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“No! I think I’ll put that off as long as possible.”
“Sounds good to me.” He kissed me. “Don’t run away again.”
“Don’t look at me like a wounded dog.”
His eyes shifted, and something flashed across his face. Pity? Surprise? “You’re no wounded thing,” he whispered and bent to kiss me. “I’ll see you soon, alright?”
I watched him drive back down the driveway, bouncing over the rough road. The wind picked up, and I’d never felt so cold and so warm at once.
Trask walked me to my classes, claiming he was making up for lost time. He held my hand and kissed my cheek and I did my best to ignore the wide-eyed stare of Karina.
He noticed my glare or her stare one day and laughed. “Ignore her. She’s always wanted what she can’t have. Rich kid mentality.”
I laughed. “You would know.”
“What? Rich kid or just knowing her?” He ordered us coffee from the campus coffee shop and I answered as we waited for the coffee to come out.
“I mean, you’ve dated her for a long while, right?”
“Off and on.”
“Why?”
He took a deep breath, and I wondered if I’d pushed too far. “I think she was comfortable. Easy. No, stop looking at me like that. That’s not how I meant it.”
“That’s not what I’ve heard.”
“Moving on—” he grabbed our coffees and I followed him to a table. “She was within my comfort zone. Our parents know each other so it was easy, not this awkward period of trying to get to know each other. My parents and hers are very serious about relationships, getting married young, finding that partner to have your back early on. Whatever. Karina fit what my parents wanted for me and she was pretty and nice.”
“So why aren’t you together now?”
“Long or short answer?” he asked, taking a swig of the coffee. He popped the lid off of my cup. “It’s way too hot for you.”
I blushed, I don’t know why it felt so intimate that he knew my preferences for coffee. He ordered for me once he realized my tastes never changed. He always sipped my dirty chai before I did just to let me know if it would burn my tongue. These few weeks have been us getting to know each other, and it has been so easy, so fun, despite the stress of finals. We were both looking forward to the holiday break, which was just around the corner. Less than two weeks away.
“Give me the short answer,” I said, deciding I wanted out of this conversation sooner rather than later.
“Karina was boring. Being with someone shouldn’t feel like a chore. I’m not naïve enough to think it is rainbows and sunshine all the time, but man, it felt like a full-time job. Just boring.”
“I can understand that.” I wrapped my hands around the warm cup, following the steam with my eyes.
“What?” he asked, tucking a strand of my hair behind my ear. “You got experience with that?”
I shrugged, holding my coffee up to him. He took a sip and shook his head. Too hot still. “I haven’t dated much, but boring people are tough to be around.”
“Do you consider me boring?” he asked, eyes twinkling.
I looked at his ever-stained hands and smiled. “You just want to hear my pretty words about how pretty you are.”
“Pretty? I’ll take it.” He stood, and we walked to our classes and he left a lingering kiss on my cheek before we parted ways. No, he was not boring at all.
It was Friday when I called Trask. I tried hard to keep the shake from my voice but Trask was clearly on high alert. I rarely called him unless it was for help with a stupid math problem.
“Hey, what’s going on?”
“Hi,” my voice wobbled.Keep it together.“Wanna go draw a bridge with me?” I sniffed.
“I’ll be there in ten.”
