The Story of Us (17 page)

He pulls back to look at me, cupping
my face in his hands. “You are so beautiful,” he whispers in a
husky, rough voice, full of sleep.

“You’re not so bad yourself,” I
respond, smirking.

“I know you said you’ve never… you
know… but I just want you to know that although last night wasn’t a
first for you, it was actually a first for me.”

“What do you mean?” We didn’t do
anything other than make-out. He didn’t try to take it further
because he knew I wasn’t ready.

“I’ve never actually slept with a girl
before.”

“Is that a joke? I know you
have…”

“No. I mean, literally. I’ve never
stayed the night. And I’ve never let a girl stay the
night.”

I ponder that for a moment and then
something dawns on me. “Camping? You were in a tent with two
girls.”

“If you recall, I was wide awake when
you came back from the showers. I was walking around the campground
in complete boredom when you must have gone up to take a shower.
That’s what I did most of the night, just walked around. I slept in
a chair for a bit, but I didn’t sleep in the tent. I don’t feel
comfortable sleeping with girls. Sex, sure. Sleeping,
never.”

I scrunch my brows in confusion. “You
must have been exhausted that next day,” I ponder more to myself
than to him. “Why bring a girl then, if you knew you couldn’t sleep
with her? And how can you possibly do everything else but not feel
comfortable sleeping next to them?”

“Well I brought them because I wanted
the sex. I know that makes me sound like a jerk, but you asked and
that’s the truth. And also, the thought of you in the same tent as
Tyler, doing God knows what… I thought the girls would be a nice
distraction. And why can’t I sleep with them after? I don’t know. I
guess because… actually sleeping next to someone feels more
intimate. I’ve never been able to do it.”

I know I should be upset about the
first part of his admission, about just wanting sex. But somehow,
it doesn’t really phase me. It’s who he is. Or was… hopefully. I
ignore the statement about me and Tyler altogether. It’s a
non-issue. Instead, I choose to focus on the latter. The fact that
he’s never been able to actually sleep next to someone before.
“Until now,” I state, trying to hide the smirk slowly forming on my
face.

“Until now,” he agrees, pondering the
statement himself. He seems shocked about it, like he’s genuinely
surprised that he could sleep next to me.

“Do you think it’s because we didn’t
have sex? Do you think when we have sex you won’t be able to fall
asleep with me?”

Instead of answering, he just
smiles.

“What?” I ask him.

“I just like that you said ‘when’… not
‘if’.”

I just roll my eyes at him.

“Princess,” he whispers, taking on a
more serious tone, “I think it’s because I love you.”

My breath catches. I don’t think I’ll
ever get used to that admission, the fact that he loves me. I don’t
say anything in response. I just reach up and take his face gently
in my hands and bring him down to mine. I kiss him passionately and
I get lost in the sensation, the electricity that passes through my
body when his lips are on mine. It leaves both of us breathless. I
have to pull away before I lose control and am no longer able to.
When I relax back into the bed, his hand gently grazes my cheek and
then he repositions himself off of me, rolling onto his back. We
lay there for a moment. Then he takes my hand, squeezes it slightly
and quickly, and then moves up off the bed.

“What time will your parents be home?”
he questions.

“Umm, I’m not sure,” is all I say in
return. I still haven’t told him that they went on a vacation
during my winter break home. “Oh, no!” I gasp, the realization just
now hitting me. “Your parents must be so worried! You never went
home last night!”

“Nah,” he says nonchalantly. “Trust
me, they probably haven’t even noticed I’ve been gone all night.
They don’t wait up for me anymore. They haven’t in a long time.
But, I should get going anyway.”

I relax slightly, knowing he’s not
worried about his parents’ reaction to his all-nighter. “I don’t
want you to go,” I admit in a whimper.

“Then I won’t.”

I smile softly up at him. It’s nice to
know he’d stay just because I want him to. But, I know he can’t.
Surely his parents will be wondering where he is eventually. “No.
You have to go. Go spend some time with your family. We can get
together later.”

