Dirty: The Complete Series (Secret Baby Romance Love Story) (165 page)

  
“I’m
okay with it,” Ashley said, shrugging.

  
I
gestured for them to go ahead of me and slipped past the table where Alex was
still chatting away; I’d probably get grief from him later, but that wasn’t as
important as the possibility of getting to know Nicole a little better. I
walked with her and Ashley across campus, joking about the Res Life events.

  
“I
actually almost didn’t go,” Nicole told me. “Ashley made me go, because
apparently not studying is the way to learn something.”

  
“That’s
not what I said! I pointed out that after reading the same chapter three or
four or ten times, it’s better to let it sit around in your head for a bit.”

  
“She’s
not wrong, you know,” I said to Nicole. “Rest and relaxation is just as
important as studying.”

  
“All
work and no play makes Nicky a dull girl,” Ashley said in a singsong voice.

  
When
we got to their building, we all stopped and I decided to go for it. “Hey, I
was just thinking—since you obviously need to learn a little bit more about how
to relax a bit…do you think you might want to grab dinner sometime?” Nicole
blushed a deep pink and grinned, looking up at my face and then away again. She
licked her lips and I was grateful for the fact that her friend wasn’t saying
anything.

  
“Okay,”
she said finally, smiling slowly. “Yeah—I’ll grab dinner with you sometime.”

  
“Can
I get your number and see when you’re free later?” I reached into my pocket and
found my phone, handing it over to Nicole. She nodded and I watched her put her
phone number into my phone. “I’ll text you later,” I told her. Nicole blushed
again and nodded.

  
“I’m
looking forward to it,” she said shyly.

  
“We’d
better get in,” Ashley said. “She’ll want to read her textbook a few more times
before she goes to bed.” I chuckled and stepped back, saying goodnight quickly
before I turned to head back to my own dorm building.

Chapter
Three

  
A
few days after Game Night in the Student Union, I hurried back to my room after
classes and started to try and get ready for my date with Ty. I wasn’t even
really sure why I’d agreed to go out with him; I hadn’t dated anyone in months,
ever since I’d broken up with my ex, Dillon. But there was something about the
way that Tyler had looked at me, something about his smile and his eyes that
made it impossible for me to say no to him.

  
Ashley
had given me a hard time about it from the moment that Tyler left us at the
entrance to the dorm building, heading off. “He’s right you know,” she’d told
me as we waited for the elevator to take us up to our floor. “You have no idea
how to have a good time and relax. You need to take some lessons from him.”

  
I
started going through my clothes, wishing that I’d had time between classes and
studying to go to the mall, or at least call my parents and ask them to send
something to me.

  
Tyler
had texted me maybe an hour after we’d met and suggested that we go out on
Friday night and do something. I’d agreed to it and added his number to my
phone, and ever since then we’d sent each other a few messages back and
forth—mostly just friendly stuff, nothing really aggressive or intense.

  
“What
was that crash?” I poked my head out through my bedroom door and saw Ashley
walking toward my side of the dorm room, looking worried and amused at the same
time.

  
“A
box of stuff in my closet fell,” I admitted, cringing. I’d been sorting through
my clothes so quickly and pushing the hangers around so hard that I’d shaken
something loose on the shelf above them.

  
“You’re
really nervous about this, aren’t you?” Ashley raised an eyebrow and followed
me back into my room. “All right. I’ll help you.” I rolled my eyes.

  
“You’d
want me to wear like, a miniskirt and stockings,” I said, shaking my head. I
looked at my closet and sighed. I had no idea where Ty was going to be taking
me—and somehow I couldn’t decide on which of the outfits in either my closet or
my dresser was right for the occasion.

  
“For
a first date? Nah.” Ashley sat down on my bed and looked me over slowly. “You
do probably want to show some cleavage though. And wear your hair down.” I
reached up to touch the braid I’d put my hair in that morning to keep it out of
my face; I’d taken a shower in the morning too—same as I usually did—but I
thought I might get another quick shower before I changed clothes and put on
makeup.

