Flat-Out Celeste (25 page)

Oh God, what was she doing?

Justin stirred, smiling even before his eyes were open. “Well, hello. This person reaching up my shirt better be who I think it is, or I’m gonna freak out.”

Celeste pulled her hand away quickly. “Sorry.”

“Oh good, it is you,” he murmured. “Why is there stopping? Why is there no more hand being all cute and awesome?”

“Because you woke up.”

He considered this for a moment. “You can’t touch me when I’m awake?”

“I’m nervous.”

“About what?”

“What I’ll do. What you might do.”

“You don’t have to be nervous. Nothing’s going to get out of control.”

“It isn’t?”

“No. I’m not going to let anything happen.”

“Oh.”

He opened his sleepy eyes. “Not because I don’t want anything to happen, because believe me I am a perfectly horny college boy. But I’m assuming that since I was your first kiss, every step will be a first. And firsts are important. Or they should be. So we go step by step when each feels right. We don’t just jump down a staircase. Or jump up it. Whatever. My metaphor sucks. I’m not awake yet. The point is that I’m not about to rush ahead, and neither are you.”

“In that case, good morning.” She returned her hand to his back and moved her fingers over his skin.

“I can’t
not
taste you any longer.” Without saying anything else, he lifted his shoulders from the bed and leaned over her. His mouth grazed over her neck, the tip of his tongue running over her as he kissed slowly down to the top hem of her shirt. Her totally unsexy, geeky Hadron shirt, of all things! Celeste was going to kill Matt. He’d better improve his gift-giving skills by next Christmas.

Matt. She’d forgotten about him. The bedroom door was open. He had to be sleeping still, right?

She lifted her chin as Justin moved his kisses up one side of her throat and over to the other side. There was this one particular spot, she discovered, just below and behind her ear where she really, really quite liked having his mouth. That spot, the way he lightly sucked her skin, made her body tremble. She would have been disappointed when he stopped, except that his lips were then on hers, his chest barely touching hers as he held himself over her.

When he’d kissed her as deeply as he had assured her he would during last night’s texting, and when the outside world had all but disappeared, he stopped and rubbed his nose against hers. “We need coffee. We have a big day.”

Celeste liked coffee as much as the next person, but it was significantly less enticing than what they were already doing.

“Yes. Coffee is important,” she said halfheartedly.

“Don’t sound so sad.” He kissed her cheek and rested his mouth by her ear. “Believe me, I’d like to do this all day, but your protective brother is next door, and I want to keep both of my eyeballs. Besides, I want to show you the city.”

She nodded, trying to regain control of herself. Justin was right. They needed to get out of here.

“Hey, Celeste?”

“Hey, Justin?”

He continued to whisper in her ear, hiding his face from her. His breath and the sound of his voice were driving her wonderfully crazy. “Are you okay with what I said last night? When you were on the plane?”

She smiled. “Were you okay with what
I
said?”

“I asked you first, silly, but I was damn thrilled with what you said.”

“I was very much okay with what you said.”

“It’s all right if you want to change your mind. You might have felt pressured. I mean, not the cabin pressure, although that could have messed with your ears and made you dizzy and unable to think clearly. Have your ears popped yet? Did you know about popping ears? But, you know, if you felt emotionally pressured because I said something that—”

“Justin?”

“Yeah?”

“I did not feel pressure, cabin related or otherwise.”

“Good.”

It was another fifteen minutes before Justin insisted that they really had to get out of that room because he could feel one of his eyes developing a stabbing pain at the thought of Matt waking up.

“I want to take you to Barton, so you can see where I go to school. We can have lunch there and hang out. You cool with that? Is that all right? Do you want to wake up Matt?”

“Yes, I shall check on Matthew.”

“I’ll jump in the shower real quick. We can stop by my room so I can change, too.”

Celeste remembered her unsuitable packing job. “I may need to borrow a sweatshirt or something. I’m not sure what I have.”

