“Right.”
He wrapped one of the towels around me, rubbing it on my shoulders until I started to warm up.
Then he reached down and picked up his t-shirt. “You can wear this,” he said.
“What will you wear?”
He shrugged and pulled on his shorts. “Don’t worry about me.”
I put on the t-shirt. It smelled like him. Why hadn’t he kissed me?
I pulled on my jeans, and they stuck to my wet skin.
“We need to eat,” he said.
“Good idea.” I was relieved he wasn’t going to try to end the night. I wasn’t ready to leave him yet. “Where should we go?”
“My place.”
“Your apartment?”
“We’ll order in.”
“I don’t know…”
“Come on,” he said. “You said you didn’t know anything about me. I’ll show you where I live.”
I thought about the paper I still had to write for Dr. Klaxton the next day. I thought about how it was a bad idea to go back to someone’s apartment who I didn’t know. I thought about how gorgeous Justin looked with his shirt off, and what might happen if we were alone, together, in a place with a bed. I thought of about a million other reasons I should say no.
“Okay,” I said. “Let’s go.”
JUSTIN
I opened the door to my apartment, trying to remember if I’d left the place a mess.
Lucky for me, my roommate Wyatt was a pretty tidy person and the common areas were generally very clean, thanks to him.
“It’s small, but it’s home,” I said softly, as Lindsay came inside.
“Yeah, it’s nice.” But she looked hesitant to enter.
“Don’t worry, Charles Manson doesn’t live here anymore,” I told her. “He moved out last month.”
She laughed, a sweet sound. I realized that she had just about the prettiest smile and laugh that I’d ever seen.
Lindsay was shivering a little, still wet from our dip in the ocean.
“You cold?” I asked.
“No, I’m fine,” she said, as she hugged herself tightly.
“Let me turn the heat on,” I said, going to the thermostat.
“Thanks, Justin.”
“I like that you call me Justin,” I told her, smiling as I turned up the heat. Wyatt was going to have a bitch fit about the gas bill, but I didn’t give a shit. “It was weird at first, but now I like it. I don’t want you to treat me like everyone else does.”
“How does everyone else treat you?” she asked, looking at me with those gorgeous blue eyes.
I wasn’t sure how to answer. Suddenly, my cell phone was ringing, so I had a moment to come up with an answer. I pulled my cell out and looked, only to see a number I didn’t recognize. “I’m not going to answer it,” I said.
“It’s okay, I don’t mind if you do,” Lindsay said.
“I don’t want anything to distract me from spending time with you right now.”
“That’s sweet,” she said, blushing a little.
“Are you hungry? Thirsty? Do you want some water…or…I don’t know.
Anything.” I knew we’d talked about ordering food, but now that I had her here, in my apartment, food was the last thing on my mind.
“I’m fine. Just cold and wet.”
“Come with me,” I said, taking her hand in mine. Her hand was like a block of ice. I led her down the hall to the bathroom. “You take a hot bath and I’ll find you something dry and clean to change into.”
“No way,” she said, shaking her head. “I’m not getting in your tub.”
“Why not? You can lock the door and everything.” I showed her the lock.
“Because it’s weird. And besides, you probably haven’t cleaned that bathtub in years.”
“I haven’t. Heck, no.”
“I knew it.”
“But Wyatt is a regular Mary Poppins up in here, whistling and working and cleaning. I guarantee he’s cleaned our tub like ten times this month.” I showed her the sparkling white bathtub.
“It does look clean,” she admitted.
I bent down and turned on the hot water. “Good, it’s decided then.” I walked out to the hall and opened the closet, grabbed her a clean towel. “You just go and have a nice soak and warm up. Okay?”
Sighing, she nodded, taking the towel from me. Her eyes met mine and I felt another wave of excitement pass over me. I wanted to kiss her so badly, but I also knew now that she really was as pure and sweet as I’d first thought. The fact was, I couldn’t start something with Lindsay and then mess up her life.
It wouldn’t be fair.
She deserves better than you.
Thinking it hurt, but I knew that it was true. Lindsay needed to be with the kind of dude who would end up being a judge someday, not the kind of guy who would end up in front of a judge someday.