Chapter 33: Chapter 33

"You call me that all the time." I don't give up, and he laughs.

"I'm not trying to talk down to you." He tells me this while he's squeezing my hip, and I start to feel my brain fog up.

I only give him a quick look, but his green eyes are electric, even though it's dark. Even though I know you don't like me very much, thanks for everything you did. When I mumble, he shakes his head.

"Julianna, if I didn't like you, I wouldn't have done any of this." When he tells me, my eyes get big. "Listen, I'm aware of how stupid I am. I'm sorry I haven't done much to make you happy since you moved in. I just don't get along well with people." He's upset. "I know that's not a good reason, but I want you to know something."

"Okay." When I speak slowly, he nods.

"I know that people have told you that I jump from girl to girl to get what I want and that I'm a man-whore who sleeps around. When he says that, I sigh. "That's not true," I'll tell you. When he whispers, I blink.

"What about Piper-"

"I've never slept with Piper," he says. "Never, I don't like her like that. People have made assumptions about us because they've seen us kiss, and I've kissed a lot of girls. I've also slept with my fair share of them, but I'm trying to stop and change." When he whispers, I nod.

That might have been the most surprising thing he'd ever said. From her point of view, it seemed like he and Piper had been interested in each other for a while.

"I don't date, I don't have any close girls in my life, and to be honest, I'm not close to anyone." Yes, he says, shaking his head. "I'm not used to being soft with people, but you're naturally soft, honey." He says it quietly, and I laugh in a quiet way. "I'm trying, but getting under your skin can be funny sometimes."

I say in a low voice, "Asshole," and he smiles.

But just so you know, leaving the apartment in a mess is not a joke or a tease. "That's just rude," I say in a whisper, and he nods.

She told him to stop. When he sighs, I raise an eyebrow.

I make fun of him by saying, "I should wear this shirt more," and he smiles. "I'm glad to see you smile." When I whisper, I can feel my drunken confidence leaving me. "You don't do it enough:'

"Don't do it just because." He gives me a shrug and puts his hands on my waist. I take a big sigh. The air seemed to be buzzing, and it was hard to explain how his hands felt. I've never felt like this. "What are you thinking?" He asks, and as he does, his thumb runs over the part of my skin that isn't covered at my waist.

"It can't be very comfortable for you to have that lying on top of you like this." He laughs and shakes his head when I give him a shrug.

"Never a dull moment." When I hear him whisper, I smile. "You don't weigh much."

"Still." I just shrug, and he shakes his head again. "Do you think that one day we'll get along?"

"I think we're getting along pretty well right now." He says that, and I just give him a shrug because he's right. "Maybe we're the kind of people who only get close when a lot is on the line."

"A lot was on the line here?" I ask with a raised eyebrow, and he just shrugs.

"The steaks had to pay money to go to a house party, so high steaks for them." He chuckles. "Also to teach Piper a lesson."

"Yes, that's the lesson: don't underestimate Julianna." He nods when I laugh. "My favourite."

"Mine is, too." When he whispers, I blink. His eyes keep going to my lips, and I can't help but feel like my heart is going to burst. My mind won't stop racing, my throat is dry, my palms are sweating, and everything around me is pleading with me to come closer. "Honey, come over here." When he whispers, I put my forehead on his and let our noses touch.

I can feel his strong hands on my waist, and time seems to stop. Even just thinking about it sends shivers up and down my spine.

Then both my phone and Kent's phone start to ring, and I wake up. What's the point? Oh my god, we were going to-

I jump off of him, and while I try to catch my breath and find my phone, he finds his. I answer the call.

"H-hello?" I take a deep breath and ask. I sound like I just ran 26.2 miles.

"Julianna? When are you and she going out? Since you won the bet, let's go home and set up." When he says that, I sigh.

"Urn, yeah. Just now, we leaped out the back window. We'll be at the front in a minute." I say, looking at Kent funny. He looks like he's just taken his first breath in ten years. "See you soon."

I get up and shake myself off when the call is over. Kent also gets up and gives me the shoes I had thrown out the window.

