7. Kamryn
After watching him at the game on Saturday and then being near each other at another party afterward but never engaging in conversation with one another, I realized just how out of my league I was. That night we were very coy with one another. He was getting praise the whole night for helping the team to another win for the season. The small glances we shared were enough to have me wanting to shout from the rooftop that we’re going on a date.
Before I know it, it’s Tuesday. And the butterflies are taking flight the only way a first date can do.
I’ve gone through almost my entire closet and Sarah’s trying to help me figure out what to wear.
“Kam relax! It’s just a casual date.” She states attempting to calm me down.
“Yeah. With a hunky quarterback. Why am I so nervous?”
From her spot on her bed, she looks at me with empathy, “Maybe because you’re scared that you might actually like him after tonight? Since I’ve known Mason, he’s been nothing but a gentleman. I don’t think you have anything to worry about.”
I groan out my frustration. Look into my average looking closet and back at Sarah with puppy dog eyes. “Will you help me please? Your fashion taste is much better than mine.”
With a laugh, Sarah hefts herself off her bed and joins me at my closet. Swiftly putting two pieces together, I never would have thought to put together. “Here…wear this maxi dress and these boots. Now go put those on.” Sarah says as she pushes me into our little bathroom.
Deep breaths Kamryn. It’s not like you haven’t gone out on dates with insanely attractive guys before. Yeah, but not star athletes. When I go out with Liam he gathers plenty of female’s eyes. The looks I get are born out of jealousy. I give myself a pep talk like that will hopefully calm me down.
With the dress and the boots on it still doesn’t look right. Doubt coats my voice as I call out, “Okay. I’m coming out of the bathroom. But I don’t think this looks good.”
“Kamryn, stop whining and let me see.”
I open the door and do a little twirl. “See. Something’s off.”
Sarah puts her finger to her lips to see what can be done. “Let me try something.” She walks over to me and crouches down to mess with the dress. When she’s done she pulls me in front of the mirror. “Done!”
I never would have thought of that. She’s tied the bottom of my dress into a knot so that it kind of cascades down and is still showing off my boots. It’s very bohemian chic. But something is still off.
“You don’t think the boots throw it off?” They look a little clunky.
Sarah eyes my outfit again. She walks back to my closet and riffles through what I have before coming out with another dress and shoes. “Here, try this dress instead. You have really nice legs. Show them off!”
I swiftly take off the maxi dress and replace it with the shift style mini dress. Then swap the boots for cute sandals. It is still summer in the south after all. Ive never been one to wear a dress on a date. Some guys take wearing a dress to mean “easy access”, when it really means “less effort”.
“I like this a lot better! Thanks Sarah.”
“Anytime.” She tells me with a small smile.
My phone chimes with a message from Mason.
Mason: I’m out front.
“He’s here.” I look at Sarah. My nerves have skyrocketed to an all-time high.
“Don’t keep the man waiting. Chop chop!” Sarah demands.
I gather up my little black wristlet and throw my ID, chapstick, lip gloss, debit card, some cash, my dorm key, and a couple sticks of gum in it before I leave. I also make sure I have my Blackberry, because…why wouldn’t I? I say bye to Sarah and tell her not to wait up with a wink.
Walking to the front of my dorm telling myself to calm down. He’s just a guy. A really hunky, athletic, and handsome guy. I push through the door and he turns around at the noise.
“Hey, you,” He greets.
“Hey, yourself,” I falter in my steps a little. Did I really just greet him like that?
He smiles at my greeting. “Ready to go? It’s just up the street, so I figured we’d walk?”
“Okay. Sounds good,” I nervously reply. Why am I so nervous? I’ve been on a handful of dates before. Okay, maybe no date like with Mason. But a date is a date. Right?
We make small talk on the way to the restaurant. Quirky little tidbits that get us making up faux stories that have us cracking up laughing. He puts himself on the street side of the sidewalk, putting his hand on my lower back as we pass other people. His presence puts me at ease, so I’m pleasantly surprised when we stop at a place called Hippy Dippy. It’s a cute pizza place with hipster retro vibes throughout the restaurant. Once we’re seated and the waitress takes our order, that’s when the real conversation starts.
“So where are you really from Kamryn? I am asking you this now since I was shut down the first time I asked.” He says with a wink that has my face flaming with a blush.
“I am actually from Philadelphia. Born and raised.”
“So that explains the accent. You didn’t want to stay there for school?”