  
“Down?”
I thought of Dillon again. He had always had some comment to make about my hair
when we’d been dating—about me constantly changing it, dyeing it or cutting it
a different way. I’d only ever actually messed up my hair once or twice, but
Dillon had never let me hear the end of it.

  
Why
did it take me that long to break up with him? It had taken me ages to see his
negativity for what it really was. He didn’t criticize me because he wanted to
make me better: he had always criticized me, I realized, because he wanted to
control me, make me be what he wanted me to be.

  
“It’s
more sensual that way,” Ashley told me. “It makes you look all soft and
feminine and sweet.”

  
“What
if I don’t want to look soft and feminine and sweet?” I stuck my tongue out at
Ashley and looked at my closet again to try and look over my options.

  
It
wasn’t cold enough yet to really need to wear something warm, but I thought I
almost definitely wouldn’t be wearing a miniskirt that night—it was just cool
enough to be annoying to walk around in anything short, and on top of that I
didn’t want to give Ty the idea that he could just make any kind of move he
wanted on me whenever he wanted.

  
“Do
you want to go on this date with him?” Ashley looked me over speculatively. “It
seemed to me like you liked him pretty well.” I shrugged.

  
“I
like him okay,” I said, thinking about the texts Ty and I had been sending back
and forth. He’d asked about how I was doing in my classes, whether I had
managed to figure out the material I’d been trying to learn on Game Night, and
what kind of movies and books and music I liked.

  
“It’s
just…guys suck so much.” I shook my head and flipped through the clothes in my
closet again for a few moments. I found a dress that I liked—the hem came down
to just above my knee, and it had long sleeves, so at least I wouldn’t get
chilly. I thought I could wear it with a cute pair of boots, and maybe I’d wear
my hair down like Ashley had suggested. “What do you think of this?”

  
Ashley
looked at the dress and shook her head. “Nope. Not a first date dress. Way too
much of you would be covered in that.”

  
“Why
does that matter? I’m not going to sleep with him on the first date.” Ashley
rolled her eyes.

  
“It’s
not about sleeping with him on the first date,” she said, standing up and
walking over to my closet. “It’s about getting the idea across that you might
sleep with him eventually.” I laughed.

  
Ashley
sorted through my clothes slowly, pausing on a few of the different pieces of
outfits I had in my closet. She picked another dress out; it was a camisole
dress, a little shorter in the hem than the one I’d picked out, with spaghetti
straps and a sweetheart neckline. “This is what you want to wear,” she told me
with a nod.

  
“It
might get chilly tonight,” I pointed out.

  
“So
wear a sweater over it!” Ashley turned back toward my closet and shuffled
through my clothes until she found a soft, loose cardigan in the same color as
one of the flowers on the dress. “Wear this open over the dress, maybe a nice
necklace and some earrings, and a pair of boots and you’re set.”

  
“Thank
you, mother,” I said, pouting in Ashley’s direction. I looked at the dress that
she’d picked out and decided it actually was kind of nice. It wasn’t so fancy
that I’d feel like I had overdressed if we went somewhere casual, but it wasn’t
a pair of jeans and a
 
t-shirt, so if we
went somewhere nicer I wouldn’t feel out of place either.

  
“Get
a quick shower, do your hair and put on some makeup,” Ashley suggested with a
nod.

  
“Why
did I even agree to go out with him?” I sighed, throwing the clothes onto my
bed and kneeling down to look into my basket of shoes underneath.

  
“Uh,
because he’s totally hot and sweet?” I shrugged.

  
“I
guess,” I said, blushing as I thought of Ty’s greenish eyes. Ashley was right
about one thing: Tyler was definitely hot. “But I mean, my ex—Dillon—was hot,
and he was sweet at first. And then he turned out to be a jerk.”

  
“Well,
if Ty turns out to be a total jerk, then we’ll ruin his life,” Ashley said,
grinning at me. “Say he’s got a tiny dick or something like that.” I laughed in
spite of how nervous I felt and picked out a pair of boots that I thought would
go with the dress Ashley had decided on for me.

