Dinner was amazing. Kingsley had insisted I order the most expensive thing the menu and practically balked when I tried to pay. He told me that his father held meetings there all the time and we put dinner on his tab.
We were about to pull up to the dorms when Kingsley spoke up. “So, do you want to come back to my room? We can watch some TV or just talk.”
My face flushed because I knew what he was asking. He wanted to have sex. My heart raced and I thought of something to say that didn’t sound like a brush off. But before I had a chance to get any words out, he took my hand. Then he leaned forward and kissed my knuckles softly.
“I see the hamster wheel turning in your head. I really just want to spend some more time with you. No pressure. As much as I want to be with you in that way, I can wait until you’re ready.”
And just like that, my heart soared. He got me. I leaned forward, placed my hand gently on the side of his face, and kissed him. “I’d love to go to your room.”
Kingsley smiled brightly and then pulled into a parking spot. As we were going up to his dorm, Kingsley was rubbing circles on the back of my hand with his thumb. It was actually really comforting. I bit my lip and looked up at him. I wasn’t ready to go all the way, but I wanted to kiss him again and I couldn’t wait.
“I think I need a pit stop,” I said, leaning against the wall.
He looked at me, confused, until I grabbed his jacket, pulling him into me. Kingsley grinned and pressed against me hard. It was a passionate kiss as he slid his hand up my side and stopped at my breast. He lightly stroked my nipple with his thumb and I shivered with anticipation. It felt so good and I wasn’t ready for him to stop. I didn’t even care that we were in the middle of a hallway. Who would have thought I’d be all right with exhibitionism?
A soft moan escaped my lips as he groped my breast. I pulled him tighter against me as if the slight space between us was too much. Then we heard it.
“Damn, Kingsley, at least wait until you get her back to your room!”
I froze because I knew that voice. My eyes closed and I prayed this was a sick dream, because if that voice was there, then it was an almost guarantee that a certain someone was standing there too.
“Kyle, you know how it is. Sometimes you can’t wait, and with this one, I sure as hell don’t want to.” Kingsley had stepped away from me and turned to look at the guys.
Against my better judgment, I looked and saw Kyle and Jason standing in the hallway. Embarrassment flowed through me as if my dad had just walked in on us. “I’d better go,” I murmured, and turned on my heel to head to the door leading out into the courtyard between dorm buildings.
“I’ll walk you,” Kingsley told me, and draped his arm around me.
“No, it’s okay. You’re already here. I’m just gonna go. Text me later?” I asked—almost begged—him.
“Of course.” He gave me a light kiss and then turned around.
I practically ran out into the courtyard and refused to stop when I heard Jason calling my name.
Finally, he grabbed my arm and turned me around. “Annabelle, what are you doing with that guy? You told me you weren’t going out with him.”
“I just wanted to see if there was anything between us before I rejected him.”
“Well, a few minutes ago, there wasn’t anything between you two since he was all over you.”
“We were kissing. Since when is that a crime?”
“You may have been just kissing, but he was doing a lot whole more than that.”
My face flushed bright red and embarrassment flowed through me. “You weren’t meant to see that.”
“Then maybe you shouldn’t have been doing it in the hallway. It’s like you were trying to piss me off or something.” He threw his arms in the air and took a few steps away from me.
“What? Why are you making this about you? I went out with Kingsley because I like him. He makes me feel good, and pretty, and appreciated. Why is that such a bad thing?”
“Because you lied to me about it.”
“And I’m sorry. I was just—”
“I know, you were just trying to hook up with a hot guy.”
I jammed my finger into his chest. “You listen here, I am not with him just to hook up, and how dare you say that. I’m not the kind of girl to do that.”
“From what I saw in the hallway, you could have fooled me.”
“You know what, Jason, you don’t get a say in who I date. You know why? Because you have a girlfriend. I’m sorry she doesn’t have time for you anymore, but that’s not my fault.”
His face changed and he nodded slightly. “So that’s what you think. Thanks for making it so clear to me. As your friend, because that’s what I thought we were, I was just trying to look out for you. Next time, I’ll know better than to get involved. In fact, I’ll just stay out of your way.” He turned around and headed back to his dorm.
I collapsed on the closest bench and tried to calm down. That was harsh. I really didn’t mean to say that, but it just came out. Why couldn’t Jason see that Kingsley was actually interested in me? Was it such a strange idea for a guy to want to spend time with me? I was the one who had pushed things to get physical. He had no right to get involved in any of this. Yet, there he was, just assuming the worst of me.
After I took a few deep breaths, I took my phone out and called Violet.
