It was a busy night of catching up with old friends, talking shop with other guys from the league. A healthy person would have reflected on how much fun they had at the party.
But all I could see as my ears rang and my blood swished through my veins was her.
Waking up next to her. Laughing with her at parties. Her hand in mine, lingering as long as she could until we had to part. Her studying with me, which was mostly me studying her while she focused. The pressure of her head resting on my butt while I read on my stomach. Idly stroking her calf. Study 69, we called it.
Pumping her up before a big presentation. Tracing herfingers as we talked about what scared us. Taking her for late-night fast food when she studied through dinner. Those plush lips open wide as she yelled and pounded the glass during a hockey fight.
Her leaving. Me chasing after her.
Her shutting me out. Me begging. Getting drunk and pulling a Romeo, throwing pebbles at her dorm window. Sending text after text, calling again and again. I stopped short of waiting for her outside her classes. That felt like a stalking bridge too far.
Her ignoring me. Me, pretending I was fine.
Me knowing I was lying.
Me in love with her.
Me at my all-time low, with the only person who knew just how low I could get no longer in my life.
My phone buzzed, and even though I didn’t feel like talking to anyone, I picked it up.
VIOLET
this is cliché but
u up?
My palms grew sweaty, ears flushed, and a surge of hormones hit my bloodstream. And yet, I couldn’t give away too much enthusiasm. Going down Hell Memory Lane had my stomach in knots, but she didn’t need to know that.
COLTON
yeah
VIOLET
what room?
COLTON
334
VIOLET
ok if I stop by?
COLTON
yeah gimme 5
VIOLET
k
I jumped up, slipping the ribbon back into my suitcase and pacing to the mirror behind the door. I needed to look put together, but not quite like I’d just been sitting here in a suit. A shower? A shower would work.
I raced into the bathroom and turned on the water, peeling off my clothes in record time. I balled them up and tossed them in the closet. Thank god I picked an all-in-one body soap so I could move quickly.
When I got out, my phone buzzed on the bathroom counter.
