Page 71 of Ink & Ambition

Looking over at him, I resist the urge to roll my eyes. Alex Prescott is asking me on a date. Alex, the guy I’ve been quickly getting to know and even quicker starting to admire and care about. Alex, the guy who defended my honor, helped me out in my time of need and always puts me at ease. Alex, the guy who hasn’t steered me in any direction except “right” since the moment I met him. I would be a fool to say no, and it’s that thought alone that has me responding, “Pick me up at seven,” before whipping the car door open and running inside without so much as a glance back at the laughing Adonis behind me.

“Explain it to me again.”

Dani rolls her eyes as she swipes some blush on my cheek. “It’s like he’s letting the public know that he’s with someone without the label or even saying who it is.” Danika instructs me to close my eyes as she continues talking. “That’s why it’ssoft. A hard launch is full-on girlfriend label under a picture of you two riding off into the sunset.”

Sydney laughs from her spot on Danika’s bed.

“I don’t see that happening,” I scoff.

“You’re going on a date with him tonight, Mar, I don’t think it’s that far off,” Sydney says, grabbing the outfit we decided I’d wear from Danika’s closet.

While I’m excited to go to dinner with Alex, I’m refusing to let myself get too excited. I know all too well about his reputation on campus. I have no interest in being another notch on hisbedpost. But I do think he knows me well enough by now to know I’m not that girl. Hopefully…

“Plus you kissed,” Danika raises her eyebrows at me suggestively. “Multiple times.”

I roll my eyes, immediately regretting telling them anything about what happened between Alex and me.

“He kisses a lot of girls. We’ve seen him kiss girls before.”

“You’re different,” Danika says confidently. She steps back to admire her handiwork. “Gorgeous, as usual. Now get dressed. You’ve only got two minutes before he’s supposed to be here.”

Looking at my phone for the time, I can’t believe they distracted me enough this whole time so that I wasn’t completely freaking out. Underneath the time, there’s a message from Alex from four minutes ago.

See you soon, sunshine

The brief message causes the dormant butterflies to erupt in my stomach. The silly part of this whole thing is that Alex and I have spent many, many hours alone together but this is so different, I want to puke.

Grabbing the clothes my roommates picked out for me, I run into my room to change. By the time I’m pulling my last shoe on, a hard knock sounds on the door.

“What a gentleman, actually coming to the door,” Sydney says, raising her eyebrows to her hairline. She grabs my sweater from the hook and wraps it around my shoulders. “You’re gonna have a blast.”

“And we’ll see you at the party after! We’ll be the drunk idiots waiting very impatiently for every single minute detail of the evening,” Danika winks and I roll my eyes but I can’t wipe the silly grin from my face.

Facing the door, I take a deep breath, willing myself to calm the hell down. I stand staring at the door, waiting for who knowswhat but my feet decide that now’s the time to take a stand and not move.

The knock sounds again, a little louder this time and a rough shove of two hands on my back catapults me toward the door. I open the door a smidge before pulling it wider when all I can see is a bundle of sunflowers. Alex’s lowers the bouquet and greets me with a smile.

“Sunshine,” he says as a greeting, handing me the flowers.

I take the stems. “Thank you, these are really pretty.” Putting my nose near the top, I take a big whiff. They smell amazing. Like summer and sunshine.

Danika is behind me almost instantly, a mom hovering before junior prom. I’m surprised she didn’t make us take a picture.

“I’ll put these in water for you.” She snakes the flowers out of my hand. “Good move, lover boy,” she says, giving me another not as gentle push into the hallway and closing the door quickly behind me. I let out a nervous giggle and meet Alex’s eyes briefly before looking away.

Snap out of it. He’s just Frat Boy.

I turn to walk down the hall when a firm hand grasps my wrist, pulling me back toward the door. Alex places his hand under my chin and forces my eyes to meet his.

“Sunshine,” he says again. His tone is more questioning this time. His eyes travel back and forth between mine a few times before landing on my lips.

“Hi,” I say, a smile forming on my face. Alex kisses me ever so lightly and the rest of my nervousness melts away.He’s not like this with other girls.

Alex smiles against my lips before pulling back, removing the hand from around my wrist and instead sliding his palm against mine, connecting our fingers. We walk down the hallway like this. We walk down the stairs like this. We even leave the building like this, shuttling our way single-file through the door.

“I hope you’re wearing comfortable shoes because I was thinking we could walk for a bit,” Alex says as we meander past his parked car in front of my building.

A grip his hand a little tighter. “Walking sounds nice. It’s a beautiful night.”

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