Charlotte
Talon and I were sitting in the auditorium for our first final.
He looked at me from the seat beside me, grinning with that lopsided smile that always made me melt.
“Relax, gorgeous,” he said. “You’re gonna do fine.”
I smiled at him weakly. “I wish I had your confidence.”
“My confidence is for the both of us,” he said. “I know you’ve got this.”
He leaned over and gave my hand a reassuring squeeze. I looked into his bright blue eyes, and the certainty I saw there made me feel a little better about the test that was about to begin. The test was for our Sociology class, one of my weaker subjects. I was more of a math and numbers kind of person, like my father.
After dinner with my parents the night before, Talon and I had been up most of the night studying. It was one of the few classes we took together, which made it easier to study. These concepts made more sense to me when Talon explained them.
I figured it was because he knew me so well. After dating for almost four years, we’d gotten about as close as a couple could get. We lived together, we hung out together, and we knew everything there was to know about each other. Well, almost everything.
As intimate as we were, we’d never discussed the topic of marriage. I felt like we were moving in that direction, and I assumed Talon felt that way, too. But after the way he reacted to my father’s question last night, I wasn’t sure how he felt anymore.
I loved him, and he told me he loved me all the time. Our relationship had gone far beyond casual a long time ago. Talon had never given me any reason to doubt our love until last night. It wasn’t like I’d expected him to tell my father, “Yes, we’re planning on getting married.” It would have been nice if he said that, but it was probably a conversation he and I should have in private first before talking to my parents about it.
Still, his reaction had my stomach twisting in knots, and I was distracted while we’d been studying the night before. I wasn’t sure how much of the information we’d gone over was still in my head this morning. My lack of sleep, mixed with my worries about Talon, had me feeling crappy this morning.
The teaching assistant at the front of the class announced that the test was about to start. She began rattling off instructions on how to fill out the exam, what kind of questions were on it, and how much time we had.
Talon grabbed my hand and brushed his lips over my knuckles. “You’re going to murder this test.”
We had three hours to take the test, but Talon was finished with over an hour to spare. He smiled at me when he got up to turn his test in, and then he left the room. When the TA announced that our time was up, I had just barely finished the last essay question.
I turned in my test to the desk at the front of the class and walked out. Talon was at the end of the hall, talking excitedly to a blonde girl I didn’t recognize. He held his phone up for her so she could see something on the screen. A wide smile split her face, and she nodded. They were far away, but I thought I heard her say, “I love it.”
Talon noticed me watching him. He said something quietly to the mystery girl and quickly stowed his phone in his pocket. She walked away, and he headed over to me at a jog. His face was flushed and excited, and I couldn’t shake the feeling I’d just caught him doing something he didn’t want me to know about.
Talon grinned at me when he got close and planted a kiss on my forehead.
“Who’s that bitch?” I asked, only half-joking.
Talon laughed. “That’s Julie, from my chemistry class. You know Julie.”
“What were you showing her on your phone?” I asked, hating the spark of jealousy flaring in my chest, but unable to fight it.
Talon shrugged. “You know. Selfies. Tasteful nudes. Dick pics.”
Despite the worry I felt, I couldn’t hold back a smile. If he was joking about it, it probably wasn’t a big deal. “Pictures of your dick, huh? Is that why she was laughing?”
Talon groaned and laughed. “Ouch. That’s hitting below the belt. Almost literally.” He shook his head. “No, it was some stupid meme our Chem professor sent the class. I hate it when old people try to be hip and edgy. But anyway, how do you think the test went?”
“I don’t know,” I said, frowning. “I felt like I knew some of the stuff. You obviously did well. You were done a million years ago.”
“What can I say? I had the best study partner a guy could ask for. Every time I read a question, I saw your beautiful face staring back at me, reciting the answer.”
I rolled my eyes, but warmth fluttered through my chest at his flattering words. Even after being together for as long as we had, Talon was always quick with a compliment and a suggestive look that got my body burning with desire.
