Page 30 of Keep Me Still
Her words force my mind to picture him. He’s even more beautiful than I remembered. And Good Lord. That look he had in those hypnotic green eyes of his. Hungry. Determined. It sends me crashing back down to reality, and I kind of want to disappear into my bed or grab my laptop and get online to find out if it’s too late to transfer to UGA.
I must look as close to losing it as I actually am out because Corin sighs and stands up. “I am going to leave you be—for now. But tonight, there will be parties. We will be at these parties. You will be getting kissed at said parties if it’s the last thing I do.” With that announcement, she turns to head out into the common room but I stop her.
“Hey, um, thanks for leaving with me. I know I was kind of intense.”And intensely bitchy.
She offers me a sympathetic smile. “No problem. That’s what friends do,” she says easily just before she slides the door closed so I can have some privacy. Good thing, because I’m pulled down into a painful memory I can’t escape even if I want to.
“That’s what friends do,” he said, holding me in his arms after I told him what had happened to my parents. “They tell each other stuff. They keep each other still when no one else can. They show up at the hospital with flowers.”
“Friends.” I choke back a sob.
“Always,” he promises with a squeeze. My heart slows in my chest, because for the first time in my seventeen years, I want more. I want Landen to be so much more than just my friend.
I doze off drowning in memories.
“I’mall done in the bathroom if you want to shower,” Corin tells me when I emerge bleary-eyed from our room hours later.
I stumble into the tiny common area that barely holds a flat screen television, the futon Aunt Kate bought us, and a desk that was here when we moved in. “Is that a hint?” My clothes are rumpled and my makeup is probably smeared all over my face.
“Um, actually it’s a direct order, but I thought I should phrase it nicely since we’ve only been living together a short time.”
“Gee, thanks.”
“Layla, the goal is to get boys to want to kiss you. Though you could go as you are and pretend to be wasted and I’d probably have to fight them off you.”
I snort. “You’re hilarious.”
“There’s a party within walking distance of campus. We’re going. A cute boy is going to kiss you before the night is over. Here.” Corin throws a scrap of fabric at me that I think is supposed to be a dress. But mostly it’s a sheer crimson sleeveless shirt.
I eye it cautiously. “I thought you wanted me to get kissed. Not raped.”
“Ugh, this is going to be harder than I thought.” She rolls her eyes. “Wear tights under it, if you must.”
Oh, I must. And a sweater over it while I’m at it.
A half-hour later, I’m showered and Corin is fighting me on the sweater. I give in and wear her nearly see-through shirt-dress with black leggings and flats. The dress I can handle I suppose, but the stilettos she wants me to wear are out of the question.
After I’ve finished with my hair and makeup, I stand next to her in the full-length mirror on her closet door.
Corin’s legs are bare under a tiny white lace skirt. Her black leather jacket matches her clunky knee boots, and she looks like something out of a magazine with her smoky eyes and red lips.
“I doubt many guys will notice me with you around,” I say, nudging her to let her know I’m okay with this. More than okay really. Getting noticed will never be my thing.
“Layla, I don’t know what you see when you look in the mirror, but I was just thinking that you look like the girl every guy wants to take home to Mom. And I look like the slut he hooks up with behind your back.”
“You don’t look slutty, Corin.” Well, not really. Racy is a better word. I shake my head. “You look like a friggin’ supermodel. The only reason a guy might even talk to me tonight is to get your number. Makes me wonder what the person in charge of assigning roommates was thinking.”
“They were thinking that you needed me,” she says, nudging me back. I force a grin but my stomach tightens. I needed someone else once before too, and that ended in my already battered heart being nearly decimated. “And hey, I was thinking—”
“Oh no. She’sthinkingagain.”
“Shut up. Seriously, I am all for getting you kissed tonight because honestly, you don’t know true bliss until someone has made the world spin around you. Made you dizzy and tingly with a deep, hot as hell kiss that goes on and on until you don’t care if you ever get to breathe again.” She sighs and tilts her head in my direction. “But I can be kind of pushy, in case you haven’t noticed. If you don’t want to do this, say the word and I’ll drop it.”
Her words already have the room threatening to spin on me. Because one face is burning to life behind my eyes. “No, um, I mean, I’m in. It’s time. It’s way past time I think.”
“Hells yeah.” Corin’s triumphant grin has me rolling my eyes, but inside I’m a twisty aching mess. Because the only boy I can imagine kissing me until he steals my breath is the one I’ve vowed never to let that close to me again. Which is why I have to get myself out there and kiss someone else. Immediately.
I give my too-short dress one last tug. “I’m ready. Let’s go.”
