Full Count (6 page)

“Here we go. My parents brought me
here when we first checked out the campus; it’s a pretty cool place.” He led me
through the Capstone House and punched in eighteen on the elevator. “The view
is pretty amazing and the restaurant actually rotates around, even though you
never feel it. They have some pretty good barbeque too.”

We were seated immediately by the
hostess and I couldn’t help but gasp at the stunning view we were seated next
to. From way up here you could view the whole campus and all of Columbia, I’m
sure there were other towns that I was seeing too, and it seemed to stretch on
for thousands of miles.

“Wow, you were right.” I took a sip
of my sweet tea and turned back to Ben, after taking it all in. “This view is
beautiful.”

“It is,” he replied, his eyes
locked on me and it felt like he was burning a hole through me with how intense
his gaze was.

We made our way through the late
lunch and the food was absolutely mouthwatering. By the time dessert came, I
figured I couldn’t eat another bite, but after I saw it was banana pudding, I
knew I had to at least try it. Ben guided me back through the lobby, out to his
car. This time the drive back to my dorm was a little longer, so I was able to
enjoy the breeze running through my hair with the convertible top down.

“I had a lot of fun with you
today,” Ben stated with his hands placed lightly on my hips. His head kept
dipping down closer and closer to mine, I just wanted to yell out, kiss me
already!

This certainly wouldn’t be my first
kiss. I had gotten plenty of those from Jake when we played spin the bottle in
middle school and he would never let the bottle land on anyone but him. But I
was a woman now, a full- grown adult. I’m sure this would really be considered
my first kiss.

“Would it be alright to ask you out
for another date? Say maybe, Tuesday night?” I nodded my head in agreement, as
his lips brushed across my ear and I couldn’t help but compare them to Dylan’s.
His had seemed much softer and I could remember how his stubble had rubbed
against my cheek, tickling it slightly.

“Ye-ss,” I stuttered out, slightly
shaking my head to clear the image of Dylan Turner out of my head. “That sounds
great.” I could feel his smile against my lips as he tentatively placed them
there. I wound my arms around his neck and he pulled my hips closer, so I was
molded around his body.

It was…..nice. No fireworks
exploded, the birds didn’t break out in song like in the movies. His hands
cradled my face as his tongue probed my mouth, memorizing every inch. I could
still taste the mintyness in his mouth from the candy that he had conspicuously
placed in his mouth after lunch. He pulled back slightly and leaned his
forehead down against mine. “Wow…that was…amazing,” he breathed.

“Mmhm,” I murmured into his chest
as he crushed me against him. I really wasn’t sure what to say, great, yes.
Amazing, I wasn’t so sure. Maybe we just needed more practice. I ran my hands
through the stubble covering his head, wishing for just a moment that it was a
mess of brown hair running through my fingers instead.

Dylan

I slammed my empty beer bottle down
onto the counter and motioned at the bartender for another one. Of course, as
luck would have it, Sara was bartending tonight. Usually I enjoyed it and we
would have a quick fuck in the back of the beater mobile on one of her breaks,
but I wasn’t in the mood. Her eyes kept flicking to me suggestively every time
she brought me a fresh beer and I knew that was still her plan.

“Hey dude,” Chris pulled out the
bar stool next to mine and thumped me on the back, causing the glass bottle to
clink against my teeth. We had planned on meeting up after his family dinner.
Normally I attended those, but I needed to keep my buzz going that I had.
Susanne looked disappointed but I knew I would be able to make up to her,
sometimes I think I was her favorite.

My head had been spinning from the
moment I had seen Paige this morning. Her hair had been pulled up into a high
ponytail, revealing her slim and bare neck that I just wanted to go over and
lick. Her shoulders were bare. The dress she had on, somehow showed off mile
long legs even though I knew she was barely over five feet tall. And that fine,
fine ass. I was barely able to get it up for Mia the other night, but I was
about to bust in my pants the minute I saw her.