“Oh my god! It’s about time. The date must have been great.”
“It was until we got back. He invited me back to his room, and while we were heading there, we kissed and Kyle and Jason saw it. Then Jason and I got in a huge fight and he said some awful things to me and then I said some even worse things back. It was just a mess.”
“Right, hold on a second.” Violet was whispering with Berneli but I really couldn’t hear what she said.
“How do you feel about a sleepover?”
“No. Berneli just came back and I don’t want you to come back.”
“How about if you come here? You can take me back to school in the morning and we can talk about what happened and watch the dating show on David’s flat screen.”
I heard Berneli groan in the background and I had to laugh a little. Here was this serious literature professor about to have to watch reality television while his girlfriend’s best friend cried on her shoulder. I doubted this was what he had in mind when he planned a quiet night in for the two of them.
“I really don’t want to bother you guys. I’m sure there are several other things you’d rather be doing tonight.” Violet was more or less a sex addict and I knew she needed her fix.
“Yeah, we already did that, twice, so you’re good for another couple hours.”
“Speak for yourself,” Berneli quipped in the background.
“Annabelle, you were there for me last night, so let me be there for you now. Let’s get you off campus and away from those awful boys and into a new carton of ice cream that David just volunteered to go pick up.”
“By volunteered you mean that you just volunteered for him, right?”
“When you get in a relationship, you’ll understand how volunteering your man for things is the right you get for giving blow jobs.”
***
Fifteen minutes later, I was in the car on the way to Berneli’s apartment. It felt really weird, and I was pretty sure there was no way it wasn’t going to be unbelievably awkward. Even though he and Violet had been together for months, I’d still never really hung out with him. They only did things together and in closed off spaces, to minimize the chance of anyone finding out about them. It wasn’t like they hosted game night every Thursday.
But if he was going to be in her life, I’d have to start looking at him in a different way. I knocked on the apartment door and Violet eagerly opened it.
“Hi, honey,” she greeted, and handed me a drink.
“Um, what’s in this?” I didn’t like to drink alcohol and thought Violet knew that.
“It’s either vodka, rum, tequila, and bourbon, or a cup of ginger ale.”
“Ha-ha,” I said before smelling the drink. Realizing it was soda, I took a big a sip. She did know me. Ginger ale was my favorite.
“So, I called Jason,” she started, and my face fell. Of course she called Jason. I felt a little betrayed but I knew why she did it.
“What? Is this going to be one of those awful intervention things where he comes out of the bedroom and you make us talk until we are friends again?”
“Um, no, but you need to stop watching so much TV. I just wanted to hear his side of the story. From what he says, you were practically having sex in the hallway,” she relayed, giving me a judgmental look.
I rolled my eyes and put my drink down. “You do know that he’s full of crap, right? That’s not what happened.”
“That’s a shame. I kind of liked that part.”
“Shut up,” I said, trying not to smile. “No, he was just sort of feeling me up.” I buried my head in my hands. This was so embarrassing to talk about.
“Under the shirt or over it?”
“Over it. My hands were around his neck and he had pressed me against the wall.”
Violet nodded and a wide grin formed on her face. “Okay, Miss Thing.”
“But that’s not the point. I was embarrassed they caught us kissing, and of course he knew I was lying about the date and he got upset and then I got upset. It was a disaster.”
“Well, I—”
“Don’t you dare say you told me so,” I interjected.
“Well, what did you expect to happen? You did lie.”
“I know, but he had no right to get involved in my relationship. I don’t say anything to his face about how ridiculous his relationship with Janice is.”
“No, you’re right, you don’t, and he shouldn’t be butting in, but are you really surprised?”
“When you told him about Berneli, Jason didn’t say anything negative, right?”
“He warned me to be careful. Wasn’t that kinda what he was doing with you?”
“No, he flat out told me that it was a bad idea to date Kingsley. It’s different.”
“So, Annabelle, I hope you don’t mind, but Violet told me what happened and I have an opinion,” Berneli offered, walking in from the bedroom.
“Uh, sure, what do you think is going on?”
“Well, it’s really both of our opinions, but David kind of confirmed it for me,” Violet piped in.
“Well, yes, but I’ve thought it for a while now. Even before the fight,” Berneli added. “I’ve seen you all around at EET for a semester and heard stories about you from Violet. It wasn’t hard to deduce.”
“Well, maybe one of you could share it with me and then we’d all know.”
“Ah, yes,” Berneli began. “So we think the reason Jason got so upset about you and Kingsley is because he’s in love with you.”