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“You know, I kept meaning to go to the fair and I kept missing it because I was busy with other things,” Nicole told me when I climbed in behind the wheel. I grinned, pleased with myself.

  “Then I’m glad I thought of it,” I said. “This is the last weekend it’s going to be in town, so I thought since I’m supposed to be showing you how to have a good time and relax…” I shrugged, pulling out of my spot. “I thought it would be fun.”

  “I hope so!” In the corner of my eye I saw Nicole smoothing the skirt of her dress over her legs. “Please tell me you’re into rollercoasters,” she added.

  “Oh, totally,” I said, nodding as I began to steer my way off campus. “The scarier the better.”

  “Me too!” I glanced over to see that Nicole was getting even more excited. “And the rides where it’s like a swing, but it goes up into the air, you know? I love those.”

  “Yeah. Those are always a good choice—especially if they’re the kind where you can swing around.”

  “Yes!” I turned the music on just for a little bit of background noise—not loud enough to drown Nicole out—and we started chatting: about music, about movies we wanted to see, about the dining hall and the terrible food we were missing out on.

  It took about twenty minutes to get to the fair, and then another ten minutes to park; but we’d gotten there after the big rush at the ticket lines, which was something at least. “Now,” I told Nicole, when I saw her reaching into her purse as we got closer to the ticket booth. “I asked you out, so I’m paying for this—all of it. I don’t want to see your wallet the entire night unless someone needs your ID for something.”

  Nicole laughed and shrugged, her dark eyes dancing as she looked up at me, and I thought that it wasn’t possible for her to have any idea at all how utterly adorable she was.

  “If you insist,” she said, her hand leaving her purse.

  I bought wristbands for the rides and tickets for the food trucks, games, and snack stands—more than I thought we could possibly get through for the night—and then we were walking into the fair. “Where should we go first?” Nicole looked around and I couldn’t blame her; there was so much going on all around us, it was almost impossible to choose a direction.

  “Well we probably want to play some games first, right?” I spotted a ski-ball game, and next to it one with water guns. “Games, and then a couple of rides, something to eat…”

  “That sounds good,” Nicole agreed. She looked in the direction of the games and glanced at me. “Ski-ball?”

  We went from one part of the fairgrounds to another, playing games, eating whatever called to us, and getting onto the most exciting rides, one after the other. I was glad at least that Nicole had an iron stomach; even the gravitron didn’t shake her up, even though she’d eaten half of a funnel cake only a few minutes before. Every so often I saw Nicole start to reach for her purse, but as soon as she saw me looking at her, she stopped.

  After we made one lap of the fairgrounds, we decided to take a break for a while and just talk and relax. “What’s been your favorite thing so far?”

  “I have to say it was probably the gravitron,” Nicole said, grinning and shaking her head. “Either that or the deep fried Oreos.” I laughed. “What about you?”

  “I really liked that—what was it called? The one with the helicopters.”

  “Oh yeah!” Nicole giggled. “Though I was afraid you were going to lose your dinner on it.”

  “Me? You were the one who scarfed down that deep-fried Jell-O,” I pointed out playfully. “If anything could have made me barf…”

  “There are a lot more rides,” Nicole countered. “We might actually get really, really close to each other by one of us holding the other one’s hair back.”

  “I don’t have enough to get in the way.” I tweaked a lock of her hair and brought the tip of it just under her nose. “Don’t think you have to go on every ride just to impress me, by the way. The fact that you managed the Sky Walker ride without flashing anyone is impressive enough.”

  “My Grandma taught me how to be a lady,” Nicole said, putting on a snobby expression. “Just because most of the time I don’t actually do any ladylike things…”

  “Oh man, now I want to see you at some tea party or something,” I joked, shaking my head at the image.

  “I would fit right in! You jerk—I know how to act properly.” Nicole swatted at me, and I went along with it, cowering in front of her.

  “Okay—don’t hurt me! I believe you.” I tousled her hair—I’d been looking for an excuse to touch her like that, to find out if it was as soft as it looked. It was. “Ready for more thrills and excitement?”

