Page 49 of One Night

God, that kiss. I want to do it again. And so much more.

Chapter Twelve

Dylan

"Ready to go?" I ask.

Amber and I have been sitting at this coffee shop for an hour and I'd love to stay but I have to work on a paper that's due tomorrow that I haven't even started.

"Oh, um, yeah." Amber quickly gets up. I think she wanted to stay. She says she wants us to spend time apart but I know she doesn't mean it. Her reluctance to leave just proved it.

As we walk back to her apartment, hand in hand, she points to the cars parked on the street. "Which one is yours?"

It's odd that we've declared ourselves boyfriend and girlfriend, and had sex, and yet she doesn't even know what kind of car I drive. Our relationship is not traditional, to say the least, and yet I love it. I love whatever this is we're doing. It's not the typical romance. It's different and strange and quirky and unexpected.

"It's that one," I say, pointing to the silver Prius. "It was my dad's back when he decided to be environmentally conscious. But after a few months he decided being comfortable was more important than going green. He's 6'5 so didn't really fit in it, so I got the car."

"But you're also tall."

"I'm 6'2 so I fit in it better than he does. I'd like a larger car but this one is new so I can't complain. I used to have an old pick-up. It was my grandfather's. He had a farm in Wisconsin so he always drove trucks. When he moved to a retirement home he gave me his truck, but it was a piece of shit and broke down all the time. So what do you drive?"

"I have a Ford Focus. It was my mom's. She got a new car so I got her old one. But it's only five years old so fairly new."

We're at her apartment building now and stop in front of it.

"You don't have to walk me upstairs," she says.

"It's the gentlemanly thing to do. Old fashioned romance, remember?"

She smiles. "Then let's go."

She turns to head to the door but I keep hold of her hand, stopping her. "Wait."

"What?"

"Come here." I tug on her hand until she turns back around, then I step closer to her and wrap my arms around her waist.

"What are you doing?" she asks.

I nod toward some people walking by. "We're in public."

"Yeah? So?"

I lean down and kiss her, and not a short goodbye kiss, but a real kiss. Slow and drawn out and expressing what I feel for her, which is more than I should feel for a girl after knowing her for such a short time and yet I still do. My feelings for Amber are more than I've felt for girls I've dated for months. But why? Why do I feel this way? Was it the sex? Did that one night mess with my head, making me think I love this girl after knowing her for just a few hours? That can't be it. I've had sex plenty of times and never felt this way.

Someone's car alarm goes off and I force myself to back away.

"You weren't supposed to do that," Amber says in a soft, breathy voice.

"You said I could if we're in public."

"But I didn't mean—"

"No changing the rules now. If we're in public, I can kiss you. That's what you said."

"Fine, but it doesn't matter because we're not going out like this again. We're going back to the letters. You said you'd try it so that's we're going to do. No texts. No emails. Just letters. You broke the rules today by coming here but we're going to get this back on track."

I just smile at her, then wrap my hand around hers and lead her inside. We go up the elevator and when we're at her door, I say, "I didn't break the rules."

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