10. Amber
AMBER
I ’d never given a shit who I passed on the quad leaving classes before, but now I constantly was on the lookout. It was stupid because wealthy people paying their way into college didn’t stand out, did they?
Is it the girl with the red coat? Or the dude in the parka? Or the one carrying a coffee?
Is there a look that says ‘ I bought my way into school’?
Someone screamed from the other end of the quad, making me jump.
God, I needed to get it together. My heart raced like I’d run two miles rather than just taking an easy stroll just as Brandon’s familiar face appeared in front of me.
His jolly energy was a lot to take and he practically sang. “Hey, you, how’s it going?”
“Hi, Brandon.” My mood instantly lifted and I felt silly for being so paranoid.
It was not as if anyone knew we were looking into this whole scandal thing and I needed to play it cool.
Brandon was a part of the web of lies I had built surrounding this and I had to keep that cover.
“Thank you again for meeting me for the interview.”
“It was no hardship spending time with you.” He gave me such a genuine smile, my insides warmed and I blushed. He had such a boy-next-door look to him with his khaki pants and navy coat. I’d bet ten dollars he wore a polo underneath, too. “I was hoping we could get together again soon.”
He means for another interview, not…like that. I shook my head a little to clear that line of thought and replied, “Of course. I have some follow-up questions for you.”
He chuckled and responded with such a warm tone. “I’d like to take you on a date, Amber. I want that to be very clear.”
Oh.
Oh my.
“With me?”
“Yes.” He cleared his throat and took a step closer to me. “I know I’m younger, but I think we could have a really good time.”
“I think we would?—”
“Amber, girl, you are not gonna believe what I just heard!” Laney interrupted and threw her arm around me without a clue she disturbed Brandon asking me out.
My words got stuck in the back of my throat at how awkward I felt and I couldn’t do anything to stop it.
She spun her attention on him. “Hey there. I’m Laney. ”
“Uh, Brandon,” he muttered, and I had never felt so embarrassed in my life. I met his eyes and hoped I gave him a sympathetic smile. His equally disconcerted look snapped me to the present and I could speak again.
“This is my crazy roommate. Sorry for her interruption, but she doesn’t know better.”
“Oh god, I’m such an asshole. I’m sorry.” She removed her arm and took a step back with a look of regret on her face. “Just punch me in the gut if I do this again.”
Brandon looked horrified and I had to laugh. “Will do.”
“So how do you know my girl, Amber?” she asked him, going into full best-friend mode.
“She interviewed me for an article on athletes and I asked her out.”
“Bold. Damn. I love it.” She made an absurd face at me that was a combination of eyebrow wiggling and pursing her lips. Then her expression changed to inquisitive. “Wait—is this the same article you’re writing on Maddow?”
“You’re writing something about Maddow?” Brandon asked, a little hurt in his voice.
Panic spread through my body within seconds.
All the lies were overlapping and I had to figure out how to connect them to two major pieces that were unrelated.
Shit. Shit . “I’m thinking my senior piece will be about baseball athletes and he suggested I interview you to get a different perspective. ”
He didn’t look like he bought it, so I added with just as much truth as it was placating him, “It wasn’t supposed to be more than a few questions, but I enjoyed talking to you so much I kept going. That sounds unprofessional but?—”
“I dig it,” he interrupted, looking cheerful again. “You have my number, Amber. Let me know your answer.” He gave me a smoldering look, one that had me squirming, and I blushed. He winked, and left me with my roommate.
“He’s got game for being young and he was in to you. Girlfriend. Like, I felt second-hand vibes just from being near you. He’s cute. Way to go.” She hit her hip against mine and changed her look to a more serious one. “I am sorry I interrupted like that. It was a dick move.”
“Don’t worry, it’s probably best. I don’t think I can balance working on all this and dating right now. So it would be easier to tell him that over text than in person.”
“You are not saying no to that cutie. Amber. Live a little, girl.” Her phone went off and she cursed. “I gotta go. Goddamn group projects can kiss my ass.”
She left just as loudly as she’d entered and I used the couple of minutes before my next class to gather my thoughts.
Too much was going on in my head between Jeff, my uncle, the articles I was supposed to be writing and the real senior project I needed to start working on if I wanted to graduate on time. Coffee.
That was what I needed. Coffee.
My Thursday afternoon class didn’t take attendance and if I was little late, it wouldn’t make a difference so I chose a swanky coffee shop located right off the main strip.
They had the best drip coffee and just the thought of it made me warmer.
I adjusted my scarf to cover my face and made the trek there in ten minutes.
There were only a couple of people ahead of me in line and I made a plan of how to start balancing my spiraling semester.
Priorities, sorted by high and low needs, and dividing my time based on the need.
If that meant less time with Jeff, then so be it.
Even if the thought of not seeing him didn’t please me.
“Next!” the barista yelled, and I placed my order and moved to the counter.
It was ready within two minutes and I brought the cup to my lips with a heavy sigh.
It tasted like caramel heaven with the added creamer and my mom’s nagging voice about unnecessary sugar didn’t even cross my mind.
Progress. Even if it was as minor as enjoying a sugary drink, I didn’t feel bad about it and that notion had me smiling.
But the joy didn’t last long. It was during the second sip that two things happened.
The first—Jeff walked into the coffee shop, looking way too handsome for his own good. Like, the jawline alone was distracting enough let alone pairing it with his long eyelashes and gray eyes.
The second—Max stood in the same line and stared at me with a confused look on his face…like he was trying to remember where he knew me from. His mouth formed an oh shape, as if he was going to say Olivia…the name I’d told him.