  “I’m ready if you are,” Nicole said, looking up at me with a challenging glint in her eyes. We made another round of the fairway, and I saw the Ferris wheel. “Oh god, how many people do you think have paid the guy to have him stop it at the top?” Nicole grinned at me. “Please don’t do that.”

  “What? You don’t want a romantic movie moment on your first date? Have I been that terrible?”

  “It’s such a cliché!” Nicole gestured at the Ferris wheel, shaking her head. “It’s so gross. Let’s not even ride it. I don’t want to tempt you.”

  “I think you’re just afraid of heights or something,” I told her.

  “I am not!” Nicole pouted and I grinned. “Fine, we’ll ride it. But if it stops at the top and you try to kiss me there, I’m going to shove you out of the car.”

  I didn’t try to make a move on her there—it was obvious that even if she were joking, it wouldn’t work to do it anyway. Instead we laughed at the couple that actually did kiss at the top of the Ferris wheel and got off still laughing.

  We dared each other to get on more and more exciting rides: the Tower of Terror, the Whip Crack, and finally, after a long wait in line, we were climbing into the cars of the scariest, most intense roller coaster the fair offered: the Kraken. “Now, don’t think I’m going to think less of you if you scream,” I told Nicole playfully as the ride technicians belted us down into the seats.

  “Oh come on,” Nicole said, reaching over to give me a shove. “You’re going to scream before I do.”

  “I will bet you a kiss that I don’t scream,” I said, raising an eyebrow. “One kiss. It’s not on the Ferris wheel.”

  “Okay,” Nicole said, grinning. “If you don’t scream, you get a kiss. If you do…hmm.” She pressed her lips together as she considered. I had been wanting to kiss her—almost needing to kiss her—all night. “If you scream then you give me all the rest of the food tickets, and you have to eat whatever I buy with them.”

  “Deal.” I reached over and offered her my hand to shake. The rollercoaster started up a minute later, and I clenched my teeth as we rocketed away. I will bite my own tongue off before I’ll scream, I thought, determined to earn my kiss. I knew that Nicole would probably let me kiss her anyway; but I was set to actually earn the reward, to stick by the letter of my agreement.

  I heard Nicole let out a shriek next to me when the rollercoaster plunged into the deepest descent of the ride; but I managed to keep my lips pressed together the whole time, my heart pounding in my chest, my blood roaring in my ears along with the wind. The rollercoaster slowed to a stop and my heart was still pounding, adrenaline flowing through my veins. The safety belts came off, and I turned to Nicole. “I didn’t scream,” I told her, smiling slightly.

  “I was so looking forward to trying to figure out what combination of things would make you puke,” Nicole said, shaking her head in pretend disappointment and then ruining the look with a laugh.

  She looked up at me and I realized we were both swaying a little on our feet as we stood next to the rollercoaster ride. Instead of waiting for her to tell me I could kiss her, I leaned in and just barely brushed my lips against hers.

  Nicole started against me, but a moment later she reached up, draping her arms around my shoulders. I deepened the kiss slowly, sliding my tongue against her lips
, and Nicole opened her mouth without even a second’s hesitation. My heart started pounding for reasons that had nothing to do with the rollercoaster.

  After a few minutes—I had no idea how many—I finally pulled back. “I don’t think anything else here can possibly top that,” I told Nicole, looking down into her face. She smiled slowly, her cheeks flushing pink.

  “I think you’re right,” she said, her hands tightening on my shoulders. “Should we head back to the dorms?” I licked my lips; I could taste the cotton candy that Nicole had eaten just before we’d gotten onto the rollercoaster.

  “I don’t want the night to be over yet,” I said quickly. “Maybe we could relax and watch a movie or something back at the dorm?” Nicole’s eyes narrowed, losing some of the dreamy quality they’d had when I first pulled out of the kiss, but when I started to think I’d overstepped my boundaries, she nodded.

  “As long as you really mean it about watching a movie,” she said, raising one of her dark eyebrows.

  “I won’t push you to do anything you don’t want to do,” I said. I brought my hand up and drew an X over my chest. “Cross my heart.”

