Until Then (Cornerstone Book 2) (5 page)

When twilight set in, the lawn became more crowded in anticipation of the fireworks. More students from the college surrounded their blanket, and Sean and a few of the guys ran off to get more drinks for everyone.

Emma seemed very antsy, constantly standing and looking around.

“What’s the matter?” asked Simon from his place on the blanket.

“I’m worried about Maggie.” Emma looked at Michelle with concern. “She should be here by now.”

“Why are you so worried?” Simon reached up and grabbed Emma’s hand.

Michelle grimaced. She didn’t mean to, but it was like an automatic reaction to Simon touching another girl.

“She was supposed to come here with her friend, Ben,” Emma explained. “They should have been here forty-five minutes ago.”

“I’m sure she’s OK.” He squeezed her hand reassuringly.

“I want to call her,” Emma stated.

Simon stood up next to her. “I’ll walk you to a pay phone.”

Emma sighed with relief. “Thank you, Simon.”

“We’ll be right back, Chelle.” Simon wound his fingers through Emma’s. “Save our place.”

She loved it when he called her that, but she didn’t love the sight of him walking hand in hand with Emma.

Sean returned to his place on the blanket just then with a Mountain Dew for Michelle and a Pepsi for himself.

“Thanks.” Michelle took a sip.

“No problem.” He pointed to the empty spot on the blanket. “Where’d they go?”

“To call our roommate, Maggie. She was supposed to meet us, and she’s not here yet.”

“Oh, I thought maybe they wanted some alone time or something.”

Michelle didn’t care for that comment, but he made up for it by running his fingers up the side of her arm, leaving little goosebumps in their wake. She lost focus on everything, except that sensation. She forgot about the crowd of people around them. She forgot about Simon holding Emma’s hand. She only had room for one thought at the moment. Sean wanted her. She could tell by the smoldering look in his eyes — a look many guys had given her in the past.

Their eyes locked in a sultry stare. He scooted close behind her and shifted so one leg was on either side of her. She twisted her body to face him and laid her hands on his chest.

“Speaking of alone time,” she flirted.

He laughed a little, and she nearly swooned. Another guy with a great laugh. She had hit the jackpot at this college.

She could feel Sean’s heart racing beneath her fingertips, his breaths came quicker, and his ice blue eyes were on fire. His gaze shifted to her lips then, and she closed the distance between them, putting him out of his misery. It had been a long time since she’d had a really good kiss. This one fit the bill, for sure.

Her hands slid up around his neck into his dark, wavy hair. It was as soft as she imagined it would be. She pressed herself fully against his solid chest.

Sean’s arms wound around her back and held her firmly to him as their kisses grew deeper and more passionate right there in the middle of Ah-Nab-Awen Park.

Oh, he’s a good kisser.
She’d been in need of some male attention, and that’s exactly what he gave her. His full, undivided attention.

“
Ahem
.” The sound of someone’s throat clearing interrupted their steamy moment.

Michelle pulled back and looked up to discover Simon standing over them. Her face was on fire, partly from kissing Sean, but also because Simon was the last person on earth she wanted to find her like that.

“Sorry to interrupt.” He raised an eyebrow at them and looked extremely amused.

Emma’s eyes widened. She said nothing.

Sean kissed the corner of her mouth, then leaned in and whispered, “We’re doing that again later.”

Her stomach flipped at the tone in his voice and the feel of his breath against her ear, but she was still very aware that Simon and Emma were standing there watching them. She shifted so she was facing the river again and sat straight up.

“Did you get ahold of Maggie?” Michelle stuttered, while Sean’s fingertips traced softly up and down her back.

Emma shook her head. “She didn’t answer, but I got ahold of Janice, the R.D. She went and knocked on the door and nobody answered, but she thought she heard somebody inside. Possibly crying.”

Michelle was furious. “Son of a …” she paused, remembering the company she was in. “I’m gonna kill Ben.”

“Who’s Ben?” asked Sean.

“Someone Maggie would be better off without.”

It surprised her how protective she felt of Maggie already. If she ever came face to face with this Ben character, they were going to have words. And then she was going to beat the crap out of him.

Simon was kind enough to drive them back early and forego the fireworks. Sean offered, too, but Michelle insisted he stay and enjoy the show.

When the girls opened the door to their room, the lights were out.

“Maybe she went to the fireworks after all.” Emma flipped the lights on.

Michelle quickly slapped the light switch off when she noticed their roommate asleep in her bed. She pointed at Maggie then motioned for Emma to follow her into the hall.

“Should we wake her and make sure she’s OK?” Emma quietly clicked the door closed behind them.

“Let’s let her sleep.”

They moved in the direction of the lounge.

“I wish I knew how to find this Ben guy right now.” Michelle gritted her teeth. “He needs to be taught a lesson.”

“I’m just worried about Maggie. I feel so bad for her.”

“I’ve known guys like him, and I don’t care how good a friend she thinks he is, she deserves better.”

Emma nodded. “I agree.”

They pushed through the door into the lounge, and Michelle was surprised to see Simon still standing in their dorm. He had turned on the charm with a couple girls from the other hall, and they were all giggles, totally falling for it.

He glanced over and spotted them. “Hey, how’s Maggie?”

“She’s asleep,” Emma replied sadly.

“Do you wanna go get ice cream or something?” he asked, all but ignoring the girls he had been talking to. “There’s still time until curfew.” He winked at Michelle, knowing full well her opinions about the school curfew.

