Breathless #2 (The Breathless Romance Series - Book #2) (5 page)

“The thing is, a few days later, she came up to me in
the dining hall.” I told Johnny about what the girl had said. “Who’s Claire
White?” I finally asked, feeling my heart beating faster and faster in my
chest. “All I could find out was that she committed suicide.” Johnny sat up on
the blanket, staring into the fire, a chilled look coming over his face.

“She…” he sighed. “She was my girlfriend, the last
year I was in high school.” He licked his lips and frowned. “I cared about her
a lot—I loved her. She was my first.” Johnny blushed slightly in the firelight.
“But she had a lot of problems.”

“That tends to go along with being suicidal, I guess,”
I said quietly, knowing that I needed to say something. Johnny shrugged, the
haunted look still on his face.

“She loved me, and I loved her, but there was just
nothing I could do…” he swallowed. “A lot of people still blame me for her
dying, and I kind of get that; but she was going through a lot of stuff. Bad
shit, you know? She couldn’t handle it, and I couldn’t save her.” He turned
towards me again, smiling slightly. “I don’t… can
we
not talk about it?” I hesitated, but nodded. It was obviously something that
still hurt for him, obviously something that was still bothering him, in spite
of the way that he acted in his normal life. I wished that he could tell me
more about the situation, but I could understand why he wouldn’t want to think
about it; if it was a girl he had loved, and he had lost her—felt guilty about
not being able to save her—then he wouldn’t want to drag it all out again. I
believed him; I didn’t think anyone could pretend to be that guilty that well.

Johnny checked the time on his phone and we put out
the campfire, smothering it in sand. We loaded up the blankets and the
leftovers and walked back to the truck together in the darkness. My body was
still humming, my mind full of questions, but I was mostly happy, mostly
content as Johnny boosted me into the seat and stepped around the front of the
truck to the driver’s side. He carefully pulled out of the clearing and made
his way up the trail onto the road once more, and I leaned against him, holding
his free hand in the eerie blue-green light from the console, relieved that I
had finally gotten the nerve to ask him about Claire, but wondering what else
there was. I realized as we got closer to campus that I was actually, really
falling for him—that I was well on my way to being fully in love. I told myself
not to take things too seriously, but with Johnny’s arm around me, with the
night of lovemaking we’d just shared and the way he had always been so
incredibly sweet, I couldn’t help myself.

Chapter
Six

I was still glowing, buzzing from head to toe from my
night out with Johnny, the next day. It was easy for me to put my mind at rest,
to go to my classes and actually focus; Johnny caught me on my way to my first
class of the day and kissed me eagerly, teasing me just a little bit, caressing
along the curves of my body until I was more than ready to ask him to carry me
off to the dorms or to the frat house—that I didn’t even care about my class
anymore.

But once I was in class, I was in a great mood, able
to pay attention. The question of Claire White still simmered in the back of my
mind, but I was mostly satisfied with Johnny’s answer; if he had been her
boyfriend, if she was the first girl he’d been with sexually, and he had loved
her, then of course he would be less than willing to talk about her. I thought
about the girl; Johnny’s comment about girls flirting with him was right. I
couldn’t be surprised if girls who wanted Johnny for themselves had an eye to
sabotage any relationship he might get into. I’d have to get used to the fact
that the guy I was into was one of the most-desired men on campus.

I had my phone on silent, not even on vibrate; while I
knew that Johnny would probably text me at least once, I was determined not to
lose my focus over anything while I was in class. I checked my phone when I
went from one class to another—my second one of the day, the last before I
could go to the dining hall for lunch—and saw that my mom had called. I rolled
my eyes; leave it to her to have no idea that I’d be in class. As I walked from
one building to another, I listened to the message. “Hey, sweetie! I just
wanted to catch up with you and see how you’re doing with your second week of
college. Give me a call back when you get a chance. Love you!”

