Swept Away

THE HUNGARIAN PASTY SHOP WAS EMPTY as I walked in late on Friday night and managed to pull my shoulders back and lift my head up so I could see the counter in front of me. As the boy who sat behind it reading a textbook noticed me, he stood up and gave me a small smile. Instead of asking me what I wanted, he simply breathed, ‘the usual?’ and then after I nodded with the slightest smile, he disappeared behind the machines.

The light hum of music and the machines steaming milk filled my head and calmed my nerves. Every muscle that had been tense on the walk here seemed to relax as the strong smell of coffee and sugar filled my head. It wasn’t as nice a smell as Riley’s cologne mixed with nicotine or the breeze rolling through my bedroom window as I smoked a cigarette, but it was up there.

“Here you go.” The large coffee mug was right in front of me as my eyes slowly dropped down to the counter. Smiling softly, I reached into my wallet and pulled out a five-dollar bill and handed it to him. Grabbing my mug, I nodded to him to keep the change and then walked over to the patio door, a strong breeze blowing my hair back behind my shoulders as I took my first step outside.

Looking up, I let my eyes scan over all of the tables until they came across one in the back corner with a familiar mop of messy brown locks. Biting down on my bottom lip, I moved the chair next to me with the toe of my shoe. As the sound of the iron leg moving against the slate patio filled the air, the man turned around and locked his piercing blue eyes right onto me.

My heart exploded in my chest as a huge smile lit up on his face. “What a surprise.” He turned away from me and moved the chair across the table from him with his foot. Without another word, he waited for me to walk over to the other side of his table and sit down. As soon as I did, his eyes flickered up from the mound of papers he had and landed right on my mug.

“What have ya’ got there?”

“A coffee.” I answered, a smug smile lighting up on his lips as his smile widened and he rolled his eyes at me. “The kid behind the counter knows my order now, it’s quite frightening. I never thought I would be a regular at a coffee shop.”

“I never thought you of all people would be so predictable.” He gave me a small smirk as he reached back into his coat pocket and pulled out his pack of cigarettes and set them down on the table, his fingers quickly pulling two of them out. As he rolled one over to me, I smiled and picked it up, placing it between my lips as I waited for him to hand me the lighter.

After the piece of paper in his lips was burning at the end, he waved me over, the flame still shooting out of the lighter. Taking the cigarette, I held I over to the flame and as soon as the end turned black, I quickly pulled it away and stuck it between my lips, inhaling the smoke into my lungs. As the smoke filled my lungs and the scent filled my head, I watched closely as Riley leaned over to the table next to us, grabbed the glass ashtray and set it down in the middle of the table.

Instead of speaking, we sat quietly with each other. As Riley graded his papers, the cigarette loosely hanging in his lips, I leaned back in my chair, sucking on my cigarette as my eyes traced over every little inch of his face. I closely inspected every little hair and pore on his face as he would read the paper either smile faintly or cringe, and then scribble something on it with his red pen.

When we had finished out cigarettes, he shuffled some papers over to the side and then glanced over at me, his eyes finding mine right away. “I graded your paper before.” His fingers flipped through a few until he pulled out a few pages stapled together. Tossing it across the table, it landed right in front of me, not a single red mark on the first page. “Go ahead, look through it.” He urged, his eyes wide as he watched me closely, his blue pools burning into my skin as I flipped through the three pages and then traced down the last page to the huge A that was circled on the bottom under my conclusion.

A smile worked its way onto my lips as I looked up at him. “Really?”

“You’re absolutely brilliant, Harper.” He admitted, his fingers setting his red pen down on the pile of papers sitting on the edge of the table. “It pains me to know that you’re not going to be a Psychology major.”

“That’s what my geology teacher told me”, I chuckled as I moved the paper over to the edge of the table and brought my half empty coffee mug back between my hands, the little heat left from the mug running through my body. “She pulled me aside after grading my rock ID sheet during the final and informed me that I should be a geologist and take her advanced class the next semester.”

“Did you?” His eyebrows rose to the middle of his head, as he looked at me, interested in my story.

“Oh no, I politely declined.” I chuckled as I took a sip from the warm liquid and set my mug back down against the table. “I told her I would rather photograph rock formations than ID them. She laughed, told me I was brilliant, and then told me I got an A in her class.”

“Do you get anything other than A’s?” Riley laughed, his eyes sparkling as he rested his elbows on the table and leaned closer to me. “I can’t picture you getting a B.”

“It’s been done”, I chuckled as I rested my head on my hand and ran my finger around the edge of my mug. “I got a B in my math class. I hate math.”

“Don’t we all?” He laughed leaning back in his chair and putting his hands behind his head, his biceps filling in the loose sleeves of his sweater. “I borderline failed all of my math classes. How I got my masters is beyond me.”

“Oh stop, don’t say that. If you were stupid you wouldn’t be teaching at Columbia.”

