sounds, I didn't care. But with Harper, all of that went out the window, and suddenly I found myself in some new territory.

  "Okay, I give up," Charlotte said, slamming the book in her hands shut. "I don't mind giving up my Sunday afternoon helping you with these terms, but ,your mind is somewhere else." She didn't know how right she was.

  "I'm listening," I told her, even though we both k
new that was a lie. I didn't her to think I was ungrateful for her help. Honestly, if she weren't around busting my ass, I probably wouldn't have the grades that I did.

  "Then what was the last thing I said?"

  "That you love helping your best friend study, and you couldn't imagine life without him?" I gave her my most charming smile, the one that has let me off the hook so many times before.

  She shook her head, but I could see her grey eyes softening a bit. "I asked you what lithiasis means."

  " It means the formation of stony concretions, commonly found in the gallbladder."

  She raised her eyebrow at me, seeming impressed, and I knew I was off the hook, at least for now. "That's right."

  "Hey Char, do you want to go grab some Chinese food-" Harper appeared in the doorway, her voice breaking off when she saw me sitting there.

  Harper is so beautiful. The beauty that takes away your breath for a few seconds when she first walks into the room, no matter how many times you have seen her before. The beautiful that makes me forget where I am when she smiles at me, and god, when we kiss, it's like time stops. It sounds corny, I know, which is why those thoughts would never leave my lips.

  "I can't," Charlotte told her. "After I help Carter study, Noah and I have a date," she said with a happy smile.

  "I guess I'll let that pass," Harper told her with a small laugh.

  Harper was focusing her gaze on Charlotte, which gave me the chance to get a good look at her. Her long hair shimmed in the light, and I could remember how it felt like silk in my hands. Her sweater fell off one shoulder, showing off a patch of bare skin, and I could feel my hands tingle with anticipation of being able to touch her there. It would be so easy to let my fingers slide down, slipping under her sweater, and…

  I shook my head at myself, trying to stop my mind from going there. I had already thought about it all night, getting close to no sleep, but it was another thing to think about it with Harper and Charlotte in the same room as me.

  "I think I'm good for now, I can let you get to the date," I told Charlotte, trying to sound casual, my eyes still on Harper.

  "Really? You wouldn't mind?"

  I shook my head. "Naw, it's cool," I told her, gathering up my books. I felt a little guilty that she was so appreciative when I had some alternate motives for ending our study session.

  Harper's eyes met mine, and I knew she was on to what I was doing. Another way she was unlike the other girls, she always seemed to be one step ahead of me.

  "I'll help you get ready," she told Charlotte, tearing her eyes away from mine.

  I smiled to myself as I walked out of the room. I knew that in a way, Harper had just blown me off, but I was too amused to let it bother me. I knew there was only one reason why she would avoid the chance to get food with me- she was trying not to want me. And I was planning to make that difficult for her.

  I knocked softly on Harper's door, hoping she would be in there. It had been an hour after I left Charlotte's room, and based on my experience with girls, that should have given them enough time to do whatever they had to do to get Charlotte ready for her date. Even though Noah wouldn't care if Charlotte had shown up in pajamas, but girls never seem to believe that.

  The door pulled open, and Harper looked at me, seeming kind of surprised to see me. "Hey."

  "Did you ever end up getting that Chinese food that you wanted?"

  She shook her head. "I don't feel like going out now, though."

  "Well, it's a good thing I brought this with me then," I gave her a grin, holding up the bag of taking out I had in my hand.

  A smile spread across her lips, and her gorgeous light blue eyes sparkled at me. "You brought me Chinese food?"

  "It would appear so," I told her with a laugh. "And if you let me in, I'll even let you have some."

  "You can come in," she said, stepping aside. "But if you got me the wrong thing, you're out of here."

  "Sweet and sour chicken," I told her with a smirk, knowing that was exactly what she would order. That was what she always ordered.

  She was trying not to smile. "I guess that means you can stay."

  "Good choice. Especially because I got you some of those sugar donuts, you love so much."

  She lost the war in trying not to smile, and suddenly standing in that awful line waiting to order the food seemed worth it. Over a smile. It was absurd but true. "For that, I'll let you pick the movie."

  I started pulling out the cartons of food, placing them down on her bed. "Oh, so I get to pick from your collection of girly movies? That seems fair."

  She laughed and gave me a playful shove before she climbed on the bed. "They are not all girly movies."

  I sat down next to her on the bed, leaning my back against the wall. I couldn't help but remember the last time I was on this bed; I could still feel her lips against mine. I hated that it had ended so quickly, thanks to her roommate interrupting us.

  "That looks good," I told her, trying to stick my fork into the carton of food.

  "Pig," she said, slapping my hand away.

  "Selfish," I teased her back.

  She reached into the bag, pulling out a fortune cookie, cracking it open. She popped a piece into her mouth.

  I shook my head at her. "Aren't you suppose to wait until you are done eating?"

  She rolled her eyes at me as she picked up the piece of paper to read it. "I wasn't aware there were rules."

  I nudged her with my elbow. "What does it say?"

  Her eyes locked onto mine, and I felt my heart skipped a beat. There was a light blush on her face, making her look even more adorable. She cleared her throat before she began to read. "Love is waiting in unexpected places."

  Suddenly, almost against my will, I found myself leaning in towards her. Normally my self-control was pretty good, but it seems like ever since I first pulled her into my arms, I have found it harder and harder to resist her.

  "Carter, wait," she said, placing a hand on my chest to stop my advances. "Why did you kiss me?"

  I knew that question had probably been on her mind since it happened. Situations like this, where a girl would ask me to open up to them, would normally have me run away from them as quickly as I could, never looking back. But with Harper, I just wanted to tell her the truth, while making her melt at the same time. I leaned back against the wall, glancing over at her. She was staring straight ahead, and I knew that even if she didn't want to admit it, this answer was going to affect her.

  "Do you know how hard it was? To be around you constantly, all the while dying to know how it would feel to kiss you."

  She looked at me, her blue eyes stunned, clearly not expecting me to say that. When she didn't say anything, I kept going.

  "It was pretty damn difficult. And at that moment, I gave up. I just had to kiss you," my voice was low, and I could see the want in her eyes. I reached over, gently tucking a piece of hair behind her ear, her eyes closing when my fingers brushed her face. "Why did you kiss me back?"

  Her eyes fluttered opened and looked into mine. There was a look of desire in them, and I was sure they matched the look on my own. "Because I had to," she said, so softly I almost felt like I had imagined it.

  I felt the pull again, and before I knew what was happening, or who started it, our lips were touching. It was a soft kiss, probably the most gentle kiss I have ever had, but my heart had never pounded against my chest so hard.

  Kissing Carter was nothing like I would have expected. It was better.

  So much better.

  The crazy part was, I didn't even think about kissing him three weeks ago. There was something about his kisses that swept me up in them, and in those moments, nothing or no one else matters. I could feel them surge throughout every inch of my body, regardless if they were the soft, gentle, playful type or the passionate, hot, have to have you now type. What was even more surprising than how amazing it felt when his lips touched mine, was how completely natural and right it felt. You would think th
at engaging in such an intimate act with someone that has been in your life since birth might make things a bit awkward, but it was nothing like that. If anything, it added a certain amount of comfort and trust to it.

  We had been hooking up every night over the past few days, and I was waiting for that intense, yearning to fade away, but so far, it was just as strong. The most unexpected part was that Carter didn't want to spend every second pressed against each other, but he also wanted to spend time talking. That's right; Carter was passing up the chance for action for some conversation.