Breathe Into Me (2 page)

“What? The one in the blue is super cute.” She shrugged and turned back to face me again, popping a potato chip into in her mouth.

Glancing back to the table I could see the one in the blue was actually quite attractive with his dirty blond hair styled to look like he had just crawled out bed. His blue shirt was a perfect match to his eyes, eyes that were currently starting straight at the back of Jessi’s head.

I slightly raised my chin in his direction and lowered my voice, “Well, I think you made a fan over there. He hasn’t stopped looking at you.”

Jessi glanced over her shoulder. She and Mr. Blue Shirt exchanged smiles before she suddenly stood and made her way toward him. This didn’t surprise me at all. Jessi has never had a shy bone in her body. We used to be alike in that aspect, but my past had changed me so much. It was hard to be around people after the incident, with all their stares and whispers. I began to seclude myself and everyone found that to be just fine. No one went out of their way to talk to me and I pretty much kept to myself, with the exception of Jessi. But finally being here at college, hundreds of miles away from that place and all its history, maybe there was hope that I would be able to find my way back to the person I used to be.

While Jessi flirted, I plucked at the label on my water bottle until I heard the door chime signaling someone had come in. Out of habit, I look up to see a nice set of broad shoulders in a tight black t-shirt. My eyes slowly slid down his body to his muscular arms—arms that were covered from his wrist up, disappearing under his shirt, in tattoos. I’d never really given much thought to tattoos before, but here in this moment … I couldn’t think of anything hotter.

I watched him walk over to the table Jessi’s new friend and the other guys were occupying. Mr. Blue Shirt saw him coming and stood to give him one of those weird guy-handshake-hug things. When he finished greeting the rest of the guys, he grabbed a chair from a nearby table and sat down.

Spinning the black ball cap he was wearing around to the back, the tattooed guy slid his aviators down his nose and our eyes connected for a moment before he continued his conversation with the rest of the table. I hadn’t miss the fact that he had the most blinding set of gray eyes I had ever seen. These weren’t just gray; they were almost silver. It was almost as if they shined. I had never in all my life seen a set of eyes like his. I had been so distracted by his eyes that I didn’t notice Jessi walking back to our table until she started waving her hand in front of my face.

“Earth to Kelsey. You ready to get outta here?”

“Uh—yeah, yeah. I was just waiting on you,” I lied. I was still distracted by those tattoos and eyes.

“Well, come on. Let’s get out of here,” she said, pulling me from my seat and toward the exit. I chanced a glance over my shoulder and found a set of gray eyes watching me as I walked out the door.

We explored the campus the rest of the afternoon and made sure we knew where all our classes were, and the quickest route to the little coffee stands in between each class, before heading back to the dorm. On the walk back, I took in all my new surroundings. The campus really was beautiful. The sidewalks were lined with colorful flowers, and there were sparsely placed trees throughout the courtyard. I found that most of the classes were held in the older buildings while the majority of the dorms were in the newer ones. You could tell they built the newer buildings to match the older ones with their high pillars and light red brick exterior.

I was surprised campus wasn’t all that crowded yet. We had wanted to come as early as possible today and get settled in so we could take the afternoon to explore campus and get a feel for things before classes started on Monday. But with yesterday being the first day students were allowed to move into the dorms, my guess was people would start showing up this afternoon or early tomorrow morning. Jessi’s parent’s anniversary had fallen on the weekend that we were able to move in, and since it was the two of us we figured we could handle the move ourselves. Jessi’s mom, Carol, wasn’t thrilled about missing out on helping us decorate our dorm, but her dad, Jay, had planned a surprise trip for their 25th anniversary months ago and there was no way we were letting them miss it just to help us get settled.

I was glad we had made the decision to come a little earlier so that I had an extra day to get all the books and supplies I might need. My course load was pretty heavy but nothing I couldn’t handle. I knew it was going to be hard and would take a lot of dedication but that’s what I was here for.

When we had fully explored every part of the campus, we headed back to the dorm. The car ride here had been the most uncomfortable five hours of my life due to the fact that I had to scoot my seat up as far to the dash as possible to allow enough room in the back seat for all of Jessi’s crap. So to say I was tired and in need of a catnap was an understatement.

I couldn’t stop yawning while we waited for the elevator. “I think I’m going to crash when we get to the room.” I covered my mouth as yet another yawn escaped me.

“Better make that a power nap. We’re going out tonight,” she replied with a mischievous smile.

“Seriously, Jess? It’s our first night here. Can’t we just have tonight to lie around and be lazy?” I was not feeling like having a night out. Truthfully, all I wanted to do was throw on some sweats and sleep until tomorrow morning.

“Well you see, here’s there thing. You know the hottie from the café? Well, he asked me to meet him at some bar tonight called Shot’s.”

I rolled my eyes. “This involves me how? And why did you wait so long to tell me? You have had all afternoon to let me know that you were planning this bar rendezvous yet you wait until now?”

“I didn’t want to fight about it all afternoon.” She shrugged. “I knew you would be all, ‘No I think I will just stay at the dorm’ and don’t you give me that look! You know it’s the truth!”

She had a point. It would have been a fight all afternoon—her trying to convince me to go, me being stubborn and saying no.

“Please, Kels, please? Do this for me?” she begged.