I grunted out something
unintelligible that I’m sure Chris couldn’t even understand. The minute I had
seen that lanky douche bag, Ben, show up and place a hand on Paige like she was
his
girl, I knew I would need to be drinking to get through the day.

I couldn’t resist myself at the
game when she was right in front of me, I could smell that sweet flowery
perfume that she always wore, drifting up to my nose and I needed to be closer.
The moment my lips met her ear, I felt like I was in pure heaven. She had the
softest skin I had ever felt and even her ear was turning me on.

I think I watched her more than I
actually watched the game. I could tell her first experience at a Gamecocks
game was something she would remember forever, and I loved the way she threw
her head back when she laughed at something douche bag or Kitty said.

“What is your problem, man?” Chris
asked, after receiving his first beer from Sara, who was still batting her eyes
at me, hinting at what she wanted. Sara was a little different from Mia. Yeah,
she left after we had sex, but I had a feeling that she didn’t think of it as
just sex.

She would try to make plans with me
every once in a while, like for an actual date, but I always turned her down.
She kept coming back for more though, so I figured that was her problem. She
knew my MO, Dylan Turner didn’t do the whole dating scene.

“If I didn’t know you any better,
I’d think you were having woman problems.” Chris let out a snort and dug into
the dish of popcorn I had in front of me. I cradled my head in my hands and
tried to relieve the pounding. Of course, Chris had nailed what my problem was
right on the head. That dude knew me way too well. Now I just needed to figure
out what to do about it.

                                              
 ************************

The next month of school seemed to
fly by and I got more and more depressed, even though it meant we were getting
closer to baseball season, which was something that always had me riled up. I
still had my little time to look forward to twice a week with Paige. I guess I
could say we had become friends, talking about things that I had never talked
about with really anyone before.

 I filled her in on the many
adventures of being tossed around between foster families, and some of the not
so nice stories when I ended up being placed with the ones who were looking
just to make money and didn’t want to deal with some snot nosed kid.

She filled me in on her mom’s
struggle with breast cancer and how she had passed away when she was ten,
leaving her dad to fill both parents’ roles, which he did flawlessly. The only
thing she regretted was not having a woman’s input around every once in a while
when it came to girly things. I guess I could relate since I never even knew my
dad, so I didn’t receive any of that fatherly advice until I met Tim.

But as soon as class ended for the
day, our friendship seemed to as well. Mr. Douchebag was always waiting outside
for her, ready to escort her wherever it was she went. I was hoping that he
would disappear after awhile, but he kept showing up and Paige never gave me a
second glance. I did catch a smug look for him every once in a while, when
Paige wasn’t looking and I had to resist the urge to punch it right off of his
face.

So what did I do since I was so
miserable? I finally gave into Sara and let her
think
that we were
actually dating. Yeah, I gave up my regular nights with Mia and was just exclusively
with Sara, but something was missing and I knew all that would ever be between
us would be sex.

I guess I took her out on dates, if
you considered meeting up at the Russell House for chicken finger Wednesdays in
between classes, actual dates. Really, I think I was just wishing that I would
make Paige jealous and she would realize she needed to be with me. But she
seemed happy with that loser, Ben, and my hopes deflated more and more every
day.

At least, I had tonight to look
forward to. The Chapmans were in town and we were all getting together for a
family dinner at Mr. Friendly’s, a restaurant they always had to make at least
one stop at when they were in town, it’s truly a Columbia staple. I overheard
Chris talking to Kitty and I knew she had invited Paige along, perfect chance
to finally get some alone time with her.

I made it home in record time and
beat Chris home, who walked in minutes later with his girlfriend, Claire.
Claire was a nice girl and she was perfect for Chris, but she really didn’t
like me and that fact cemented over even more when I screwed Rachel. That was a
mistake I’m pretty sure I would be trying to live down for the rest of my life.

“Hey bud, you want to ride over
with us? I figured we would get there a little early so we can get a big enough
table for all of us.” I nodded my head and tried to bite back the grin that I
could feel creeping up when Claire rolled her eyes behind Chris’s back. Sorry
Claire, bff’s and all that girly shit. Chris had gotten over it and Claire
needed to do the same thing.

