Five

Corbin

I’m sitting in the library after classes studying for an upcoming physics exam when my phone pings with an incoming message.

Butterflies take flight in the pit of my stomach at the sight of Knox’s name on the screen, just as they did the first time that he texted me after that night.

We’ve basically either texted or talked on the phone every day since the party. Yes, it was only a week and a half ago but still, it seems like an eternity, especially when I’m able to be myself around him. Talking and texting is great and fun, and we’re definitely learning quite a bit about one another. Although, only to an extent on my part. I definitely feel closer to him than I have ever felt as Corbin. Especially considering that the majority of the time he’s treating Corbin—me—like crap. But all the texting and phone conversations are nothing compared to getting to spend one-on-one time with someone.

Honestly, it still seems surreal. I never would have imagined that he would be texting me, but here we are. With trembling hands and a goofy grin on my face, I open the messages and quietly giggle to myself in excitement as I read over his message.

Knox: Can I take you out sometime?

I really want to.

I feel more like the old me when I’m with him. Maybe the appeal is because I get to have a little piece of myself back when I’m with him. But is it worth whatever is building between us, anyway?

But on top of that, when he talks to me, it’s as though I am the most important thing in his life, save for basketball. “Basketball is his baby,” his words, not mine.

But part of me is scared that if I keep up this lie for too long, it’s going to get out of control—likely blowing up in my face or the faces of those around me.

Can anything good actually come out of this?

Trying to figure out which way I should respond, I begin tapping the end of my pencil against the table.

“Knock that off!!” the librarian gripes from across the room, causing several of the other students to look up from their studies and glare at me.

Oops...

Deciding that I don’t want to let the fear of what if hold me back, and I regret not at least trying to see if there could be something between us, I pick my phone back up.

Reading back over his message, my fingers hovering over the keyboard on the screen of my cell, I try to convince myself that everything will be okay.

No one knows where I’m at other than the FBI.

There’s no way that I can be tracked down and found.

My past was completely scrubbed, no paper trail left behind.

With a new resolve and determination to not let fear stand in my way, I type out a response.

Averi: I’d really like that.

Knox: When are you available next or when will you be this direction next?

My schedule is wide open. Although, I don’t think I should tell him that, even if it is the truth.

I mean, I literally do nothing more than go to class, study in the library or my apartment, and hang out with Gentry.

The Berkshire party was the first time I’d even been off the school grounds since my arrival. I’m pathetic, I know but I was trying to keep my head down like my handler told me to.

But then, isn’t there some kind of rule that says you have to play hard to get or something like that?

Maybe I should make him work a bit for it.

Averi: I don’t know what all I have going on. I’ll have to check my schedule.

**Knox: Busy woman, are you? **

Averi: Maybe

Knox: What will it take for you to give me some time on your schedule?

Averi: Well… That depends. What exactly did you have in mind?

I glance around the library at all the guys around me, wondering where he’s at right now. Maybe he’s nearby but somewhere that I can’t see him.

Knox: You want the truth?

That response makes me really curious about what he wants to do.

Averi: Preferably

I watch, as the little bubbles pop up on the screen, indicating that he’s responding, but then they disappear, nothing coming through.

As I wait for his response, I think about how the rest of that night had gone.

After finding a semi-quiet spot to sit down and get to know one another, we talked for what simultaneously seemed like hours, as well only minutes.

Knox kept looking at my lips as though he couldn’t stop thinking about kissing me. I know that I couldn’t stop the same thoughts from constantly rolling around in my head. Our earlier shared kiss was spur of the moment, but it was perfect. His lips were pillow soft and there was fire and a passion that I’ve only dreamed of.

But, for the rest of the night, we just enjoyed each other's company. We laughed a lot. And it was so nice, easy, and fun.

I hadn’t laughed like I had with Knox since coming to Endover. I also hadn’t felt like I’d connected with anyone the way I did him, at least not as Corbin. And he seemed to actually listen and care about what I had to say. He asked about my past...where I was from and what brought me this direction. I told him that it was a sudden move, but one that couldn’t have been avoided and left it at that.

Although Knox had already had one beer and a few shots before he’d come outside, neither of us drank any more after that first cup that we shared together. Instead, we switched our red solo cups out for bottles of water when Knox went back to the kitchen to get more to drink.

