Metamorphosis (22 page)

It was when I got to the part of
the story when Ash drug me out of the warehouse that I admitted to her he
kissed me when we had first gone outside. She and Mina had come outside a few
minutes after us, to check on me, but she had missed the beginning of our
confrontation.

“So do you feel different when you
kiss Ash and when you kiss Mason?” she asked curiously.

“Yes, definitely, but I’m not sure
how to describe it.” I thought about it for a minute, trying to find the best
way to verbalize it. “With all three of them it’s different… With Dylan, I feel
comfortable. We have a lot in common so we always have something to talk about,
but we never really talk about anything of substance or meaning. We are both
easy going, so we don’t argue or bicker. And when he kisses me, it’s… nice.
Even when it’s supposed to be more than nice, harder than nice, it’s always
just nice.

“With Mason, obviously I just have
last night to go off of, but he made me feel wanted… desired… needed. When he
kissed me, it was like his
body craved
mine and he
wanted to consume me. Of course, he has the whole tattooed, bad boy image thing
going which just enhances the excitement of it all. But even when we were just
hanging out, my body constantly hummed in anticipation, wanting him to touch
me, to kiss me… I mean
,
we got along great during the
few moments that we weren’t all over each other! He’s like a little kid, he’s
just playful and free-spirited, but I can see how it can come off as obnoxious
to some people. I like it though… he’s definitely the spice in my life.”

“So he’s already ‘in your life?’”
Evie
questioned my choice of words.

“I guess so since we are going out
to dinner and the warehouse next Friday,” I responded, feeling my body temperature
rise as the memory of kissing Mason lingered in my head.

“Well, your calendar is filling up
nicely, isn’t it, Miss I-date-every-kind-of-book-boyfriend possible?”

“Jealous much?”

“
Abso
-fucking-
lutely
.” she grinned slyly at me. “Now tell me what I don’t
already know about your precious Ash, other than how proud I was of you for
telling him ‘no’ earlier.”

Without hesitation, I answered,
“When Ash and I are together, he makes me feel cherished and coveted, like I’m
the most treasured thing on the Earth. I’ve already told you numerous times
that there’s just something that completely unexplainable that draws me to him.
What is the saying ‘like a moth to the flame?’ That’s how I feel with him.
Despite what he says, I know he’s a selfish asshole that wants to be able to
have his fun with whoever, whenever, while I sit at home and pine after him. He
tells me to go out and live, to experience life,
yada
yada
yada
, but he doesn’t
really want me to meet anyone, and I basically told him last night that I
wasn’t going to do that. I told him if we were going to be friends, like he
wanted, then he wasn’t going to be able to act the way he did. I thought
everything was cool, and we were going to pick back up the way we had been, but
then he showed up at the dorm this morning and things got all awkward again.” I
had started whining towards the end of my rant.

“Oh Scarlett, look at this dress,”
Evie
held up a beautiful charcoal gray dress.

“Do they have it in a four?” I
asked hopefully.

She handed me one of the dresses and
pointed me in the direction of the dressing rooms. At first I wondered if she
was going to acknowledge any of the things that I had just said about not just
Ash, but the whole situation, but just when I was about to say something she
began talking as she followed me into one of the changing stalls. “I think you
should just keep doing what you are doing. You know, you are just meeting
people and getting to know them. You don’t have to find your future husband
your freshman year in college, Scarlett. It’s not like you’re screwing a
different guy each week, it’s okay to date different people.”

I discarded my jeans and t-shirt
in a pile on the floor and slipped the slinky number over my head. “I know, but
it’s just kind of overwhelming all at once. I feel like I’m doing something
wrong, like I don’t want them to know about each other. Well, other than Ash
obviously, since he knows about the other two. And I guess it doesn’t matter
with him since we are back to being friends; I’m not sure we ever changed from that
status…
see,
I’m just so damn confused.
Uggghhh
!” I grunted in frustration, but as I turned around
to the mirror I froze. Wow. I even shocked myself at the image that stared back
at me in the mirror. I had never worn a dress that fitted and that accentuated
my body like this one. It was rather simple in design~ sleeveless with a
sweetheart neckline and a hem that hit several inches above my knee. The gray
material had a subtle shimmer threaded throughout that sparkled in the light
when positioned in a certain way. It hugged my body without being overly tight
and displayed the perfect amount of cleavage and leg.

“Perfect.”
Evie
and I said at the same time. We locked eyes in the mirror and gave each other a
knowing smile.

“Just relax and enjoy, Sam.” Her voice
was soft and soothing. “I am so proud of you and how well you are adjusting to
all of this. It’s not all going to be easy. You’re going to get your heart
broken and you are going to break hearts, that’s all just part of it. The same
goes for me,
ya
know? The good news is we have each
other to get through it all, and hopefully when it’s all said and done, we both
will get our fairy tale ending.” My eyes filled with tears, touched by her
words. I turned to her and hugged her tightly. “I love you,
Evie
.
Thank you for everything.”

“I love you too, but we need to
get you home and get you ready for your big date. The nice boy will be there
soon to get you.”

I quickly changed back into my
clothes, paid for the dress, and we headed back to campus.

Several hours later,
Evie
was putting the finishing touches on my makeup when
Dylan knocked at the door. I stole one last look in the bathroom mirror and
found
Evie’s
eyes staring at me in the reflection.
“You look gorgeous, Sam. Have fun and remember to give it a chance.” She kissed
my cheek and then turned to go let Dylan in. I took a deep breath, gave myself
a mental pep talk, and followed her path.

Seeing Dylan dressed in gray
slacks with a blue buttoned down dress shirt and gray tie stopped me dead in my
tracks. He had never looked so handsome. His usual messy blonde hair and big
brown eyes paired with his GQ ensemble was nearly too much; I almost had to
pinch myself to make sure that I wasn’t dreaming. Did he seriously wear a gray
tie?

