Chapter 2 The Kiss
Two
The Kiss
I closed the bathroom door behind me, and the loud volume from the house party’s speakers muted. But that didn’t stop the bass from rattling the empty beer can on the sink.
On the knee of my favorite party jeans, I noticed a splash of bright pink. Vodka mixed with fruit-punch-flavored Crystal Light. Not my favorite. I hated the aftertaste, and artificial sweetener tasted sweeter to me than one of my energy drinks.
Playing a drinking game with the girls from my floor had been fun, but I’d topped it off with my second—maybe third—Coors Light. Mixing hard alcohol with beer was never a good idea.
Standing, I peeked into the toilet. Just as I thought. Clear.
Like Cinderella hearing the clock toll midnight, clear pee meant only one thing. It was time to leave. I’d drunk enough to be able to fall asleep without problem when we got home, but not so much that I’d get a bad hangover.
I finished and stumbled out the bathroom door, bumping into the girl at the front of the line. “Sorry,” I muttered.
She gave me a blank stare. Must have had some cannabis gummies.
I walked into the main area, where multicolored lights flashed in the dark, and the music thumped. I scanned the room, but my vision was failing. Or maybe the circling white lights from the disco ball were making me dizzy.
Now to find Priya and Emma. They wouldn’t have left without me.
I studied the room again, and my wobbly gaze landed on Texas. He wore a baseball cap pulled down low. He was standing on the dance floor with another guy, and together they were chatting up a girl with long, wavy hair.
From the tip of my nose to the ends of my toes, my body quaked. Right there, in the flesh, I was witnessing Texas on the prowl.
How did he do it? What was his trick?
Fueled by a little alcohol and my continued euphoria from the plunge, I needed to know the answers to those questions. I needed to know them right now.
I marched across the floor, tripping on a few treacherous spots and smacking into a couple of partygoers before I pulled up alongside him. I didn’t give the girl a second look. She was unimportant. I wanted to know how he practiced his lecherous ways.
“Excuse me.” I tapped him on the shoulder.
He turned. Save for the continuous blobs of light whizzing past, his visor shadowed his face. But I could tell he had an angular jaw and a strong nose that didn’t overwhelm his chin.
“Hey.” His bottom lip was full, but not too full. “I know you.”
“No, you don’t.”
He took a sip of his beer. “You live in my dorm. You were at the polar plunge today.”
“Right, but that doesn’t mean you know me.” Because he didn’t. No one really did.
“True.” He took another sip, wetting his mouth even more than before. “What I meant to say is that I’ve noticed you, and I’d like to learn more about you.”
A lump lodged in my throat. I hadn’t expected him to say…well…something honest.
I’d crossed the room determined to ask him questions, but now those questions were superficial, ridiculous. He’d risen to a level of flirting outside of my abilities. Outside of my comfort zone.
So, without another word and before I could embarrass myself, I turned and walked away.
He grabbed my elbow and pulled me back. “Don’t leave.” His hand slid down my forearm and cupped my fingers. “My name is Dallas. What’s yours?”
His touch was silky smooth and sent a shiver down my spine.
I couldn’t move. I didn’t want to. His eyes held mine.
He rubbed the flesh between my thumb and my index finger. Jesus Holy Mary. The guy didn’t have to talk. His touch alone could hypnotize a girl straight into bed.
“Your name?” he asked again.
When I was a child, there were times I’d been too shy to answer an adult’s question. But right now, right here, it wasn’t shyness that was my problem. I was dumbfounded. I wasn’t sure I had a name.
Then it registered. I didn’t even have to ask him how he did it. All he had to do was ask a girl her name, caress her hand, and, poof, he’d performed his magic. It didn’t hurt if his conquest had a little alcohol in her either.
His brows drew together.
“Dallas isn’t a person’s name.” I’d finally found my voice. “It’s a city.”
He smiled with one corner of his delightful mouth. “Lots of people are named after cities. Boston, Paris—”
I tried to pull away, but he hooked a finger with one of mine, sending a bolt of energy straight up my arm. What was wrong with me?
“Please, stay,” he said. “Just give me one minute.”
I was no easy target. I had brains, and brains could outsmart a flood of attraction.
Oh no. He’d just satisfied number two on my list. I hated to admit it, but I was attracted to him. Most definitely.
Well, he might have satisfied the first two points. But he’d never meet the others. Never. And number five—savant-like intelligence—impossible.
Was he still holding my hand?
I yanked it out of his grasp and back to my side where it belonged.
He studied me.
“You know,” he said, “I’ve been wanting to talk to you all year.”
“What?” I glanced around for the girl he’d been talking to, but she was nowhere to be found.
“To talk to you.”
The music seemed to be getting louder. His mouth kept moving, but I didn’t catch what he said next. “I can’t hear you.”
He leaned in, but still the ringing in my ears blocked out sound. I shook my head.
Enough. I needed to find my friends.
He turned his hat backward and came closer.
So close that his breath brushed my earlobe.
His chin grazed my cheek. He smelled good.
Not like when a guy splashes on the latest Calvin Klein cologne.
His scent was of freshly cut cucumbers. So subtle that it was probably from the shaving cream he’d used earlier that day.