How could I say no to her? She was my best friend and had been there with me every step of the way through the worst times in my life. Always dropping anything she was doing to make sure she was there for me if I needed her. Going so far as canceling some of her own dates just so I wouldn’t have to sit at home alone, and all she was asking me to do was pull the stick out of my ass and enjoy a night out with her.

“All right, fine. But I still want my nap! You and all your crap had me in the dash for five hours so you owe me that much.”

I wasn’t sure if she even heard the rest of my sentence because as soon as I said fine she squealed and did a little jump right there in the dorm lobby. I held back my laugh at her excitement over this. Was it really that hard to believe I would agree? Had I really became that much of a sour puss?

We stepped inside when the elevator doors finally opened, and Jess pushed the button to our floor. Maybe tonight would be just what I needed. Lord knows I could use some fun in my life.

When we made it back to our dorm room, I rid myself of my jeans and threw on some sweats. I was beyond tired but found that sleep wasn’t coming as easily as I thought it would. My bed with its nice, cool sheets had only brought me back to a cool set of gray eyes. Would I ever be able to forget them? This was all so crazy to me; here I was lying in bed daydreaming about a stranger. How much more stalker could I get? But it was true, those eyes would forever be burned into my brain and I drifted off to sleep still thinking about them.

“Kelsey! Wake up!” I couldn’t understand why my bed was shaking so much and for a minute I thought there was an earthquake. But, no, it was just Jessi hovering over me, shaking the mattress with her tiny arms. To be so little, she sure was a strong one.

“I’m up! Now stop shaking me before I get motion sickness and throw up all over your pretty little outfit.”

Of course Jessi was already dressed. She was wearing her tiny black shorts that she swore made her butt look perfect, and her blood red halter top that had her girls on full display. Her makeup was fixed to perfection, like always. Jessi could do a smokey eye like no one’s business, and it made her green eyes pop.

Looking at the clock I saw it was already 9:30 P.M. and we had been planning to leave around 10:00 P.M. That only left me thirty minutes to get ready. I was going to kill her for letting me sleep so late!

“Jess! It’s already 9:30! How could you let me sleep that long?”

Shrugging, she turned around to the mirror to put yet another coat of gloss on her perfectly plump lips. “I was trying to let you rest. Then I got distracted by what I should wear.”

Perfect. Just perfect. I hated getting ready in a rush.

“Jessi, how in the world am I going to get ready in thirty minutes? Maybe we should just stay in tonight,” I said as I pulled the covers back up around my neck and rolled to face the wall.

“Come on Kels. I told that guy I would meet him there. He’s gorgeous too. You saw him! I can’t just stand him up.” She pouted.

I really was torn. While I wanted to go and try to have a good time, I had become so accustomed to staying in and letting Jessi go do her own thing, but I couldn’t just let her go to a bar all by herself. This was a new town. We didn’t know anyone else here. So I grumpily sat up in my bed and sighed. “Fine, let me throw something on real quick. Since I obviously won’t have time to get all dolled up like you.”

“YES! That’s my girl! Here, let me help you pick something out,” she said as she went to her closet and began to dig around. “No matter what you wear you’re gonna look hot, girl. You could wear those old nasty sweats and tank you have on now and the boys would still be falling at your feet.”

I rolled my eyes. I wouldn’t consider myself ugly, but I was not all that attractive. I had my mom’s lean body and long, light brown hair that always had a nice curl on the ends so I never really had to worry about styling it too much.

Looking down at my sweats, I actually considered keeping them on for the night. They may be stained, but they were the most comfortable pair I owned and I would never part with them. The stains were actually from when Jessi and I painted the spare bedroom in her house where I’d lived these last six years. For the first couple years I lived in that room, I refused to change anything. Not the wall color, not the pale flowery bedspread that screamed guestroom … nothing. It wasn’t my home. Not to me anyway.

It wasn’t until my sixteenth birthday that Jessi and her mom surprised me with a trip to the hardware store and Bed Bath and Beyond for all the supplies to make that room my own. I told them it wasn’t necessary. That I wanted them to still be able to lend out the room to family that would come in from out of town, but they insisted that the room was mine and mine alone. That it was time that I started living like a member of their family, and not a guest.

The bedspread I bought that day was the one I brought with me to college. Being it was only a few years old and finally losing that new bedspread stiffness, I passed when they offered to take me out to buy a new set just for my dorm.

Jessi was still raddling on and I pulled my eyes away from my sweats and their special memories to look at her.

“You’re going to have a great time. Just wait ‘til all the hotties there see you walk in. You’re going to be thanking me by the time we leave and you have a nice piece of man candy to play with.”

“One”—I ticked off on my finger—“I’m not looking for any hotties. Two, I’m just doing my best friend duties and accompanying my promiscuous friend to a bar so that I can be sure she’s not slipped a date rape drug, and carted off to be sold as some sex slave.”

“Sex slave? Really, Kels?” Jessi said, rolling her eyes at me.

I shrugged. “I just call ‘em like I see ‘em.” I finally got up and walked over to her closet to help her find me something to wear. I wanted to look good but I didn’t want to look like I was parading my girls for everyone to see. Jessi and I used to be alike in so many ways except when it came to fashion. Where my fashion tastes were more along the lines of leave-them-guessing hers were a little on the stripper side.