“Touché.” His bright blue eyes locked onto mine as I glanced up at him. Holding my eyes with his, I had the strong urge to jump across the table and plant my lips right on his. The last time the shivers that ran through my body, my skin burned from his touch, and my heart exploded in my chest was a few days ago, but I could replay every single movement perfectly in my head. I yearned for his lips to be on mine again, it was just so, so, perfect.

He ended up breaking the gaze before I could bring myself back into reality. When I realized he wasn’t looking at me anymore, all of the blood in my body rushed to my cheeks, and I sat there, my eyes swimming in the light brown liquid stagnant in my mug. Tracing along the rim of the mug, I felt a pair of eyes on me again, and knew that there was only one person who could make my skin burn like that.

Peering up at him, I watched as he bit down on his bottom lip and then gave me a small smirk and looked back down at his papers, his left hand rubbing the back of his neck while his right hand scribbled things down on the paper her was grading. As I looked back down in my mug, I sucked in a huge breath and shook my head a little, completely dumbfounded that a man like that, with those blue eyes and nearly perfect smile could have absolutely anything to do with me.

I wasn’t that lucky.

Then again, it was my luck that he was twelve years older than me, and he was my professor.

We sat in silence for what felt like days. I ran my finger around the edge of my mug, sipped on the now cold liquid and snuck glances at him while he continued to read papers. I felt my heart race every time he smiled at me, every time he noticed my eyes on him, he would try to catch me, but I would look away. And then, when he thought I wasn’t looking, I would glance at him and take in that smirk. The smirk that made my whole body grow warm.

“Is there something that you want to tell me, Ms. Snow?”

“Me?” I smiled over at him, “No not at all. Just enjoying the view.”

“I’m not a piece of meat, Ms. Snow.”

“I never said you were, Mr. Collins.” I shot back. With a small nod he went back to his papers. As time passed, and the games continued, I noticed as his knee started to bounce up and down, and his bottom lip was pulled tightly between his teeth. As he inhaled and exhaled slowly, his eyes fluttering shut, he set his things down and quickly looked over at me, his stunning blue eyes gazing into mine.

As my cheeks turned red, he leaned back in his seat and pointed at me with his pointer finger on his right hand. After my eyes locked onto it, he flipped his hand over, and curled his finger toward him, a motion that my parents use to do to me on very few occasions when I did something bad.

Tilting my head to the side, the blush on my face growing stronger, I got up from my seat and walked over to him, my heart beating rapidly in my chest as I stood next to him, letting the smell of his cologne and nicotine fill my head.

Riley stood up after a moment of me standing there. His body was extremely close to mine, and his eyes were holding mine in a needy, loving, kind of stare. The hot puffs of breath that left his plump pink lips beat against my own, and after only a minute or so of standing like this, I went on my tiptoes and pressed my lips against his, feeling every nerve in my body silence as the warm feeling rushed over me.

Just as I was about to pull away, Riley wrapped a strong arm around my waist and placed the other one behind my neck, holding my trembling body together as he pulled it right against his. I could feel every tense muscle against my body and as my body temperature rose even more, the only thing I wanted to do was trace my finger over every little indent between the muscles on his body. I wanted to run my fingertips over his soft skin and watch as he smiled form the touch.

Reconnecting our lips, I placed my hand on his chest, and felt as his heart beat just as fast as mine behind his strong muscles. Smiling into the kiss, my trembling fingertips slowly fell from his chest down to his stomach, and as soon as my fingers felt the distinct bumps of muscles under his shirt, I lost it.

Pulling away, my fingertips burning as well as my lips, I looked up at the man, and sucked in a deep breath, letting my eyes trace over his wide blue eyes and beat red lips. “Harper, I-“

Heart racing, body burning, and mind at a complete loss for words, I shook my head a little and then held my hand out to him, trying to speak, but no words came out. I wanted to tell him that he was the epitome of perfection and that he was absolutely insane for even kissing a girl like me. I wanted to inform him that with his beautiful eyes and wonderful mind that he could get any girl he wanted, and that with his physique and his stunning blue eyes he could be going after runway models.

But as I tried to speak, all I could do was push warm air past my lips. I wanted to tell him to leave me alone and get someone he deserves to have, someone that’s good enough for him, but my heart wouldn’t let me do it. He made me so happy, he was so wonderful and amazing to talk to, that in a moment of utter selfishness, I didn’t want him to know that I wanted him to get better. I didn’t want him to try to get anyone else but me.

Blinking hard, I felt my body fall against his as two strong arms wrapped around my mid-section and my head gracefully collided with a strong shoulder. “Harper, is everything alright?” His words flowed like a soft melody into my head and convinced my eyes to flutter shut. After a moment of inhaling his scent until my senses grew used to it, I nodded slightly and then pulled away from him, bringing my eyes to his.

“I think a lot.” I whispered, watching his eyes brighten by my words. “I think about things that make me sad, and things that should happen and things that shouldn’t, and then-“

“About me?” He was sad for a moment as I nodded a yes in response. “Bad things?”

