Without saying another word, I turned on my heels and headed toward the house. After closing the door, I pressed my back against it and took big heaving breaths, trying to gain any semblance of control. Kacey was gone. Out of my life. I was never going to see her again. It took me years to accept that. Now that she was back, what was I supposed to do? How was I supposed to feel?
I couldn’t think about anything right now. I just needed to go back to bed and escape from reality for a bit. But I knew the truth. I could never escape Kacey Caldwell. Not even in my dreams.
***
I sat up in my dorm room bed, head spinning, and immediately regretted how much I drank the night prior.
“Glad to see you’re alive,” my roommate said with a laugh. “I thought I was going to have to check for a pulse.”
I rubbed my eyes and stretched my arms into the air, yawning loudly. “What time is it?”
“12:30. We’re about to head to lunch if you want to go.”
I shook my head. The thought of eating anything turned my stomach. “Thanks, but I think I’ll just shower and try to feel human again.”
“Great plan. Get yourself feeling better so you can actually make it out tonight.”
“Again? I don’t think I can handle that.”
“You have to. Stacey’s older brother is on the football team and they’re having a party tonight. We can’t miss it. There’s going to be a bunch of hot older guys…” She paused as if she just realized who she was talking to. “Okay. So, you don’t care about that, but you should totally invite your new girlfriend.”
My eyes shot up. “Girlfriend?”
“Yeah, you know, the girl you were making googly eyes at last night.”
I crossed my arms over my chest trying my best to feign naïveté. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Sure you do. She walked you back here. I think someone said her name is Katie.”
“It’s Kacey,” I answered way too quickly, causing a big smile to spread across my roommate’s face.
“Exactly. Get yourself looking pretty, then go knock on her door and invite her to come tonight.”
My roommate left the room before I had the chance to argue. I slid out of bed and got my shower stuff together before heading into the hall. I stared down at my phone, catching up on all of the texts from my friends until I was stopped dead by something, or rather someone.
The same strong arms from last night grabbed onto me again. “We really need to stop bumping into each other like this,” Kacey said, keeping her hands firmly on my arms.
I swallowed hard trying to ignore the feeling that simple touch sent through my whole body. I stared at her hands, then moved my eyes up to rest on her tattoo, which was way too sexy and cool for a freshman going to college in rural Pennsylvania.
“If you’re lucky, I’ll tell you what it means someday.”
When I finally made eye contact with Kacey, she had the slightest hint of a smirk on her face.
I felt my face turning red. It was so unlike me to get tongue-tied. I was normally a social butterfly, comfortable talking to anyone, especially since embracing my true identity. But not this girl. There was something so intimidating about her, and I had a feeling part of it had to do with the way my body responded just to being around her. “Sorry. I’m still hungover from last night. Thanks for taking care of me, by the way. You really didn’t have to.”
Kacey squeezed my arms, then let go and shrugged her shoulders. “It’s no big deal.”
“Well, to me it was, so thank you.” I paused for a brief moment, wondering if I had the guts to ask my next question. “How would you feel about going to a party tonight? Since you didn’t drink last night, I thought maybe you would want to tonight.”
“I don’t drink.” Her answer was so quick and firm that I figured it was an excuse not to come. When my eyes dropped from hers, she bent her head, forcing me to look at her again. “I’m down to go though. I just won’t be drinking.”
I couldn’t help the smile that came to my face. “Oh. That’s great. If I’m being honest, the thought of going out again makes me want to hurl.”
“If I remember correctly, you didn’t actually go out last night.”
“Touché. Still. I’m only going because I feel like a loser staying in by myself.”
“We could stay in together if you want.” Kacey shrugged nonchalantly, as if the thought of the two of us hanging out didn’t stir up her insides the way it did mine. “My original plan was to go to the library to get a head start on studying. Any interest in that?”
I scrunched up my nose. “Or we could go to the arcade at the mall.”
“The arcade sounds great. Meet you in the lobby at six?”
“It’s a…” I cut myself off before the word date could slip out. This was just two new friends getting to know each other. College was about new experiences and living it up. It wasn’t about falling for the first girl who gave me any sort of attention… even if that girl was ridiculously sexy.
Chapter 2
I woke to the feeling of warm breath on my neck. I wrapped the comforter around my body tighter and enjoyed the serenity of the warmth mixed with my current dreamy state. “That feels…” My head snapped up and crashed right into Bo’s. “Shit, Bo. What the hell are you doing?”
Bo rubbed his head. “Apparently getting a concussion.”
“Well, you’d deserve it. You can’t just walk into someone’s house whenever you want and crawl into bed with them. What are you even doing here?”
“I’ll have you know, I came over so I could take Duke for a walk because I assumed you were taking a pity nap. He peed and pooped so you’re welcome.”
“That’s surprisingly sweet, but it still doesn’t explain why you crawled into bed with me.”
“I wanted to whisper sweet nothings in your ear to get you to talk in your sleep, so I could figure out what you were dreaming about.”
I shook my head. “And that is very unsurprisingly weird of you.”
Bo laughed much louder than necessary. “So, are you going to tell me what you were dreaming about?”
“No.”
Bo smiled knowingly. “Ah. So, you were dreaming about her. I knew it. I don’t blame you. She’s hot. I don’t think you gave her level of hotness justice. Was she this hot in college?”
I glared at Bo. “I’m not answering that.” Kacey had always been sexy to me, but somehow she had gotten even better looking since college. It was so unfair. “We’re not talking about her. That’s the plan. Pretend she doesn’t live next door. She’s just another neighbor as far as I’m concerned. I’ll just avoid her.”