Page 53 of Campus Heat

She studied me for a moment, and then nodded. “Okay, let’s take a break.”

Feeling relieved, I got up and stretched my legs. Elizabeth got up as well and wandered to my shelf where she scanned over the small stack of vinyl and CDs that I had brought from home.

“You have decent taste,” she remarked.

“Careful,” I warned.

She pulled one out, and I automatically took a step toward her.

“No way.” She turned around, eyebrows lifting. “You like them?”

“They’re my favorite,” I admitted, feeling a little shy.

She blinked at me. “You’re kidding, right?”

“No… that’s actually my favorite album.”

Without saying another word, she crossed the room and connected her phone to my speaker. The riff of the opening guitar filled the space, and as it always did, it sent a chill down my spine. I stared at her, unable to do anything else.

“This is your favorite song, isn’t it?” she asked, and I nodded. “Do you know how ridiculous this is?”

I shrugged, still thinking that she was referring to my taste in music.

“I went to their show in the city last year,” I said, running a shaky hand through my hair.

“What row were you in?”

“On the floor… Row F, I think. Two seats from the aisle.”

“Shut up!” she said, slapping my chest. “I was at the same concert, in the same row, aisle seat.”

The pieces finally started falling into place. She wasn’t judging my taste in music. She was enjoying it. I looked over at her, trying to find the lie in her words, but I couldn’t see anything like that. She was telling the truth, as unbelievable as it sounded.

“You were there,” I said quietly. “We were two seats apart…”

She laughed softly, her eyes glistening with disbelief. “Just two.”

We both grew quiet as the music washed over us. The atmosphere in the room was charged, and the stolen glances we shared were loaded. Things were getting intense in a way biology could only dream of.

“Can you believe it?” she asked. “A year ago we were basically strangers and now we’re—”

She stopped herself, and that annoyed me. I wanted to know what she was thinking, but I couldn’t if she didn’t speak her mind.

“Now we’re what?” I asked, but it came out harsher than intended.

She looked at me while the music hummed in the background. Her eyes flickered to my mouth and then back up. Without thinking about it, I took a step closer to her.

“Now we’re what?” I asked again, softer this time.

She didn’t answer, but her breathing changed. So had mine. I slowly reached for her, giving her every chance she needed to pull away, but she didn’t. My hand slipped around her waist, and her fingers tangled in my shirt as I pressed my lips to hers. This time it wasn’t rushed like it had been on the field. It wasn’t driven by adrenaline or exposed to the public. It was just the two of us, sharing a slow, deliberate kiss.

She didn’t hesitate either. She kissed me back immediately. She had wanted it as much as I did, and that only made me want her even more. Her hands slipped up the back of my neck and tangled in my hair. The music blurred into the background. My brain, which had been tripping over enzymes, had gone completely quiet.

There were no thoughts about tests, my shoulder, or the pressure on my back. The only thing that existed was her. When we finally pulled back, we were both breathing hard, but she stayed close to me.

“Better than glycolysis?” I murmured.

“Infinitely,” she said with a laugh.