Chapter 22 The View
Twenty-Two
The View
I forced my legs to move even though it was like walking against a fast-flowing river. This time, instead of sitting next to him, I sat across from him, my stomach doing front flips.
“So I guess I’ve been ditched.” I put my hands under my knees.
He smiled at me, his eyes alive and sparkling. “I wouldn’t say that. More like you’ve traded up.”
“You think I’ll have a better time with you?”
“Of course.” He stood and held out his hand. “Let’s go.”
I stared at his hand, then back up at his face. “Go where?”
“Not sure, but I think it has something to do with my car, a bottle of wine, and a view.”
It was the view that got me. I couldn’t imagine a better one than staring at him. I put my hand in his.
His car was parked a few blocks away on the street at a meter. It was a blue Subaru Impreza. We got in, and I looked around. The interior wasn’t spotless, but it was orderly and empty of belongings. He warmed up the car, and we took off.
“I have an important question for you,” I said.
“Ask away.” He made a turn.
“Why didn't you say that the reason you couldn’t go to the ice cross event with me was because you were in it?”
“I had no idea how qualifications were going to go today, so I didn’t want to make plans. Like I said, a new sport.”
“And if you sucked at it, you didn’t want me to know.”
“Maybe.” He smiled. “Guys have egos, you know.”
We pulled into a parking lot at a liquor store.
“I have another question.”
He parked the car. “What?”
“How do you purchase alcohol when you’re underage?”
He laughed. “How old do you think I am?”
“You’re a freshman. So, nineteen. Maybe twenty if you took a gap year.”
He grinned and opened his door. “I’m twenty-one.”
I tilted my head. “But I thought—”
Dallas shut the door, leaving the car running for me. It didn’t take him long. Soon we were back on the road with a glass bottle in a brown bag.
“Okay. You need to explain. How can you be twenty-one years old?” I asked.
He switched lanes. “I played juniors for two years after high school.”
“Junior hockey?”
He nodded.
“Which league?”
“The USHL.” He looked over his shoulder and switched back.
“That’s tier one.”
“I guess so.”
“Which means you’re really good.”
He shrugged. “I haven’t played a game since the season ended last April, so probably not.”
“I don't understand. Usually tier-one hockey players go on to play some level of college hockey. Why aren’t you?”
He parked on an incline and cranked the emergency brake into place.
“Well” I urged.
He didn’t move, just stared down at his hand gripping the stick shift. “Sometimes things don't work out and you have to start down a different path.” He glanced at me. “But then sometimes the new path intersects with the old, and it’s hard to know which path you’re supposed to be on.”
Dallas popped the trunk and got out of the car with the bottle of wine.
Hearing him rummaging in the back, I sat still. Old path. New path. He was really good at speaking in riddles. Especially when it came to preserving his male ego.
I got out and came around the car. Dallas had pulled out a bright orange sled and a blanket.
“We’re going sledding?”
“Maybe. It might be a good way to get down the hill after we’re done seeing the view.”
He put the wine and the blanket in the sled, and we started up the sidewalk.
It curved around until we reached some partially cleared steps leading up to the top of the hill.
We made it, and embarrassingly enough, I was out of breath.
He wasn’t. Now that I thought about it, when we’d gone skating the other day, I hadn’t heard him huff or puff once.
There was a bench at the top of the hill. He brushed it off and laid out the blanket, and we sat down next to each other. He’d been right. The view was incredible.
Tree branches framed the night sky. In the distance, I could see the lighted skyscrapers. Each building had its own shape and size, and observing them like this, all together, I felt small. Insignificant.
“It’s gorgeous,” I said.
He nodded while twisting the cap off the bottle, which he’d left in the bag.
“Here, ladies first.” He handed me the wine.
I took a sip. It tasted like the complete opposite of wine. “Is this Boone’s Farm?”
“What?” He grabbed it from me and took a gulp. “Ew, that’s way sweet.”
I took the bag back and lifted the bottle out to inspect the label. Arbor Mist. Same thing. “You don’t know much about wine, do you?”
“Not really. I just grabbed the first thing I saw in the cooler that didn’t have a cork. I probably should have done some research.”
I bumped his upper arm with mine. “What kind of engineer are you?”
He smiled. “One who likes beer.”
“Well, we can’t let it go to waste.” I took another mouthful.
Together, we cringed our way through the bottle.
He told me about his preparation for the race that day.
Our shared magic of being on the ice, whether it was a rink or an ice cross hill.
I knew he was being genuine because while I might not be an expert on girly wine, I did know there wasn’t enough alcohol content in it to make us even the slightest bit drunk.
I shivered. Partly from the chill and partly from the cold liquid in my stomach. Dallas pulled the blanket around us, and I cuddled up against him. His warm breath thawed my nose and my cheeks. I looked up at him, and we kissed. He tasted sweet and fruity.
Soon, I was in his lap, the heat of him all around me, but the bulkiness of our jackets created an irritating barrier. I wanted to get closer to him, to feel my skin against his.
His lips found my forehead, and he tucked my head under his chin. “I think we should go. Being naked outside in January was not in my plans.”
The word “naked” made my throat burn. This was it. Our moment had come. I was going to get laid. I waited for my heart to go into a frenzy with nerves, but it didn’t. Dallas was right, sex should come naturally. Not be preplanned.
He set up the sled with the blanket and the bottle and climbed in, leaving space for me between his legs. I tugged on the ends of my hair and secured my hat in place. This might be just the opportunity I needed to make sure I’d get what I wanted this time.
I stepped in, lifted my jacket, and sat down, then shimmied up against his crotch. Just enough pressure for him to notice, not enough to hurt.
“Hey,” he whispered into my ear.
