The Junior (College Years 3)

Caleb

The moment my mouth finds Gracie’s, I lose all sense of time and place. Which sounds stupid as hell, but it’s true. I feel like we’ve been racing toward this moment since the last time we kissed. That was weeks ago. A month ago. We’ve been spending time together almost daily since.

A lot of the time since we’ve been hanging out, I don’t think about how I’m goin

g to get her naked. I just bask in her presence and actually enjoy it.

Call me crazy, but I like her. A lot.

I like kissing her too.

The moment she pulls away from me, I can hear Eli laughing. I glance toward the kitchen entrance to find him standing there watching us, Ava next to him wearing a shocked expression while her stupid-ass boyfriend appears greatly amused.

“Finally, I actually catch you guys doing something,” he says as he strides into the kitchen with Ava by his side.

Gracie pulls away from me quickly, her cheeks turning pink. As if she’s embarrassed to be caught with me. “It was nothing.”

I’m immediately insulted. That kiss, while brief, was definitely something.

“Looked like something to me.” Eli’s gaze meets mine. I scowl at him, irritated. With myself for being such a baby and with Gracie for being so dismissive of what just happened between us.

As usual.

“Really,” I say to Gracie, my voice flat.

She sends me a defiant look, her lips thinning into a flat line. She says nothing.

Neither do I.

Fuck.

With a glare, I turn away from her and exit the kitchen, determined to find someone else to talk to. Preferably a girl. Someone I don’t know who I can flirt with for a while, though I have no plans on doing anything with a random chick tonight beyond talking to her.

I move through the small crowd, chatting with all sorts of people, most of them I know or at least remember their faces from high school. None of the women in this place interest me. They’re pretty and they’re giving me flirtatious vibes, but I’m not responding. I smile and bow out, every single time.

I’m about an hour in of constantly moving like a shark underwater when Eli calls me over to where he’s at, sitting with Ava. He leaves her with a brief kiss and a murmured, “I’ll be right back,” before he comes to stand by me.

“Let’s grab a beer and chat,” he says.

I follow him into the kitchen, where we grab beers and head outside. I don’t know what kind of speech he has planned, but I steel myself as I follow him out on the back porch. The air is cool, the scent of pine lingering in the breeze. It’s a scent that always makes me think of home, and while I don’t necessarily want to return to my hometown to live any time soon, I know I will miss it when I’m well and truly gone.

“What did you want to talk about?” I ask Eli after about a minute of silence.

He watches me carefully. “You’re falling for her.”

“Who?” I frown, immediately knowing who he’s talking about. “Oh, you mean Gracie? Nah. I’m just trying to get in her panties, but she keeps those things on lock.”

I think of her earlier in the dressing room. How she hid from me at first, but then eventually gave up. I looked my fill, eager to touch her. That one caress on her ass was about as far as I dared to take it, and her skin was like silk. Smooth and soft.

What I really wanted to do was take a handful of her ass and squeeze. Pull her into me and let her feel what she does to me just by looking at her.

But I used restraint. I was respectful.

“I don’t believe you,” Eli says. “Trust me, I know what it’s like to want a girl. To fall for one, and feel all confused and shit. It fucks with your head and your dick.”

“My head isn’t involved in this. I’m not interested in her,” I say firmly before I take a swig of beer. “Not like that.”

“You kissed her in the kitchen. In front of everyone. Then you looked hurt when she called it nothing.” He points at me. Eli’s always pointing, the fucker. “I call that feeling something.”