“Let me just change real quick.” I
was out of my room within five minutes, sliding my wallet into my back pocket
even though I knew there would be no way I was paying for my meal. The Chapmans
always insisted and after offering at least ten times, I end up giving in.

The ride downtown was silent and I
could feel the tension oozing from the passenger seat. Chris fiddled with the
radio, something I knew he did when he was nervous and he probably figured he
was going to face the wrath of Claire when they were alone together.

“I’m sorry by the way, Claire,” I
piped up from the backseat and she twisted around to glare at me.

“Dylan Turner sorry for something?
Sorry, but I don’t buy it. Do you know how crushed Rachel was after you cast
her aside like she was nothing? Do you really understand that most normal girls
don’t just like to have sex and nothing more?”

Chris cleared his throat as he
flicked on his blinker and interrupted the rant that was being thrown my way.
“Now baby, you know I warned her…” She silenced him with a shove to the chest
and continued on. “Chris you can’t defend him every time, I know he’s your best
friend, but you just can’t. Yeah you warned her, but she is a girl, she has
feelings. Why couldn’t you just leave her alone?”

“Truthfully, I don’t know and I am
sorry. I didn’t think before I acted and I didn’t realize how much tension it
would cause. Besides she’s a sweet girl, she doesn’t deserve someone like me, I
actually did her a favor.”

Claire’s shoulders slumped and a
thoughtful look crossed over her face. “You’re not a bad guy Dylan, you just
had a tough upbringing.” Chris’s eyes darted to hers and I knew that he had
filled her in on my past. Thanks bud, never telling you anymore of my secrets.
Gossiping like a fucking girl.

“But that doesn’t give you the
right to go around screwing every girl who will drop their panties for you. You
just need someone who will settle you down. I know you’ll find the right girl
someday. But thank you for the apology, maybe someday you can give Rachel one
too.”

Chris’s truck stopped and I looked
out the window to see he had found an empty parking spot which was a rarity
down here. I hopped out of the truck and held Claire’s door open for her,
helping her down. See, I could be a gentleman when I wanted to be.

“You know I do have something going
with Sara right now and it’s purely monogamous.” Chris thumped a hand on my
back as we walked down the sidewalk and I saw a small smile curve onto Claire’s
face, at least she was lightening up a little bit now.

“Buddy, what you have with Sara,
isn’t really what you’re looking for, we all know it. Somewhere out there is
the perfect girl for Dylan Turner, but it’s clearly not Sara. That chick has
issues when it comes to you and I would cut my ties quick, if I were you.”

“Uh, thanks.” My best friend could
always see things so clearly, why couldn’t I? I pulled out my phone to check my
schedule for work. “Hey, I’ll meet you two inside.” Juggling a job between
school and baseball ended up only leaving me enough time for a part-time job,
which usually equaled out to about 15 hours a week. The money wasn’t great, but
it helped me to at least pay the monthly rent, that I knew the Chapmans heavily
discounted for me. I knew there was no way a hundred dollars a month covered my
rent, but it at least left me with a little something extra when I needed it
for clothes or books.

I looked up from where I was
perched against the brick wall and saw Paige heading from the opposite
direction. Alone, which was a rarity. I figured Ben wouldn’t be attending since
it was more of a family thing and Kitty had started dating some guy from a
fraternity and they were glued at the hip.

“Sparky!” I jogged over to meet her
and I could see her eyes light up from when I called out her name. I could tell
that there was a mutual attraction between the two of us, but for some reason
she was fighting it.

I slung an arm over her shoulder
and guided her into the restaurant. “You ever been here before?” Her body felt
right against mine as she leaned into me and she gave me a slight shake of her
head.

“Nope, it looks…interesting
though.” I watched as her wide blue eyes took in the scenery, the place looked
different almost every time we came in and there was always something new on
the menu. She was in for a treat if she was looking for some good southern
style home cooked food with a twist.