  “Okay then,” Nicole said. She licked her lips and smiled, her blush deepening. “Let’s go.”

  Chapter Five

  When Ty let me into the building, holding the door open for me, I started to ask myself if I had made the right decision. I believed him when he had said that he wouldn’t push me to do anything I didn’t want to do; but I knew too many girls in my classes had gone up to guys’ rooms to watch a movie or to study and had to run out when the guy started to get more and more aggressive.

  Stop being paranoid. He’s been really nice all night. Give him a chance. If he screws it up now then you’re only one building away from your own dorm. Ty took my hand in his. “Do you want to take the elevator?” he asked me, pausing in front of it. “I’m on the third floor.”

  “I really prefer the stairs,” I admitted, looking up at him. “The elevators in these buildings kind of scare me.”

  “More than the rollercoaster?” Ty smiled, but I could tell he wasn’t trying to make fun of me.

  “Oh totally,” I said, nodding quickly. “At least if you get thrown off the rollercoaster, you’re probably going to die instantly. If you get stuck in the elevator you’re sitting in there for hours and hours.” Ty chuckled and started walking down the hall toward the stairwell.

  “You know, that actually makes a lot of sense,” he said. He pushed the bar on the door and held it open for me, letting go of my hand. “I got stuck in the elevator in Birch my sophomore year.”

  “Oh god—that’s my nightmare,” I told him, shaking my head and shivering. “If I ever have to take the elevator down and I’m on my way to class, I’m convinced I’m going to get stuck in there, and spend like—the entire day stuck, and miss all my classes.”

  I started climbing the stairs and Ty followed behind me; I tried not to think that he was going to be getting a great view up the back of my skirt, but I couldn’t help the suspicion. I glanced over my shoulder and realized that Ty was following too close behind me to actually look up my skirt—or even at my ass. Something about that made me even happier that I’d agreed to go up to Ty’s room with him.

  Ty opened the door for me again at the third floor and I followed him to his dorm room. Like all the dorms at West Central, Ty’s room had two “bedrooms” and a common area, with the bathroom split so that there was a shower and a sink on one end and a toilet and a sink on the other end of the room.

  Ty and his roommate had covered their common area walls with posters, and somehow moved out the tiny TV that came with all the rooms in favor of a bigger flat screen TV, hooked up to an Xbox.

  “The couch is clean, I promise,” Ty said, turning the electronics on. I sat down, laughing.

  “I didn’t actually think that it might not be until you said that,” I told him. Tyler shrugged.

  “Guys are all pretty much slobs,” he pointed out. “I just wanted to make sure you knew that I had cleaned up the place for you a bit—not because I expected you to come over, but I hoped. And I thought that it would be better to clean up and not have you come over than to not clean and have to deal with the shame.”

  The Xbox booted up and Ty sat down next to me on the couch, picking up one of the controllers.

  “What do you want to watch?” I bit my bottom lip and tried to think of what the “right” answer would be while he logged into Netflix.

  “Something funny,” I said, shrugging. “Something easy.” Ty nodded and flipped through the comedy section, frowning in thought.

  “How about The Addams Family?” I grinned.

  “That’s definitely funny and definitely easy. Sold!” Ty started it and we settled in together on the couch.

  My heart was beating fast in my chest as Ty turned the lights down; I twitched a little bit when he put his arm around me to pull me closer, but he didn’t try to grope me or cop a feel. I took a quick, deep breath, and after a few moments I was comfortable enough to cuddle up to him, kicking my boots off to bring my feet up onto the couch and tuck them under my legs.

  After a while, I was completely at ease; Ty’s body was warm against mine, his fingertips slid up and down along my arm in a kind of constant caress that didn’t make me think he was about to try and put the moves on me.

  “Is it weird that I kind of wish I had a relationship like Gomez and Morticia?” Ty snickered.

  “Who wouldn’t?” he gestured with his other hand to the TV. “I mean, they’re madly in love with each other. And apparently neither of them can actually die. That’s a solid life goal.” I giggled.

