He wraps his long fingers around the bottle and slides it closer to him while grabbing the opener with the other hand. He has the cork out and the cup filled quickly and offers it to me. “Ladies first.”

Just the very tip of our fingers touch as I grasp the cup, but I can tell by the way his eyes lock onto the contact that he’s as aware of it as I am. His presence in my dorm is heady and relaxing all at once. The first real friend I’ve made in Valley.

“Cheers,” I say before taking a drink.

The wine hits me hard after the various types and large consumption of alcohol I’ve had. I’m giggling and smiling at Nathan as we continue our guessing game—bouncing from favorite foods to middle names. My face actually hurts from smiling. And the more I learn about Nathan, the less I care about the answers and the more I realize just how good it feels to be sitting on the floor of my dorm sharing a cup of wine. Though, he’s pretty interesting too. And not at all hard to look at as we’ve established.

“Alright, Chloe, give me the important details. Name, age, hometown, major.” My name on his lips is the final shot to do me in.

“Chloe Marie Macpherson, twenty-one years old, originally from California, senior, communications major,” I rattle off the facts that make up who I am and yet say so much less than we’ve already shared. I set the cup down in front of him. “Your turn.”

“Nathan Robert Payne, twenty-one years old, from Michigan, senior, business.”

“Soccer?” I ask, returning to our earlier conversation.

“No, and you’re running out of sports.” His eyes narrow on me again as he delivers a question I didn’t expect. “Single?”

I nod because I’m holding my breath and I’m afraid if I speak, it’ll come out all breathless and needy.

He moves closer with that sexy smirk and fingers a strand of hair. “Good.” He leans in so his lips hover over mine. He smells of liquor and wine and awesomely bad decisions. “I don’t have to guess if some dude is gonna track me down tomorrow for doing this.”

5

NATHAN

For the last several hours, I’ve been thinking about kissing Chloe. I’m not usually the kind of guy who wonders what it’d be like to kiss a girl. I think about getting them naked, of course, and it’s not like I don’t enjoy kissing. Kissing is great, but it’s usually just the required first step to my end goal.

I wonder if she’ll taste like Everclear, champagne, or wine? A combination of all three, maybe?