Chapter Nineteen
Natalie
“Where is he talking you?” Missy asked as she rifled through racks of clothes.
“I don’t know,” I replied distractedly.
We had been shopping for almost an hour, and I had hit my limit forty minutes ago. I was looking at all the different choices, but I wasn’t really seeing anything. I was dragging my feet, waiting for Missy to get bored so that we could just get home. Unfortunately, she was a devoted and avid shopper and could keep momentum up for hours.
“Is it a surprise?” she pressed.
“I don’t think so,” I said, with a shrug. “I just didn’t ask. I do know we’re driving quite far from campus, though. So that no one will recognize—”
“But it is a dinner date.”
“Yes.”
“So, then you have to wear something sexy,” she said. “How about this dress?”
She held up a slinky dress with lace edging. I raised my eyebrows. “Are you serious?”
She looked at the dress again. “Uh yeah, why? What’s wrong with it?”
“It looks like something you would wear under your clothes,” I pointed out. “It looks like a camisole.”
“I don’t know what that is, but I do know that this dress is the hot new trend these days,” she pointed out. “Outerwear that looks like underwear.”
“Is this actually a trend, or just a Kardashian trend?”
Missy smiled. “They’re the ones setting all the trends in the first place.”
“I’m not wearing that,” I said firmly.
“Well then, show me your options.”
Biting my lip, I turned away from her and pretended to root through more racks. “Uh… I haven’t found anything I like yet.”
“Bull,” she said immediately. “You lost interest three stores ago.”
I laughed. “You know me too well.”
“Do I need to remind you that you’re the one who wanted to go shopping?”
“I just wanted to pop into a store, grab one or two things, pay for them, and get the hell out,” I said. “Simple, easy, and quick.”
Missy rolled her eyes. “You sound like a dude. That’s how they shop.”
“I think they’re on to something.”
“Bite your tongue,” she said, sounding scandalized.
“Maybe I should just wear the red dress again?” I suggested.
“He’s seen you in that twice already.”
“So?”
“So, it’s too early in this relationship for you to stop trying,” Missy said firmly. “You need to buy a couple of new things, especially since your style has changed a little.”
“I don’t have the money to spend on a new wardrobe.”
“You’re thrifty, aren’t you?”
“My thrift has a purpose,” I pointed out. “I work and save so that I can collect money to travel, not to blow on clothes.”
“I feel as though in this instance, clothes are more important right now.”
I laughed. “Please…”
“If you’re having money trouble, you could always ask your parents?”
“No,” I said firmly. “Not a chance. I don’t want to be a drain on their resources.”
“I doubt they would think of it that way.”
“Of course, they wouldn’t,” I said. “But they’ve done a lot for me. They worked extra hard to make sure that I wouldn’t feel poverty the way they did. Now that I’m out of their house, I want to be able to stand on my own two feet without having to ask them for help.”
“I could lend you the money?” Missy offered generously.
I smiled. “I love you for offering,” I said gratefully. “But I’m okay, really. I have an allocated amount of money that I’m willing to splurge on clothes, but I’m not going over.”
“Even for this dress?” she asked, holding up a beautiful ivory dress with a high slit.
“Even for that dress,” I nodded.
Missy sighed wistfully and put the dress back. “Fine, but keep looking. We’ve only been at this for an hour.”
I groaned and kept walking, but my mind had already started wandering. I was excited about my date that night with Chance. It had been a couple of weeks now, and we’d been getting along great. It was wonderful to have someone to talk to about different cultures. I usually felt like the things I liked to talk about were just too boring for the average college student. Now I finally had someone who liked the same kinds of things that I did.
“Thinking about him, aren’t you?” Missy asked, wagging her eyebrows at me.
I laughed. “How can you tell?”
“You get this look in your eyes,” she replied.
“Oh geez, am I that transparent?”
“Only to me,” she said. “I’m so glad you’ve finally met someone you like.”
I sighed deeply, but I couldn’t help but gush about him. “He is so amazing,” I said. “I didn’t expect him to be so warm. He kind of has this hard exterior that makes you think he wouldn’t be so easy to open up to, but that’s not the case at all.”
“I’m surprised you two have time to talk,” Missy said in a suggestive tone.
“What does that mean?”
“I would have thought you’d spend all your time fucking.”
I blushed a little, but I couldn’t keep the smile from my face. “Well…we do. But there’s always time to talk.”
“Is the sex still good?” she wanted to know.
“It keeps getting better,” I admitted. “He’s so…”
“Experienced?”
“It’s more than that,” I said, shaking my head. “He’s present and attentive and really, really…”
“Generous?” Missy offered.
I blushed again. “I suppose you could say that.”
She laughed. “It’s so great that I can finally talk to you about this stuff,” she said. “I feel like we’ve been missing out this whole time.”
“Me, too,” I nodded.
“So, tell me, now that you’ve joined the club, what do you love most about sex?”
I whistled. “That’s a difficult question.”
“Be specific.”
I laughed. “I guess I love the orgasms.”
Missy raised her eyebrows. “Well, that’s a no-brainer… Do you really cum every single time he fucks you?”
“Pretty much,” I nodded. “I told you, he’s generous.”
“Does he go down on you often?”
