Alex practically pounced on me the moment I got back to our room. “You were gone, like, all day!” she said. “I take it the date went well—or was it one of those really horrible ones that you just can't seem to drag yourself away from?”
I snorted and shook my head. “No, it was actually pretty great,” I told her honestly.
“Just 'pretty great'?” she asked skeptically.
“It was amazing,” I sighed, falling back on my bed, staring up at the ceiling. “We had a delicious breakfast at this little place that he knows in the Financial District, and then we drove out into the mountains and went for a hike up to this really pretty waterfall near Westfall Lake that I've never been to before.”
“Oh wow,” Alex said. “You've lived here all your life and some foreigner is showing you places that you don't know? How does that feel?”
I laughed and chucked a pillow at her, even though those were kind of my thoughts through the whole day. “I don't know how he does it,” I told her. “I thought I knew everything about this city, but somehow, he managed to surprise me. I like that.”
“It's always a good feeling to have,” Alex agreed. “But so other than him being adventurous and whatever, did you guys...get along? I mean, not get along, but… Well, were there any sparks?”
“I don't think I've ever felt this good after a first date before,” I admitted honestly. “We talked about all sorts of things, and he was just...so nice. And he's so ridiculously attractive, but for whatever reason, he seems to really dig me, and-”
Alex groaned. “I can't believe those words just came out of your mouth,” she said. “Of course the guy digs you; you're fucking gorgeous and you know it. Don't pretend like you aren't.”
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, but I don't…” I trailed off, not really ready to tell my roommate that I was, in fact, still a virgin. It wasn't really by choice—it wasn't like I was saving it or anything like that. But all of the guys that had ever really shown interest in me before weren't the kind of guys that I really wanted to have sex with, and if any of the guys I would have wanted to sleep with had actually shown interest in me before, well, I must have been oblivious to their advances.
I was pretty sure that someone like Ben had slept with a handful of people in the last month, and I didn't even want to consider the number of people he might have slept with in his lifetime. It was intimidating, to be honest, and I was sure that as soon as the time came to actually...do things, it was going to get super awkward and he was going to decide that he didn't really want anything more to do with me.
“So you're going to see him again?” Alex asked.
I shrugged. “That's kind of up to him, isn't it? We'll see if he calls.”
Alex groaned and slumped back into her desk chair. “You're ridiculous, you know that? Absolutely ridiculous.”
As it turned out, though, Ben did call.
It was another one of those early-morning calls, although this one came just as I finished lacing up my running shoes. I had programmed his number into my phone from when he had called before, so his name flashed up on the screen.
I frowned, chewing on my bottom lip and trying to decide whether I should answer it. Finally, I decided to.
“Hello?” I answered as I stepped out into the hallway, closing the door carefully behind myself even though I knew I had already managed to wake up Alex, as I seemed to always do.
“Good morning,” Ben said. “I hope I didn't wake you up again? I know you said you usually go running around this time...”
“Yeah, no, I'm actually just on my way out the door,” I said, unable to keep a smile off my face. “What's up?”
“Well, I was just wondering if you'd like some company for that run,” Ben said. “I always find that I push myself a bit more when I'm running with someone.”
I blinked and then shrugged a little, even though I knew he couldn't see the shrug over the phone. “Yeah, sure,” I said. I had never really had strong feelings one way or the other about running with other people. Of course, there were some people I hated running with—like the girls who only ran infrequently and just slowed me down—but even running with someone who matched my pace, I didn't really care about. When I was running, I was in the zone in my head, listening to music and not really focusing on anything.
That said, the idea of running with Ben made my stomach do a strange little flip.
“Cool,” Ben said. “I'll meet you out front in five minutes.”
I made my way down the stairs and started stretching, taking a little extra time because I didn't actually think he was going to show up in five minutes. The fact that he had…
“You were coming over here before you even called me,” I accused.
Ben grinned sheepishly. “Yeah, well, I figured if you weren't interested, I'd just park over in the arboretum and have a run there on my own. And I didn't want to call you too early because I don't know what your morning routine is and I didn't want to wake you up early by accident, so I kind of left it until last minute, when I knew you must already be awake.”
I shook my head. “I kind of appreciate that,” I said. “Although it almost sounds a bit...stalkerish.”
“Hey!” Ben said.
I stuck my tongue out at him and then, without warning, took off down the road. With Ben's longer legs, though, it wasn't long before he caught up. We ran side by side up through campus. But where I would have turned off to head over into the arboretum, Ben led us around to the right, behind campus and up a steep hill.
When we got to the top, I was panting for breath. I was in shape; I ran nearly every day, but I usually stuck to flatter places. Running up hills was a challenge that I wasn't really prepared for.
“Sorry,” Ben said when we reached the top and he saw how winded I was. “Probably pushed things a little too far there, hmm?”
“Yeah, I see what you mean about pushing it when you're running with someone else,” I said with a grimace.
“Are you all right, though?”
“Yeah,” I said, shaking my head. “I'm not stupid; if it was too difficult, I wouldn't have kept pace with you the whole way. Just give me a moment to catch my breath and...” I trailed off, suddenly catching a glimpse of the view back over the city. “Oh wow.”
Ben grinned, looking proud of himself. “Wow,” he agreed. “Have you ever been up here before?”
I shook my head. “Usually I stick to the trails behind the arboretum if I'm looking to go up hills,” I told him.
From our current vantage point, the whole city was spread out beneath us. I hadn't realized how high we had climbed, although I supposed it made sense given how tired I was after the hill. But we were looking down at jets that were taking off from the airport to the north of the city. And it felt like you could see forever from up there.
“Yeah, I found this a few years ago,” Ben said. “It's been one of my favorite runs ever since. Especially on a good day, it's just..breathtaking. There's some great camping up on this side of the national park, too—and mostly untouched, because like you said, most people stick to the trails back behind the arboretum.”
I laughed a little. “I honestly can't even remember the last time I went camping,” I confessed. “I must have been about ten or so.”
Ben gaped at me. “You're missing out,” he finally said.
“Yeah, I'm sure you do so much camping in England,” I said, rolling my eyes, even though I honestly didn't know what camping in England might be like.
“Well, no,” Ben said, smiling at me, “but that's mostly because I haven't lived in England for about six years now.”
“What made you come over here anyway?” I asked curiously. I assumed it had to do with the whole work thing; maybe this was a way to get him to open up about that.
Ben smirked at me, though. “The beautiful women,” he said.
Before I could reply to that—or even start to feel offended and jealous, maybe—he took off sprinting back down the hill, and I had to push myself to even come close to keeping up with him.