Page 23 of From Our First

My eyes widened at that. “Your parents were able to move here for a semester? From where?”

“California. I know, I know. They’re super overprotective and always in my business. It’s probably why I haven’t ever had a serious boyfriend.” Her eyes widened, and her cheeks flushed. It made her look really pretty.

“What is your name, by the way? I’m Nate. Nathan. But I go by Nate.”

“I like both. I might just have to call you Nathan. At least, you know, if I ever see you again.” She laughed. “I’m Myra. Sorry. I’m not good at this whole human interaction thing. Or maybe I used to be and then moving out here where the air is really thin made me realize that I had no idea what I was doing.”

I laughed, and we went to the front of the line. I let her order and got a second macchiato for myself. I would be jittery as hell by the end of the day, but I didn’t mind.

And I had a feeling that maybe the jitters didn’t come from the coffee. Perhaps they were from the girl at my side.

* * *

“Are you kidding me?How do you know that?” Myra said, stealing a dumpling from my plate.

I tapped her hand with my chopstick, but she was too fast for me, so I stole a crab rangoon from hers.

“Hey, that was mine.”

“No, you ate my dumpling, so this is mine. To answer your question, I knew the answer to that because I took that class last semester. Same professor and everything. Tests are different, though, so I can’t help you there.”

Myra shook her head. “I wouldn’t accept them anyway. I’m not a cheat.”

I held up my hands, chopsticks and all. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to insinuate you were. I’m just used to saying shit like that because many of the people around here want the easy way out.”

“I may hate my major and will likely change soon, but I don’t want the easy way out. I want to learn. I want to do things. I want to be somebody.”

I leaned down and captured her lips with mine, sinking into her. She was soft and sweet and gentle. And she made me think of happiness and a future. I didn’t know why, I knew we were too young, and that everything was going way too fast, but I was falling in love with Myra.

And my family would rip into me if they ever found out.

“I thought we were supposed to be studying and finishing our dinner,” Myra whispered against my lips.

“If that’s what you want to do,” I grumbled, and then she kissed me harder.

My pulse raced, and I set down the chopsticks so I could cup her face with my hands.

“I want to, Nathan,” she whispered, her voice soft, sweet but also sure.

“We don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do. We can wait.”

“I’m not a virgin, Nathan. Neither are you. I want to be with you.”

“Okay,” I whispered and kissed her again.

I led her down to the couch, taking it slow, running my hands up and down her body as she did the same with mine, both of us learning each other. We had nearly gone this far before, still feeling like this was new, as if the times we had been with others hadn’t prepared us for what this was.

This had to mean something—the seriousness of it all. Only, I didn’t know what.

I kissed her softly, needing her, bringing her closer to the edge. And when I slipped inside her, we both moaned. Her hands clutched my body, and my hips nestled against hers. And then we moved, arching into each other as if we had never been like this before. And maybe we hadn’t.

Perhaps this was exactly what we had been missing.

Maybe this was precisely what we each needed.

“I love you,” I whispered.

Her eyes widened, and I nearly cursed at myself for saying the words.

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