Just A Kiss Chapter 8

WitFit Word Prompt-Calculate

Without skipping a beat or taking his eyes off of me, he smiles even bigger and says…

“No thanks.  I already have plans.”

“If you’ll excuse me,” he says, hitching his bat bag up higher on his shoulder and walking around the skank, over to me.

The skank is disgusted at having been blown off and I’m…just…stunned.  Yes.  Stunned is the word.  I have no breath.  I have no actions.  I’m just a gaping, gasping…gah!

“Hi,” he murmurs with a shy smile.

“Hi?” I squeak.  God I’m an idiot.  “I mean…sigh…yeah…hi.”  My hand automatically raises to my cheek because I can feel the blush spreading.  I swear to God if I were any more shy around this boy it would be a freakin’ handicap.

He chuckles as his eyes follow the path of my hand.

“So…would you…maybe…want to have dinner with me?” 

What?!  Eat?  Like…in front of him?  And then I remember my friends who are waiting for me.

“Um…well, I’m supposed to…” I say, thumbing over my shoulder to where Rosalie and Alice…huh…used to be.

“Looks like you got left,” he teases.  Oh please stop biting your lip.  I already can’t breathe!

I’m going to kill them.  Maybe.

“So…how ‘bout it?”  He’s cute, ducking his head to catch my downcast eyes and smiling like he’s up to something.

Oh, I can’t take it anymore.  There’s really no need to even try to resist, so I give in.

“Okay.”

“Yeah?”  His eyebrows lift as if he wasn’t actually sure I’d say yes. 

“Definitely.”  I’m resolved and… boy needs to know…mama’s all in.

“Good.  Um…how do you feel about pizza?” he asks as he sits to change out of his cleats into tennis shoes.

I giggle.  Silly question.  “Well, being a college kid, it’s kind of one of my main food groups.”

“Oh, yeah,” he chuckles, “right.”

When he’s ready, we leave the stadium and walk side by side through the Quad; his warm, tan arm occasionally brushing against mine, making the tiny hairs stand on end.

He grins.

I grin in return.

Shy looks exchange between us.

Dear Lord we’re so after-school-special it should be a little sickening, but I just can’t help it!  He’s way too cute and just…everything!

At first I think we’re going to join the others at The Caf, but then he veers to the left toward the athletic apartments and I stop abruptly, not really knowing what to do.  Am I’m supposed to follow him or are we’re supposed to go our separate ways for now?

“Um…where are we going?” I ask.

“Oh!  Shit!  I’m sorry.  I thought we could go back to my place and just order some pizza.  Is that okay?  I mean…if it’s not…”

His sudden insecurity is adorable.

“No!  I mean, no, that’s fine.  I just…didn’t know.  I didn’t want to assume,” I say rejoining him.

“It’s just…our conversations keep getting interrupted so I thought this might work a little better?” he says hesitantly.

“I’d like that.  To talk…without…everyone else, I mean.”

He smiles, slow and big.  “Great.  Come on, then.  I’m starving.”

~*~

His apartment is two doors down from Emmett’s and I’m suddenly thankful that they aren’t roommates.  ‘Cause that could be awkward…or at least I hope so…later on.

It’s just like Emmett’s place, only clean.  When you walk in, there’s a common living room and then further back is a small kitchenette.  There are short hallways flanking either side of the living room, both housing a single bedroom and bathroom.

The living room has a black, microfiber sectional couch, a coffee table that looks like it’s made out of pallets and a solitary floor lamp.

“Just…one sec,” he says, turning to set his bat bag down just inside the door of what I assume is his bedroom.  Don’t think about the magic that has probably happened in there.

Scattered on the end of the couch is a Calculus 2 book, notebook, calculator and several pencils.  I glance through the magazines lying on the coffee table; Sports Illustrated, Men’s Health, and…Cosmo?  What the…

“That’s not mine, I swear.  My sister must have left it here,” he says, reaching over my shoulder to try to snatch it from me. 

His chest is warm as it just briefly brushes against my back and his fingers slide against mine.  Instead of giving in and letting him have the magazine, I curl my fingers in even further, gripping it tightly.  Time to test the waters a little bit.

“You mean you don’t read it for the articles?  There are some good ones in there and I happen to know that you wouldn’t be the first guy to want to learn a thing or two.”

He relents and lets go.  “Is that right?” he asks, crossing his-super fantastically corded-forearms across his chest.

Sigh.  They’re even all scuffed with red clay stains.

“Oh, yes.  You learn lots of things working at the library,” I smirk.  

“Well…I…“

He blushes.  He stutters a little.  So cute.  So busted.

 “I’m just kidding with you, Edward.  A little bit anyway.  Now come on.  You invited me here…now feed me!”

“Right,” he sighs.  “Pizza.  What do you like?”

Wouldn’t you like to know?

“Whatever.  I’m not picky.”

~*~

After his shower-dear LORD, he smells so good-and my approved snooping through the movie collection, our pizza arrives and is immediately devoured.  The evening is surprisingly smooth, uncomplicated.  Our conversation is light and filled with newness and complete twitterpation on my part.  With a few lingering looks, eye to eye, and belly laughs from him at some of my jokes, I’m starting to think he feels the same way.

We face each other on the couch, relaxed mirror images with knees touching.  I feel his warmth through his well-worn jeans against my knee cap and I find myself wanting to hop in his lap and curl up like a cat.  Complete with kneading paws to his chest, if I’m being honest.  Le purr.

He tells me about Lucy and how she’s about to graduate in a few months and move back to his hometown to marry her high school sweetheart.

I tell him stories about Emmett and me and the amount of trouble we stayed in with my law enforcement father.

I look at the clock on the microwave in the kitchen and realize that it’s time for me to go.

“I guess I better get going.  I have an early class in the morning,” I say, reluctantly.

He looks over at the time and furrows his eyebrows.  “Wow!  I didn’t realize it was so late.”  He looks back over at me and then down at his lap.  “I feel like you just got here.”

“Yeah…me, too.” 

We slip our shoes on—don’t even get me started on how cute he is in his socked feet—and begin our short walk across campus.

Our arms bump again but this time instead of sharing shy glances, he reaches down and clasps my hand with his, palm to palm, warm and tender.

He is so sweet I want to die.  My stomach is fluttery and my head, foggy.  I’m wide awake and dreaming him.

We reach the dorms and, “This is me,” I say, pulling him back a step, closer to me.  “I had a good time tonight,” I murmur, giving our hands a light swing between us.

His grin is genuine and much more relaxed than it was a few hours ago and I know that mine matches his.

“Me, too.”

Before the silence between us gets awkward I squeeze his hand and then let go, taking a slow step toward my dormitory door.

“Thanks, Edward.  I guess I’ll see you tomorrow?  Study hall?”

He nods his head and as I start to wave goodnight and turn away, he steps forward and grabs my wrist.

“Bella, wait.”

I gasp in surprise as he pulls me closer, until we’re toe to toe.

“I just…”  He clenches his eyes and takes a deep breath.

When he opens them, they are brilliant green and focused.  With his other hand he slides a lock of hair between his fingers and then behind my ear before trailing his fingers over my shoulder and down my arm to my other hand.  I shiver and swallow, hard.

“Goodnight, Bella,” he whispers, squeezing my hand tightly, and then turning and walking away into the warm spring night.