Beautiful Sky (3 page)

“Oh my god Sky, he was looking right at you, he’s so hot!”  She was shouting at the top of her lungs.

I was totally lost in the music and it was a mixture between rock and a couple of ballads.  His fingers glided over the taut strings of his guitar and he made the room vibrate.  The band played for 45 minutes and then took a quick five minute break.  I was getting sweaty and thirsty from all of my jumping around and dancing so Katie and I quickly ran into the hall to get a few sips of water from the water fountain since the vending machines were mobbed.  By the time we got there at least 30 other people had the same idea, so we had to wait.  I heard the band starting again as we were still waiting in line and I was dying to get back inside to see Mr. Gorgeous.  The band was not just good, they were awesome and I would have paid money to see them perform at a stadium.

“Katie, that band is amazing!”

“Aren’t they awesome?  I guess they play all over Massachusetts, that’s what Jenn told me.  How about that hottie lead singer?”

“I
know
, right?  He’s gorgeous!”

“I’ll have to get all of the info on him because I think he likes you, he couldn’t take his eyes off of you Sky!”

“Oh please, he’s a the lead singer of a band, they’re supposed to make every girl in the room feel like she’s the only one.  Yeah, he looked at me, but he looked at you and a hundred other girls.  That’s what they
do
.  I’m sure a guy like that is beating girls off with a stick, in fact, I bet I can guarantee it.  But he is gorgeous
and
he can sing, I’ll give him that!”

We both erupted in giggles as we moved our way closer to the drinking fountain.  Katie stomped her foot and whined as she heard them finish a song.  “Oh man, we’re going to miss the show!  Can you guys please hurry?”

A few seconds later the ice cold water slid down my throat, quenching my thirst, and then it was Katie’s turn.  She gulped down a few sips and we ran back to the concert and made our way as close as we could to the front.  Our perfect spot was gone so we just started dancing and continued to enjoy the concert.  The band played a few more songs and then they called it a night.  It was a short concert, not the kind they usually played, because it was a quick treat for new and returning students who showed up the first day.

Mr. Gorgeous thanked everyone for coming and told us he’d see us at the Fall Festival in a few weeks.  That was a campus-wide event that took place over a weekend right after our first trimester finals.  I made a mental note to be at that concert and I wasn’t going to miss it for anything.

Katie and I met up with the rest of the girls and we all made our way back to the dorm and everyone came to hang out in our room for a bit.  We were all gushing over the lead singer and as I sat there I realized that I sounded like a groupie.  Every girl in that room felt the way I did about him and I didn’t like that.  I decided it was best just to keep my feelings to myself because I didn’t want to be lumped in with everybody else.  He obviously had a ton of girls after him and I was not going to jump on that bandwagon.  Yeah, he was hot, but I was sure that he knew that and he was probably super conceited.  Guys who looked like that usually were.  Oh well, I would just have to enjoy the band from a distance, and that was fine with me.  I had no room in my heart for a guy at that time anyway.  But I had to admit that the concert that night was a welcome distraction and it made me even more excited about college.

The next day passed in a blur as I tried to get acclimated around campus and figure out where all of my classes were going to be the following week.  There was still a lot of chaos on campus as the rest of the students arrived that day.  After dinner I took a short nap and Katie woke me right before the meeting.  Our dorm was having its first meeting that night and we were all supposed to meet in the lounge area in the lobby at 8:00.  Our entire dorm was gathered in the lounge, some sitting and some leaning against the wall, and it was really awesome to be able to get a look at everyone. 

We were in one of the smaller dorms so there were about 100 people in ours.  Not to sound conceited, I was the furthest thing from it, but when I looked around I noticed that there were not very many pretty girls in the room.  Katie and I were easily the most attractive girls in the dorm.  Not that it meant anything, I just noticed that Katie with her sun kissed blonde hair and perfect tan and me with my nearly jet black hair and olive skin, stood out among the crowd.  I was chatting with Jenn when out of the corner of my eye I saw the
really
cute guy from Frisbee walk in; I mean he was drop dead gorgeous and I heard a scatter of excited whispers from the girls in the room.  He must have been at least 6’1”, he had dark hair and dark eyes, and had that chiseled jaw thing going on.  I could barely breathe as I watched him walk over to a bunch of the guys.

“Jenn, who is that super hot guy?”  I whispered so that no one else could hear me. 

I saw her glance at him and noticed the gleam in her eye when she realized who I was looking at.  “That’s the lead singer of the band!”  She whispered in a frantic, excited tone.

I froze as I realized Mr. Gorgeous was in the same room as me, and I could barely breathe.  Suddenly he was standing in front of us addressing the room and the sound of his voice snapped me out of my daze.

“Okay guys, we’re going to get started!  My name is Jonathan Hunter, and I will be your R.A. this year.  We hope that you are all starting to settle in and you are beginning to find your way around campus.  You will have your individual meeting with me later this week.  It’s no big deal, just a few minutes to tell me a little bit about yourself and what you hope to accomplish this year.” 

Wait,
what
?  Mr. Gorgeous, Mr. Hottie, Mr. Lead Singer was our
Resident Advisor
?  I had to literally silently tell myself to remain calm.  I hated to admit it but I was on pins and needles waiting to hear more, and as I glanced around the room I noticed that several other girls looked as eager as I felt to hear more of what he had to say.  He went on to tell us all of the happenings on campus that week and then he had all of us go around and briefly introduce ourselves. “I’ll start.  Like I said, I’m Jonathan, and I am from Manhattan.”

A kind of quiet appreciation fell over the room as the girls seemed to literally swoon.  His velvety deep voice was even sexier than the voice I’d heard the night before.