“You remember, before winter break, when the fire alarm went off in the middle of the night?” he asked into my ear.
I nodded. Who could forget? It had been freezing. The entire dorm had been stuck outside for what had seemed like eternity.
“That’s the first time I saw you. You had the periodic table wrapped around you.”
I sucked in a breath.
He’d noticed my quilt. The one I’d found on Etsy.
“You are beautiful.” He exhaled against my face.
My heart fluttered. My legs went weak. Seriously. He couldn’t be real.
His forehead touched mine. “Dance with me.”
My mind screamed to break free. He was nothing but bad news.
But I couldn’t help myself. My arms slid around his neck. My breasts pressed against his solid chest. They felt right there. Like they belonged.
We moved together. Barely, but it felt much better being in his stable arms than having to keep myself upright among the spinning lights.
The next thing I knew, we were kissing. It was the wettest, hottest kiss I’d ever had. And when I said wet, I meant not just from saliva. My panties had turned slick. I wanted him to use those masterful fingers of his and explore parts of me.
“Ade.” I heard a voice. Distant. As if far off in an echoing cave. “Adriana.” Someone pulled on my belt loop, and it wasn’t Texas. “We have to go.”
The kissing stopped. His eyes sparkled. The blue hat was still turned around.
I looked around. We were in the center of the room, and the lights were on.
That gossipy girl who worked at the front desk in our dorm pointed at me and whispered to another girl.
Emma was next to me, pleading. Lines creased her forehead. “We have to go now.”
I looked back at Texas. Oh God. What was I doing?
He flashed me a grin. “Nice to meet you, Adriana.”
Emma dragged me to the front door and out onto the stoop.
Priya stood at the base of the stairs looking tipsy. To her side, a guy was puking into a snowdrift.
Emma marched us to the street and down the shoveled sidewalk to the stop sign. “Do you have any idea who you were just making out with, Ade?”
I bit my lip, but I could hardly feel it. I wasn’t that drunk, was I? Priya might be, but not me.
“You kissssed someone?” Priya spent much too long pronouncing the esses.
“Am I the only one who’s sober here?” Emma’s tone had grown harsh. She pulled us along.
“Thank you,” I said to Emma as I concentrated on placing one foot in front of the other. “I owe you big-time.”
“Who did you kissss, Ade?” Priya asked again.
My face turned hot. I didn’t want to say his name. It was too humiliating.
“Ade?” Priya stopped and swayed.
“Oh, for God’s sake.” Emma glanced at Priya. “It was that guy we were talking about this morning. Dallas.”
I put a hand to my head. I couldn’t believe it. It wasn’t like I hadn’t known who he was.
Then Priya started to giggle. Loud and uncontrolled. “Texas.” She belly laughed. “Omigod, you kissed Texas.”
We made it to the dorm. Thankfully, the lobby was empty.
Emma brought us to our room, and I foraged for snacks and fluids.
Priya lay down on her bed and moaned.
Emma sat in our saucer chair. “Are you going to tell us what happened?”
I crawled into my bed, closed my eyes, and rested my head on my pillow.
Even though I thought I’d had the perfect amount of alcohol to doze off, I was never going to be able to fall asleep now.
Never. All I could think about was that kiss.
His touch. This was terrible. Because with the amount of alcohol in my body, it wouldn’t be safe to take an Ambien to shut off my brain either.
Outside the door, squealing and shouting echoed in the hall. Other girls from our floor must be back.
I glanced at my periodic table blanket, folded at the foot of my bed. He’d known what it was. He’d remembered it. I reached for it and pulled it over me. It was our shared secret.
“Well?” Emma asked.
I cringed. “He might be what you say he is, but I’m not going to lie. He’s a great kisser.”
Emma sat back and folded her arms. “I knew it. The bad ones are always so good at it.”
“Ade and Texas sitting in a tree,” Priya bellowed in a singsong voice.
“Please,” I said, “not now.”
“K-I-S-S-S-S-I-N-G,” she continued.
“Stop it.”
More laughing outside in the hall. Rustling. Footfalls scampering away.
Emma retrieved a piece of paper from the floor.
“Where did that come from?” I asked.
“Under the door.” Emma twirled a finger through her dark-blonde hair. “Omigod.”
“What?” Priya asked.
Emma’s shoulders shook. Her face crinkled, and she laughed. So hard that she could hardly breathe. She passed the sheet to Priya.
Priya, even in her stupor, screeched.
“Give that to me,” I said.
They handed it over. Surrounded by colorful squiggle marks were words drawn in large bubble writing. It read Debbie Does Dallas.
What?
I tossed the paper, and it floated to the ground. I dropped my head back on the pillow. “Who’s Debbie?”
This sent the girls rolling. They couldn’t talk. They just kept laughing.
“Oh, Ade.” Emma finally found her breath. “It’s a 1970s porn film.”
Priya pointed a shaky finger up at me. “And you’re Debbie.”
My face turned hot. How embarrassing. Not only could I not sleep, but now I didn’t want to leave this room. And next time I saw Texas, I was going to have to walk…no, run…the other way.