“What will the world do without you?” I teased.
“Get lost.” He laughed and placed his hand on my back as we approached the building where my class was. “I’ll make time for you though.” We’d stopped at the stairs and faced each other. I watched his hand come toward my face and brush my hair back behind my ear. We’d met when he’d given me the welcoming tour and then asked me to lunch. Andrew made me laugh, and I enjoyed his company. I could feel the attraction between us, but he’d been too much of a gentleman to push for more.
Until that moment apparently.
He leaned down, and I licked my lips before his connected with mine.
He was soft and sweet, brushing my cheek with his thumb. His lips were thin and gentle, but a memory of full lips devouring mine made me pull back and end the kiss. I didn’t want to keep kissing Andrew when my mind was comparing him to Kevin.
Ever since I’d run into him two weeks ago, he’d been on my mind despite my best efforts to not think about him.
He’d haunted me a lot that first year of college and, slowly, life became easier. I’d wondered if he’d gone to UC like he’d planned, or if he’d changed his mind after I left and became a soccer star. I didn’t have to guess anymore.
“I’ll see you later?” Andrew’s breath brushed across my lips and I nodded. He placed another soft kiss to my lips and walked away, leaving me to relive our first kiss. It was . . . nice. Not filled with passion, but we were in the middle of campus, and it was . . . nice.
Shaking it off, I continued to class. I glanced around the room and made my way to the back, securing a corner seat, pulling out my books, and keeping my head down. I was rewriting some notes when the inevitable happened.
“Hey, Ana.”
His deep voice wrapped around me like it always did. It was no longer the voice of the boy who had been my best friend, but the voice of a man who still sent tingles down my spine. Classes had started earlier in the week and my heart had lodged in my throat when I saw him stroll into my calculus class. Thankfully, I had been in the back and he hadn’t seen me. Not that I didn’t want him to see me . . . I think. I just needed time to process having him so close.
My head thumped and my brain went crazy with a mix of memories and possibilities that sent tingles through my limbs, making me a bumbling fool.
Time to process being around him hadn’t helped. I was just as nervous and shaky as I was the first time I saw him walk into class.
“Hey, Kev.” Looking up, I took in his jean-clad legs and long-sleeve Henley. Somehow, he managed to be bigger than I remembered, broader and taller. Wasn’t he supposed to have stopped growing? When I reached his face, I glimpsed his throat moving over a heavy swallow, hinting that maybe he was just as nervous as I was.
“Didn’t think I’d see you again after running into you at the bar. Yet here you are, hiding in the back.” We stared at each other and I watched his eyes scan my body, taking me in. I didn’t think I’d changed much. Maybe my face had thinned out, but I wondered what he saw when he looked at me.
Neither of us spoke, letting the silence stretch, not rushing to fill it. The class became louder as more and more people filed in, and he gestured to the seat next to me. “Seat taken?”
I shook my head, “Go ahead.”
“How long have you been here?” he asked once he settled into the seat that seemed way too small for him.
“A couple of minutes.” I was being purposefully obtuse, avoiding the topic.
“Ha. Ha. I meant home. How long have you been home?”
Home. I still wanted to say a few minutes. Despite how everything had ended between us, being by his side, in his presence, still felt like home. I didn’t say that, though. “Since before Christmas.”
He furrowed his brow, thinking over the timeline. “You transferred during senior year?”
“My mom has ca—” My voice cracked over the word, and I had to clear my throat and try again. “My mom has cancer. I wanted to be closer to her.”
“Ana.” He whispered my name and it comforted me in a way I hadn’t been expecting. “I’m so sorry.”
My eyes burned and I blinked rapidly. Kevin had always made me comfortable enough to express my emotions and it was the same even after all our time apart. But right before class wasn’t the time to break down. “Thank you.”