Taking a deep breath, I stand up, vowing to make her mine. To tell her that she’s mine now, and fast.
The thought of her walking around campus after dark alone is enough to send me sprinting out the door, racing in the direction of her dorm.
I should never have let you go, Katelyn. I’m coming for you.
I only become aware of the pain in my back by the time I’m almost there. I haven’t stopped and my legs are singing with heat and my side is cramped, but I won’t stop. I can’t stop.
Not until I know she’s okay and not until I tell her how I feel.
The outdoor lights and street lamps are blazing, but there’s no light or sign of life coming from the dorm itself.
I take a moment to get some air back before I go inside, and in the semi-darkness I make my way to her door, knocking gently as I continue to breathe.
“Katelyn it’s me,” I say aloud, knocking again.
I know she’s in there.
“Go away,” she finally sobs, and I feel for the handle, not surprised when I find it locked.
“Katelyn, look. I shouldn’t have let you run off like that. I should have just… well. You know what I should have done,” I tell her, wanting to say it to her face and not shout it through a door.
Silence.
I guess I’ll have to tell her through a door then.
“Katelyn, what you said? About a girl like you… about not wanting this to end. So don’t let it end. Not like this. Open up. Please?” I ask her, not begging yet but I do have all night if needed.
I wait for what feels like all night but is only probably a minute.
I hear her sniffing and then finally the door lock snaps and she opens it a little, a thin wedge of yellow light streaming out into the hall.
“Hi,” I whisper.
“Hi,” she sniffs, wiping her palm up her nose and then blowing into a tissue.
She looks terrible like she’s been crying her eyes out.
Crying over me.
Looking terribly perfect no matter what she’s doing, she’ll always be perfect to me.
“I’m sorry, Katelyn. I was moving too fast, I lost my head… it’s just, what you do to me. I can’t explain it.”
I hear my voice getting louder, my words coming faster.
Almost babbling.
Okay, totally babbling. It’s what she’s done to me.
The door opens wider and I move inside, making the whole room feel smaller just by being in it.
It’s a single dorm room, but I’m a big guy.
She’s stopped crying and sits on the edge of her bed, teasing me with a little shy smile, inviting me to do the same.
I open my mouth to speak again, but she goes first.
“If this is funny to you, or to whoever else you’ve let in on it, I guess I understand,” she finally says.
I turn my head and look behind me, double-checking she’s not talking to anyone else.
I shake my head, trying to rattle what she just said out of my ears because it makes no sense.
“What?” I ask her, feeling a stab of hurt as she sighs knowingly.
“I’ve been called everything Mr. Heart. Every name you could imagine. I’ve had my stuff stolen, things poured on me, my pants pulled down. Even had some students lock me in a shower and turn the lights out after taking my towel and clothes, barring the door for two hours before they finally let me out.
Why is she saying this?
Wait. What!
I make a tortured sound, to even imagine anyone could think of those things, let alone do them to Katelyn. It’s monstrous.
“And that was all this term,” she adds, patting my knee like someone explaining something to a child.
“I can spot a wind up from a mile away, Mr. Heart. If that’s even your real name… Thing is, I actually like you and I really thought you liked me too. You almost had me actually believing it all myself. I thought I actually had a chance at-”
I’ve heard enough.
No more talking.
I silence her lips with mine, pressing hard and pulling her close. Kissing her the way she makes me feel, hoping she feels how much I need her. How much I want her.
I feel her hands on my chest, her lips yielding to mine.
She presses into me and her hands move up to hold my face. Her thick chest melting against me and I hear her soft moan.
I’m not joking and this is no windup.
A gentleman’s kiss becomes a passionate embrace. Her tongue finding mine and her whimper as she feels me and how I need her tells her this is real.
She has more than a chance with me, from now on she is mine.
Mine.
Her hands are flat on my chest again, and once I feel her fully kissing me back, they ball into fists and she pummels me with them.