“Okay. I’ll see you in a bit?” he
asks. The look on his face tells me that he’s worried about me
changing my mind.

Instead of answering, I bridge the gap
between us and kiss him softly, but quickly. If I let my lips
linger, I might change my mind about letting him leave. I might
keep him here all day, held hostage in my bed, forcing him to
endure an endless make-out session. Although, something tells me he
wouldn’t mind it too much.

When I pull back and look into his
eyes, I see the intensity and softness that he reserves only for
me.

After I walk him out, I jump in the
shower and get ready for the day. I take my time, since I don’t
have anything planned. I put on a white sweater that has a
wide-open neckline, scooping down enough to leave my shoulders
bare. I put make-up on and even paint my nails. Then I sit around,
thinking. I know Hailey is probably using this time to say goodbye
to Drew. I don’t want to intrude on that, so I don’t text her like
I really want to. My phone buzzes and I think for a moment that
Hailey read my mind and texted me instead, but then my heart
flutters when I see that it’s Craig.

“I miss you, princess. I
can still taste your kiss on my lips and it’s driving me
crazy.”

“Then come back,”
I text back, smiling. He’s had a couple hours
with his family so I don’t feel guilty asking him to.

“You sure?”

“Yeah. I miss
you.”

He doesn’t text back after that, but
he shows up fifteen minutes later. When I open the door, I start to
say something but before I can get a sound out, his lips are on
mine. He kisses me so passionately, it takes my breath away. When
he pulls back, he slides his hands over my hair and cups my face in
his palms.

“So you missed me, huh?” he asks with
a playful smirk.

“A little.” I shrug. “I think it was
more boredom and the empty house. I need someone to entertain me.
You’ll do,” I state with a straight face, but I can’t hide the
smile that starts to creep up.

He laughs out loud and
scoops me up into his arms, causing me to shriek in surprise. He
carries me right up to my bedroom and tosses me gently on my bed.
Instead of joining me on the bed, like I think he’s going to do, he
walks around my room instead, taking everything in. I watch him as
he picks up a picture in a frame from my high school cheerleading
days. Jenny and Mel are holding me in a high stunt, their arms
extended all the way up, holding my sneakers in their hands.
Hailey’s spotting me from behind, standing in between them, with
her head tilted way back, looking up at me.
She’s literally always had my back,
I think. I stand, smiling, with my arms in a high-V, wearing
my old cheerleading uniform from Regan Prep.

“Your parents are still gone?” he
asks, not taking his eyes off the picture in his hands.

“Yeah,” is all I say in response. I
can tell he wants more of an explanation, but I don’t give him
one.

“If I tell you that you look damn sexy
in this picture, you won’t slap me again will you?”

I smile at the memory and
to my surprise, Craig smiles too. My mind travels to another time,
when Hailey and Drew had just started dating. It feels like a
lifetime ago. Drew met up with us at our annual Regan Prep
4
^th
of
July parade. Hailey and I were marching with the cheerleading
squad, in full uniform attire. No one knew Craig was going to be
there. I’m still not entirely sure why he showed up. But when he
made an inappropriate comment about my cheerleading uniform, I
hauled off and slapped him across the face. I thought he was a
player and I thought slapping him across the face would be enough
to turn him off and have him try for another girl. I thought he’d
be pissed and give up. Instead, he just made another comment about
liking it rough. Typical Craig.

“Why didn’t I scare you off?” I ask
him seriously. “Why did you stick around for so long when I was
such a bitch to you?”

He thinks for a moment before
answering, as if searching for the right words. “I guess I just
knew that you’d give in eventually, or at least I hoped. And that
it would be more than worth it,” he replies. Then with a smirk, he
adds, “You were never a bitch to me… a pain in the ass sometimes,
but never a bitch.”