This part I dread telling people. “You want the real truth? Or some fake truth?”
“Real truth please.”
“Penn U was a solid choice. My family is there. I know the city. Anytime my parents talked about college, they would say that they had the best time of their lives being part of the Greek world. Both of my parents were part of the founding members of their chapters. Penn U is very Greek heavy, so when word got around that they had two legends in their midst the Greek life dedicated a wall shrine to them. All of their achievements and pictures. So many pictures. My parents would take my sister and me to visit there, despite them never going to that school, and it was unconsciously ingrained in us that that was our path.” I take a sip of my water before continuing. “I concluded that the only way for me to not be seen a certain way was to go to a completely different school. So here I am. Does that make sense?”
“Of course it does. We all have to have the ability to spread our wings without the crucifixion of others. I think you made the right choice.”
“Thank you. Not only was Greek life part of the reason I didn’t want to go there, but the school wasn’t what I wanted.”
“What were you looking for in a school?”
The waitress coming over pauses our conversation as she places our pizza in the center of the table. We both tell her thank you and then get situated.
“I can’t really explain it. It’s more that I felt it. When I toured here, I got goosebumps. I felt a calmness that I had never felt before. I didn’t think I’d feel that anywhere else.” I take a bite of pizza once it’s cooled. I felt like I was rambling so I take the opportunity to take a breath.
“And your major is psychology?”
Him remembering, even my major, is such a tiny gesture but it means the world. “That’s correct.”
“What are your end goals for being a psychology major?”
“I would love to have my own practice. General counseling isn’t too stuffy. But maybe a psychologist in a hospital. I have a while before I have to figure that out. Then again I keep going back to being a teacher. And oh my goodness I need to stop talking.” I cover my face as embarrassment takes hold.
Mason’s chuckle is somewhat comforting. “I’ve been asking you the questions. I’m just surprised you figured that all out in your first year. Most don’t.”
“Yeah. I took a psychology class as an elective my junior year, and I was hooked. Nothing else really mattered.”
“You are probably the most ambitious freshmen that I’ve ever met.”
“Thanks, I guess. Well what about you? Was it always a dream of yours to play at such a high profile college?”
He leans back in his chair, now that I’ve turned the conversation to him. “Football was never even part of my plan. I just did it in high school to have something to do. But colleges took notice and I got offers in South Carolina. I wanted something that was far from home, but not too far that I couldn’t leave if I had a family emergency. My original plan was always art school or even majoring in art therapy.”
“Art school?”
He nods his head. “I had really bad ADHD growing up. My parents took me to a bunch of specialists. They tried putting me into music classes, I tried writing, and building; but nothing quite worked. Until one day in middle school, we had to take an art class as a mandatory elective and I guess that’s when it clicked for me. Apparently, my teacher called my parents to let them know I finally focused on something for longer than two minutes. They never pushed me into it, which I think that also helped. But I continued with it. Entered into some contests during my junior and senior years of high school. Placed in the top three and even entered nationally for some shows.”
“Wow. So how did those shows go?” I ask genuinely curious.
“I actually placed in the top ten.” He says it so casually. Like it’s no big deal.
“That’s amazing. Now I can say I know a famous artist.”
“I wouldn’t take it that far.” He says modestly.
“Honestly I never would have pegged you for an art guy. Don’t get me wrong, but you look more like someone who’d be into journalism or sports broadcasting or even engineering. But if you don’t mind, and since you said you wanted to go to art school, I’d love to see some of your work.”
His eyes widened after I said that. “Really?”
“Absolutely. Anyone who says what they really want to do is respected in my book. But what is your major?”
“I couldn’t just let art go. It was a safe place for me when the world was too chaotic. So I’m actually double majoring in Art Therapy and Finance.”
“So you didn’t stray too far from what you wanted. That suits you.”
As we continue talking through dinner, we find we have a lot more in common. Brooks is a much-respected name in Greek life as well. He joined a fraternity his freshman year but doesn’t advertise it like others around campus. He tells me all the places he wants to travel to and I tell him mine. And throughout dinner, I find myself warming up to him more than I would have thought possible. He’s sweeter than I anticipated. But I guess he gets that from the example that his parents have set for him.
We’re still talking about anything and everything under the sun long after dinner is over. After we left the restaurant we decided to take a walk around campus, because neither one of us wanted the night to end. I’m quickly realizing that Mason had a phenomenal example of how to treat a woman when we both notice how late it’s getting when he walks me back to my dorm. If neither of us had early classes the next day, I’m sure that we could’ve kept talking until the sun came up.