“I would be more than happy to see you in one of my shirts.” Justin crawled out of bed, looking so dashingly sexy with his messy hair and rumpled clothing that Celeste actually checked to see if she was drooling. She didn’t know if that was just an expression or true physiological reaction that one could have when enamored, so she had to be sure. So far, so good.

Celeste had to stop herself from following her boyfriend into the shower. That was a crazy idea, of course. She wasn’t near ready for anything close to that, and yet there was a distinct pull for more contact with him. She took a deep breath and opened the curtains, trying to distract herself from the utter hotness that was now probably totally naked and lathering himself up with expensive hotel body soap—

She really had to stop this. Being flooded with outrageous sex-crazed thoughts was completely out of character. Of course, she’d never had a boyfriend before, or really even much of a crush, so reasonably, this was not abnormal. Just abnormal for her.

She stared out of the window. Okay, the view was extraordinary. Totally blue skies and full sunshine. As much as the whole idea of making out with Justin all day had sounded pretty fantastic, she simply had to get out to see this lush city. She found another pair of shorts, and tossed those on with a non-geeky layered, flowy cream tank top. It seemed that her drunken packing had not been entirely terrible. Her hair was unmanageable after having slept on it wet, so she yanked it into a high ponytail.

Matt’s door was shut, so she opened it just a crack to peek in. He was definitely still asleep. She checked the mini fridge and then left him a note pointing out that there was cold bottled water for him. When she opened the living room curtains, her need to get out into the city skyrocketed. She banged on the bathroom door. “Justin! I want to see the ocean! Can we see the ocean?” she said with excitement. “It’s sunny and wonderful outside. We must go!”

She heard him laugh. “Anything you want, love.” The shower turned off.

Celeste turned her back to the door and slumped to the floor. He called her
love.
What was happening? This was so much good, so much romantic, and so much categorically outside of how her life had been thus far. There was also the nakedness happening close by. That was out of the ordinary for sure.
He was entirely unclothed behind that door!
She had to stop herself from squealing. That would be undignified. One should be composed even in proximity of such a gorgeous showering boyfriend.

Her mind drifted. What he’d said about going step by step, she liked. He was right. That was important to think about, and it wasn’t a decision to make in the heat of the moment. The fact was that she was an eighteen-year-old young woman, and she knew it was perfectly normal to have such physical attractions. It was allowed; it was healthy. And she was responsible. It was good, though, that Justin was responsible too. He was so caring, so respectful, and so stunningly thoughtful. It only made her feelings more intense. Celeste closed her eyes, imagining what might be the next step, what she wanted, what would keep her comfortable…

Suddenly she fell back onto the tile as Justin opened the door, clothed, but dripping water from his hair. She looked up at him. “Hello.”

“Hello,” he said grinning as he knelt down over her, his head upside down to hers. “Whatcha doing?”

She reached up and took his face in her hands and pulled him in, sinking her tongue into his mouth with more assertiveness than she knew she had. When she was done, she continued holding him and said, “I want to see Barton. And I want to see the beach. And I want coffee. And more palm trees and sunshine. And most of all, more you. More kissing.”

“I can give you all of those. Promise. You ready?”

“I have a fear, though.”

“What’s that?”

She hesitated, but being truthful with Justin always made her feel better. “Will we be speaking with other students? With your friends?”

“I don’t know. Maybe. I’m not sure who’s around today.” He paused. “Why?”

“You know that I have difficulty in social situations.” Her voice nearly disappeared. “I do not want to embarrass you.”

He kissed her again. “Stop that.”

“It is a legitimate concern.”

“The only legitimate concern I have is that you will be appalled by the unhygienic state of my dorm room. Now, come on up.” He grabbed her hands and pulled her up to a stand. “No Matt?” he asked.

She shook her head. “No Matt. I have hope he might contact us later and join in our adventures. Er, well, not all of them.”

“Yeah. Agreed.”

When they were finally in the car, Justin handed her one of the to-go cappuccinos he’d bought. She took off the top to sip the foam, but stopped. It was the most beautiful cappuccino any girl had ever received, because a perfectly symmetric heart was floating in the foam.