“That’s usually how it starts,” I admitted. “He gets me all ready for him and then we have sex.”
“Wow… And have you…”
I raised my eyebrows. “Have I what?”
“Have you gone down on him?”
“Oh,” I said, feeling silly that I hadn’t understood her question immediately. “Uh… I haven’t tried it yet.”
“You should,” she encouraged. “It can be a real turn on.”
“Even for me?”
“Especially for you,” she nodded. “There’s something extremely sensual about having a guy’s hard cock in your mouth.”
I glanced at one of the store clerks; he was listening to our conversation with rapt attention. He didn’t even notice I was looking at him until Missy turned around and looked him in the eye. “Would you like to join our conversation?”
He blushed scarlet, mumbled an apology, and disappeared immediately. I laughed, shaking my head at my friend. “Poor guy.”
“He was actually kind of cute… Maybe I should follow him over there and offer him a blowjob.”
“You are too much.”
“What?” she asked. “All this talk of sex has put me in the mood. But I can’t say I’ll be as lucky as you.”
“What do you mean?”
“Do you know how rare it is to find a guy who can make you cum so often?”
“Is it?”
Missy raised her eyebrows. “Um…yeah. I’ve slept with five or six guys in the last few years, and only two of them have been able to make me cum. And, it wasn’t easy to do.”
“Oh…”
“Urgh, it almost makes me wish that I had slept with a few of my professors,” Missy said, looking annoyed at herself. “Maybe there’s still time.”
I laughed. “You do have a semester left.”
“Maybe there’s something to be said for dating an older man,” Missy nodded.
I laughed. “He’s not exactly an ‘older’ man. He’s only twenty-nine.”
“Which is still eight years older than you,” she pointed out. “Which means he has a hell of a lot more experience. Plus, he looks like a player.”
I frowned. “You think?”
“Come on,” she said. “You don’t get that confident for no reason. The boy’s got some skills.”
“I suppose you’re right,” I nodded. “I just… It’s weird for me to think about him with other women.”
“So don’t think about it,” she suggested.
“I keep waiting for things to change,” I admitted.
Missy looked up. “What do you mean?”
“I keep waiting for him to get bored with me.”
She gave me a comforting smile. “If he does, it’s his loss.”
“Yeah…” I replied uncertainly.
“Nat?” Her tone was serious.
“Yes?”
“What exactly are your expectations for this relationship?”
“I don’t know exactly.”
“You like him?”
“So, so much,” I nodded. “Maybe even a little too much.”
“Manage your expectations, hon,” Missy said gently. “You don’t want to be too heartbroken when things end.”
Missy had said “when,” not “if,” and I noticed. I knew that I needed to get into that mindset, too. It was unrealistic to assume that Chance and I would last forever. I didn’t want to be one of those girls who expected too much before anything had even really happened. We were just dating at the moment, and I wasn’t even sure if we were dating exclusively. In any case, I was too scared to ask.
Just then, I heard a text message alert from my phone, and I rushed to check if it was Chance. The number was an unknown one, however, and I opened it curiously.
“Chance?” Missy asked.
“No…unknown number.”
“Oh?”
I looked down and read the text message. It read, “Hi, Natalie. It’s been some time since we’ve spoken, and I suppose I miss not talking to you. I have tickets to a concert this weekend, and I was hoping you would join me? Maybe we could even grab a late-night dinner afterward. Please say yes. Love, Jason.”
“Nat?” Missy asked, coming forward. “Something wrong?”
“The text,” I said, looking up at Missy. “It’s from Jason.”
“Oh, I wasn’t aware he had your number.”
“I wasn’t either,” I said, feeling slightly uncomfortable. “I have no idea how he got it.”
Missy frowned. “That’s weird.”
“He’s weird,” I said.
She read the message over my shoulder. “He misses not talking to you? I thought you never really spoke to him much?”
“I didn’t,” I said. “I mean, I don’t. We’ve spoken for like two minutes after class, and I’m always trying hard to get away from him. He seemed nice at first, but then…”
“Yeah?”
“I don’t know…there’s something creepy about him.”
“He sounds like the stalker type,” she said. “I’d steer clear if I were you.”
“That’s what I’ve been doing,” I said. “Apparently, he still hasn’t gotten the message, and it’s starting to bug me now.”
“Just text back and say you’re not interested,” she said.
I sent Jason a short but polite text back, informing him that I was busy and completely not interested, hoping that he would finally give up on me.
“I hope that’s the last time I’ll have to turn him down,” I said, staring down at my phone.
“You could always file a complaint against him,” Missy suggested.
“No,” I said quickly. “I don’t think that’s necessary. He’s probably just socially awkward. Maybe he doesn’t realize how creepy he seems. And anyway, he hasn’t approached me since that day Chance chased him off. I don’t want to be a bitch.”
“Well, don’t be too nice, either,” Missy said. “Some guys don’t understand polite.”
I sighed and looked down at my phone. There was no reply yet, and I hoped I wouldn’t get one. A part of me still wanted to know how he had got my number, but I decided to let it go.
“You okay?” Missy asked.
“Yeah…sure,” I nodded, shaking off my worry. “I’m great, actually. I have a date to get ready for.”
“You lucky bitch,” she laughed, and I couldn’t help but agree.