Quickly I pulled my thoughts away
from where they were headed and I continued towards him. He immediately pulled
me into his arms and kissed the skin directly under my ear. “You are
breathtaking,” he whispered. I moaned ever so lightly when his lips touched my
earlobe. I had recently (like the night before) learned that that my earlobe
was a trigger spot for me. His lips traveled to find mine and they caressed my
mouth softly.

Evie
cleared her throat reminding us
she was still in the room and we both jerked away from each other. “Well, don’t
you two look gorgeous?” She smirked at our guilty reaction. “Y’all have a great
time and don’t forget I won’t be home tonight. I will see you tomorrow
Scarlett, and it was great seeing you as always, Dylan.”

“Bye,
Evie
,”
we replied in unison. Dylan then grabbed my hand and led me out to his car.

Once we were buckled in and the
car was started, Dylan leaned across the middle console and kissed my cheek. “I
think you’re really going to like what I have planned.” I could see the
excitement in his eyes and couldn’t help but join him in his ear–to-ear
grin. I decided to follow
Evie’s
advice and give this
thing with Dylan a chance. I had obviously been wrong in ever thinking that Ash
was my
soulmate
, if I even believed in that sort of
thing. Despite the mishap the previous night, he truly was my best friend other
than
Evie
and I began to think that the immediate
connection we had felt to one another was just that - we were meant to be close
friends. And Mason, well I knew as well as anyone, that someone like him wasn’t
a relationship kind of guy. And while he would be fun to hang out with and
experiment with sexually, he would most likely exit my life as quickly as he
had entered it, so I just going to enjoy the ride for as long as it lasted.
However, I was certain that I didn’t want to lose my virginity to him; I wanted
to at least be in an exclusive relationship with whoever the unlucky fellow
was, and since that wasn’t ever happening with him, it was an easy decision for
me. But that didn’t mean we couldn’t do other things…

“Scarlett, did you hear me?”
Dylan’s voice interrupted my dirty thoughts about Mason. Okay, what the hell, I
was acting like a
16 year old
boy. I couldn’t stop
thinking about sex!! And not even with the same guy!! Get a grip! Catch your
snaps! Put on a fucking chastity belt! Do something!

“Uh, no, sorry I was just thinking
about how exciting this is,” I replied. “You know, being my first time to go on
a fancy date like this and all.” I waved my hand in the air pointing at our
out-of-the-ordinary clothes. He grabbed my hand and kissed it. “I love that I
get to be the one to take you. Now let’s go eat the best steak you’ve ever had
in your life.”

“
Mmmm
…
that sounds wonderful.”

Dylan and I got back to my dorm
just before midnight, having shared a wonderful evening out. We had eaten
dinner at Vic and Anthony’s Steakhouse downtown, where I had by far, the most
amazing meal of my life. The filet melted in my mouth like butter
(,
)
and
I moaned in delight as the first bite hit my taste buds. The side dishes and
dessert were just as delicious as the main course, and I proceeded to stuff
myself not caring one bit about the thousands of calories I was consuming.
Dylan appreciated my enthusiasm about dinner and rewarded me with his gorgeous
smile throughout the entire meal. He truly was
beautiful,
his features were perfectly proportionate and symmetrical. I decided that I
could never get tired of looking at him. Sigh.

After dinner, he took me to see
Peter Pan at the Houston Ballet, and I was in heaven. Watching the dancers made
me realize how much I missed dancing myself. I had spent fourteen years of my
life in ballet and jazz classes, hours upon hours rehearsing for recitals and
competitions, only to stop cold turkey. Around the time of my graduation the
previous June, my studio had closed for the summer as it always had, but at the
time I had failed to realize that I would never be back there. Since moving to
Houston, I had been so busy with school, I hadn’t thought much about it, but a yearning
to continue my training developed as I watched the performance. I made a mental
note to look up studios close to campus so that I could enroll in an adult
class. Dylan couldn’t have planned a more perfect evening for me, and I was
feeling better about rethinking a possible relationship with him. He was always
so thoughtful and considerate.

“Have you listened to the new
Mumford & Sons album?” he asked as he changed the song on his
ipod
playing through the car stereo.

“Yeah, I love it. I’ve been learning
how to play a couple of the songs,” I responded. I figured it was best not to
mention that Ash and I had been learning them together over the past several
weeks. We had found that we harmonized well together and had pretty much
perfected about half of the album. The magnetic draw that I felt towards Ash
was never more prominent than when we played guitar and sang together in his
room, and I cherished those moments that we spent together like no others. It
was the one thing that I shared with him that none of his other girls did.

“Really? That’s awesome. I love it
too,” he said as he reached with his free hand to hold mine. “I would love to
hear some of them once you’ve got them down.” I nodded in agreement.

Dylan walked me to my door, which
felt a little odd since we normally went to the shindig after our dinner dates
and said our goodbyes at the end of the night there. When what began as a sweet
goodnight kiss turned into a more passionate make out session against my door,
I asked him if he wanted to come in for a while since
Evie
would be out the rest of the night. Several people had already snickered as
they had passed us in the hall and I wasn’t quite ready for exhibitionism.
Despite his panting against my neck and his hard on pressed against my lower
belly which
indicated that he was just as turned on as I
was, he declined. “Scarlett, I’m not sure that I would be able to stop myself
once we got started if I followed you in there. I don’t think it’s a very good
idea.” He kissed me gently on the tip of my nose and took a step back.

“What if I don’t want you to
stop?” I was breathing heavily and still had my back pressed against the door.
I searched his eyes for answers to the mixed signals he was constantly sending.