“I had a lot of fun tonight Kamryn.”
I peek over at him out of the corner of my eye and see his hands shoved deep into his front pockets.
“So did I. More fun than any date that I’ve ever been on.” Backtrack. NOW!
His head pops up at the word date. “So you saw this as a date?”
“Oh god. I didn’t want to assume anything. That’s only if you saw it that way.” I mentally slap myself in the face repeatedly. Something niggles in my mind that I should mention I have an arrangement that’s not totally an arrangement anymore.
He takes my hand in his and leads me to the side of the building out of sight from passersby.
“Mason, I’m sorry if I assumed anything.” I just blew it with the most amazing guy that I’ve ever known.
Mason gently cradles my head in his hand. “I don’t do this on first dates. Or when I barely know the person. But it’s something about you Kamryn. May I?”
He’s asking to kiss me. Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner.
I find my voice amidst the blood roaring in my head. “May you what?”
His hand tucks the hair behind my ear and curves around the back of my neck. “May I kiss you?”
I nod my head.
“I need the words Kamryn.”
“Yes. You may kiss me.”
Mason leans down and is just an inch from my lips. Is he waiting for my reassurance? I stretch to my tiptoes and close the distance as our lips carefully meet. I melt into him. It’s an innocent kiss. A get-to-know you kiss. Not as much of an open-mouthed kiss as it is us testing the waters. If he’s waiting for me to make more of the moves, then maybe I should tell my mom I met an actual gentleman.
His tongue lightly darts out and traces my bottom lip. I open my mouth a little more and that’s when it happens. As soon as our tongues meet, Mason puts a hand on my lower back, the other on the back of my neck tightens and pulls me up against him leaving no room for anything between us. Pushing us back up against the brick wall for support. I feel this kiss everywhere! From sweet to sexy in ten seconds.
I think that’s what expertly defines Mason. Sweet and approachable to the outside world. Sexy and dominating in a nonchalant way to the one he’s with.
From the tip of my toes to the top of my head. The throbbing between my legs becomes unbearable. I feel this kiss everywhere.
Our tongues dance and battle for control. He wins, but not before placing his thigh between my legs. The friction of his thigh on my center has me rolling my hips desperately seeking more of the friction I desperately want. His hand that’s on the back of my neck travels down my body before landing my thigh and giving it a squeeze. The whimper he elicits from me is almost embarrassing.
After a few minutes of over the clothes groping and some not-so-innocent ass grabs, he reluctantly breaks our kiss. Resting his forehead against mine in an effort to slow his breathing. “You…wow.” He slowly removes his leg from between mine and makes sure I’m balanced before standing up straight.
I’m still a little dazed and breathless from the kiss, my gaze fixated on his lips. “Right back atcha champ.” Is all that I can manage to get out.
“I have an away game this weekend. But do you wanna go to breakfast? Maybe Friday morning? I know a place that’s good, but we have to get there right as they open.”
“Sure. I’d love to. I have my only class at ten.”
We walk back to the front of the building as slowly as we can.
“Get some sleep. I’ll see you sometime tomorrow.”
“Okay. Thank you for tonight.” I kiss him on the cheek and then walk into my dorm. I look over my shoulder once I’m inside and see him watching me walk away. I’m in so much trouble.
The good kind of course.
For the past few days, Mason and I have been texting non-stop. Well as much non-stop as possible. With his crazy busy football schedule and my preparing to rush, it’s been crazy. So when Friday rolls around I finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Mason: Meet me at Stacks at 8.
Me: Okay. I’ll see you in a bit.
“So I take it things are going good with Mason?” Sarah asks.
We’re both early risers even though neither of us have an early class today.
I pull my hair back into a braid. Then throw on some leggings and a thin long sleeve shirt. A couple swipes of mascara and a spritz of perfume is my unofficial Friday uniform.
“It’s only been a few days. But I’m already falling hard for the guy. He’s a perfect gentleman. Like you said. He’s sweet, attentive, and he makes me laugh. He’s just so easy to talk to. We never run out of things to say. He gives me butterflies.” I list wistfully.
“And what about Liam?”
The cold haze washes over me. “What do you mean?”
Sarah pins me with that look. “You know what I mean. Kam, he’s your best friend. He deserves to know that you’re seeing someone.”
She’s right. I know she is. We even made that deal that we would break off our arrangement when we started seeing someone.
