Page 41 of The Devastation You Reap
It makes my mind wander to last night. To him.
Even after what could possibly be described as the most romantic date ever, I'm still completely confused by the whole situation.
The naïve little girl inside me who wants to be liked wants to believe that maybe he did just want to spend the night with me, get to know me. But the rational, more sensible side of me knows that there's no way it can all be real.
Boys like Leon Dunn just aren't interested in introvert nerds like me. Not in a million years.
My life isn't like the movies. And I'm under no illusion that I'm about to buck the trend and be that shy geek who gets the popular boy in the end. That is not real life.
I trudge up to our dorm, knowing that I'm going to have to go back out and get a new cell and see if I can get the number switched over in case of emergencies.
The place is empty with Charlie distracted with her latest bed buddy and the guys are at training, so after grabbing a giant bag of chips and a can of soda from the kitchen, I make my way to my room ready to get to work while I've got some peace and quiet.
Juggling my snack and bags, I manage to get the door open without dropping anything, and I'm just about to turn and dump everything on my desk when a figure in my room scares the crap out of me.
"What the hell are you doing?" I squeal as everything clatters to the floor around my feet.
"Surprise," Leon says, a wide smile curls at his lips.
"Jesus, you could have warned me," I say, covering my racing heart with my hand.
"Sorry," he says, pushing up from my bed and coming over to help me.
Well, that's what I expect him to do, but when he gets to me, he ignores the disaster around me, takes my face in his hands and instead just stares down into my eyes.
"Hey," I squeak.
"Hey, Red." His lips are on mine before I even have time to think about what I might say next.
His kiss is brief, almost innocent but I can feel his need to make it more. Hell, my own need is almost too hard to ignore. I remember all too well how good it felt making out with him last night.
"So… uh… how'd you get in here?" I ask when he pulls back and eventually helps me pick everything up.
"Now that would be telling," he says with a wink. "But I do have something that belongs to you."
He places my bags on my chair and turns to me, pulling my cell from his pocket.
"You left it in my car."
"Ah, thank you."
I light it up to see if I've missed anything, but exactly as I was expecting the only message alerts are from Charlie.
"Popular as always, I see."
Ignoring her messages, knowing they'll be pointless, I place it on my nightstand.
"So you just broke in to return my cell?"
"And to see you."
I stand in the middle of my room, staring down at him sitting on the edge of my bed like he belongs, and wonder what the hell happened to my quiet, reclusive life.
"Shouldn't you be training or something?"
"Trying to get rid of me, Red?"
"N-no, I-I just… I wasn't expecting this."
