Chapter 21
My eyes popped open when I heard my phone ring for the third time in a row, and I tried to get out of bed, but Justin groaned, pulling me back against his warm body that was all too inviting. I wished I could stay right here, but I knew exactly who was calling my phone. Or at least I had two guesses.
Winter break had gone by all too quick between splitting our time between both of our families and some alone time at Justin’s house. New Year’s Eve had been just the two of us, and Justin had actually suggested it. I didn’t know how interesting things could get with champagne and strawberries until Justin showed me. That memory would be etched in my mind for a very long time.
“You’re going to have let go of me sooner or later,” I said as he tucked his arm around my waist to hold me in place. I wiggled my ass against him, and he muttered something as he pushed against me. I jumped up quickly while I had him distracted.
“Where in the hell do you think you’re going after doing that?” he asked in a groggy voce. I didn’t respond as I searched around for my phone, and I heard him mutter something about me not being fair as I walked down the hallway to grab my phone from the kitchen counter where it was going off. Again.
“Hi,” I looked down at the caller id, my guess being right, “Callie, I’m coming back today. I promise.”
“Of course you are, silly. Where else would you stay besides with your two best friends,” she emphasized.
I had seriously missed Callie and Zoey over the break. Callie had flown home to Ohio while Zoey, who was from the same town my grandparents lived in, had gone to Florida with her parents. They had both gotten back to the dorms yesterday, and I had been dodging their calls, wanting to spend a little bit more alone time with Justin.
“I just have to pack my things up over here and then I’ll be back. I’ll swing by and grab some lunch.”
“All right,” she said, not sounding convinced that I would show up. I heard Zoey yell something in the background, and Callie replied before talking to me again. “Okay, hurry up Zoey’s impatient for details about your love fest, and we’re both starving. Can’t wait to see you.”
I hung the phone up with a smile and walked back into the bedroom where Justin looked to be passed out once again. I did a sweep around the room, picking up all of the clothes that had accumulated on my stay and tucking them back into my suitcase.
“This room looks way to bare without all of your stuff laying everywhere.” I looked up to find Justin’s gray eyes on me, his arms tucked behind his head as he gave me a sad smile. “You know you could just move in here, and we wouldn’t have to be apart. You could still hang out with Callie and Zoey whenever. But at least I would get to wake up with you in my arms every morning.”
I was a little shocked that he just came right out and said he wanted me to move in, like it was a normal everyday thing. We hadn’t talked about it what so ever, even though the thought had snuck into my head more than once.
“I’d love to Justin, but I think it’s a little too soon.”
“Who says?” His lips mashed into a tight line and he crossed his arms tightly over his broad, bare chest. The sight made me want to attack him on the spot, but I didn’t think it would be the best time. Or maybe it would. At least it would offer a distraction, a really good distraction.
“Just because we haven’t been together for years doesn’t mean we don’t have a connection better than a lot of other couples out there. I could really give two shits about what anyone thinks. Can you at least think about it? Please?” He grabbed onto my hand as I set my suitcase down by the side of the bed, pleading with his eyes. Normally, I would give in easily when he gave me that look, but this wasn’t something I wanted to jump right into.
“Okay, I’ll think about it. I promise, but I do need to get going. I promised to bring Callie and Zoey lunch.”
“Fine,” he huffed out, tugging on my hand to pull me onto his lap. “But I at least need some sugar before you leave.”
“Sugar, really?” I bit down on my lip as I shook with laughter, looking down at his serious expression. “All right, I guess I can give you some sugar then.” I kissed his jaw as he gripped my ass to pull me closer and then moved my lips to brush against his neck.
He turned his head so our lips fused together, pushing his tongue against mine, and I felt his fingers slide into my yoga pants, just teasing the edge of my underwear. “Hey, you’re not getting that much sugar.” I slapped at his hands, sliding off of him but not before swiveling me hips against him to give a little bit of a tease.