  
“I
will keep that in mind,” I told her, grabbing my towel. I thought—I hoped—that
a shower would settle my nerves a bit.

  
I
was determined that I would at least enjoy my date with Ty, and if nothing ever
came of it that would be fine. Ashley had been at least a little bit right that
I hadn’t had very much fun since I’d started at the college a few weeks before.
A date would be fun, even if it weren’t the best date I’d ever been on. I took
a deep breath and went into the bathroom I shared with Ashley, ignoring the way
she chuckled at my nervousness. I thought that I would wear my hair down, like
she’d suggested, but I was going to stick with my own preferences for my makeup
and my jewelry. I didn’t want to try and pretend to be someone I wasn’t for
Ty—not on a first date. If he didn’t like what he saw, that was his problem.

Chapter
Four

  
I
knocked on Nicole’s door five minutes before I’d told her I’d come and get her;
my dad had taught me when I was young that it was only polite to arrive five
minutes early for an appointment of any kind, with anyone, and when I’d become
a teenager he’d said it was especially important for a date.

  
I
smiled to myself as I thought about what I had planned for my first date with
Nicole. I was fairly certain that she didn’t have any idea of what I had in
mind—but that she’d love it nonetheless. I heard Nicole’s voice on the other
side of the heavy door calling out that she was coming, and my heart beat
faster.

  
I’d
spent a good hour getting my car cleaned up and cleared out on the inside;
there wasn’t anything really bad in it—nothing that would make it stink or
anything—but I wanted the old heap to look as good as possible when I let Nicole
into the passenger seat. I’d lucked out in my schedule for the day when one of
my professors sent out an email to the entire class, telling us that they had
to stay home with one of their kids, so the class was canceled.

  
I’d
spent the rest of the afternoon getting ready for my date with Nicole: I’d gone
to the bank to get the cash I knew I’d need, and I’d taken a shower, shaved,
and picked out the outfit I wanted to wear. I was as ready as I could possibly
be about twenty minutes before the time I’d given Nicole—so I’d spent the last
ten minutes sitting in my room wondering if I was making a big mistake,
planning the night the way I had.

  
The
door to Nicole’s dorm room opened and I took in the sight of her. She was
enough to make my mouth water: the dress she wore fit her like a glove, but
looked sweet at the same time, especially with the sweater over it and the
boots covering her feet.

  
Her
hair was down, and for a moment all I could think about was how much I wanted
to run my fingers through it, how much I wanted to touch it and how much I
wanted to kiss her. I shook off the feeling and smiled. “I know I’m a couple of
minutes early,” I said, shrugging off my punctuality.

  
“No—it’s
nice,” Nicole said, smiling back at me. “It saves me the trouble of pacing
around the common area all nervous for five minutes.” I chuckled.

  
“Well,
then, should we get on the road?” Nicole hesitated for just a moment and then
she nodded.

  
“Let
me just check that I’ve got everything,” she said. She looked in her purse and muttered
“Keys, phone, ID card, wallet…” and then looked up at me, her cheeks still
pink. “Okay, let’s go!”

  
I
had put more thought into the date I was going to take Nicole than I probably
should have—definitely more than I would have admitted to anyone. “Where are we
going?” Nicole asked me when I unlocked and opened the passenger side door to
let her in.

  
“We’re
going to the county fair,” I told her, grinning. I waited until she’d pulled
the seatbelt around and closed the door behind her before walking around to the
driver’s side of the car.

  
I
looked at Nicole’s face in the mirrors as I walked, hoping against hope that
she wasn’t thinking about how stupid a date that would be; but instead of
looking skeptical or disappointed, I saw that she looked incredibly
excited—easily as excited as she’d looked when she’d won her prizes at Bingo.

  
“You
know, I kept meaning to go to the fair and I kept missing it because I was busy
with other things,” Nicole told me when I climbed in behind the wheel. I
grinned, pleased with myself.

  
“Then
I’m glad I thought of it,” I said. “This is the last weekend it’s going to be
in town, so I thought since I’m supposed to be showing you how to have a good
time and relax…” I shrugged, pulling out of my spot. “I thought it would be fun.”

