As A Friend

9: Maritza's Little Crush

"Better late than never." I drop my book bag on the couch beside him. "Before we get started, I need you to know that I messed up already but it wasn't my fault."

"What?" He stares at me in slight confusion.

"The two weeks without touching him," I recall in an attempt to jog his memory. He nods as an encouragement for me to explain. "I decided to start now but I already messed up."

"What happened?" he questions, extending his leg to kick the chair across from him out. I drop into the seat and put my head down.

I decide to start from the beginning. "Okay, so last night, we were studying in his apartment and he asked me to sleepover-"

"Did you sleep with him?!" Dominic interrupts before I can finish my story. I look at him and see yet another confusing concoction of emotions written on his face.

"No!" I quickly deny. "I did not sleep with him. Can I finish?"

"Yeah, sorry, I just got a little worried. Go on." I don't even entertain any of my curious thoughts about why he was worried.

"Okay, so I slept over at his house and we didn't even kiss. I was a good girl and I dodged all of his advances. But then today, he drops me off and picks me up from my exam and I kiss his cheek and try to rush out of the car but he pulls me back and kisses me. So does that count?"

"Well it'd be a bit problematic if you didn't touch him at all. He'll start to think you don't like him. What I meant was that you shouldn't only plan to hang out with him just so you can mess around."

I slump in my seat, putting my head on my arms. "But Dominic..."

"I swear if you tell me that you can't go without it, I'm going to escort you to solitary confinement so you have no other choice. If I can go without it, you can definitely do it."

"It's different. You've had your fair share. It's like if there was a cake. You've had more than half of it so you're full. I've only had a bite and I want more," I attempt to explain. His eyebrows crawl up his forehead as he analyzes me with a slow shake of his head.

"Some of the things you say make me think about things that I shouldn't be thinking about," he mumbles in a low voice that sends goosebumps down my spine. All I can do is stare, which gets a kick out of him.

I quickly exit the trance his words put me in and dramatically blink. "I don't know why we're friends," I decide to retort, which earns a pleasant grin from him. He can tell his words tripped me up; I just don't know why it satisfied him as much as it did.

I signify the conversation has come to an end by retrieving and opening my laptop. We work for a few hours before it's time for me to head back to my dorm. Because he's a gentleman, Dominic insists on walking with me. He even offers to carry my backpack. I agree and let him, ambling tiredly beside him.

"You know..." he starts and I turn to look up at him. I sometimes forget how tall he is, especially when we're sitting down for extended periods of time and he falls into a casual slouch. I'm only 5'4" and he's a whopping 6'0". "I kinda miss you."

"Huh?" I blurt in confusion. My thoughts were elsewhere and I was not expecting him to say that. I was expecting something about Eli or something overly flirtatious for an interaction between friends.

"I know I'm still around you a lot but you're not always here. It's weird. Before, I used to be able to hang out with you whenever and if we couldn't, then we'd text. But now that you're with Eli a lot, it's throwing me off a bit," he confesses. "It's definitely going to take some getting used to."