The More Boys I Meet

*READ AUTHORS NOTE*

“You went on a date with Marcus Kruger?!” Alice burst into my apartment the morning classes started back. . . and hours after I got back from Chicago. Marcus couldn’t drive me back up unfortunately. Apparently he had gotten in trouble during practice and was deemed extra practice. So instead I got to deal with Viktor asking me questions about the two dates Marcus and I had and everything about my life, him, everything. For four hours.

I looked up from washing the dishes and smiled. “I couldn’t get a hold of you!”

“Because my mom confiscated my phone and told me to chat up my sick grandmother! OH MY GOD! Did he kiss you?!” she looked at me with such curiosity.

I shook my head. “The first time, I kind of fell asleep on him on the way home and the second, he kind of chickened out.”

“What?!” her mouth hung open.

I nodded, putting away my wine glass. “He leaned in, going for it, so you know I leaned in and. . . it turned into a hug.”

She groaned. “That boy! And he got into trouble with Captain Serious and Coach Q?! Jesus that boy!” she flopped down on my couch.

“But besides the no kissing, the first date started off terribly. I told him he’s not allowed to take me to any more fancy places.”

She raised an eyebrow. “That bad?”

I nodded in shame. “Oh yeah. On the bright side, he opened the car door for me every time I got out. I was so mesmerized Alice! Like who does that anymore? Marcus Kruger does!” I answered my own question.

She snorted with laughter, rolling onto her back. “You need to get him to kiss you now!”

I flopped down next to her. “That is proved to be a more difficult task than I imagined. I mean we have kissed once! It shouldn’t be this hard to get him to kiss me again!”

“Maybe he’s scared he won’t live up to kissing expectations?” she tried.

That time I snorted with laughter. “Trust me, he can kiss. I’ve witnessed it and he seemed pretty expert on what to do.”

“So he just needs to man up,” Alice shrugged.

That night, Alice and I were gathered in my apartment studying, eating ice cream, and watching chick flicks.

We were in the middle of watching “What’s Your Number?”, my favorite chick flick when there was a knock.

I paused it and we looked at each other. “You expecting someone?” I asked.

“It’s your apartment. It’s for you,” she told me, eating another spoonful of chocolate chip cookie dough. “And my only friend is sitting here hogging the moose tracks,” she said, eyeing my ice cream.

I rolled my eyes, standing up and taking my ice cream with me to answer the door as she groaned in protest.

I threw open the door and was left speechless. “Marcus?”

He didn’t answer. He took my face in his hands and kissed me with everything I ever dreamed a perfect kiss would be. Soft, passionate, Marcus-filled. I dropped the ice cream and ran my fingers through his hair as we kissed in my doorway.

We broke apart, breathing heavily from the lack of air. “Wow,” was all I could think to say.

“You dropped the damn ice cream!” Alice shouted. “I wanted that!”

I couldn’t help but laugh, tugging on the front of his shirt, my cheeks red as the Blackhawks logo color.

“I really should have done that yesterday. Or the first date,” he admitted.

“That’s okay,” I said, not really caring. “This was plenty good. More than plenty good actually. But I want you to know,” I said seriously, looking him in the eye to make sure he was listening. “I have a terrible memory and will need to be reminded of the way you kiss me all the time.”

He smiled and brought me in for another kiss to rival Chris Evans and Anna Faris’s kiss.

“Okay, okay,” Alice sighed loudly, gathering her stuff. “I watch gushy movies with hot guys in them because I can’t get one for my own. I don’t need to watch you two be happy,” she winked at me. “I will most definitely see your love struck self tomorrow before class,” she said to me. “And you,” she turned to Marcus. “Now I know you more than likely will treat her right but if not and I get to you first, there will be nothing left for any of your teammates to rip apart. Know that now and know that well. See you later guys!” she smiled brightly before leaving.

“You know, she seems just so happy and bright, but really she’s scary,” Marcus told me. “She could probably kill me.”

“Her dad is a hunter and she was brought up hunting,” I told him, shrugging.

He looked a little paler. “Because that makes me feel better. Thanks Ells.”

I smiled. “I try. So you came all the way here to kiss me?” I asked, cleaning up the ice cream and the rest of movie, study, ice cream night.

“Essentially yes. It was kind of impulse.”

I stripped off my shirt and pants and pulled on his tee shirt from that first summer and pulled back my covers. I looked back at him and he grabbed his shorts and changed into them. He was about to put on another shirt I kept of his here, but I shook my head. “I think you look sufficiently better without one.”

He laughed and crawled into bed after me. “You know the best thing about sleeping together now that we’re actually together?” he asked.

“What would that be?” I asked, turning to face him.

He kissed me again. “We can kiss now,” he smiled a boyish smile, blushing slightly. “All the time.”

“That does make it better,” I whispered, leaning in to kiss him again.

The more boys I met, the more I wanted to be with this one.