More Than Forever(64)

"Ten minutes." I turn full circle in the room, scanning the floor. "Where are my shoes?"

"Cameron."

I stop what I'm doing, take a breath, and turn to her. "What?" I snap.

She smiles sadly. "I'm sorry, I just miss you."

My shoulders drop. I'm an asshole. I release the shirt from my hand. "I'm sorry, baby. Since they made part of the scholarship working at the firm, and classes, and actual paid work, I've just been busy. I'm sorry," I repeat. "I shouldn't be taking it out on you."

My workload freshman year was fine. I had classes and I worked part time at a video game store. This year, they changed the scholarship to include unpaid hours there. I agreed because I didn't feel like I had a choice, but now we're months into the second semester and it's starting to kill me.

Pouting, she gets off the bed to pick up my discarded shirt off the floor. She walks back and stands on the bed, opening the shirt for me to put on. She kisses me, leaning forward as she does. My hands move to her waist, my fingers digging into her skin. It feels like forever since I've touched her. "I miss you," I whisper, pulling back from her lips.

She focuses on buttoning my shirt from the bottom up. I watch her eyes narrow in concentration. My hands move lower on her waist, down to her ass, and squeeze once.

She chuckles and presses her body into mine. "You want me to drive you to work and pick you up? It's an extra ten minutes each way we can spend together?"

"Yeah, babe. I'd love nothing more."

She smiles and kisses me again.

"I'm sorry," I say for the third time. Because she doesn't deserve the way I know I've been treating her lately. Like she comes second. And she doesn't. She'll always come first.

"It's fine, Cam. You're stressed." She shrugs. "Also, you need pants."

***

I speak to my bosses about that Roxy girl from my class. I don't have much to say, apart from the fact that she's in my class. They tell me they've already chosen her for the position, which is kind of cool, because everyone else that works here has a giant freezer sized rod stuck up their ass.

I tell Lucy about it on the drive home. She has fifty questions about Roxy that I can't answer. The only thing I know about her is that her name's Roxy, and I could maybe guess her bra size. I leave that last part out.

"So she just came up to you and asked you to put in a good word? What if she sucks, Cam? That's on you."

I throw my head back against the car seat and settle my hand on her leg. "Don't worry about it, babe."

I close my eyes, too exhausted to keep them open. She wakes me when we get to campus. "Your dorm or mine?"

"Yours, babe." Mitch, my roommate, who everyone calls Minge—which apparently is British slang for pussy—snores like a freight train. Lucy's slept over a couple times while he was there. She kept threatening to get up and punch him in the dick. One time, she actually did. We now have a No Lucy Post Luna policy.

***

My alarm goes off sooner than I'd like. She moans, rubbing her face on my chest. "Turn it off."

I rub my eyes to wake them up. "I can't. I have an early class."

"Skip it."

"Sure," I say, trying to peel her off me.

She holds on to me tighter. "No. It's so warm in here, and so cold out there. Just stay. Five more minutes."

She's right, she is warm. But I need to get to class. I try to get up again but she moves, like a tiny ninja, and covers me, her legs on either side of me. She glances over at Rose's—her roommate's side of the room. The bed's empty. She chews her lip to cover her smile. "Five minutes?" And this is my favorite version of Lucy. Her eyes are still heavy from sleep, her hair's a complete mess, there's no make-up, just Lucy. The Lucy I fell in love with. The Lucy I can't say no to. "Five minutes," I tell her. It comes out a warning. I reach over and set a timer on my phone. When I look back, her shirt's already off.

Five minutes turns to an hour. Because five minutes with Lucy isn't enough. Forever with Lucy isn't enough.

She laughs while watching me frantically dress. Her door opens and Rose walks in just as I'm pulling my shirt over my head.

"Good fuck?" Rose asks.

"Always," Lucy answers.

I search around for my phone and wallet while they continue to talk about me.

Rose laughs and kicks my phone from across the room. "O count?" she asks Luce.

"I lost count after three."

"I still say you lie about that."

I freeze with my wallet halfway in my pocket. Why would she lie?

"That's because you've never been with Cameron."

She giggles while I kiss her goodbye. "Love you, babe."

"Love you, too."