Chapter
Three
Katie
“So, that’s basically it,”
Roman told me as he closed his book and uncrossed his legs. Thank goodness!
We’d been studying for close to two hours, sitting cross-legged on the floor,
knees touching, and we hadn’t spoken to one another any more than had been
necessary. I couldn’t have concentrated on Chemistry if it was my favorite
subject. It definitely wasn’t.
Now that our study time
was almost over, I wasn’t ready to let him go yet. I wanted to spend more time
with him, maybe get to know a little about my lab partner besides the fact that
he obviously knew a crap-ton more about Chemistry than I could ever hope to
learn. I checked the time on my phone: 6:52. We had at least three hours before
my parents would be home. I always hated being alone in this big house at
night, but it seemed like they were always away at some function or dinner.
“Hey, wanna get a pizza?
I’m starved.” Was my voice a little too loud? The last thing I wanted was to
come off as desperate for him to stay. Even if I kind of was.
“Uh,” he glanced at his
watch, “sure.”
“I’ll order. What d’ya
like?” I dialed the number even while I was asking the question. Was it weird
that I knew the number by heart?
In minutes, I’d placed
the order, and we’d fallen into an awkward silence. I wracked my brain trying
to think of something to break the tension. Finally, “Hey, have you seen The Hollow Effect?” Did he even like
horror movies?
“I haven’t yet, but I’ve
been wanting to.”
Score.
“Yeah, me too! I’ve been
thinking about renting it. Wanna watch it?” Hopefully, I sounded calmer than I
felt. I was already picturing cuddling up to him in the dark, burying my face
in his neck at the scary parts.
“Yeah, okay. That would
be cool.” Talk about a lukewarm reaction. Suddenly, I was losing my nerve. Did
he really want to be here? Maybe he just felt sorry for the weird girl who was
so klutzy she’d fallen all over him in front of thirty other students.
I tried not to think too
much about it as I led him to the media room. But, by the time I had the movie
ready to stream through the projector and turned to face Roman, he’d bypassed
the twelve single-seat leather recliners and opted for the only loveseat. Maybe
he’d picked the seat because it was front and center, and admittedly the best
seat in the room. He had his shoes kicked off, one arm folded behind his head,
and when he noticed me watching him, he patted the seat next to him in
invitation. Maybe he was interested.
I flipped off the light, grabbed the remote, and joined him on the loveseat.
He
was all heat next to me. His breaths were coming in nearly silent, shallow
bursts. It was a short, nervous sort of panting, like prey caught in a trap. I
ran a casual hand through my hair, then let it fall to rest on the black
leather between us, barely an inch from his own hand.
I
feigned an interest in the movie, even though I couldn’t have concentrated on
anything but Roman and how close his hand was to my fingertips. When his
breathing evened, I shifted just a fraction of a hairsbreadth so that my pinky
rested over his thumb. He shivered under the touch, but kept his gaze locked on
the screen.
Sliding
over in my seat, I pressed my arm against his. When he didn’t pull away, I laid
my head on his shoulder. A moment passed, then two. Finally, Roman turned his
head and shifted in his seat just enough to look down at me without breaking
the contact between us. I tilted my face to look up into his eyes and sucked in
a nervous breath. His eyes closed to half mast, and I was almost certain he was
about to kiss me.
Buzz. The intercom to the front gate buzzed.
Someone was here. Whoever it was had the worst timing in the world. As I looked
up at Roman, he licked his lips nervously. Maybe he was just as aware of me as
I was of him, but was just better at pretending not. I considered ignoring
whoever was out there. Until the buzzer sounded again.
I
practically fell out of the loveseat on my way to the intercom and all but
slammed my hand down on the button. “What?” Did I sound as frustrated as I
felt?
“Pizza,”
a young, male voice called through the speaker.
I
rested my forehead on the wall next to the speaker and sighed. I’d forgotten
all about the pizza. With a quick and apologetic look over my shoulder to
Roman, I buzzed the pizza guy in and headed for the front door to meet him.
***
My best attempts to not
stare awkwardly at Roman while I stuffed my face with pepperoni and cheese were
failing miserably. Every time he licked his lips, I imagined having those pink
lips pressed against mine. He seemed to be trying just as hard to not look at
me -- only he was succeeding. There was something about Roman, something
different from other guys. He wasn’t aggressive like they were, didn’t try to
get to second base the minute we were alone. And he’d seemed almost relieved
when the delivery guy interrupted our almost kiss.
We ate in silence, and
the whole time, I was wracking my brain trying to think of something
halfway-intelligent to say. I finally settled on humor. “So, that’s the hottest
horror movie I’ve ever seen.” I
gestured to the projector screen across the room, where the movie we weren’t
really watching was paused.
Roman flushed an
endearing shade of rose pink and nodded. Then he quickly shoved another bite of
pizza into his mouth. I couldn’t tell if that meant he enjoyed what had almost
happened or was busy trying to think of a way to get out of there.
Our silence was
interrupted by a series of tinney, cartoon-like chirps sounding from the
vicinity of Roman’s pants. I eyeballed the offending area in an attempt to
figure out what the noise was, realizing just a moment too late that I was
giving him the creepy-stare. Roman set his paper plate on the seat next to him
and fished his cell out of his pocket.
“Hey, Pop?” he answered.
I could hear a voice on the other end, but couldn’t make out the words. “Yeah,
sure. I can be ready in a few minutes. I’ll text you the address.”
He was leaving.
Roman ended the call and
sent a quick text before shoving his phone back into his jeans. Then he smiled
at me apologetically. “That was my dad. He’s on his way home and said he could
swing by and pick me up so I don’t have to take the bus home.”
“Oh, well, do you live
far? I could drive you...” Did I sound too needy? Truth was, I wasn’t all that
altruistic -- I just wasn’t ready to say goodbye yet.
Roman seemed to consider
my offer for a moment. “No, that’s okay. He’s probably almost here now.” He
stood and reached for his sneakers, slipping them on without untying them. When
he’d gathered all of his stuff, I followed him to the front door.
I opened it for him,
using it to hold myself up as he stepped over the threshold. “Thanks for coming
over.” I prayed I didn’t sound as deflated as I felt.
Roman turned to look back
at me, illuminated by the porch lights framing my front door, he looked almost
angelic. “It was fun. Maybe we could uh… study again sometime.” Was he blushing
when he said that?
“I’d like that.”
Headlights cut through the wrought iron bars at the end of the drive, and I
reached behind the door for the button to open the gate. “Well, I guess I’ll
see you at school on Monday, maybe.” I mentally berated myself as soon as the
words were out of my mouth. Our school was on the block schedule, which meant I
wouldn’t have a class with Roman until Chemistry on Tuesday. Did I sound
desperate hoping to see him on Monday?
He nodded and turned to
jog down the steps toward his father’s car. I watched as they pulled away, and
shut the gate as soon as they were out on the street. Then I shut the front
door and leaned back against it. What was it about Roman that had me acting
like a prepubescent girl with her first crush? He definitely wasn’t the type of
guy I usually went for. So, why couldn’t I get him out of my head?