  “The living forever part is kind of out of reach,” I said, looking away from the TV to glance up at Ty’s face. “But the madly in love thing is great.”

  I licked my lips. In spite of how nervous I’d been, I couldn’t help but remember the kiss that Ty and I had had at the fair; I definitely wanted to try it again, and as soon as possible. I shifted against him, trying to think of how to signal that I wanted him to kiss me without being too obvious about it. Ty’s hand slid up along my arm to my shoulder and tightened, and I looked up to see him looking down at me.

  “If I’m being too pushy…” I shook my head and turned around to face Ty completely. I licked my lips and brought my face up to his, and hesitated for just a moment; Ty took advantage of my pause and pulled me closer, wrapping his arms around my waist as his lips connected with mine. I shivered, closing my eyes, and kissed back, pressing my body against Ty’s.

  Even the idea of the movie went away completely as Ty and I began to kiss each other more and more passionately—I couldn’t have kept track of what was happening on the TV even if I had wanted to. Ty’s tongue slid along my lips and I opened my mouth, shivering as my body started to heat up little by little.

  Ty’s hands started to move along my curves, caressing me slowly. I let my hands start to wander, nervous but turned on at the same time, my whole body tingling. I moaned against Ty’s lips as he barely brushed against my breasts with his hands and then retreated, tickling my ribs on his way down to my hips. I writhed against Ty, trembling as his kiss deepened and our touches started to get hotter.

  Ty groaned and I could feel the hard ridge of his erection straining at the front of his jeans pressing up against me. I could feel myself starting to get wet, my whole body on fire as Ty somehow slid us both down onto the couch, cradling my body against his, holding me close even as he explored my body with his hands. He broke away from my lips and kissed along the column of my throat, nibbling at the spot where my pulse fluttered and licking just underneath it.

  I whimpered as Ty’s hand moved down to the hem of my dress, his fingertips brushing along my thighs. Part of me wanted him to keep going; part of me wanted to tell him to take me then and there. But the thought of giving into it right away made something inside me go cold and tight. Don’t go too fast; you went too fast with Dillon and look wher
e that landed you. Ty brought his lips back up to mine and kissed me hungrily, and I waited to see if he would make a heavier move, if he would try to start taking my clothes off.

  His hand slowly worked its way up along the outside of my thigh, almost tickling me, his fingertips cold against my hot skin, and I thought to myself that Ty was obviously different from Dillon—but I still couldn’t let myself go through with it. I wanted to wait—I wanted to be sure of who Ty was before I had sex with him.

  I broke away from the kiss, panting for breath, and every nerve in my body screamed that I was making a huge mistake, stopping the make out session. “Can—can we stop?” I looked up into Ty’s eyes. For a second they looked almost drugged; but he nodded, taking a quick, deep breath. His hand slid out from underneath my dress and he hugged me tightly for just a moment.

  “I never want you to feel uncomfortable or pressured,” he told me gently. “Any time you want me to stop, just say the word.”

  I smiled, feeling the tingle work through my body—it almost made me want to tell him I’d reconsidered, that he could do whatever he wanted to me. But instead I just kissed him once—quickly—on the lips.

  The feeling of his mouth against mine was almost enough to make me start the make out session again; but then I heard keys clattering against the door to the room and I sat up just in time to see Ty’s roommate walk into the room.

  “Hi,” I said nervously, feeling my cheeks burn with a blush. Ty grinned, giving my hand a quick squeeze.

  “Welcome back, Andy,” Ty said, barely looking over his shoulder at his roommate. “This is Nicole.”

  “Hey, Nicole,” Andy said, giving me a quick wave. He was maybe a few inches taller than me, with sandy brown hair and blue eyes, and something about him made me sure that he was studying computer programming or something like that, in spite of the fact that he was wearing a pair of jeans and a t-shirt like just about everyone else on campus always did.

  “I’ll give you guys some privacy.” I giggled and looked at Ty. I knew if I stayed much longer, we’d start kissing again, and if we started kissing again, I wouldn’t be able to resist the temptation of doing more.