I couldn’t call her right away; even if I didn’t have
class, I wanted a little bit of privacy to get her up to date on my life. Before
I put my phone away for class, I saw that Johnny had texted me.
Mosquito bites? I can put some lotion on
them for you later, you know…
I smirked to myself and replied that as far
as I was concerned, he could put lotion anywhere on my body, and I’d have to
make time to let him do it soon.

I put off the phone call for as long as I could; it
wasn’t that I didn’t love my parents, but I was excited to be away from them,
and calling home would have been a reminder that I was still—in their eyes at
least—a kid. Besides, I had lunch, and then more classes to go to in the
afternoon. Georgia laughed at me for trying to unobtrusively scratch the few
stray mosquito bites I had gotten from my almost-camping trip with Johnny the
night before and laughed even harder at his suggestion of being the one to
doctor them for me. I went to my afternoon classes and then lingered at one of
the booths advertising a club event coming up, all to put off the fact that I
would have to call my mom.

I finally got up to my dorm, and into my room, and
closed the door behind me. I would much rather have been calling Johnny, but I
knew that I couldn’t delay any longer. I threw myself onto the bed and dialed
out to my mom’s number.

She picked up after two rings. “Hey, sweetie!” I
smiled in spite of myself. I really do love my parents; deep down, in spite of
the way that they had pressured me to date only “good” boys, sons of their
country club friends, I knew that they had my best interests in mind. Even if I
disagreed with them as to what would make me happiest in life, I had to admit
that they were looking out for me in their own way.

“Hey, Mom. Sorry I had classes all day, I only just
how have a few minutes to talk.”

“We’ve missed you, Becky,” my mom said, and I had to
believe her; somewhere I actually missed them a little bit. I missed my dad’s
help with my math homework; I missed my mom asking about the boys at school. I
was excited to be on my own, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t looking forward to
seeing them again at break.

“How are things over there?” Mom rattled on for a
while about this or that friend, this or that scandal in the neighborhood. She
told me about a situation happening among the PTA at my old school; since Mom
was no longer a parent to a kid at the school, she had some distance from the
drama, and could just sit back and laugh at everyone else.

I listened, pretending to be interested. “Really? What
did she say?” I heard about Dad’s new project at work, and about the fact that
they were thinking of renovating the bathroom on my side of the house, since
they could now—while I was away at least—use my room as a guest room.

“I wanted to ask—are you coming home this weekend?
Your dad and I would love to see you.” I considered it. If I went home, I
definitely wouldn’t have a chance to spend any time at all with Johnny. I also
didn’t really think I wanted to go home again so soon after starting; after all
it had only been a couple of weeks—not really very long at all since my parents
had said goodbye.

“I’m really busy, Mom,” I said, trying to make my
voice sound as regretful as possible. “I’ve got a lot going on with classes and
everything… just, really super busy all the time.” Mom laughed.

“Thus speaks the college girl!” she said. “Just what
are you so busy with? I know you’re smart enough to keep up in your classes.” I
hesitated again; things were so new with Johnny.

“I’ve been making friends,” I started. “And you know,
just because I can keep up with my classes doesn’t mean I shouldn’t get ahead.”
I bit my bottom lip and finally took the plunge. “And I met a boy.”

“Really?” Mom’s voice practically crackled with
excitement. “What’s he like? Tell me all about him.” I blushed, smiling in
spite of myself.

“He’s really nice. He’s—he’s in one of the frats on
campus, Phi Kappa something.”

“That’s great! I knew you’d get into Greek life.” I
rolled my eyes. Just because I was dating a guy in a frat didn’t mean that I
was going to join a sorority. “I’ll have to ask your dad about what he knows
about that group.”

“Yeah, well, he’s… really sweet. And he’s an
upperclassman.” Mom made an approving sound, and I told her—in as little detail
as possible—about going to the party at Johnny’s invitation, about the date he
had taken me on into the woods. Mom laughed again and told me to make sure to
‘take caution’ and to not be ‘that girl,’ by which I knew she meant that I
shouldn’t be too easy. That ship had sailed, but I was not about to tell her
that. Instead I focused on how nice he was, and the fact that I was hoping to
see him again that weekend, which was why I couldn’t go home.

