Uncaged

Corinna

She realized too late that she might have made a mistake.

It wasn’t until they had turned into her driveway that Corinna regretted asking Sam, her on-again off-again boyfriend, to drive her home instead of just having Patrick come back to get her after her classes that afternoon. But it was too late now.

They were already getting out of the car and she had already mentioned to Sam that her parents were gone on vacation. Suddenly they were at the door, and she was laughing at something he had said, pretending she found him funny as she scrambled to come up with an excuse to not invite him in. She was never any good at this.

But he was brushing her hair behind her ear, moving in close with a hand on her waist, his breath hot on her face before she felt his lips on hers. She let him kiss her, gave in just a little bit, letting her lips part. She let herself enjoy it for just a second, but it was all meaningless, which is why they were off-again more often than not.

Her hands moved up to his shoulders, but before she could push him away, before she could utter some apology for not allowing him to crawl into bed with her, a voice cut through the darkness.

“Corinna?”

Sam pulled back, and they both glanced next door. Patrick was standing there, hands in his pocket, hair messier than it had been earlier, smiling sheepishly at them.

“Sorry to interrupt,” he said, looking at Sam. His eyes moved to Corinna. “Your mom called a little while ago, wanted me to tell you to call her back when you got home.”

“Oh, thanks Patrick,” Corinna answered, giving Sam a gentle push away from her before digging into her bag, looking for her house key. Her eyes met Sam’s and she knew he was still hoping to get inside. “I’ll see you tomorrow Sam. My mom will probably talk my ear off and I have a paper I have to finish.”

She set her bag on the ground and knelt next to it, continuing to reach around books and pens and notebooks, searching for her elusive keys.

“Yeah, I’ll see you tomorrow then I guess,” Sam said, backing up a few steps, disappointment clear on his face. Corinna almost could have laughed at how relieved she felt.

She watched as Sam got into his car and backed out of the driveway. When he was out of sight she stood up, keys in hand, and turned to Patrick who was still lingering at the edge of her driveway.

“Did my mom really call or did you just sense I needed saving?” Corinna asked. Patrick smiled and looked down, before looking back up at her. His eyes were dark in the night.

“Both,” he said. “She said she couldn’t get a hold of you on your cell phone.”

“Ah, well that’s because I kind of forgot it today,” Corinna responded with a chuckle. She unlocked the front door and turned to look back at Patrick who was still watching her. “Thanks for everything today. You’ve basically been my knight in shining armor twice today.”

He smiled and took a step back toward his house.

“Anytime,” he said before turning away, heading back to his house. Corinna watched him go before stepping into her house.

Once inside she leaned against the door, slightly out of breath because god knows why. She took a moment to collect her thoughts and went to call her mom.
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I guess I'm on a little bit of a roll!

~Sally