YOU HAVE MY HEART
We might as well be in Alaska, given how cold January on campus is. We’re on day two of a heavy ice and snow storm, and they’re predicting that classes will be canceled tomorrow, something almost unheard of. Carmen and I decide that we are tough enough to brave the weather this afternoon, and we head to the union for hot chocolate, though, after, as I’m bundling up again to go back to the dorm, I look at her. “I really don’t want to go back out there. Maybe we can just sleep here?”
She yanks a thick hat down to just above her eyes. The giant pom-pom sticking off the top somehow suits her to a tee. “No way. Esben’s friend, that hottie Danny that you set me up with, is coming over in half an hour, and I need to be defrosted by then.”
“Fair enough.” My parka feels a million inches thick, and my gloves make my hands look like a giant’s, but I still froze on the way here. “Things are going well with Danny?”
I’m not sure what propelled me to set up Carmen and Danny, but they’ve both got their quirks, which I thought might match up well. Danny with his harmonica, Carmen with her ever-changing hair . . . and it’s only been a few weeks, but, apparently, I was right. There’s something about connecting these two that makes me crazy happy.
“Things are going so well that I shaved my legs today.” She tosses her giant fuzzy hood over her hat and grins.
I cover my face with my scarf and brace myself. “Let’s do this!” My voice is muffled in a Darth Vader sound that makes us both giggle. “Esben is still in my room, because he hasn’t wanted to go outside. You and I are the tough ones.”
She nods. “You know it!”
We barrel through the icy mix that pelts us relentlessly across campus, and we crash into the warmth of the dorm entryway. Both of us start laughing, somehow invigorated from the rush of braving the weather, and I shake out my coat and scarf and stomp my feet before making my way down the hall. Esben is in my room, typing on the computer, but he tilts his head my way as soon as I walk in.
“Hey, Popsicle,” he says before kissing me.
“What’re you doing?” I hang up my coat and sit on the bed. It’s starting to get dark, and the screen is casting a glow on his face in a way I find endearing, so I don’t bother to turn on other lights.
“Just going through comments and clearing out a few jerks. Kerry does most of this for me, but she’s been busy, so I’m trying to catch up.”
“Got it.”
I lie back and call Steffi, but it goes to voice mail. I’ve barely spoken to her in weeks, because she didn’t have cell reception on the cruise. Now, she’s having to move to a new apartment, because the building’s owner is selling it and kicking everyone out. My phone dings, and I have a text from her.
Sorry, can’t talk. At the salon, getting my hair colored. You around tomorrow? she writes.
Yes. Any luck on a new apartment? Want help moving?
All good. Just annoying, but I’ve got it. Talk to you soon.
Suddenly, Esben makes a disgusted sound.
“Is something wrong?” I ask.
“With Kerry so taken up in her love life, I’m really seeing how many idiots there are out there. It’s starting to really piss me off. I just spent two hours cleaning out garbage.” He scowls. “And have you seen the pictures Kerry has been posting?”
“Oh. Those. Well, yes . . .”
Kerry’s social-media feeds have recently been cluttered with pictures of her and Jason.
“It’s creepy,” he complains. “My sister and my best friend! It’s gross.”
I laugh. “It’s not gross. They’re very sweet together.”
“Ew! Look at this one! They’re kissing!” Esben enlarges an image and then claps his hands over his face. “My eyes! My eyes!”
I scoot over and swivel the chair so that he’s facing me. “Then don’t look at them.”
He rests his elbows on his knees and smiles flirtatiously. “Can I just sit here and look at you, then?”
“If it will distract you, then yes.”
I move in a little more, and he puts a hand on the side of my face. “Still a little cold, huh?”
“A little.” But the touch of his palm makes me anything but cold.
I inch in closer and touch my lips to his. I intended nothing more than a simple kiss, but once I slip my tongue into his mouth, I know my intention means nothing. Within seconds, I am kissing him with a new level of passion and need, and Esben is responding smoothly, matching my pace.
But then he slows us down, kisses me on the cheek, and sits up. “There’s, uh, a party on the third floor tonight, if you want to go.” Esben is flushed and trying to control his breathing. “An ice-storm party, they’re calling it. Apparently, there’ll be a lot of slushy drinks. We could go get tipsy on weird blue cocktails and stuff.”
While we have been hitting parties together, and I’ve been having fun meeting more people and spending time with his friends and my new ones, I do not want to leave this room tonight. And, based on the way Esben is running his eyes over me, I don’t think he particularly wants to leave either.
“I don’t like slushy drinks. I do, however, like other things,” I inform him mischievously.
I grab a fistful of his shirt and pull him from the chair, bringing both of us down against the bed. He starts to roll to lie next to me while we kiss, but I push hard to keep him on top of me, parting my legs so that his fall between them and getting his body tight against mine. Our kissing intensifies, and my hands travel over his arms, then to the bottom of his shirt, then to his lower back. I press my hands into his skin and bring his waist against mine. Esben makes a sound and moves his mouth to my neck, his breathing quickening as his lips move more roughly against me. He only takes his mouth away when I loop a leg over his and then peel his shirt up over his head. I get my own shirt off and yank him back down. My desire and ache for him are nearly too much, and when his tongue strokes over my stomach, it’s my turn to make a sound. We’ve been very heated before, but not quite like this.
After he’s worked his way up to my neck again, I set my hands over the front of his pants and undo the top button of his jeans.
Esben stops and lifts himself up more to look at me. “Allison?”
I smile. “Esben?”
“Whatcha doing there?”
I don’t say anything when I unzip his pants.
He closes his eyes for a second before speaking again. “Allison?”
My hands round to his back and tuck under the top of his jeans. “Yes, Esben?”
“Whatcha doing there?” he asks again with a smile.
“I’m done moving through the spectrum. I’m ready.”
He searches my face. “You’re ready?”
“I am. I want to be with you.”