Our eyes met and this time neither of us looked away.
“Sometimes you get cut or bruised. It’s just like how if you drive a car, you might get a flat tire or a broken taillight sometimes.”
“You can’t replace an eye or a tooth,” she said.
“Sure you can,” I laughed. “I know a lot of guys with fake teeth.”
“Are you really that strong?”
“Pretty much.”
“I don’t know. Usually when people talk about how great they are at something, they’re overcompensating.”
“Oh, yeah?” I ducked down and swept her legs into my arms. She was light as a feather, and I easily swung her up onto my shoulder. “Now this is called a double-leg takedown.”
“Stop,” she laughed. “Let me down.”
“You want me to let you down?”
“YES!” she squealed.
I tossed her lightly onto the bed and then landed on top of her. “Now, if we were wrestling, you’d be pinned. But in mixed martial arts, the match isn’t over when you’re pinned. I need to submit you.”
“I don’t submit to anyone,” she said.
I was so close to her now. I could smell the sweet smell of her skin and her perfume. Even her hair smelled sweet. And from this distance, a kiss would be even easier.
Her body was so soft against mine. I could tell that she wanted me to kiss her.
We looked at one another for what felt like a long time.
And that’s when the door to her room flew open and someone stepped into the room. “What’s going on in here?”
LINDSAY
Justin jumped off of me like I was on fire.
“There’s nothing going on,” I said, sitting up. My mind was still reeling from the wrestling, and I was light-headed.
“It didn’t sound like nothing.” The R.A., Dennis, took another step into my room.
I’d met him earlier, when we were moving into the dorm, and he’d seemed friendly enough. But now he just looked angry.
“We were just messing around, Dennis,” I said, hoping that if I used his name it would calm him down.
“Yeah, Dennis,” Justin said, standing up. “We were just messing around.”
“What’s your name?” Dennis demanded.
“Don’t worry about it.” Justin moved away from me and stood by the window, his arms crossed.
“Do you go to school here?”
Justin didn’t answer, so I did.
“No,” I said. “He doesn’t. He’s my guest. We just –”
“You signed him in?” Dennis asked.
“No. I didn’t know I had to.” I couldn’t believe this was happening. My first night at Cambridge, and I was already in trouble.
“Well, you do have to. You’re going to have to go downstairs and sign him in.”
“Fine.”
“And I’m still going to have to write you up for this,” Dennis said.
I was going to complain, but then I decided not to make matters worse. I couldn’t believe I was being written up on my very first day of college.
“Fuck that,” Justin said. “Why would you write her up? She said she didn’t know. She made a mistake.” He moved toward Dennis, challenging, and the look on his face made it clear he was two seconds away from a fight.
“Hey, hey, hey,” I said, standing up. “It’s fine. I don’t even care.” I stepped in between the boys and put my hands on Justin’s chest. “Come on, let’s just go sign you in.
Or maybe we should go get a coffee or something.”
Justin took a step back, then reached up and gently pulled my hands away from his body. He was still glaring at Dennis. “Nah, it’s cool,” he said. “I’m out. ”
And then he was gone.
***
I couldn’t sleep that night. I tossed and turned, my mind racing. My whole body felt like it was on high alert. I couldn’t stop thinking about Justin. It made no sense, since I’d just met him, but there was something about him, something I knew I needed to be close to. And now I wasn’t sure if I would ever see him again. I didn’t know his phone number, or his email, or his facebook -- in fact, I hardly knew anything about him.
My thoughts went in circles, replaying everything over and over. The way his body had looked while he was getting stitched up, how he’d waited for me at the hospital, how it had felt when he picked me up in his arms, how badly I’d wanted to kiss him. It was like a movie in my head, running on a loop.
Finally, at around three in the morning, I drifted off into a troubled sleep.
When I awoke, the sun was streaming through the blinds. It was seven am. The dorm was still quiet. My roommate, Rachel, would be arriving in about an hour, and I figured I should take a shower before she got there.
I got out of bed, slid into my new house slippers, and grabbed my shower caddy.
Then, just as I was about to leave, I noticed a piece of paper on the floor, like someone had slipped something under the door while I was sleeping.
I picked it up, hoping it wasn’t a notice alerting me to the fact that I’d gotten written up for what had happened last night.
But it wasn’t a notice from Dennis.
It was a note.
From Justin.
Which meant that at some point during the night, he’d snuck into the dorms again and slipped it under my door.
“I’ll make it up to you.
-JB”
LINDSAY