“Why not? You’re so damn sweet, and I promise you that you would enjoy it.” I slapped his hand again that was reaching to pull me back onto the bed. If I ended up there, I really wasn’t going to want to leave.
“I love you and now I’m leaving. I’ll see you at work later tonight. Hopefully you can wait till then.”
“I don’t know,” he called out right before I shut the front door. “Maybe I’ll just have to take care of this myself.”
I rolled my eyes as I started up my car that had pretty much sat the whole break, but surprisingly it didn’t put up any kind of a fight. I stopped at our favorite Chinese takeout place and headed back to the dorms. The campus was once again filled with students lugging suitcases into their dorms and emptying out cars.
I heard a squeal when I opened up the door, and Callie and Zoey both attacked me, squeezing me into a tight hug as I tried to hold onto our bag of food. “Here, let me get that.” Zoey grabbed the bag from my hands, not needing quite as long of a hug as Callie and set it on the kitchen counter, pulling out paper plates to dish it out onto.
“Okay, I think you can let go now,” I muttered into Callie’s blonde curls.
“Sorry, I just missed you so much. So how was your break? We need all the details about you and lover boy. And please don’t tell us you’re moving out.”
I skipped over the part of Justin asking me to move in, because, really, I wasn’t even sure he was being serious. I filled them in on Mia and my mom and all about meeting Justin’s family for the first time. After I was done dishing on my break, Zoey and Callie took turns each telling their own different, but interesting, stories about their breaks. At least we all sounded like we had fun, but it was great to be back with them.
I took one last bite of rice and then tossed my plate into the trash, standing up to grab my suitcase that I had ditched in the living room. “I really need to get some laundry done and get unpacked before I head back into work tonight.”
Callie groaned and tossed me a fortune cookie. “Bleh, I forgot you had to work tonight. I was hoping for a repeat of girl’s night. Maybe we’ll come in for a visit.”
“Sounds good, I’m going to run down to the laundry room. I’ll see you guys in a bit.”
**********
“That was way too f*cking long,” Justin growled, pushing my body against the wall as his hands landed on my bare sides. “Can you at least let me clock in,” I said against his lips as he pulled at my bottom one with his teeth. I pushed against his chest with a smile and ducked under his arm. “I missed you too, by the way,” I yelled over my shoulder as I waved at Kassie and Brian.
“So good to have you back, Della,” Brian called out from behind the bar where he was standing next to RJ who chose to ignore me like usual. That guy had a worse attitude than I had ever had.
“Thanks, Brian.” I clocked in and headed towards Kassie so we could figure out what tables we were going to handle for the night. The two of us got along well enough. I had secretly disliked her for a bit when I first started working because she had let it slip that she had hooked up with Justin once. The jealousy was overwhelming, but after awhile when I figured out she had no feelings what so ever about Justin, I decided to ignore it.
I quickly fell back into the routine and was glad that I was raking in the tips once again. “That table over there requested you,” Kassie nudged me with her elbow, tilting her head to a table that was situated in the corner. I smiled when I saw Zoey’s unmistakable auburn hair and headed over there.
“Hey guys.” I was surprised when I found Drew and Nash also sitting at the table with them. Apparently, Drew and Nash had become friends from a few of the times we had all hung out together. Nash stood up quickly, wrapping me in a tight hug. “There’s my Della. I missed you. Didn’t you stay at your grandparent’s house during break?”
“Um, no,” I replied vaguely, causing Zoey to raise her eyebrows at me. It wasn’t like it was a secret that I had stayed with Justin, he was my boyfriend after all, but it just felt a little weird telling Nash that. Obviously he would know what we had been doing. Practically the whole time.
“Well, we’ll have to hang out soon. Maybe you can come over to the house so I can kick your ass again in pool.”
“Yeah, maybe.” I smiled, pulling out my pad of paper to take their orders and headed back towards the kitchen to grab food for one of my other tables.
