Bridgeport Academy » COMPLETE

72

Kae opened her eyes at the sound of voices. She'd been having a nightmare, one of those awful ones where you got all the way to class before realizing that you were completely naked. In the dream, everyone in the classroom was coming up to Kae and poking at her and trying to give her messy, wet kisses. Only Chris, sitting by himself at a desk in the corner, wasn't paying attention to her. He was drawing a picture of a beautiful girl—when Kae squinted to get a better look, she saw it was Jasmine.

But now she was awake. And there were definitely voices. She blinked a few times, trying to get her eyes to adjust to the dark, and could make out a figure climbing into Alex's bed. A peal of giggles filled the dark room, and Kae, still groggy with sleep and alcohol, remembered the last time she'd been awakened in the middle of the night by a boy climbing into her roommate's bed. Her whole body remembered how Chris had ended up sitting on her bed, rubbing her back. Her stomach felt sick with longing. 

What was going on? "Quincy!" she heard Alex whisper happily. "When did you guys get back?"

You guys? Kae's heart started to beat faster as she tried to understand what was happening. Did that mean...

"Hey." Someone crouched down near her head. It was Chris.

"How did you..." Kae shot up in bed, feeling a little too skimpily dressed in her black Calvin Klein tank and matching boy shorts. "What happened to the Ritz?"

Chris shifted his lanky body onto Kae's bed. Was this really happening? Was she getting a second chance? He reached for her hair and tucked it behind her ear. "The Ritz is way overrated."

If Kae was a cat, she would have purred. "Oh."

He cleared his throat. "Truth is, I realized it wasn't where I really wanted to be."

Kae swallowed. Was her breath okay? Did she smell?

Chris grinned. "Come on, let's get out of here. I want to show you something."

Kae tossed off her blankets and hopped out of bed, feeling Chris's eyes watching her body. Instead of feeling nervous, it just made her feel...warm. "Remember what happened last time you were in this room?"

"How could I forget?" 

After pulling on the first pair of pants she found and her cinnamon-colored sweater coat, Kae let Chris grab her hand and lead her toward the door. She didn't ask where they were going—it didn't matter. Quincy and Alex, snuggled under Alex's thick comforter, were in their own world. 

***** 

"Are you cold?" Chris asked when the two of them were sitting on top of the bluffs, overlooking the slow-moving Hudson. The sky was lightening to a smoky gray, and Chris wanted to watch the sun rise. He put his arm around her shoulders.

"No." She leaned her head into Chris's neck, breathing in his smell. One hand tightened around her, and his other one pulled a cigarette away from his mouth. He had lit it a few minutes ago, his fingers trembling a little. Like he was nervous, Kae thought in amazement. She looked up at him. "About that other stuff..."

Chris shook his head. "I overreacted." He took a drag from the cigarette and leaned back on the grass, looking straight up at the disappearing stars in the sky. "You were just having fun with your friends. It's okay."

"No," Kae shook her head. She tugged at a lint ball forming on her sweater. "I mean, yeah. But...I would have been totally crushed if I'd heard about you, you know, kissing someone else." She sighed and felt herself wanting to be completely honest with Chris, even if it meant looking uncool or childish. "I just...wanted to belong, and I got swept up in doing what all the cool girls were doing."

"They've got nothing on you. Seriously."

Birds were starting to chirp, and it felt like the whole world was waking up, even though the sun still hadn't appeared over the horizon. She glanced up at Chris and took a deep breath. "I've never felt like this before."

Chris stubbed his cigarette into the dewy grass next to him and pulled Kae down on top of him. His eyes looked almost black in the darkness. He nodded slowly and swallowed noisily like something was caught in his throat. "I know."

I know. That's all he needed to say. Kae was so giddy she thought she might black out, so before she had the chance to, she kissed Chris the way she dreamed of kissing him all those other nights.