“Well, why don’t you invite him to come down? I’m sure
your father would love to meet him and so would I. He can have dinner with us
down at the club.” I rolled my eyes.

“Mom—
it’s
way too short
notice. He’s probably already got plans, something going on with the frat.”

“Well you can invite him, and if he doesn’t have
anything going on he can come and meet us. I want to make sure he’s good enough
for you, and if you’re as serious about him as you sound then it would do you
good to introduce him to your parents.” No matter how I tried to argue that it
was a silly idea and that it was too soon for him to be meeting them, Mom
insisted that it would be fine, that I was just being self-conscious and
everything would be fine. She finally just told me to invite him and have done
with it, and if he didn’t want to come, that was his choice.

I finished up the call, trying to salvage what I
could; I knew Mom was suspicious about the fact that I didn’t want to bring
Johnny home to them—and really, she had good reason. He was a frat brother, but
it wasn’t like he was as wealthy as they probably wanted. He wasn’t one of the
well-groomed, suit-wearing boys who were coming into trust funds that Mom and
Dad both had tried to push onto me when I was in high school. But I had to at
least invite him; I told myself that Johnny would probably just brush it off
and say he was busy and I could take that back to my parents. But at least, I
thought resentfully as I hung up the phone, I wouldn’t have an excuse for not
going home. If Johnny was busy, then they would insist that that freed me up to
visit. I felt like a very large fox caught in a very small trap.

Chapter
Seven

I was still a little unsettled when Johnny called a
little while later and suggested we meet up for dinner at the dining hall. I
didn’t say anything at all about my mom’s invitation—I was still debating
whether or not I wanted to even mention it period—but I thought at least it
would be good to spend some time with him. “Hey, Gigi!” I called across the
dorm. “Get your nose out of whatever book it’s wedged in and let’s grab
dinner.”

We walked down to the first floor of the dorm and then
halfway across the campus to the dining hall; I told her about the call with my
mom, and about the stupid invitation to dinner she was forcing me to make.
“Just play it off like it isn’t a big deal. I mean, it’s not like you want him
to meet your parents so soon, is it?” I had to agree that I didn’t.

We were still chatting about things when we came up to
the dining hall entrance. Johnny grabbed me, lifting me up into his arms and
kissing me on the lips in front of everyone, and I laughed as he swung me
around, thinking that if nothing else, I had started off my school year right.
He put me back onto my feet and finally noticed that Georgia was there with me.
“Hey, Gigi,” he said, giving her a grin. “You here to make sure no one gives
the hottest girl on campus the stink-eye?” Georgia laughed.

“Oh you know everyone’s eaten up with envy anyway.
Nothing I could do about that. But I did hear there was food going on, so I
figured I might as well come along.”

We went into the dining hall and Johnny kept his arm
around me, standing in line to wait to swipe our IDs at the register and get
into the line in the serving area. The dining room was half-filled with
students already digging into their meals, and the line in front of us
stretched out nearly to the door. I looked up at the menu board as we neared
the entry into the serving area, and joked with Johnny and Gigi about the
offerings; it was “Middle Eastern Night,” with falafel, hummus, kabobs and
more. I had very little confidence in the authenticity, but at least it
couldn’t be all bad.

We loaded up our plates, taking things from different
stations around the serving area; I joked about Johnny loading up his plate
with protein and made sure that I got at least a little bit of salad on my
plate. There were different themed desserts as well: roasted figs, rose ice
cream, and thin orange blossom honey pancakes, among other things. I was glad
to see that Johnny was just as comfortable with Georgia as he had ever been—it
made me feel even better about everything, about the fact that I was falling
for him fast. If he hadn’t been able to at least make conversation with
Georgia, or if he’d snubbed her or was mad that I’d brought her along, I would
have felt weird about dating him.