“I don’t feel compelled to talk about it at the moment.” I huffed and watched as his eyes scanned over every inch of my face, took in every little pore and hint of emotion in my features, and then he nodded and held me out in front of him, his hands gingerly holding onto my shoulders.

Swallowing hard, Riley swooped in for one more kiss before grabbing a chair close to him and pulling it over right next to his. Sitting back in his own, he looked up at me and motioned to the chair, then leaned over the table, grabbed his red pen, and started to read through more papers in his pile.

We sat in silence for another hour or so before we both decided to go. During that hour, I went onto my cell phone and started to play City and Color on shuffle as Riley kept his left hand on my knee, rubbing his thumb in little circles against the fabric of my jean every few minutes. Occasionally he would comment on how some students didn’t try in his lower level class, and then he would inform me that some were fierce competitors to my top pupil position. As he told me about my competitors, I would simply shrug them off and then put my hand on his, and run my fingers over the back of his hand, letting him look at me as I smiled a little, silently informing him that he and I knew, that there was no competition.

Once we got up to part, he pulled me in for another kiss, one that made my spine painfully explode in my back. I was immobilized as his tongue rubbed against mine, and although I had only had one serious boyfriend before, I could honestly say it was the best kiss of my life, and even if this strange little romance didn’t go anywhere form here, it would probably always top my personal chart.

“How has your father been lately?” He asked as we brought our mugs back into the main building and then exited through the front door. As soon as we were outside and Riley hooked his messenger bag over his shoulder, I pulled out my pack of cigarettes and offered him one. Graciously taking it, we lit our own with our cheap bic lighters, sucked in a huge breath, and then exhaled the smoke in the opposite direction of the other.

“Tolerable, I guess.” I breathed out, smoke rolling from my lips with my words. “It’s around ten thirty, so he should be passed out or asleep.”

“I worry every night, you know.” He breathed, his blue eyes catching mine momentarily as we strolled down the street. “It drives me mad that you’re not somewhere safe.”

“You shouldn’t worry about me”, I inhaled deeply, my eyes fluttering shut as I let the feeling burn in my body. Once it go too much, I exhaled and then looked over at the man, his eyebrows pinched together in the middle of his forehead. “I can take care of my self, Riley.”

He grumbled something incoherent and then looked at me, worry passing over his features before he sighed heavily and the stopped walking, reaching into his back pocket and pulling out a cell phone that looked identical to mine. “Give me your phone.” He didn’t ask as much as ordered me to hand the instrument in my back pocket over. As I did, he quickly started flipping through screens and then he looked up at me and nodded toward the foreign phone in my hands. “Put your phone number in my phone.” He didn’t say please, or send me a smile. It didn’t bother me about how serious he was; in fact, the seriousness of the action only made my heart beat quicker against my rib cage.

Once my number was entered into his phone, he handed mine back and then gingerly placed his hands on my shoulders. “Harper, if anything happens, if you ever need help or someone to talk to, call me.”

“Riley, I-“

“No.” He said sternly and looked right into my eyes, practically begging me to just listen to him and accept whatever he had to say. “I don’t want anything else to happen to you Harper, if you need me for anything, even if you don’t know how to start a paper or what movie to watch, I want you to call me.” I couldn’t speak as I looked up at him, my eyes glazing over with a sheet of tears that I refused to let fall in front of this man. “Okay?” He asked, worried.

“Okay.” I breathed and watched as he smiled at me, his beautiful plump lips turning upward and parting, showing some of his perfect white teeth. It was a model worthy smile and only made me think again why someone as seemingly perfect as him would want to be within ten feet of me.

“I’ll see you soon, Harper?” He asked, pulling me into him as he kissed my forehead.

“Not soon enough”, I huffed and watched as he smiled and shook his head a little, taking a step back and then looking at me again, his bottom lip being held captive by his perfect white teeth.

“It’s not the end of the world, Harper”, he chuckled and then as his eyes caught mine, I smiled lightly and shook my head.

“Some say the world will end in fire,
 some say in ice. 
From what I've tasted of desire, 
I hold with those who favor fire. But if it had to perish twice, I think I know enough of hate to say that for destruction ice is also great. And would suffice.”

Smiling over at him, he quickly took a step closer to me and pressed his lips against mine, and then rested his forehead against mine, taking a deep breath from the quick loss of breath. “I absolutely adore your poetic comebacks.” He breathed, my body liquefying from his words and hot breath against my skin.

“One day you’ll grow tired of my poems and me, Mr. Collins.” I shot at him watching as he froewned and then tilted his head a little, his eyes darkening.

“I doubt that, Ms. Snow.” And with that, he kissed me one last time, turned on his heels and gave me a small wave as he walked down the street, his broad shoulders rolled back as his eyes traced the stars hanging in the black velvet sky.