Chapter 4

I’m in my bed, lazily sleeping in, when I roll onto Darren. He cradles me softly in his arms and tucks me into his body. I mew ask he strokes my hair and whispers soft words to me, how beautiful I am, how soft my skin is, how sexy the way my back dips in just before my ass. I hum as thick, calloused fingers drag down my long hair until they touch my lower back, bare, warm, his touch feels so soft, but makes my skin hotter than it’s ever felt before. I moan again and he laughs at me.

“You have no idea how good I can make you feel”

He grins mischievously and the only thing I know for certain is that I cannot wait to find out.

“Show me then”

I smile at him confident, feeling brave despite my nudity. I crane my neck up and kiss him softly then harder and harder. My hands find his hair as he deepens the kiss and rolls me onto my back. He smiles, mischievous, and presses me into the bed, his hands around the softest area of my stomach, and lowers himself between my legs to start at the place they meet. I could already feel how slick this interaction had made me, and wanted to much to be relieved of the wanting that had taken root in the very core of my body.

I hear the alarm blaring next to me and chide myself for not making it to bed on time. I had a lot on my mind in the shower last night and I didn't go to bed until close to midnight. Unfortunately for me, my 8 am class was still at 8am.

I slogged through my morning routine and by the time my coffee finished brewing, I was desperate for caffeine. I took a large sip of the pure dark liquid and felt my face wrinkle up. Black coffee is never as nice as it sounds. I grab my creamer from my mini fridge and pause as something thin and white slides underneath our front door.

My mind instantly flashes to thoughts of the love note I had received before classes started. I reached for the note and saw the time on the coffee maker read 7:55. I knew class would be starting soon. I checked that the note had my name on it, saw that it did and left it in my room. I promised myself that I would be brave enough to check it later, and ran out the door to class.

I was late anyways, like always I should’ve been there by the time I left. About halfway through my anthropology lecture I get a text message from Darren.

My body freezes as I remember what happened last night. I instantly feel a wave of nausea wash over me as the weight of what my response this morning will hold. I know that I’m utterly infatuated with this boy, but a small voice in my mind whispers that I should run far away. He’s in love with me? How could that be possible? I decide then and there in class that I don’t believe him.

I feel satisfied with my answer. It feels like it can drive me to make more rational decisions. I decide that Darren obviously just doesn’t know what he’s talking about, he’s never been in love before either, we’re just 18 after all.

His text simply says good morning. I wonder how best to respond to it now that I know what I know. I look down at my hands and decide that now maybe isn’t the time to be pithy or cute. I simply send “good morning” back and try not to wait for his response.

A small ding rescues me from overthinking only a minute later.

“Have any dreams about me?”

He sends with a small ;) to follow it. I can’t help the smile that spreads across my face.

“Yes”

“Can I hear about it?”

I flush as I remember the dream.

“Only in person” I feel brave flirting with him like that. Only he could take this awkward situation and make me feel so at ease about it.

“Oh wow it was that good then?” I grin down at the phone in my lap and start ignoring the lecture completely.

“You’ll have to find out for yourself later tonight, loverboy”

I’m teasing him now. I don’t know what it is about him that makes me act this way but part of me loves it. I love the easy banter we have. He makes me feel good, funny and smart. I can feel myself readying to be in a relationship with him, despite my earlier objections and I sigh as I look at the picture of him from the last time I saw him that I have made his profile photo.

“Tonight then? I’ll pick you up at your dorm?”

I send a thumbs up and smile, despite a strange feeling in my stomach. Why did that text hit me so strangely? I start to realize that it’s because I’ve only known him a week but he already knows where I live. I realized that he didn’t even need directions to get to my dorm room that night, even knew which button to press.

A new line of thought begins to poison my mind. Darren is just a stranger isn’t he? I realize I actually know hardly anything about him. I went to his apartment alone. Do I have some kind of death wish? Darren could have written the first note, I feel another wave of nausea, what if he had been watching me for a while? Stalking me? What if that’s why I felt so connected to him, because he had researched and tricked me???

I couldn’t let the thoughts go on any longer and despite my best judgment, I left my class early and ran home. Suddenly the contents of some silly note left under my door frame seem much more important than before and I get home in record time.

I rush to my desk where I left the paper to find it missing. In its place is a single black synthetic rose, laid on its side a black candle, lit. and a message written in my favorite burgundy lip gloss across my computer screen.

Don’t ignore me, Baby.