“You’re the one that said I needed to get over whatever it was that was brewing between the two of us.”
“Yeah. I did. Again, Kam, he’s one of your best friends. And I know for a fact that after y’all’s FWB arrangement, he might be waiting for you to make the next move.” Leave it to Sarah to be my voice of reason.
I turn and look at her. “He blew me off. So I took matters into my own hands.”
Sarah gives me a pointed look. “Boys run when they’re scared. It’s just what they do.”
With an over-exaggerated and frustrated groan, I relent. “Crap. How do I break it to him?”
“Honestly and truthfully.”
I ponder over what to say and then pull out my phone to text him. Not thinking I’d get an instant response from him.
Me: Can we meet up this afternoon? At the fountain? I need to talk to you about something.
Liam: Sure. I have practice til 3. We can meet up after.
Me: Perfect. See you then.
It’s strange how everything has felt right since I met Mason. This realization that life can be crystal clear in its direction that life can take you on. In the short time I’ve been in his life and he in mine, I find myself lighter. I find myself smiling and realizing that happiness is more attainable than I thought.
From the time I woke up to when I started getting ready, the smile wouldn’t leave my face. It was the giddy anticipation and butterflies swarming through my stomach that I realized Mason is exactly who I need in this period in my life.
I make the short drive to the small breakfast spot and see him waiting by the door. My body lights up as we make eye contact. As I get out of the car and walk towards him, that lightness I felt before I’m noticing isn’t a fluke. He takes my hand in his when I’m close to him and walks us up to the restaurant.
Hand holding is an underrated physical connection. The sparks of light that ignite when mine and Mason’s hands touch, sparks the giddiness I’ve waited for. He transfers my hand to his other as he opens the door for us and places it on my lower back as we walk inside. We get a table for two and settle in for our first of many dates.
This breakfast has been amazing. No matter how many times I’ve had breakfast in South Carolina, it never fails to amaze me. The company isn’t so bad either.
The restaurant is cozy with wood tones throughout. The smell of coffee and maple syrup permeate the area. Tables with character marks and local prints and paintings on the wall. Huge Bay windows line the front of the restaurant letting the morning light shine through the space.
The place was just barely packed by the time we got there. So we got lucky with the intimate two-seater table that has our legs and feet caging the other. Our conversations are never forced. We laugh easily. I’ve truthfully never felt more giggly. We end up eating off each other’s plates as the food is too good to not just restrict ourselves to just our meals.
When our plates are empty, we stack them and settle back into our chairs. Watching the slow hustle and bustle as more people come into the restaurant.
“So I was thinking…” Mason starts by way of conversation.
“Oh no.”
“What?” He looks alarmed
“Nothing good ever starts with ‘So I was thinking’,” I voice with a smile and air quotes.
That gets a chuckle out of him. “You’re right. I’m sorry. But I was thinking about something. It’s a good thing.” He looks at me expectantly as he sits forward.
“Go on,” I encourage him. I have a hunch of what he’s about to tell me.
“I like you Kam. I have fun with you. You’re different in a good way. It sets you apart from the rest of the other girls on campus.”
I take that as a good thing, “I like you too Mason.”
“I know that we just started hanging out, and I know that we’re both really busy. And I don’t want to do the whole talk for a month to see how it goes.” He takes my hand in his as if he needs the contact to get him through this. “But, I was wondering if you’d like to make this official? Make us official. It’s going to be a lot of work to have alone time. But I think we can do it.”
I lean in closer to him, because his energy is just something that I now crave. “Are you asking me to be your girlfriend?”
Now it’s his turn to blush. “Yeah. I am.”
“My answer is yes.” The smile that spreads across my face can’t be tamed.
Once our breakfast is paid for, Mason walks me out to my car. Not my car, it’s Sarah’s. But it still stands. He walks me to a car that I’ve borrowed.
“Thank you for breakfast,” Breakfast dates are underutilized meals in the date category.
Our hands swing lightly between us. The giddiness I feel with being his makes me floaty.
“Of course. I wish we didn’t have an away game this weekend.”
“I’ll be able to see you on Sunday, right?”
Mason nods his head. “You and me. Movies all day.”
“Sounds perfect.”
The first time you kiss once you make it official is always nerve wracking. The question of which way do you tilt your head? Tongue or no tongue?
A kiss when you’re just talking to them or even getting to know them is a completely different thing than when you make your relationship with them official.