  
“I
hope so!” In the corner of my eye I saw Nicole smoothing the skirt of her dress
over her legs. “Please tell me you’re into rollercoasters,” she added.

  
“Oh,
totally,” I said, nodding as I began to steer my way off campus. “The scarier
the better.”

  
“Me
too!” I glanced over to see that Nicole was getting even more excited. “And the
rides where it’s like a swing, but it goes up into the air, you know? I love
those.”

  
“Yeah.
Those are always a good choice—especially if they’re the kind where you can swing
around.”

  
“Yes!”
I turned the music on just for a little bit of background noise—not loud enough
to drown Nicole out—and we started chatting: about music, about movies we
wanted to see, about the dining hall and the terrible food we were missing out on.

  
It
took about twenty minutes to get to the fair, and then another ten minutes to
park; but we’d gotten there after the big rush at the ticket lines, which was
something at least. “Now,” I told Nicole, when I saw her reaching into her
purse as we got closer to the ticket booth. “I asked you out, so I’m paying for
this—all of it. I don’t want to see your wallet the entire night unless someone
needs your ID for something.”

  
Nicole
laughed and shrugged, her dark eyes dancing as she looked up at me, and I
thought that it wasn’t possible for her to have any idea at all how utterly
adorable she was.

  
“If
you insist,” she said, her hand leaving her purse.

  
I
bought wristbands for the rides and tickets for the food trucks, games, and
snack stands—more than I thought we could possibly get through for the
night—and then we were walking into the fair. “Where should we go first?”
Nicole looked around and I couldn’t blame her; there was so much going on all
around us, it was almost impossible to choose a direction.

  
“Well
we probably want to play some games first, right?” I spotted a ski-ball game,
and next to it one with water guns. “Games, and then a couple of rides,
something to eat…”

  
“That
sounds good,” Nicole agreed. She looked in the direction of the games and
glanced at me. “Ski-ball?”

  
We
went from one part of the fairgrounds to another, playing games, eating
whatever called to us, and getting onto the most exciting rides, one after the
other. I was glad at least that Nicole had an iron stomach; even the gravitron
didn’t shake her up, even though she’d eaten half of a funnel cake only a few
minutes before. Every so often I saw Nicole start to reach for her purse, but
as soon as she saw me looking at her, she stopped.

  
After
we made one lap of the fairgrounds, we decided to take a break for a while and
just talk and relax. “What’s been your favorite thing so far?”

  
“I
have to say it was probably the gravitron,” Nicole said, grinning and shaking
her head. “Either that or the deep fried Oreos.” I laughed. “What about you?”

  
“I
really liked that—what was it called? The one with the helicopters.”

  
“Oh
yeah!” Nicole giggled. “Though I was afraid you were going to lose your dinner
on it.”

  
“Me?
You were the one who scarfed down that deep-fried Jell-O,” I pointed out
playfully. “If anything could have made me barf…”

  
“There
are a lot more rides,” Nicole countered. “We might actually get really, really
close to each other by one of us holding the other one’s hair back.”

“I don’t have enough to get in the way.” I
tweaked a lock of her hair and brought the tip
         
of
it just under her nose. “Don’t think you have to go on every ride just to
impress me, by the way. The fact that you managed the Sky Walker ride without
flashing anyone is impressive enough.”

  
“My
Grandma taught me how to be a lady,” Nicole said, putting on a snobby
expression. “Just because most of the time I don’t actually do any ladylike
things…”

  
“Oh
man, now I want to see you at some tea party or something,” I joked, shaking my
head at the image.

  
“I
would fit right in! You jerk—I know how to act properly.” Nicole swatted at me,
and I went along with it, cowering in front of her.

  
“Okay—don’t
hurt me! I believe you.” I tousled her hair—I’d been looking for an excuse to touch
her like that, to find out if it was as soft as it looked. It was. “Ready for
more thrills and excitement?”

