That ended our first date, but to my surprise he asked me out again.
Downstairs, I moved slowly through the room. He was standing with a few brothers talking animatedly, I couldn't hear what they were saying from where I was but I didn't dare get any closer. For twenty minutes, I laid in my roommate's bed confused and in shock. I didn't understand what had just happened. It wasn't my first time, my first boyfriend and I had slept together in high school, but these were polar opposites. My Jackson would have never treated me that way. The Jackson high fiving someone thirty feet away was not the man I had gotten to known over the last few months.
"Hey there you are!" Heather tapped me on the shoulder and I spun quickly to look at her in the eye trying my best not to look frantic. "Where have you been?"
"I needed to go lay down for a bit. I started to feel a headache coming and I wanted to stop it before it got bad." I lied effortlessly. I did get headaches so it was believable enough.
"Oh, no!" Heather frowned. "I'm glad you feel better. Come on, we were looking for you to take a group picture for our Facebook page!" I followed her to the group of sisters already waiting. I slide in next to Caitlyn who smirked at me coyly.
"So?" She whispered to me. I shook my head indicating that I would tell her later, but I knew that I wouldn't. At least not what really happened? I would leave to the part about being fucked on her bed; I would sweeten the moment all together. I would tell Caitlyn instead that we made love and that it was worth the wait. An eager parent stood in front of us and called for everyone to scoot in 'like you love each now!'
CHAPTER THREE
I woke up after an uneasy night sleep. I'm sure that I tossed and turned trying to push out the thoughts from the night before. Jackson left the party without and explanation almost as soon as we're taken our group photos. I went to find him only to be told by Caitlyn's date that he had gone. After that I stayed by Caitlyn's side and sipped on wine coolers. Now I rub sleep from my eyes and look over at her bed where everything had gone wrong. She was sound asleep still. As we got ready for bed the night before she drilled me for details. I gave her the facts of the first time my ex and I had slept together only making it less awkward than it really was. She never had to know.
I unburied my from the pillows it always ended up under looking for a text message from him. Only my phone was unbearably blank. The absence of my usual good morning text unnerved me more than the abrupt ending from the night before. Jackson always got up early to go for a run. He ran ten miles every morning. Quietly, I got up and prepared for the day. I look at my phone one more time before deciding to go for a run myself.
Looping around the outside perimeter of campus, I ran away from the worries of my perfect relationship. I try to forget the warnings Jasmine gave us all before that first party, before I ever met Jackson Harris. After all this time, I stopped believing that he would have ever treated me in so a callous manner. Finishing my run, I jogged to my room where Caitlyn was now awake but just barely. She sat on her bed, under her comforter still.
"Shit." She muttered. "How could you let me drink so much? And how can you be so peppy?" Caitlyn's tone accused me of something I couldn't put my finger on.
"I didn't drink my weight in fruity cocktails." I pointed out as I plopped onto my bed pulling off my shoes. Hitting the home screen on my phone my heart fell yet again. Caitlyn threw her body back onto her bed and rolled on her side, her back now to me.
"I'm going to sleep today away." She mumbled to the wall as if it would ever care. I shrugged and left the room to take a shower.
Looking up from the lounge-floating device, I could see Jackson pulling off his shirt getting ready to jump into the pool with me. It was middle of September and the water wasn't as warm as I would have liked, but Jackson and I decided today was the perfect time to go for a swim so we skipped class to drive through the neighborhood until we found a house with a clean pool. He helped me jump the fence before jumping down on the other side after me. I giggled and his hand slipped over my mouth from behind. "Shh." He pushed the air from his lips.
"Do you want us to get caught?" He was laughing himself now. I stripped down to my underwear and jumped into the pool. I didn't care about making noise at this point.
Jackson pulled off his t-shirt revealing his ripped muscles. I was very happy to be in the water or it would be a little more obvious that I was becoming aroused. With his shirt off I could see on the left side of his chest was a tribal tattoo; it stretched over his shoulder and curled around his bicep. He dropped his pants and quickly cannonballed into the open water next to me, splashing my face. I chuckled as he pulled the floaty towards him and forced me off. When I came back up for air, Jackson pulled me into his arms our legs treading water he was kissing me. I placed my hands around his waist, holding him. Before I knew it my back was against the wall of the pool and his hands were in my hair.