White is for Virgins (53 page)

I kept my gaze downcast for a moment as I processed what had just happened.

“Hey,” Fox rasped, pulling my chin up with his finger so that I met his gaze. “Are you okay… with that?”

I nodded sheepishly. “Just um,” I paused, shocked at the raspy tone of my own voice, “not use to it, you know?”

“If I didn’t know you better, I’d say you were pretty experienced,” he said.

“Pfft, yeah, okay,” I smirked.

“I’m serious,” he chuckled. “You can hold your own tongue-wrestling.”

“Oh God,” I laughed, embarrassedly burying my face into my arms, “Don’t call it that.”

“Making out,” he corrected. “Face it,
Em,” he teased, “you just made out with
Fox Evans.
”

“Who hasn’t?” I deadpanned, hiding the extreme urge to laugh at indirectly calling him a man whore.

He shoved me lightly.

“Hey!” I scolded, giving in to my chuckles.

“Are you calling me a whore, Emery?” he asked, getting up as the sun began to set. I got up as well and we shook the blanket to rid it of sand before folding it up.

“
Maaaaybe,” I teased, taking the passenger side when we reached the car. “Now take me home,” I said, grinning at the innuendo I’d unintentionally made.

“Yes, ma’am,” he grinned. I knew he’d caught it.

Chapter 33

FOX P.O.V.

“So, word on the street is…” Nick began, clearing his throat and crossing his Nike-clad feet on the coffee table, “Emery kissed you.”

“What street
d’you hear that from?” I smirked, smiling. I knew I had given myself away.

“Dude,” Nick laughed. “Finally! I thought that’d never happen.”

“Yeah, I told her she owed me for letting her practice in my car before her road test.” I sat back in his sofa and chewed my gum as I recalled last week’s events.

“So you forced it outta her?” Nick asked.

“No,” I automatically responded. I was sure that she’d wanted to kiss me as much as I had wanted to kiss her. She was just lacking some kind of excuse or outside force to coax her into it.

Nick laughed, nodding. “She’s wanted to do that for months now, I’m sure.”

“You think so?” I was staring off, thinking of where to go from here.

“What about you, though?” he asked with a curious, raised brow. I didn’t like the turn the conversation had taken.

“What do you mean?” I responded dumbly, taking the remote and turning the TV on in search of something to watch.

“You bastard,” Nick smirked. “You’ve been dying to
mack for longer than she has, I bet.”

“Not
mack,” I muttered, settling for a basketball game.

“Rape with your lips,” Nick corrected, chuckling to himself. I threw the remote at him. “Hey! You know it’s true.”

I
had
been interested in kissing her again. She had this insane way of burying herself into my head and coming up at all hours of the day. I didn’t know if it was because we were always together at school and at the center or what, but I found myself wanting to be around her. And jumping her had definitely crossed my mind. But she’s not the kind of girl that would let me do that, or let me get away with it. She was a relationship kind of girl; exceptionally different from what I usually went for. Virgin. She didn’t seem like the clingy type, but she wouldn’t let me slip up either.
Why am I even thinking these things right now? Dating Emery? It was just a kiss; she won’t overanalyze things and demand a ring on her finger. She’s cool.

“Speaking of
macking,” I said, sitting up, “what’s with you and Lil?”

His expression went serious at the mention of Lily. I felt like a dick, but he had been asking for it.

“Uh, same,” he shrugged. “I don’t want to freak her out, you know? What if she’s not ready for me to touch her again, or kiss her? I don’t want to ruin it all.”

I nodded, understanding part of where he was coming from. “Yeah, girls suck in that sense. You’re always putting your balls on the line when you try getting your ass out of the friend zone.”

“I take it Emery’s glad your ass is out of there?” Nick joked.

I shrugged. “Seemed like it. I don’t know where that puts me now, though. I didn’t exactly propose to her.”

Nick turned his attention to the game for a bit. “Look man, you like her. I can see it; from the way you talk about her you definitely respect her. And I’d bet my Nike’s that she likes, too. Do you want to make it official?”