I laugh out loud but then
turn serious again. “Seems crazy that you’d spend so much time on
one girl when you could clearly have any other girl of your
choosing. And I say ‘clearly’ because you pretty much
have
had them
all.”

“I could,” he admits, “to sleep with,
sure. But to have a serious relationship with? That’s different,
princess.”

It gives me butterflies to hear him
say that. I’m still not sure if he can actually endure a serious
relationship and that uncertainty scares me to death. But the fact
that he’s honestly willing to try is more than I had even hoped
for.

“What about you?” he asks, “Why did
you give into me? Just couldn’t resist my charms anymore?” he
teases.

I think about it for a moment and then
answer earnestly. “Some people are born and die and never really
live in between, you know? That’s where I was at. Always falling
perfectly into place. Always doing what’s expected of me. I thought
going to WSC would change that. And it has, in a way. My dad nearly
had a heart attack when he found out I was committed to going to
WSC and not an Ivy League school. That move was definitely not
expected of me. And it felt... freeing… to do something out of the
ordinary. It’s changed me. But if I’m being honest with myself, I
think maybe it was you that’s changed me, more than it was the
college. You’re the only thing in my life that makes me feel truly
alive. Even the times when I thought I hated you, you still made me
feel so deeply. You push me out of my comfort zone, but you do it
with the best of intentions. When I’m with you, I actually feel
every moment deep down into my soul. I tried to fight it, but I
can’t deny passion like that forever. I think I always knew that
eventually it would win out.”

He doesn’t say anything in return, but
I can tell by the way his face softens that he likes my
answer.

My phone buzzes and I ignore it at
first but then I think it could be my parents and with them being
so far away, I decide to check just in case. But, it’s not my
parents. It’s Jenny, one of my old friends from high
school.

“We’re all meeting up at
the country club, 6pm”
the text
reads.

I don’t text back, but Craig looks at
me skeptically. “It’s just an old friend,” I explain, putting my
phone back into my pocket without responding.”

“An old friend.” It’s not a question,
but a statement. He doesn’t look angry, but I can tell he’s
curious. He wants me to elaborate.

“Yeah. Jenny,” I tell him answering
the unspoken question. I gesture towards the cheerleading picture
he had been looking at earlier.

“Ah. When are you seeing
them?”

“Who said I was seeing
them?”

“You’re all back here for break,
right? They’re your old friends. Why wouldn’t you see
them?”

It’s not that I don’t want to see my
old friends, but I know Craig won’t mix well with them. I’ve been
living in this little bubble with him and I almost don’t want to
burst it. Announcing our relationship publicly will change
everything. If Drew had a bad-boy reputation, my friends must view
Craig as the devil himself. But he took me to hang out with his
friends, so it’s not like I can leave him out of this. “They want
to meet up tonight,” I tell him.

“Okay, so you’re going
right?”

“You won’t mind?”

“Why would you even ask me that? Do
you really think I would keep you from your friends? You don’t need
my permission. Go, hang out.”

“You could come with me?” I offer,
even though I know I’m making a mistake by asking.

“Do you want me to come with you?” he
asks, as if reading my mind or sensing my hesitation.

“Yeah.” I can’t very well say no. And
I do want him there. It’s just that I doubt my friends
will.

Chapter 14

This would be easier if Hailey were
here. But I said goodbye to her earlier and she’s probably in
Michigan visiting her dad by now. I walk up to the country club and
squeeze Craig’s hand tightly once before turning a corner and
seeing my old high school friends.

They immediately burst into screams
and attack me with hugs. I feel my hand loosen from Craig’s and I’m
jostled away, into the world of Regan Prep. Mel, Jenny, Sarah,
Olivia, Katie and Liz all talk at once, so I can’t make out a solid
sentence from either one of them. I do, however, hear bits and
pieces of the sentences thrown at me from every direction: “Can you
believe it?”, “Missed you so much!”, “When did that…”, “You’ll
never guess who…”, “It’s crazy how time…”