“Sure.” Michelle would never say no to more time with Simon.

“I think I’m gonna stay here,” Emma replied, “just in case she wakes up and wants to talk.”

“Are you sure?” he asked.

“Yeah.”

Michelle felt kind of bad. “Do you want me to stay, too?”

“No, you two go ahead.”

“OK.” She wasn’t going to ask twice.

Simon hugged Emma, and a wave of jealousy hit Michelle. He said goodbye to his new friends, who seemed annoyed that he was leaving them so soon, then held the door open for Michelle. They walked along the sidewalk toward his car.

“She’s so nice,” Simon gushed about Emma.

“Yeah, she is. You like her, don’t you?”

“Not as much as you like Sean.” He elbowed her.

Michelle blushed, remembering. “Hey!”

“He’s a good guy. Plus, he’s from your neck of the woods, so you have that in common.”

“He’s from Chicago?” Sean hadn’t told her that, but then they hadn’t done much talking.

Simon looked at her curiously. “Yeah. You didn’t know?”

She shook her head.

“He’s here on a basketball scholarship.”

Her eyes widened. “Really?”

“You didn’t know that either?”

She shrugged.

“What
do
you know?”

“That he’s a good kisser.” She grinned behind a look of guilt.

He put his arm around her and pulled her into his side for a hug. “What am I gonna do with you?”

I can think of a few things.

They drove to the nearest McDonald’s for sundaes — hot fudge for Simon and caramel with peanuts for Michelle. She wasn’t sure how it began, but they started talking about their hometowns and their families. Michelle found herself opening up to him about her home life, telling him things she had never shared with anyone, and he seemed to be doing the same with her. Two hours passed in the blink of an eye.

“Do you miss California?” She scooped some ice cream and made sure to get a little caramel and peanuts on the spoon.

He shrugged his shoulders. “I miss the ocean sometimes.”

“What about your family?”

“Yeah, I miss my mom.”

“Not your dad?”

Simon shrugged again. “Let’s just say my father has high expectations when it comes to his son.” He paused for a scoop of ice cream. “I like living here. My Uncle Pete is cool, and he’s been more of a dad to me than my father ever has, really.”

“So your uncle lives around here. Is he the reason you chose Cornerstone?”

“That was part of it. I knew I could visit him or stay with him whenever I wanted to. And they have a great photography program here. He recommended it.”

“Is he into photography, too?”

“He used to have his own studio.”

“Oh, that’s very cool.”

“Yeah, he’s taught me everything he knows. He’s been my biggest inspiration. My dream is to someday run my own photography business, maybe have a studio one day.”

“You’ll totally get there, Simon. I know it.”

“Thanks, Chelle. That means a lot.” He reached over and squeezed her hand. “So, what about you? Are you missing Chicago yet?”

She pondered that for a second. “You know, I was. But not so much right now.” Her lips turned up in a little smile.

He smiled back at her.

“I was missing my friends, mostly. My family, not so much.”

“You aren’t close with them?”

That was the understatement of the year. “Not at all. I don’t really know my dad. He wasn’t around much when I was growing up. He traveled a lot for work.”

“Sounds like my dad. He didn’t travel much, but he worked long hours. The up before dawn, home after dark sorta thing. We don’t really get along. He doesn’t treat my mom very well.”

She felt a special bond with him over this commonality.

“What about your mom?” Simon asked.

“My mom worked all the time. She wasn’t there for me like a mom should be. When she
was
there, she wasn’t really present. I think she was just too tired to be.”

“If she and your dad were both gone so much, who took care of you?”

She shrugged. “I took care of myself. And my friends looked out for me.”

“No brothers or sisters?”

“Just me.”

“I’m sorry. That must have been rough.”

She didn’t have a response to that. Life had never seemed particularly rough when she was with her friends, but she could see how someone on the outside would think growing up without parents was totally tragic.

“Do you have any brothers or sisters?” she asked.

He shook his head. “Just me.”

She liked that they had yet another thing in common.

“Are your parents still together?” he asked.

“No. Yours?”

“Yeah, they are, actually. Sometimes I don’t know why, though. They don’t seem to like each other very much. And my dad’s never been one to stick around and fix what’s wrong. When things got rough in the past, he would just walk out.”

“But he came back, right?”

Simon nodded. “Yeah, he always came back.”

“You’re lucky.”

“I guess. I don’t know. Sometimes I thought it might be better if he didn’t come back. Do you think things would have been better if your dad stayed?”

“I doubt it.”

There was a long pause in conversation while they finished off their sundaes, which were more like soup at that point.

Simon pushed his empty sundae cup to the side. “Can I tell you something?” He suddenly looked very serious.

“Anything.”

“When we first met that day in the gym, I thought you were really hot.”

She raised an eyebrow. “And I’m not hot now?”

“Oh, you are.” He gave her a cocky grin.

She laughed and blushed a little.

“But now it’s more than that.”

She held her breath.

“I’ve never met someone I feel so comfortable with so quickly. I feel like I can tell you anything, like I’ve known you for years.”

She understood exactly what he meant. “Me, too.”

“Really?”

She grinned and nodded, nearly bursting with the anticipation of what he would say next.

“Wow!” He sat back and looked at her in awe. “I’ve never had a girl best friend before.”

And just like that, her hopes of more than friendship with Simon were shattered.

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