Given Time

♡17♡

"Well, looks like I'm free for the next hour. Teacher's sick."

"That's a shame," Ben says next to me.

"Yeah, I was really looking forward to the class. It means I'll have nothing on now till two," I say, looking at my watch.

"I don't either. Library?"

I sigh. "You're a mind reader."

Luckily for Ben, the rain has stopped for now, but the dark clouds above us hint at a new rainstorm brewing, so we hurry to the library before the heavens open again.

When we make it to the third floor, Ben goes to grab a table around the corner for us while I hunt down the latest DSM-V book in the psychology section to research the different mental health diagnoses.

As I bend down, skimming my hand along the shelf looking for the book, I hear someone walk up behind me. I surmise it's probably another person from my class spending their free hour in here like Ben and me, and ignore whoever it is and continue to hunt for the book.

"You've been avoiding me," Tanner mutters behind me, breaking the serene quietness of the library.

I gasp at his unexpected appearance and swiftly stand up and turn around to face him. He's standing less than a foot away from me, and his hands are balled into fists. Uh-oh.

"W-hat do you mean?" I stutter.

"Exactly what I said. You've been avoiding me. I've tried calling you numerous times, and you haven't picked up once."

"I've been busy," I use as a weak excuse.

"You've been busy all weekend?" he responds disbelievingly.

I know that he knows I'm lying, and I can feel my pulse accelerating by the second. "What are you doing on this floor? The business section is on the floor below."

"I saw you enter the library, and I followed you," he responds bluntly.

"Oh."

"So, are you going to tell me why you've chosen to dodge my calls?"

"I haven't," I try again.

He takes a step closer to me, and I take a step back in return, hitting the metal bookcase behind me. "Come on, Le-Le. Why don't you want to see me?"

I take a shaky breath, struggling to form a sentence. This seems to spark Tanner's interest, which has his brow furrowing and deep lines forming across his forehead.

In a flash, he takes two more steps toward me and cages me in against the bookshelf, with his hands placed on either side of my head. He lowers his head so he can look directly into my eyes.

"Why are you avoiding me?" Tanner whispers.

My body shivers all over from the closeness of his body to mine, and my brain turns to mush. There are no words I can think of to say as all my brain can compute right now is that Tanner has me pressed up against this bookshelf. Nervously I lick my lips, but as soon as I do this, Tanner's eyes drop to my mouth, and he releases a small groan.

Very slowly, he removes one of his hands off the bookshelf and brushes a stray piece of hair away from my face, stroking my cheek in the process. "You don't know how much I want to kiss you right now," he says with a strained voice.

I look up to meet his ocean-blue eyes and see that his pupils are dilated. His hungry eyes make my mind race as to what I should do. Push him away or lunge at him?

He slowly moves his head closer to mine so that our lips are almost touching, but he stops just before he meets them, giving me full control over whether this happens or not. My moral sense is telling me that this is a very bad idea, and I shouldn't go down the rabbit hole. But my immediate desire for him is winning the battle. I crash my lips against his, catching Tanner completely off guard.