"Thanks." He nods and clears his throat when I whisper. He shows me that I should go first after I fix my skirt. He follows me as I run through the back yard. We stay in the line of bushes between the houses and walk along the front deck.

"Damn, it's still Zack." I mumble.

"Rack-loving Zack." He says to himself, and I roll my eyes and make a sarcastic face.

"Funny." I sigh, and he gives me a small laugh to show that he thinks his joke is funny. "Because of my rack, we got in."

"I know, and we were able to get out of there because I could act as a landing cushion." In a funny way, he says this.

"Okay, I can't jump out of windows while wearing a skirt and drinking. Sue me." I sigh and put both hands in the air. "It's where I'm weak."

"Well, there is something that can kill every Superman." When he sighs, I roll my eyes.

"Wow, you are killing it with those clever one-liners." He laughs when I tell him. "Okay, let's take this seriously. What are we going to do?" I ask him, and he just shrugs.

"Just jump over the bushes to the other side, and we'll run down to the street." When he says something, I sigh and don't know what to think. He pushes his way through, so I put on my big boy pants and squeeze between two of them to get to the other side.

Then he and I ran to the road, where everyone was waiting for us to come back. I laugh, feeling free and like I'd just done something stupid. But then it hits me: this is how college is supposed to feel. It's not just what you do on the bus and with your homework, and it's not just waiting for your high school friends to come back to visit. It's all about making good memories that will last forever.

"There are they!" Kyle calls, and as we walk back to the group, we both laugh.

"What happened?" Abby, who just joined the group, asks. I laugh.

"I talked a freshman into letting Kent and me join the fraternity." I shrug. I thought telling the truth would be much harder.

"Well, the way you look makes me want to say anything to you." When she makes fun of me, I roll my eyes. "Thanks for taking one for the team, I didn't want to sleep there."

"So, everything worked out fine?" Mark asks, so I take a deep breath and look back at Kent. His face always looked the same. "What did we do there, and what did it all mean?"

"Yes, Julianna did the best she could with what she had." Abby, me, and the boys all roll our eyes when he says it. "I meant her talking." Everyone laughs at the same time as he talks.

Piper and her copies went where? I ask.

"They stood in line to get into the party." Kyle chuckles. "She didn't want to wait for any more news after you sent her that message."

"She had it coming." I shrug.

"I think you gave her an example of what not to do." Mark says that to me. "Let's go home now, because this whole block smells like Axe body spray." We laugh as we turn around and walk along the sidewalk back to our apartment.

When I look up from putting my shoes back on for the walk, Kent is waiting for me. Except for him, everyone else in the group had gone ahead.

"Thanks." When I speak slowly, he nods.

"Yeah." I take a deep breath and he softly laughs.

"In the heat of the moment, I swore." He mumbles, and all I do is nod. Since he was right, I didn't think he would say anything else. All it was was that I didn't want to be one of the careless girls he kissed.

I wouldn't look into this even if I thought for a second that it might have more to it. Not when we live under the same roof and not when his friends were also our roommates. It would ruin my apartment as well as me.

When someone is as emotionally broken as he is, I can't get close to them. Getting together? Yes, but part of being a good person is knowing when someone is looking for love in the right place. Kent isn't right now because he has too much going on.

"Agreed:. He nods when I sigh. "Do you think this might be a big deal?" As I take a deep breath and look up at him, I whisper the question. "I-I know we've been pretty good enemies, but do you think we could try to live together?

"I'd like that." He says it in a soft voice, which makes me smile.

"Good." I sigh. "By the way, that means to fill the dishwasher." When I tell him, he rolls his eyes.

"You put the fact that I don't do my chores at the top of the list. I understand." When he says it, I smile. "I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings in the past or if I hurt them again in the future." He tells me, which makes me feel good inside. At the pool two weeks ago, that's all I wanted him to say, and it looks like time has helped him decide.

I said, "That's nice of you." "Thank you for giving me a hand."

"Hey, do you want a free beer and someone to catch you if you jump off a frat house? Anytime." When he laughs, I smile.

I knew he had this side, and I knew that behind all of his bad moods and rudeness was something funny. It didn't show up until almost a month and a half later, but I like it. Strangely enough, Piper is the one who made me laugh.