“Babe, that dress…” Austin said. He grabbed my waist and pulled me to him. He leaned down for the kiss but I turned my head. It didn’t seem to deter him. He pecked my cheek. “Penny, where have you been hiding?”
“I’ve just been really busy. How are you, Austin?” How could he ask me that? He was the one that had been ignoring me. I wished he would let go of my waist.
“Better now that you’re here.” He reached down, grabbed my chin, and tilted it toward him. “I’ve missed you, babe. It was a long summer without you.” He smelled like strawberries and beer. I had used his strawberry scented shampoo before on the occasions that I had spent the night at his apartment.
“I…” I stopped myself before I told him that I missed him too. I needed to take Melissa’s advice, and that meant not telling him that I missed him. “I had a great summer. Well, crap job, but you know how it is,” I shrugged.
He let go of my chin. Ignoring my comment, he said, “You really look stunning. You always did know exactly what I like.”
I restrained myself from rolling my eyes. This wasn’t even my dress. He slid into the booth and I sat next to him. Josh and Melissa sat down across from us.
“How long have you two been dating?” Josh asked Austin and me.
“A little over six months,” Austin replied.
His words were hard to make out, because at the same time, I said, “We’re not really.”
Austin and I looked at each other. I turned back to Josh.
“It’s complicated,” I said.
“Ah.” Josh turned to Melissa and made an apologetic face. I could tell that he was flustered that she hadn’t told him the situation.
“It’s not that complicated,” Austin said and wrapped his arm around my shoulders. He scooted closer toward me so that our bodies were touching. I looked up at him and he looked down at me. “I’m sorry,” he mouthed.
I gave him a small smile. That’s what I had wanted. For him to apologize. I sighed with relief. Maybe now I could relax a little and enjoy the night.
Saturday
I took another bite of the chocolate cake and glanced up at Austin. The two of us were alone in the booth because Melissa and Josh were still dancing. We had taken a break to have dessert. Austin was starting to stare at me, with his cloudy blue eyes, in that way that made my knees weak. He had already been through a few beers and I knew what was on his mind. I looked back down at my plate. I didn’t know how much longer I’d be able to resist him.
“I got a new place,” he said.
“Same roommates?”
“No, actually.” He had started rubbing the back of my neck with his thumb. The familiarity of it was soothing and somehow arousing at the same time.
Austin knew that I didn’t like when he smoked. It made him act like an idiot. And his old roommate, Benji, was usually the one persuading him.
“How’s Benji doing?”
“I haven’t seen him.”
I hadn’t expected that. He had apologized to me, plus he was done hanging out with his loser friends? Maybe he had changed. Being a senior seemed to make him take things more seriously now. I took another bite of cake, and Austin suddenly started laughing.
“What’s so funny?”
He just kept laughing. “You have chocolate on your face.”
“Where?” I wiped the side of my mouth with my hand.
He leaned toward me and slowly wiped the other side of my mouth with his thumb. He then placed his finger in his mouth and sucked off the chocolate. I could feel my heart rate accelerating. Why is that so hot?
“Did you want to come see my place?” he asked.
I gulped. He didn’t really want me to come see his place. He wanted me. And I loved when he wanted me.
“Let me run to the ladies room real quick,” I said, and slid out of the booth. I closed the stall door and just stood there. I didn’t actually need to use the restroom, I just needed a second to think. Melissa had told me to be strong and I was about to cave. I needed to go back out there and tell him I wanted to call it a night. If he really had changed at all, he’d respect that. I walked out of the stall, washed my hands, and fixed my hair in the mirror.
When I exited the bathroom, Austin was still sitting at our booth alone. But he was turned around, talking to the booth of girls behind him. All four of the girls laughed at something he just said. I felt my heart rate accelerating. I walked back over to our table. He continued chatting to the booth of girls and didn’t even notice my return.
Without even realizing what I was doing, I grabbed my glass and tossed what was left of my water in his face.
“Penny, what the hell?”
“Have a good life, Austin.” I turned around and walked briskly out of the restaurant.
I heard footsteps behind me. “Penny, wait,” Austin pleaded.
I ran down the stairs outside the entrance of the restaurant. My heels clicked on the brick sidewalk of Main Street.
“Penny, I’m sorry.”
“Yeah I know, you already said that tonight.” I turned around to face him. “What exactly are you apologizing for anyway? Are you trying to say that you somehow ‘accidentally’ ignored me all summer? Or are you referring to the girls you were just flirting with on our date? Or maybe all the times you’ve stood me up? Or are you just sorry for being an arrogant asshole in general?”
“Just…”
“Just what, Austin? Just give you another chance? Why, because you didn’t mean all those things you said about ‘labels’? You’ve changed and you want to be my boyfriend now?”
“You know that’s not what I want. But I do want you.”
“And every other girl on campus?” I was seething. I turned to walk away again.
“That’s not what it’s like. Damn it, Penny, won’t you just listen to me?” He grabbed my arm.
My heel got stuck in a gap between the bricks as he pulled me. It snapped off and I fell to my knees. His hands were on me in an instant to help me to my feet.