With the semester coming to a close and getting ready for finals, it had been a few weeks since Talon and I had spent some sexy time together. I was pent-up and frustrated, which did nothing to improve my mood. I silently promised myself to make it up to him once our exams were over and we could relax.
“Come on,” I said. “Walk me to my next class.”
He slung his arm around my shoulders, and we headed for the building where my calculus class was. It wasn’t an official class today, but the professor was holding a review session for whoever wanted to come. As confident as I felt about the class, I wasn’t going to pass up a chance to have him go over the stuff that would be on the test. If the professor went over it today, I knew for sure it was going to be on tomorrow’s final.
“So,” I said. “You want to grab dinner with my parents later? Before I cram for my calculus test?”
I felt Talon’s body stiffen against mine. “Hmm, tonight is no good for me. I’ve got a few errands to run.”
I pulled away from him, and his arm slid from my shoulder. “Errands? Really?”
“Yeah, it’s no big deal, but I don’t know how long it’s gonna take. I don’t want you and your parents waiting around for me. Plus, I’ll be out of your hair so you can focus on your Calc studying.”
I nodded, but something felt off about the whole thing. I’d felt the way he tightened up when I asked him about dinner. It was like he’d gotten nervous. What the hell was going on?
He walked me the rest of the way to my class, talking about random stuff. I was only half-listening. My thoughts were preoccupied with wondering what was happening with Talon. It felt like he’d been a lot more secretive lately. Like he was holding something back from me, which he’d never done before.
We said goodbye, and I walked into the review session. My best friend Katie was already sitting there with her notes out. She waved me over when she saw me walk in.
“What’s up, slut?” she asked happily when I sat beside her.
When I didn’t smile, laugh, or come back at her with an equally offensive name, her smiled faded, and her brow furrowed.
“Uh oh,” she said. “Is something up? Did you bomb your sociology final?”
I shook my head. “No, it’s not the final, although lord only knows how I did on that.”
“Then what’s up?”
“It’s nothing,” I said, sighing. “I’m just being stupid.”
“Well, that’s nothing new,” she said, grinning.
“Ass,” I said, smiling back at her.
Katie always knew how to brighten my mood. We’d gotten randomly paired up as roommates freshman year, and we became instant friends. We’d lived together until the beginning of our junior year when I moved in with Talon.
“Come on, spill it before the review gets started,” she said. “Professor Math is already gearing up for a bore-a-thon.”
I laughed. “You know that’s not his name.”
She made a face. “Well, his name is long and Russian, and there’s no point in learning how to pronounce it now. And stop trying to change the subject.”
“It’s probably nothing,” I said. “I just keep getting this feeling that Talon is acting strangely recently.”
“Oh no,” she said. “Trouble in paradise? I refuse to believe it. You two are so in love with each other, it kind of makes me sick.”
“I know,” I said. “I think I’m just jumping at shadows. With finals and my parents here, I’m just tightly wound up.”
She nodded. “That’ll do it. Is there anything specific that’s freaking you out? Lipstick on the collar? Unfamiliar panties in the laundry? Maybe a new Tinder account?”
I laughed and shook my head. “No, nothing like that. I don’t know. Like, last night, he kind of freaked out when my dad asked us if we were going to get married.”
Katie giggled. “Fucking Bob, dropping the marriage bomb on you guys.”
“Yeah,” I said, laughing. “Talk about awkward.”
“So you’re telling me Talon, a man, is uncomfortable talking about commitment?” she asked. “Because no man in history has ever freaked out about that.”
I snorted a laugh. “Yeah, fair enough. But I don’t know. When I asked Talon about grabbing dinner tonight, he said he had to go run errands or something. I felt like he was making up an excuse.”
Katie looked at me like she was expecting me to say something else. When I didn’t, she tilted her head at me in confusion.
“Is that it?” she asked.
“Yeah.”
“You’re right,” she said.
“About Talon acting weird?”
“No, about you being stupid,” she said. “Everything sounds normal to me. I don’t see any reason to freak out about anything yet.”
I nodded, even though the twisting feeling in my stomach refused to go away.