“Of all the foam coffees you have presented me with, I do believe it is fair to say that this is my favorite.”

“Usually I cheat because I draw with syrup, so I hired a pro for the important one. I have no idea how they make pictures out of foam like that, but as an architecture student I’m annoyed with myself that I can’t do it. I should be able to build foam sculptures for you. Anyway… You like?”

“I like.” She placed a hand on his cheek, running a finger over his lips for a bit. “I like very much.” She leaned over from her seat and kissed him. It was all too easy to get used to being able to touch him. To watch him. To simply be in his presence and the power that was Justin.

He revved the engine and took them toward the Barton campus.

As they drove down a road that ran beside the ocean, Celeste’s phone rang.

“Hello, Julie! Guess where I am? You will not believe it.”

“You’re in San Diego. I got your message.”

Celeste’s heart nearly stopped. Immediately, she knew what had happened. What she’d done. The message intended for Justin had instead gone to Julie. Their names were right by each other on her favorites speed-dial list. “Yes. My message.”

“I’m dying to see you! I can drive down and get there for lunch and stuff tomorrow afternoon. Is that good?”

No, this was not good at all. This was a nightmare.

Or was it?

“Yes, that would be delightful. Justin and I shall pick you up, so simply let me know of your arrival time, and we will have lunch. The three of us. Justin, you, and me. A trio. Just a small group.”

“Is everything okay?”

“Everything is violently perfect! Why would you ask?”

“
Violently perfect
? That’s an odd word choice…”

“I am in the car and about to experience a full day in a new city, so I feel that I deserve to use whatever words strike my fancy at a moment’s notice. I am feeling whimsical and robust.”

“
Whimsical
?
Robust
? Celeste, what is going on?”

“Sexual tension levels are at an all-time high, and there are linguistic repercussions!” she shouted.

“Oh my God.”

“Text me later. Can’t wait to see you!” Celeste hung up. That hadn’t exactly gone smoothly. And she couldn’t even
look
at Justin.

“So,” he said and made a big production of clearing his throat. “What was that you said about sexual tension?”

She put a hand over her face. “Perhaps we could skip over some of what you heard?”

He playfully pulled her hand from her face. “I like the sexual tension discussion! More of that! This deserves details!”

Celeste busied herself with retying her ponytail. “I got nervous and didn’t know what to say. I have some thinking to do in that area.”

“Really? Then you think and report back in later. Although not in essay fashion. I hate reports in general, but essays are so sterile and boring. How about with a pie chart? Or a diorama? Dioramas are fun. You could include little action figures. Although that might be creepy. I think my parents were very disappointed that I didn’t like action figures, I have to tell you. They have a collection of vintage superhero ones still in the boxes, but I was more about trains and building blocks. They hated Legos, probably because I left them all over the house, and one time Luka stepped on one and when he was screaming and hopping on one leg, he fell and landed on more and had Lego indents on his face for a few days. Oh, I missed my exit. Hold on.”

Celeste put a hand on his and then rubbed his forearm. She loved his meandering talk.

“Sorry, what were we saying? Julie called, that’s right. What’s up with her?”

“It seems that I called her instead of you last night and invited her to come down from Los Angeles to see me.”

“Oops. Isn’t that going to be weird with Matt here?”

“Extremely.” She was working over a plan in her head. “Although I am choosing to see this as a sign. It is my belief that Matthew and Julie still love each other very much. If we get them together over lunch, then I feel sure they can recapture their former romance. Or, rather, see that it is still there. Wouldn’t that be exciting?”

“Oh God, Celeste, this sounds very sketchy to me.”

“What do you mean by sketchy?”

“Like, that it’s not well thought out. Many areas for highly problematic angles and such. Unlikely to end well.”

“That is not very romantic of you. You should adopt a more positive attitude. We should show them they must fight for their love. Fight for all loves destroyed by the hazards of distance. They have something that is worth saving, and I know their connection remains after all this time. This could be very exciting!”

“You think they’ll see each other and the stars will align?”