  
“I’m
ready if you are,” Nicole said, looking up at me with a challenging glint in
her eyes. We made another round of the fairway, and I saw the Ferris wheel. “Oh
god, how many people do you think have paid the guy to have him stop it at the
top?” Nicole grinned at me. “Please don’t do that.”

  
“What?
You don’t want a romantic movie moment on your first date? Have I been that
terrible?”

  
“It’s
such a cliché!” Nicole gestured at the Ferris wheel, shaking her head. “It’s so
gross. Let’s not even ride it. I don’t want to tempt you.”

  
“I
think you’re just afraid of heights or something,” I told her.

  
“I
am not!” Nicole pouted and I grinned. “Fine, we’ll ride it. But if it stops at
the top and you try to kiss me there, I’m going to shove you out of the car.”

  
I
didn’t try to make a move on her there—it was obvious that even if she were
joking, it wouldn’t work to do it anyway. Instead we laughed at the couple that
actually did kiss at the top of the Ferris wheel and got off still laughing.

  
We
dared each other to get on more and more exciting rides: the Tower of Terror,
the Whip Crack, and finally, after a long wait in line, we were climbing into
the cars of the scariest, most intense roller coaster the fair offered: the
Kraken. “Now, don’t think I’m going to think less of you if you scream,” I told
Nicole playfully as the ride technicians belted us down into the seats.

  
“Oh
come on,” Nicole said, reaching over to give me a shove. “You’re going to
scream before I do.”

  
“I
will bet you a kiss that I don’t scream,” I said, raising an eyebrow. “One
kiss. It’s not on the Ferris wheel.”

  
“Okay,”
Nicole said, grinning. “If you don’t scream, you get a kiss. If you do…hmm.”
She pressed her lips together as she considered. I had been wanting to kiss
her—almost needing to kiss her—all night. “If you scream then you give me all
the rest of the food tickets, and you have to eat whatever I buy with them.”

  
“Deal.”
I reached over and offered her my hand to shake. The rollercoaster started up a
minute later, and I clenched my teeth as we rocketed away.
I will bite my own tongue off before I’ll scream,
I thought,
determined to earn my kiss. I knew that Nicole would probably let me kiss her
anyway; but I was set to actually earn the reward, to stick by the letter of my
agreement.

  
I
heard Nicole let out a shriek next to me when the rollercoaster plunged into
the deepest descent of the ride; but I managed to keep my lips pressed together
the whole time, my heart pounding in my chest, my blood roaring in my ears
along with the wind. The rollercoaster slowed to a stop and my heart was still
pounding, adrenaline flowing through my veins. The safety belts came off, and I
turned to Nicole. “I didn’t scream,” I told her, smiling slightly.

  
“I
was so looking forward to trying to figure out what combination of things would
make you puke,” Nicole said, shaking her head in pretend disappointment and
then ruining the look with a laugh.

  
She
looked up at me and I realized we were both swaying a little on our feet as we
stood next to the rollercoaster ride. Instead of waiting for her to tell me I
could kiss her, I leaned in and just barely brushed my lips against hers.

  
Nicole
started against me, but a moment later she reached up, draping her arms around
my shoulders. I deepened the kiss slowly, sliding my tongue against her lips,
and Nicole opened her mouth without even a second’s hesitation. My heart
started pounding for reasons that had nothing to do with the rollercoaster.

  
After
a few minutes—I had no idea how many—I finally pulled back. “I don’t think
anything else here can possibly top that,” I told Nicole, looking down into her
face. She smiled slowly, her cheeks flushing pink.

  
“I
think you’re right,” she said, her hands tightening on my shoulders. “Should we
head back to the dorms?” I licked my lips; I could taste the cotton candy that
Nicole had eaten just before we’d gotten onto the rollercoaster.

  
“I
don’t want the night to be over yet,” I said quickly. “Maybe we could relax and
watch a movie or something back at the dorm?” Nicole’s eyes narrowed, losing
some of the dreamy quality they’d had when I first pulled out of the kiss, but
when I started to think I’d overstepped my boundaries, she nodded.