Shut Out(8)

I couldn’t help laughing at him. God, he could be so cute sometimes. A little pathetic, but mostly cute.

It was also cute how he shimmied up the drainpipe, trying desperately not to squish the flowers, and tumbled clumsily through my bedroom window.

He gave me a lopsided grin as I took the flowers from him and put them in a vase on my desk. When I looked again, Randy was lying on my bed. His eyes were on me, and his arms were folded beneath his head, showing off his toned biceps. I blushed and hoped he didn’t notice me checking him out. His ego was big enough.

“Carnations,” he said, raising both eyebrows and jerking his chin at them, all cocky. “You like pink carnations, so that’s what I got. Proud?”

“Very,” I admitted. “I didn’t think you’d remember.”

“I remember everything you tell me.” He tapped a finger to his temple. “It’s all right here.”

“There ought to be plenty of room for it there. I mean, you don’t have much else in that cavern you call a skull.”

“Ha, ha, very funny.” He rolled his eyes at me. “Maybe I choose not to study just so I have more room in my brain for Lissa Facts. Ever thought of that? I mean, knowing your favorite color and your lucky number is going to be way more useful to me than the periodic table or, you know, basic multiplication.”

It surprised me he could actually think that it wasn’t useful. “Actually, basic multiplication is really important for daily life. It—”

He groaned. “That was a joke, babe.”

“Oh.” I shifted nervously and played with my hair a little, feeling embarrassed. It was sweet of him to come over, but having him drop in on me like this had thrown me off. I took a deep breath and told myself to chill out a bit, to loosen up. “Well, thank you. For the flowers.”

“You’re welcome.”

I could tell by his grin and the sparkle in his eyes that he wanted me to come over to the bed with him, but I didn’t budge.

With a sigh, he stood up and walked over to me. One of his hands moved to my hip while the other stroked black locks of hair away from my face. I forced myself to be still, not to shrug away like I did sometimes. There was no reason to be so uptight around him. I closed my eyes, trying to enjoy his touch.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured. “I shouldn’t have lied, but Shane and the others really rode my ass when I told them I wasn’t going to do it. I couldn’t get out of it without being humiliated. I really didn’t mean for that kid to hurt his knee, though. Seriously.”

“I know.”

For a minute I wondered if he’d been hazed by soccer players as a freshman. Randy was too proud to tell me if he had, but it was possible. In that case, I couldn’t really blame him for wanting some revenge of his own.

“So we’re cool?” he asked, rubbing a thumb across my cheek.

“Hmm.” I opened my eyes. “Maybe.”

He smirked and leaned forward to kiss my lips, then my jaw, then my neck. I let out a little moan as his mouth traveled down my collarbone. My shoulders relaxed and my arms wrapped around him, my hands resting on his back.

“Are your dad and Logan still awake?” Randy whispered after his lips had traveled back up to my ear. “Will you get in trouble for having me up here?”

“No,” I said. “It’s Logan’s birthday. They went on a gambling boat for the night.”

Randy pulled back, a frown spreading across his full lips. “Why didn’t you tell me? I could have walked through the front door instead of climbing up to your window.”

I ducked my head. “Well, you’re the one who wanted to prove you were sorry. I think climbing the drainpipe was the least you could do.”

He looked a little pissed for a minute, but he got over it fast. “Okay, you’re probably right,” he said with a shrug and a tiny little smile. He leaned down and kissed me again.

We stood there in front of my desk, kissing for a while. Both of his hands were on my waist, and my fingers were twisted into his hair. After a few minutes, he pulled away so we could catch our breath.

“I love you,” he said, touching the tip of his nose to mine.

“You, too.”

He pressed his lips to mine again, kissing me for a long moment before easing back just slightly. “Babe,” he whispered against my mouth, “do you want to…?”

My eyes opened, traveling momentarily to the bed before moving back to meet his gaze. He was waiting for me. Pleading with me. I kissed him again, relaxing against him, and pressed my hips a little closer to his.


The quiet moments were the best. When our heartbeats had just started to slow down and the only sound was our breathing. It was the most intimate feeling in the world, letting someone hold me like that. Those were the moments when I was reminded just how much we loved each other, when I could finally let myself fully relax, when I thought that maybe Chloe was right and I could really open up to Randy about how I felt. Those were my favorite moments spent with him.

“Okay. I’d better get going.”

Well, those moments were great when they lasted more than five seconds.

“What?”

Randy disentangled himself from me and kicked off the comforter that was spread over us. I watched as he climbed off my bed and moved to button his jeans.