“No,” I said instantly. Nick looked at me questioningly. “I don’t want to rush things. Like, that kind of label is not something I’m sure I could live up to…”

“You’ve thought about it though,” Nick taunted, wagging his finger at me. “Dude you’re done. You’re done. You’ve considered it already. A few more kisses and you’ll be whipped for good. Done.”

I smirked and shook my head. “I’m not that kind of guy, I don’t
wanna waste her time or mine trying to be a ‘boyfriend’ when I don’t qualify,” I said honestly, staring at the game but failing to really follow it.

“What’s there to qualify for? You like her, she likes you, and so long as it stays that way you guys stick with each other,” Nick explained. “Is that what you’re scared of? The whole ‘only one girl’ aspect?”

“You know I’m not like that,” I said, shooting him a look.

“Yeah, and I know that you haven’t been with a single girl since what, New Years?” he continued, proving his point. “My regards to your right hand, sir.”

I threw a pillow at him. He ducked, laughing devilishly.

“You don’t have to label anything, dude, no one’s forcing you into shit,” he said when he calmed down, “but it’s obvious you wouldn’t mind kissing her again. And you’d hate for her to kiss anyone else.”

I listened, not admitting to anything he was saying despite all his valid points.

“You do realize what the next step is, right?” Nick sighed, turning the TV off and standing up.

“What?” I inquired, narrowing my eyes at him and standing up as well.

“You
gotta ask her to prom.”

***

EMERY P.O.V.

“Lily,” I sighed dramatically, holding the phone up with my shoulder as I sorted through the mail, “You don’t understand… like I’m blushing right now just thinking about it.”

“I still can’t believe he actually made you make it happen,” she laughed on the other end of the line, “You guys had been playing cat and mouse for far too long.”

“Speaking of cat and mouse… um,” I paused, trying to bring up Nick in the nicest way possible.

An envelope from Northeastern University was among the various bills. My heart stilled.

“I know, I know, Em,” she sighed. “We’re kinda stuck in this awkward limbo thing right now. I’m just a little scared. Like, what if I kiss him and he freaks out for whatever reason or I freak out after… There’s no going back after that. We can’t all have perfect beach make out sessions with rainbows and butterflies, you know,” she finished jokingly.

“No, we can’t,” I laughed. “But seriously, you guys seem to have reconnected really well. Things are evidently very different, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be happy with each other like before. That doesn’t mean there’s no passion left or that you won’t have amazing kisses.”

“I know,” she said quietly. I knew she knew. She was still terrified – my words couldn’t take that fear away. I needed to stop acting like a fearless expert because of one kiss that I’d somehow grown the balls to make happen.

I toyed with the envelope, deciding on whether or not to rip it open.

“It’s the warmth I miss the most,” she said suddenly, “Like when he held my hand or when he put his arm around me. The comfort was so reassuring… whenever we walked together or sat together I felt like he was always there, and forever would be, you know? Yeah all the physical stuff was nice too but, the feeling of just having him there… it’s almost indescribable how amazing it was.”

I marveled at the idea of having Fox wrap his arm around me; of being able to call him mine. At times I did feel his warmth, like Lily had described. I definitely felt it in that kiss and I definitely dying for more of it.

I tore the en
velope open, pulling the papers out and unfolding the crisp white letter that was stamped with the Northeastern seal and littered with orderly typed words.

I screamed and dropped the phone.

“Emery? Emery, what’s wrong? What happened?” Lily was frantically asked when I found the phone under the dining room table and picked it back up.

“I got in!”

“What?”

“Northeastern. I got in,” I breathed, reading the letter again to make sure I had read correctly.

“OH MY GOD, congratulations smartie!” Lily laughed, “Way to scare the shit out of me.”

“Sorry,” I laughed, ready to scream all over again. “Have you gotten any letters yet?”

“Uh, yeah, actually,” she said, “I got UCON.”

“What? And you didn’t tell me?” I shrieked, “Holy cow, Lily! You’re so taking me to the basketball games.”

“For sure,” she agreed, “And you’re so taking me to Boston. Just ‘cause.”

“But of course.”

“You know what we need to do, right?” she asked.