We sat there talking, getting to know one another without the tension or pressure to be someone that we weren’t.

At one point after I had come back from the bathroom, Knox pulled me down into his lap, wrapping his arms around me, he stared into my eyes. When he looked at me, it was as if I held the answers to the questions he’d been trying to piece together.

Sitting there with him in a room filled with people all around us dancing and carrying on, I found myself lost in the moment, in him.

We flirted a lot. It seemed like he had to be in constant contact with my body—not that I minded in the least. Each time he ran his calloused hands down the length of my arms or down my back, it made me wonder what it would be like, how it would feel if he were to run them over other parts of my body.

Even with the obvious heat that was building between us, not once did he make any actual moves. He was the epitome of a gentleman, and I found myself both glad for it and beyond frustrated.

I wanted to feel his lips against mine again, to taste him, but I didn’t want to be the one to make the first move, again.

Shy, old fashioned—whatever you want to call it—it doesn’t change the fact that it’s how I feel. I couldn’t believe I did it the first time. The second time, if there was one, would be on him.

Shortly before the party began to settle down, I told Knox that I had to get back before curfew or I would get into trouble.

In all actuality, Cinderella just had to get back to reality before it was too late.

He’d been reluctant to let me go, but after giving him my number so that we could stay in touch, which induced a mild freak out since Averi’s number was also Corbin’s number. But then I realized that Knox doesn’t have Corbin’s number. And I’d damn well make sure that it stayed that way. With the promise of keeping in touch, he finally conceded and let me go.

I managed to make my way back out to the truck without incident, rushing to put my boy clothes back on in an attempt to continue with the charade.

Using a napkin that’d been lying on top of the console and some water from a water bottle I found in the backseat, I wiped off my makeup, and then quickly ran my fingers through my short locks of hair, messing it up.

Looking in the mirror to make sure that I didn’t have any traces of my makeup left, I heaved a sigh and placed the dark colored contacts back in my eyes before sliding my glasses back in place.

The belle of the ball has turned back to the lowly chambermaid—only this chambermaid is dressed in drag.

Hurrying back to the party, I stepped across the threshold and grabbed the first random red solo cup I came across. I wasn’t planning to drink it, so who cared whose it was, it was more a thing of figuring it would help me to blend in.

Ladies and gentlemen, Corbin has arrived and just in time for the party to wrap up.

Damn the luck.

On the way back to campus, everyone was excited, carrying on about how their night had gone.

Gentry made out with some redhead that he didn’t get the name of, Colt nailed a girl named Emily who had massive tits, and I kept quiet, staring out the window, lost in thoughts of how good it had felt to be wrapped in Knox’s arms.

How comfortable we both seemed to be with one another.

“Who was the chick that ye were lookin’ all cozy with the whole night, Knox?” Wesley pipes up from next to me, his accent coming out even stronger than normal, and causing me to have to think about what he’d said before realization dawns that he was asking about me. Leaning between the two front seats to be heard over the sound of the music, he elbows Knox, to get his attention.

The question gets my attention and I strain my ears to hear Knox’s response, refusing to remove my eyes from the window to see if he’s watching me in the rearview mirror again.

I could hear the smile on his face as he replied, “I’d just met her tonight, her name's Averi.”

“She’s damn hot dude. So, how far did this one let you get?” Gentry asks, getting louder than necessary with excitement. The fact that Gentry called me hot is a little awkward, even though it shouldn’t, I mean I think he’s attractive too—he’s just not exactly my type.

“It wasn’t like that,” he murmured so quietly, almost as though he was speaking to himself, that I was barely able to hear it.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Colt asks from the middle, after I made him trade me seats so that I wasn’t riding bitch again.

“I don’t bloody know, man. I really don’t…” he replied with a sigh, then stated, “There was just something different about her. It was….”

Freeing, I’d thought as he broke off the thought when the guys started razzing him about being a pussy.

I turned back to the window, my thoughts stuck on the time I spent with Knox, the things we talked about and how it felt so different being around him as myself, easy as though this was how it was always meant to be. Watching as the blur of trees pass us by, a smile begins to tug at my lips—a real smile—the first real smile in a long time…