“I love that idea! Yeah, absolutely, I’ll run it by her!” I knew she’d be eager to go. She was like Abby, very extroverted. She enjoyed meeting new people.
“Awesome. I can’t wait to get to know her better.”
“Can’t wait, either!” I grabbed one more handful of dry cereal and then got up to head to my room. “I better keep studying, not too long until test time.”
She nodded to me. “Good luck.”
Naturally, studying was even harder now that I had the party on Saturday stuck in my head. I forced myself not to text Kaitlyn about it, though I was excited to invite her to do something besides sit at my apartment.
No, regardless of my excitement, I had to focus. I had to do well on this test. I wouldn’t let my time apart from her be for nothing. Besides, we had plans to meet for dinner in the cafeteria after my test today. I’d tell her then.
And I truly couldn’t wait.
9
Kaitlyn
Even though we were just eating in the cafeteria, and it wasn’t exactly a fancy date or anything, I bought a bouquet of flowers on my way to see Emily.
If it was my choice, we would be going out on a fancy date, but that was just not in the cards for us right now. Emily was a college student who only worked part-time at the cafeteria to make ends meet, and because she got free meal points there, that was where she chose to eat most of the time.
I wasn’t exactly loaded right now, either. Though I’d been making fairly consistent money with my street performances, it wasn’t enough to drop a lot of money on a fancy date.
So the cafeteria would have to do. Which was disappointing, because when I asked Emily to be my girlfriend, I’d rather be doing it somewhere nice.
Yep, it was finally the night. We’d been dating a month, and I thought it was appropriate now to make things official with Emily.
Ryan seemed a little concerned that I was moving so fast with her and had expressed that when I’d told him I was asking Emily to go steady tonight. But I’d assured him this wasn’t just a rebound or a way to get over Julia. Emily was something special, and I wasn’t going to let her slip through my fingers just because I’d met her so soon after my break-up.
Honestly, it hadn’t even felt like I was recovering from a break-up since I’d met Emily. And I’d had rebounds, oh boy had I had rebounds, and they’d never felt like this.
With a rebound, I’d only gotten relief when I’d actually been with the other person. When we’d been apart, I’d always found myself thinking about my most recent ex and reflecting on a dead relationship. Hell, sometimes I’d even felt that way when I’d been physically with my rebound. Sometimes we’d have sex, and I’d be lying next to them still wishing I was lying with my ex.
Not this time, not with Emily. Not only did I never think about Julia when I was with her, but I never thought about her when we were apart either. Instead of being fixated on Julia, all my spare time was spent fixated on Emily.
To think a big part of me hadn’t even wanted to go through with the break-up with Julia. If I hadn’t, I would never have met Emily, who seemed so much better suited for me.
I knew it had likely been too little time to really say, but I did believe we were more compatible than I had been with Julia. Only time would tell, since we were still in the honeymoon stage, but one thing was for certain, I’d never felt this way about Julia.
Even in the beginning of our relationship when things were supposed to be the most passionate, I’d never felt like this for her. Thoughts of Emily consumed me. After only a month, I felt like I was falling deeply in love with her. No feelings from my past had ever compared to this before.
If it had been up to me, I would have asked Emily to be my girlfriend weeks ago. But it’d been too soon, and the last thing in the world I wanted was to scare this girl off. With her, I was prepared to take it as slow as I had to.
When I walked up to the cafeteria, I saw that Emily was already waiting for me outside, sitting on a green metal bench that stood next to a bed of flowers. She didn't see me at first; her head was tilted to the flowers that were gently being pushed by the wind.
God, she was so beautiful. That was what I always thought when I saw her, but right now, with her head tilted, I got a perfect view of her amazing features, and it took everything I had not to jump the girl.
I didn’t call out to her right away; I didn’t want to distract her from her view when she looked so peaceful. But she quickly heard my footsteps and looked up at me.
“Hey!” sh
e said with a grin, standing up to wrap her arms around my shoulders. “I missed you.”
I kissed her cheek. “I missed you, too,” I said softly in her ear before pulling away. “How’d your test go?”
“Good!” she said excitedly. “I really think I nailed it.”
“I knew you would,” I said, fidgeting slightly because I was trying to casually hold the flowers behind my back. Apparently it didn’t look so casual, though.