I didn’t hear anyone else after he spoke and his name kept playing over and over in my head until I felt Katie nudge me.  I snapped out of my reverie and was completely confused as to why she was nudging me repeatedly until I glanced around the room and noticed that everyone was staring at me. 
Oh my gosh!  It’s my turn!

I felt so silly and I could feel my cheeks burning as I’m sure they turned crimson red with all eyes on me.  I tried to play it off and act like I wasn’t as flustered as I felt.

I waved my hand, in a short wave, to the room.  “Hi, I’m Skylar Miller and I am from Chicago.”

I felt relieved when my turn was over and I was just beginning to relax a bit when Mr. Gorgeous caught me off guard.

“City or suburbs?”  His eyes had me spellbound and for just a second, there was no one else in the room.  I couldn’t believe he was actually talking to me! 

“City, right in the middle of it all.”

“Me too.”  His eyes held mine and the heat between us was palpable.

The room was silent for a little bit too long and I could feel all eyes on us.  Thankfully he kept it moving by having Jenn, who was sitting on the other side of me, pick up where I left off.  

Katie leaned over and whispered to me so that no one else could hear her.  “What was that all about with Mr. Hottie?”

“I have no idea, but he is so gorgeous isn’t he?”  My voice had a bit of a lilt when I talked about him and it was really hard to hide my excitement.

“He is beautiful!  I told you he’s into you Sky.”  She gently leaned into me, nudging me, as her words hung in the air.

“No, he was just being nice.”  I tried to sound nonchalant as I shot down her suggestion, but I secretly hoped that it was true, and then silently scolded myself. 
This is not part of the plan!

“Oh really?  Then why can’t he take his eyes off of you?”

I glanced in his direction and his eyes were fixated on me.  I normally wasn’t a shy person, but I suddenly felt very shy with him totally staring at me for the second time in as many days. 
Oh my gosh, he is so hot!
  I tore my eyes away from his when I realized that everyone was getting up and leaving the room.

Katie was chatting with a girl next to her and Jenn was talking with a guy next to her so we were all still sitting on the ground.  I wanted to get a snack from the vending machine, so I got up and told Katie I would see her back in our room.  As I walked toward the stairs, Jonathan was standing there.  My heart was hammering against my chest and my mouth went completely dry, as I got closer to him.  I had to stop myself from turning around to look behind me to see who he was looking at because those gorgeous eyes were trained right on me.  He smiled at me and I swear it felt like all time had stopped as I walked up to him. 
Don’t get sucked in Sky, he probably is like this with every new girl he meets
.

“Hi, Skylar right?” 
Are you kidding me with that gorgeous face? 

“Hi, yeah, but my friends call me Sky.  It’s Jonathan, right?  Weren’t you in the band I saw last night?” 
I am weak
.  Everything I told myself about guys went flying out the window.

He smiled at me and I don’t know that I’d ever seen anyone more beautiful.   “Yeah, that was me.  How did you like it?”

“You guys were amazing, I had a really good time.”  I smiled at him.

“Good, I’m glad.  I’ve been singing with them since we were all freshmen and I’m hoping that we still sounded decent.”

“Honestly Jonathan, I’ve been to a ton of concerts and seen a ton of bands, and you guys were easily one of the top three that I’ve seen.”

“Hmmm, top three, huh?  What do we have to do to be number one?”

I was so tongue-tied I didn’t know what to say.  I was actually standing there talking to the lead singer of Sonic Blaze and easily the most gorgeous guy I had ever seen, and I was a frozen mess.  I never thought a guy to get to me like he did.  It must have shown on my face because Jonathan looked concerned.

“Hey, I’m just teasing you.  It means a lot that you think we’re top three, especially since you live in a big city.  I’m sure you’ve seen some really cool bands in Chicago.”

Him saying that put me at ease and thankfully my brain started to work again.  “Yeah, seriously, I thought you guys were really good and I can’t wait to see you guys again at Fall Festival.”

“We play at a spot in town every other Friday if you want to check us out sooner.  I’ll let you know the schedule as soon as we get it.”

“Okay, cool, thanks.” 
This cannot really be happening right now.

“So Skylar, your friends call you Sky, huh?”

“Um, yeah.”  I didn’t know where he was going with that.

“Well, maybe if you let me become your friend I can call you Sky also.”  There was a bit of a twinkle in his eye and he was so incredibly adorable.

I smiled at him.  “I think there could possibly be a very good chance of that.”  I normally was not the flirtatious type but I couldn’t help myself, he was so good-looking!

He grinned and had the most perfect smile.  “Oh
really
?  Awesome.  So, college isn’t so bad so far, huh?  Which floor are you on?”

“It’s pretty cool so far.  I’m on this one, the first floor. Which floor are you on?”

“I am one floor down, the guys nicknamed it the dungeon.”

“It can’t be that bad.”  I felt so comfortable talking with him, it was as if we had known each other forever.  But I had to admit it was really hard not to gawk at his beautiful face.

“Nah, it’s really not, I actually like it. It’s so different from what I’m used to.”

“Oh really? And what are you used to?”  My curiosity was getting the best of me and I hoped I didn’t sound like I was prying.

I saw a shift in his eyes and he looked visibly uncomfortable and then completely changed the subject. 
Okay, guess he doesn't want to share that info, at least not yet.

“So how long have you lived in Chicago?”  His voice was pure butter as his gorgeous dark eyes held mine.

I found myself tongue-tied again and realized that I was staring at him and not saying anything when I heard him say my name.

“Skylar?”

I snapped out of it and shook off my embarrassment.  “Oh, right, sorry!  Um, all my life.  We’ve always lived in the city.  And you?  How long have you lived in New York?”

“Same.  All my life.”

“Have you always lived in Manhattan?”

“We have.  It’s pretty cool.  I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else.”  He paused as his eyes roamed over my hair and settled in my eyes.