“Did I just see that douche bag hugging you?” Justin asked, ducking his head through the pass through window.
“Well, he is a friend Justin. Please don’t tell me you’re getting to be one of those overly jealous types all of a sudden.”
“Of course not.” He gave me a twisted smirk, handing me a plate. “Why would you go for the sirloin when you can have the filet?” He pointed at himself, insinuating that he was in fact the filet, whatever the hell that meant. His food references were the jokes I just did not get.
“Whatever,” I replied, laughing as I turned away.
The rest of the night passed quickly, and by the time the restaurant was closing up, Cassie and I both had made record amounts in tips. “See you, Della,” Kassie called out and I yelled, “ Bye,” as I headed towards the front of the restaurant to lock the door behind her.
“Ah, finally alone,” Justin’s warm breath tickled my ear as he wrapped his arms around me from behind and buried his face in my hair. “Are you sure you don’t want to stay the night?” His question came out muffled, but I had heard him loud and clear. He had only been asking me that question all night.
“No,” I shook my head, tilting it to the side when I felt his lips begin to trail down it. “I told you, I’ll stay a couple of times a week, but I want to spend a little of time with Callie and Zoey tonight. I promise I’ll be there tomorrow.”
“Fine, but you aren’t leaving yet.” He pulled away quickly and yelled over his shoulder, “but I need to finish my cleanup first, so get ready, I’m about to have my way with you.”
I giggled as I ducked into the bathroom while he was finishing up, checking my makeup in the mirror. I was actually a little tired, but I wasn’t going to crush Justin’s feelings by telling him that.
I leaned against the bar counter once I stepped back into the restaurant and took a sip of water while I waited for what was to come next. “Are you just heading home after this,” I called into the kitchen where he was wiping down the stove.
“Nope, since I couldn’t convince you to come home with me I’m going to go hang out Nate’s for a bit.” I tried to resist it but I couldn’t help the loud groan that escaped my lips. Nate was one of Justin’s best friends and absolutely hated me. I think it was because he saw me as the girl who had stolen Justin away from him, ruining their bro-mance or something.
I told Justin to hang out with him whenever he wanted. I didn’t want to be one of those girlfriends that thought their boyfriend needed to give them one hundred percent of their attention all the time. It wasn’t my fault that Justin chose to do that on his own.
The main reason why I wasn’t too happy about it was because Nate had been Justin’s partner in crime for awhile. They partied and picked up girls together. I figured Nate would try to tempt Justin back to his old ways, I just hoped Justin wouldn’t be swayed. But I had to remember, I trusted him. Yeah, just keep on repeating that to yourself, Della.
“Sounds like fun,” I replied in a tight voice and tried to push the image of Justin surrounded my girls out of my head. Focusing on school was what I needed to do.
Tomorrow would be the start of a new semester, and I was actually looking forward to it. Now that I had officially chosen Early Childhood Education as my major, I felt like I had something to look forward to and wanted to succeed in getting my degree.
My body sensed Justin before he even made a sound. His hands landed on the counter, surrounding my body to cage me in. He wasn’t even touching me but my body was shivering anyway. “I think I’ll take you just like this,” he whispered into my ear, tugging my lobe into his mouth.
“Oh, really, demanding much tonight are we?” I smiled into the darkness as his hand slid down my leg slowly, touching every nerve as he went and turning them to mush.
“I’m pretty tired actually so I think I’ll head home,” I lied, trying to twist my body around but I was quickly stopped.
“Nope,” he said with an audible pop. “If I don’t get to take you home, I at least get to have fun.” His hand slid further up, past the edge of my skirt, and he groaned into my ear when he discovered nothing was underneath. My trip to the bathroom had certainly paid off. “Are you trying to drive me insane, princess?” I felt his fingers twirl between my legs and his other hand push down on the small of my back. I knew I was in some serious trouble and I had a feeling I would be getting home very late. But I really didn’t mind.