Everything would be blown. The story, my cover, all of it, if he recognized me That was the entire point of dressing up—to be just another girl flirting in a bar.
Shit.
How do I escape this? Should I run out? Pretend I don’t see him? Throw my coffee in his face? A ploy…something to throw him off my scent. That’s it.
Without thinking a second longer, I marched past Max and up to Jeff. “Hey, baby. I missed you.”
He didn’t have time to react before I threw my free arm around his neck and dragged his face down to mine.
His lips were cold and hard, not unlike his reluctance to trust me.
In all the ways I’d secretly fantasized about kissing Jeff, none of them were like this, stiff and awkward in a coffee shop.
It was three seconds of agonizing embarrassment before something shifted.
Awareness fluttered in my lower abdomen when he placed his hands on my hips, drawing me closer to him.
His lips weren’t hard anymore. His entire body softened against me and he kissed me.
Like, a holy-shit,-my-crush-likes-me type of kiss.
He opened his mouth slightly and teased mine with his tongue, sending a bolt of attraction through me that had my thoughts getting fuzzy.
He tasted like mint and smelled like fresh air—a combination lethal enough to make me forget why we were kissing.
But it didn’t matter in those seconds where our mouths were connected and his hands were on me.
I felt that kiss all the way down to my cold toes and I curled them in my boots when he slid his tongue deeper into my mouth.
It wasn’t until I groaned that he stopped.
When he broke our connection, it was a rush of overwhelming realization that we were in public and the kiss wasn’t real.
He stared down at me with his gray eyes swirling with just as many confusing emotions as I had. “Wh…hey?”
My throat was clogged with words I wanted to say, but the force of that kiss made me speechless. Instead, I grabbed his gloved hand and dragged him out of the coffee shop and onto the sidewalk. “Max was in there and he recognized me from Tuesday. I panicked.”
“Your plan was to kiss the hell out of me instead?” he asked, an amused grin forming on his face. His lips were a little red and it brought me an insane amount of pride to know I was the reason why. “Tell me how that plan helped.”
“To throw him off. If I was involved with someone, then I wouldn’t have been all over him.”
Jeff made a face like he didn’t believe me and the weight of what we just did hit me. “People don’t like watching couples kissing and I figured if I did that, he would be less suspicious than if I ran out of there when he said my name.”
“He knew who you were?” Concern laced his voice and the goofy smile he wore disappeared. “I don’t like that.”
“He knew my fake name.”
“What did you tell him?”
“Olivia.”
He tilted his head to the side and smirked. “You could pull off being an Olivia.”
“Thanks, but that’s beside the point.” I felt flustered. Like my coat was too tight and my hair was in my face even though it was pulled back into a high ponytail. “It was an undercover kiss. I don’t regret it because?—”
Max walked out of the doors. My heart rate spiked and I didn’t think.
Yanking Jeff’s collar, I connected our mouths for the second time and he didn’t need to warm up.
He circled his arms around me and overwhelmed me with all of him.
His cologne, his mixture of hard muscles and soft lips and how, despite his size, I felt safe.
He bit down on my bottom lip, pulling back enough to make me open my eyes.
When I did, he was staring right at me, and I had never been so turned on in my life.
He knew his way around the bedroom, that was clear, but too soon, the kiss broke apart.
“Did you just want another taste or was it for cover again?”
I shoved his shoulder with my free hand and hoped he couldn’t see how it trembled. “He walked out and looked my way.”
“Uh- huh.”
“Trust me, that was the only reason I kissed you.”
“I think you liked it the first time and wanted more. No need to be embarrassed. It happens.” He looked way too smug and my temper flared.
“If I wanted to kiss you, I would, Jeff Maddow. I did it for a specific reason and that was the only reason.” I pointed my finger at his chest and hated how hot I was. The wind-chill was below freezing, but it didn’t matter.
“Okay.”
“I’m serious.” I narrowed my eyes and spoke in my deepest voice.
“I said okay.”
“Yeah, but you said it all smug and shit.” His grin kept growing. “See? You’re sick. You’re enjoying this.”
“It wasn’t unpleasant.”
“ Jesus , it was a good kiss. You can admit it.” What is my life? Why are we talking about a kiss?
“So you did like it.”
“I’m not… We aren’t… I need to go.” I let out a long sigh and got about ten steps away from him before he joined me. I ignored him. Surely, he’d leave if I remained silent.
He didn’t say anything either and the silence grew from a couple of seconds to minutes, and soon enough, we were on the main quad and heading toward the communications building. When I got to the door, I broke. “Fine. You win. I don’t even know what we are competing about, but you win. Happy?”
He smiled, held the door open for me and ushered me in. “I am happy right now. Thank you for asking.”
“Why are guys so annoying?”
“I think it’s in our DNA. I can’t be certain, but I think there’re enough studies done to prove it.”
I rolled my eyes but made no motions to head to class that already started. “I’m sorry if I crossed some boundary kissing you. I didn’t ask and I hope it doesn’t make things weird between us. So let’s just…forget about it, okay?”
“Not sure if I can, Amber.”
Damn it. “It won’t happen again, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
He bit down on his lip and ran his tongue over the spot—the mere gesture had my breathing coming out heavier and my reaction to him was embarrassing. “It wasn’t a kiss a guy could forget. So you’ve got it completely wrong. I’m worried it won’t happen again.”
He let my awkward silence last for five seconds before he grinned. “Have a nice class. Let’s catch up later.”
What the hell did he mean?