There was nothing he could do about it. His hands were grounded in the snow, keeping us steady and in position to head down the hill.
I did it again, rubbed my ass against him, right where it would count. And then I felt it. His growing need pressing against the seam of my jeans.
“Fuck.” He let go, and we started flying down the hill.
I laughed, the cold wind burning my face.
The sled pulled a bit right. Then so much it started to turn.
Dallas was trying to redirect it, but before I knew it, the sled leaned so hard it dumped us right out.
I skidded to a stop, my cheek dragging against the icy snow.
The sled was now turned backward and going down the hill all by itself.
I turned over, wiped the cold water from my face, and found Dallas spread-eagled on the hill, staring up at the sky.
I crawled over to him and sat beside him on my knees. “Are you okay?”
He turned his head and looked me straight in the eyes. “I’m going to get you back for that.”
I smiled so hard the muscles in my face hurt.
He scrambled up, and I took off, screaming, trying my best to plow through the knee-deep snow back to the car.
He grabbed me from behind, and the next thing I knew, I was on my back being kissed so thoroughly, the world faded from existence.
His silky tongue, the heaviness of him on me…
He didn’t even have to touch me; I wanted him.
I tried to wrap my legs around him, but it was awkward and impossible with our boots.
We stopped kissing, and he arranged my hair, his gaze brushing across my entire face. “Let’s get out of here.”
“Okay.” But I didn’t move.
“I mean right now.” He pulled me up.
Somehow we unglued from each other for as long as it took us to get the blanket, the sled, and the bottle back in the car and us into our seats. One more kiss, and we were back on the road and stopping at the front entrance of our dorm.
“Don’t you need to park your car?”
He took a key off his ring and handed it to me. “Let yourself into my room. I’ll meet you there.”
I took it, but hesitated. “I can go with you.”
“No, this is better.” He gave me a little nudge with his shoulder and raised an eyebrow. “Wouldn’t want anyone to see us together, now would we?”
“Oh, right.” I let myself out of the car.
He sped away, his red taillights disappearing.
I winced. Now that my friends knew I was hanging with Dallas, and they had given me their stamp of approval by leaving me with him at the pub, this whole not wanting people to see us together seemed foolish.
In the lobby, it was still early in the night, and there were people milling around, socializing.
I aimed for the hallway, but a clacking sound followed me.
“Hi, Adriana.” It was Sandra in her flip-flops, flannel pants, and a university sweatshirt. “I heard that you went to ice cross. How was it?”
“It was fun.” I tried edging away from her, but she wouldn’t let me—she’d boxed me in.
“Cool.” She jutted her hip out and shifted her weight to one leg. “Didn’t you go with Priya and Emma?”
“Yeah.”
“Where are they?”
“I don’t know.” My gaze shifted to the front door.
“So what are you doing for the rest of the night?”
“Nothing.”
“Oh, come on, it’s still pretty early. You must be doing something?”
God, she was so nosy. She must make multiple passes by the lobby every day just to see who was here. It was annoying.
The front door opened, and a breeze of cold air swooped in. It was Dallas.
I looked at her. I looked at him. But I didn’t have that uh-oh feeling inside me. Instead, there was something glowing. Hot and burning. I didn’t care about what she would think or say about me if she knew I was with Dallas.
A grin spread across my face. “Actually, Sandra, Dallas and I are doing something together tonight. Have you two met?”
It was one of those moments where one revealed they’d murdered Professor Plum in the library with the lead pipe.
Dallas frowned.
Sandra gave him an intense, feverish stare. “We know each other, don’t we, Dallas?”
He flinched back slightly. “Sure.”
My smile wavered. She was the one. The revenge-seeker who’d started the rumors about him. I just knew it.
I swallowed slowly. I didn’t know what to do, what to say.
The only thing I knew was I disliked her immensely. From her blonde hair to her cute, upturned nose, to her tiny ass and purple-painted toenails. But I wouldn’t let her ruin this night.
I grabbed Dallas’s hand. “Sorry, we have to get going.”
He nodded. “You’re right. We do.”
“Good night,” I called to Sandra as we stepped away. My palms were sweaty and my stomach felt like a mass of buzzing honeybees.
Dallas squeezed my hand as we walked together through the hall to the stairs. I paused at the bottom and let go.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“Sandra’s the one who started the rumors about you, isn’t she?”
His shoulders sagged a little. “Yeah, she’s the one.”
I squeezed my eyes shut. Which also meant he probably had slept with her, and for whatever reason, she was making him pay for it. Stop it, Ade. Stop it. Remember, you don’t care about that stuff. And even if they did, it was before I even knew he existed.
“Ade?” Dallas’s voice was strong.
I opened my eyes and found him staring at me.
“I thought you didn’t want people in the dorm to see us together?”
I started up the stairs, and he followed.
I glanced at him sideways. The answer to his question was clear, but I wasn’t ready to say it aloud or even admit it to myself.
I didn’t want us to hide anymore, because somehow, somewhere, and contrary to the voice in my head, this thing between us had become about more than just sex.
I wanted to be with him. I wanted people to know.
I wanted to be just a regular girl attracted to a guy who made me feel special. Was that so horrible?
Stopping at his room, I passed him the key. “I guess I just don’t care about the not-being-seen-together thing anymore.”
“Really?” He lifted an eyebrow.
“Let people talk. It’ll be fun to find out what they say.”
“Sounds good to me.” He unlocked the door and let us in.
“But there is one thing…”
The door closed behind him. “What?”
I didn’t really want to ask him. But I had to. I had to know. “Sandra said that the night of that party, the one when we…when we first…”
“Kissed?”
“Yes, when we first kissed, you took home a different girl and fucked her. Is that true?”