Page 13 of Savage for You

She embraces me in her arms as I hug her tight.

“Make sure you don’t drink water near your laptop again,” she says as she laughs loudly.

“It’s not my fault my water wanted to drown my laptop,” I playfully argue back with a smile.

Since my MacBook stopped working, I need to go get another one. I accidentally spilled water all over it, and it won’t even turn on anymore, it’s completely dunzo. Man, I watch too much Laguna Beach.

I head to the campus bookstore where I pick out my new MacBook and then I spot a new olive-green backpack. It’s my favorite color, so I have to get it. As I’m heading to the checkout, I see they have a spicy book section, so I need to stop. I’m browsing through the shelves of smut as I reach the top shelf to pick up a hockey romance. I open it up to the middle of the book, and it blesses me with a steamy scene the cover promised.

I’m so immersed with reading it, I don’t even realize someone is behind me. I turn and see Rocky is standing directly behind me, reading the same scene as me. His eyebrows are raised, and he has that signature smirk on his lips. I blush and close the book quickly.

“Dirty girl books, huh?” he says, trying not to burst out laughing.

“Yes, I love a good smutty book, thank you very much.” I shrug my shoulders like it's no big deal.

“Where else do we get our smut-education from?” I ask as his hand brushes against my shoulder.

“Where do you find your dirty textbooks?”

“The university of Bookstagram, of course.”

Deep down, I’m embarrassed that he’s seen me, I don’t think my light brown skin can blush, but if it could, I’d be blushing.

Whatever, I'm buying it. While I’m at it I also pick up a book about this horse trainer dating her ex-boyfriend’s dad and he’s a cowboy. Scandalous. I love a good age gap.

“What are you doing here, Killer, other than buying smutty books?” Rocky asks as I continued to peruse the shelves.

“I spilled water on my laptop, so I came to buy a new one with my student discount. I also want this new backpack and I need film for my Polaroid camera.”

“Olive green, huh?” he speaks, winking with confidence.

“Mm-hmm, it’s my favorite color.”

“Good to know. What’s the Polaroid camera for?”

“Well, my parents met in college, and they had this thing where they made a bucket slash fuck-it list. They took Polaroids to record themselves completing tasks and made a scrapbook. My mom was a photographer, and she loved capturing memories in the moment,” I say, while looking at the ground.

I think back on the time when I was eleven and I got in a fight with Talon. I was sad and my mom suggested that I make him a card, so she grabbed our old Polaroid pictures. I grabbed some colorful paper and made him an ‘I’m sorry’ card with a picture of him as Captain America, and me as Captain Marvel.

He smiles thoughtfully. “That is impressive. “

I look up at him, and this time my embarrassment turns into affection.

“Look, Montana. About what you said at the lake on the fourth, I know you don’t know me very well. But I want to change that, I don’t want your thoughts of me to be bad, so I want to clarify, I’m not dating anyone. Not even entertaining a situationship, I hate that type of relationship. I haven’t dated in a while because no one has even caught my eye the way you have. I know you just got out of a relationship, so if you want to start with a friendship to see where that goes, I would like that, and I’ll help you check off some of that list you have.” He gives me a shy smile.

Those damn dimples.

It’s quiet between us for a few moments before he breaks the silence.

“Would you want to maybe go out on a date with me so you can get to know me better?” he asks while rubbing the back of his neck. Of course, he has that damn backwards hat on—such a tease.

I stand there for a few minutes before I remember how to speak. “Why me?” is all that comes out.

Why me is all I can think. We literally just met and I’m not exactly a ray of fucking sunshine these days.

“Because there is something about you that I just want to get to know. You’re beautiful, funny, and I know you just got out of a shitty relationship, but we can take it as slow as you want.”

I smile. “This is your idea of slow, Savage?”

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