Page 10 of All My Firsts

He was still grinning, but not quite as hard, more cautious now, I guess nervous I might be upset by his comment. Apparently, my nerves went unnoticed. Either that or he was being nice by ignoring them.

“Can I ask you something?” He held his phone out to me. “Can you put your number in my phone? With the night you’ve already had, and you heading out with drunk friends, I’d feel better if you could text me if you needed someone.”

I was starting to think this couldn’t be real. College guys aren’t supposed to be this perfect. I was waiting for the other shoe to drop with him. I wasn’t sure at first, but I took his phone and entered my number. The next thing I knew, a text pinged, and he smiled at the sound.

“Thank you,” I said shyly. “I, uh, um, thanks for everything.” I knew I should have said more, so much more. But I was back to being short on words. His small smile and the dip of his chin told me he understood and that itwas enough.

That Iwas enough.

He guided me out of his room with his hand on my lower back. I stiffened slightly as goosebumps erupted on my skin. A small smile formed on my lips, and I knew he saw it. That encouraged him to rub my back with his fingers before removing his hand as we entered the hall. My emotions were all over the place as we walked side by side. My brain was yelling at me to move away, that I was too close to a stranger. Yet my heart contradicted everything I knew I should be doing. I forced my eyes to look forward. But they wanted to peek left, to see his profile. I couldfeelhim, his imposing height looming over me as our steps fell into rhythm, our silence stillcomfortable.

Our silence was interrupted by the rambunctious behavior of my friends waiting for me. All of their heads turned as we rounded the corner together.

Xander continued to the study lounge and said goodbye as he went in. As soon as he left, I felt his absence. Did that mean ... Imissed him?

How is it possible to immediately miss someone you didn’t even know?

When I turned to look at my awaiting friends, they stared at me with wide eyes and had their mouths agape.

And they had fallen silent.

But not for long.

“Lanie, why were you with Xander James?”

“Were you in his room?”

“He’s a man-whore, Lanie. Did youknow that?”

“Lanie, you can do better than him.”

I was stunned into further silence by their barrage of questions and statements. All three of them obviously had their predetermined opinions about Xander, and I guessed they weren’t good. As I looked at them, I think they realized they might lose me if they continued with the way they were going. I knew Becca had recognized the concern on my face, as I saw her elbow Tyin his side.

“Sorry, Lanie. We don’t mean anything by any of that; we just weren’t expecting to see you with him, that’s all. He doesn’t usually hang with freshman girls. He has the upper girls in and out of his room all the time, so it was a surprise to see you with him.”

Logan was staring at me with a look of concern at this point, and I needed to diffuse all of this,immediately.

“Hey, guys, aren’t we going bowling? Is that still the plan? Because it seems like we’ve been standing in this elevator lobby a lot longer than necessary. Can we get going, please?”

“Come on, Lanie’s right.” Logan was chuckling as he pressed the button to call for the elevator. “Let’s get this show on the road. Besides, my buzz will wear off soon if we don’t get going, and I only snuck a few beers inmy pockets.”

Becca came and put her arm around me and whispered in my ear, “You’ll tell me later what went on with you and that hottie though, right?”

She had a twinkle in her eye when she looked at me through her curls, slurring her words a bit. I was hoping she was drunk enough she would forget to ask me about this later. Because it seemed like Xander had a reputation, one I should be wary of. One that should keep me away from him.

We all moved on downstairs to our waiting Uber and me on to my first night out with friends in years.

I only hoped I wouldn’t wind up regretting this.

Any of this.

Chapter 4

Max stole many “firsts” from mein my life.

He took my first kiss from me, and many other firsts from my body.

He took every other first from me I could think of.

---