Do you just hug them? A kiss on the cheek? A freaking handshake?!!!
WHAT IS THE RIGHT CALL?!!
Mason pulls me in for a hug and rests his cheek on top of my head. My arms go around his waist. Our bodies mold together and I bask in the warmth of his body heat. I soak in his warmth and his masculine scent with a twinge of sweetness from the syrup. Other than that, it’s all Mason. His heartbeat is steady and pumping against my ear. His arms are holding me to him as if he’ll never get the chance to do so again.
That lightness I talk about, can he feel it too?
Pulling back to look into his eyes, I see his gaze switching between my eyes and lips. So I make the decision and take the leap. Leaning up on my toes and pressing my lips to his ever so gently and making us 100% official, is better than any kiss that he could give me.
Mason’s body crowds mine against the car. His hard body against my soft. Our lips move together. His tongue licks along my bottom lip as one hand goes to the back of my head, holding me in place, while the other slips under my shirt and pushes my lower body into his groin.
“I have to go,” Mason offhandedly states before kissing me senseless. His tongue tangles with mine as we lean against the car.
“Mm hmm.” Kiss. “Yeah.” Kiss. “You should really go.” Kiss.
Neither of us attempt to make a move to stop kissing. This is a pretty good high if you ask me.
After a few minutes, we slow the kiss down, and finally pull back from each other. Our foreheads resting on each other as we tempt our heart rates to go back to normal.
“I’ll see you Sunday,” Mason says and pulls open my door.
“Good luck tomorrow,” I say and place one last kiss on his lips.
Once the car door is closed and I’m buckled in, Mason steps back from the car as I drive away.
I’m literally floating on a cloud for the rest of the day. My Friday class is a breeze and the professor takes pity on us and lets us out of class twenty minutes earlier.
Until I remember that Liam and I are supposed to have a talk this afternoon. And that bright white cloud turns into a dark storm cloud. The lightness I felt hours before dissipates to what feels like anchors on my ankles. But I’d rather him hear it from me than someone else. That’s what friends do, right? Protect each other from getting hurt. Well, not protect, but shield them from the brunt of it? That’s what I’m doing for Liam. I don’t want to hide anything from him.
I’m sitting by the fountain in the middle of the quad on my phone, texting Mason when Liam calls out my name. I look up and see him walking towards me. Things haven’t been the same between us since that last night. Theres been this river between us and I don’t know how to cross it. My phone buzzes with an incoming text from Mason, but I lock it before smiling up at Liam.
“Hey stranger. Long time no see,” Liam says by way of greeting me.
I’m nervous to talk to him. Why am I nervous?
“Hey yourself. I know, I’ve just gotten pretty busy lately. Sorry about that.”
I think I’m about to break his heart.
“No problem. So what did you want to talk about?” He takes a seat next to me and looks at me like I hung the moon.
Oh, Liam. I absolutely did not hang the moon.
“I actually wanted to tell you something,” deep breath Kamryn. You can do this! “Do you remember that big back-to-school party a couple weeks ago?” He nods. So I continue. “Well, I met someone there. It wasn’t planned. Well for me it wasn’t. Sarah kind of introduced us. We hit it off. But hadn’t seen each other until about a week later. Then we went on a date that Tuesday and then another one this morning. We made it official right after.”
I look at him to gauge his reaction. If he’s hurt then he’s hiding it damn well.
I see a little twitch in his jaw before he looks at me with a small smile on his face. “What’s his name?”
“Mason Brooks.”
Liam’s eyes jump to his hairline, “You’re dating the starting QB for our school?”
I nod. “I know it’s completely random. But he’s a good guy. Despite what others may think of him. And he makes me laugh and I’m really happy.”
“That’s great Kam,” Liam responds, surprising me.
“Really?”
“Yeah. As long as you’re happy.”
“I am. Thank you Liam.”
We both look out onto the quad. Not knowing what to say. But knowing something else should be said.
“I just - I know we said we’d let the other know when we met someone. And I chose to let you know rather than you finding out from someone else.”
He looks at me with a furrowed brow, choosing not to say anything.
The silence is no longer the comfortable silence that I once had with Liam. Instead it’s awkward. How do you go back to being just friends with someone who has had your body in ways no one has? When the silence is too brutal to stand, I make an excuse to leave. I give him a hug and tell him my relationship doesn’t change our friendship, before walking back to my dorm.
I guess that went way better than expected.
But sometimes, life has a funny way of surprising you.