Stone Creek by Davis, Lainey (reading diary .TXT) 📕

well, and being seen with me means having a story to tell around campus, around town."

I don't really know what to say, so I kiss his forehead and remind him, "I know you're the kind of guy who gives up his bed a few days after knee surgery when a hopeless drunk girl spills nacho cheese on her pants and passes out at your apartment."

We sit on the couch for the rest of the episode and I tell him I think I should go home. Talon nods and flicks off the TV. He offers to walk me home, but I insist he shouldn't because of his knee. "You're not wearing your brace. I don't want to be the reason your rehab falls behind schedule," I say, shoving my beanie over my ears and zipping up my coat. "I'm a big girl and it's two blocks. I'll be fine. Honest."

Talon limps over to the door and kisses me, lightly, just barely longer than a peck. I make it out of his building before I start to cry.

CHAPTER TWELVE

 

 

When I get back to my apartment, I really want to unload on Alissa, just share how utterly embarrassed I feel, but her bedroom door is closed and from the sound of things, she's got company in there.

I walk quietly into my own room and sink into my bed, sobbing into my pillow. Suddenly, I'm sad about everything all at once. Upset about my parents, stressed out about my stats class, embarrassed that I let myself get this old with my virginity in tact, and then acted like a weirdo with Talon.

I feel my phone buzz as I'm pulling myself together and I see a text from Talon. U should b home by now. Make it back ok?

I wipe my nose and respond. Yeah, sorry. Forgot to text. Roommate has a noisy visitor. I add a barf emoji and take off my jeans.

I snap off the light and try to just fall asleep, but Talon writes back. Can I come over & listen to the show?

Is he serious? First he turns me down for sex and now he's flirting about coming over the listen to my roommate get busy? As I'm trying to figure all this out, my phone starts ringing in my hand. It's him. "Hello?" My voice is barely above a whisper, even though there's no way Alissa and her visitor could hear me above the thumps and screams from their side of the wall.

"Let me hear," he says. "I'm bored."

"You can probably hear it right now," I say, lying back down, twirling my hair nervously in one hand. I don't know what to say to him, so we just sit in silence for a bit.

He starts laughing after a few minutes. "They're really going at it in there."

"Yeah." Another long pause.

I hear him inhale before he says, "Look, Serena. I want you to know I feel weird about what happened. I mean, I know I've been hitting on you since the first day of class and then I was the one who put on the breaks tonight."

I grunt in response, not trusting myself to talk to him about it yet without crying. "Things are…things are different with you now. I've told you things, you know? You're not like some random bimbo I'll take home from a frat party."

"Definitely not a bimbo." I laugh a little bit.

"That's what I'm saying. Look, you deserve a nice guy to, like, date you and take you places and talk you down when you're spazzing out about your hot professor." I laugh harder and he chuckles, too.

"What if I'm not looking for that, though?" I ask him. "I have baggage, you know? I can't really deal with a relationship. What if I just want to get laid?"

He waits a beat and says, "You could have had anyone do you dirty, Serena."

I start to explain to him that I also wanted my first time to be good. It feels weird describing the fumbling efforts of the other guys I've made out with, but with the sound of Alissa's headboard pounding off the wall, I just keep on talking. He interrupts me and says, "Wait. So no guy even made you cum before today?"

I shake my head and then remember that he can't see me, so I joke, "I can see why they really call you Claw. You're good at more than football, Talon."

He scoffs and then sighs. The thumps from the other side of the wall have stopped with a final shriek from my roommate and Talon says, "I guess Alissa found someone who knows what he's doing."

I can tell he's trying to change the subject. "Well," I say, "I should probably let you get your rest. You have PT early on, right?"

"I do, yep." There's a pause. "Hey, Serena, we're friends, right?"

"I think so. Yeah."

"Cool. Well I'll see you in class."

After we hang up, I can't stop thinking about him. How earnest he was in preparing for our research project…how good his mouth felt all over my body…how hard I came when he touched me. As I toss and turn I finally admit that I am actually not friends with Talon. I'm falling for him.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

 

A few weeks pass pretty uneventfully. Alissa refuses to tell me who she is sleeping with, it's looking like I'll maintain my 4.0 this semester, and I'm starting to feel less embarrassed in stats with Matt Jacobs. Talon and I are scheduled to present the last class before spring break. We signed up for one of the earlier slots so he could get it over with and focus on his game.

Despite my growing attraction to Talon…or maybe because of it? I'm really starting to look forward to our study sessions together. We meet