Mistakes : A College Bully Romance

That one…I had to be careful. I had to be really careful when it came to him. He was…there were no words. I didn’t think I’d ever met a guy like him before, and that was saying something, considering all the places I dragged Ash during high school. Got us fake IDs, so we frequented the bars. I picked up a lot of older guys, and none of them had ever made me feel so…charged.
That was a weird word to use, but I couldn’t think of any other way to explain it. Levi made me feel energized, riled up but in a good way. He made me want to be wild, want to tell him off, and I was pretty damn sure he liked hearing me tell him off just as much.
We would be terrible together. Just awful.
And yet.
Yet.
When I returned to the dorm, Mel was on her laptop. The TV was on in the background, just noise. Her blonde head turned toward me, her brown eyes wide. “Where were you?” She wrinkled her nose, studying me. “And why do you look so…freaked out?”
Freaked out? I wasn’t freaked out. I was turned on. Horny for a guy I shouldn’t be. Anyone who associated with Dean was a no-no, and yet my mini-me wanted him. She wanted to feel every inch of him, every bit of him inside of her.
Yeah, my mini-me was a naughty one.
“I think I’m just overheating,” I said, shrugging, acting like it was a million degrees outside. I tossed my bag on my bed and went into my dresser, pulling out a tank top, changing right then and there.
Mel’s lips pursed, and she watched me toss my t-shirt into the laundry basket in the corner. “Guess who found me before my first class.”
I was in the process of pulling out the rest of my sub when I paused, meeting her stare and asking, “Who?”
“Dean,” Mel muttered his name with a frown.
Again? Ugh. The asshole. “What did he want?”
“He asked if there was any chance we could get back together,” Mel said. Her voice shook a bit, her hands falling to her lap. She fiddled with her fingers, looking uneasy.
“You told him no, right?” I knew first loves, especially when they were years in the making, were difficult to overcome—not that I had any personal experience there. Me and relationships…well, let’s just say I never had one. Not really. Still, Mel had to know by now she was better off without that dickbag, right?
Mel was quiet for a while. “He said he’s trying to change, and that he needs me, but I don’t…” She rubbed her arms, biting her bottom lip. “After what he did, what he made his friends do, I just…how can I forgive him for everything he did?”
I let go of my backpack, moving to her, sitting on the edge of her bed closest to her desk, my feet hanging off the edge. “I know everyone always preaches about forgiveness. Forgiveness is the best policy and blah, blah. But you know what? Sometimes people royally fuck up. Sometimes people don’t deserve forgiveness. That dickbag? He’s one of those people.”
“But you haven’t talked to him—”
Hearing her try to defend him made me annoyed. “No, I haven’t, but from everything you’ve told me, Mel, he’s a dick. He hurt you. He cheated on you after pretty much forcing you to give up your virginity to him. There’s no coming back from that.”
Her lips pursed, and she closed her eyes. “You’re…you’re right.”
“Am I, or are you just saying that to get me to shut up?”
Mel smiled slowly, a teeny, tiny thing. It was a sad smile, but a smile nonetheless. I’d take it. “If I wanted you to shut up, I’d just tell you to shut up.”
“Good,” I said. “I’m glad we’re that comfortable with each other.” I hopped off her bed, needing to finish eating that sub now. “If you ever need to be talked off a ledge again, just let me know. I’m here for you.”
“Thanks,” Mel chuckled.
I unwrapped my sandwich, my stomach gurgling with hunger that did not involve my horniness for Levi’s body. “Anytime,” I mumbled, bringing the partially-eaten sub to my mouth and chowing down.
Ash was having some problems with some rich guys at Hillcrest, but me? Hah. I had everything handled.

Chapter Nine – Kelsey
I sat in bio lab, which was odd, because I couldn’t remember when I’d gotten here, or why the hell the rest of the room looked so empty. No other students sat at the long black tables, their tops clean. Even the middle-aged professor was nowhere to be seen. I was alone in the room, glancing all around, nothing but my pencil in my hand. I realized, after tossing a look behind me, that it was dark outside. Nighttime. It was pitch-black out there and I was sitting in bio lab as if waiting for the end of the world.
What in the hell was I doing here?
I was about to get up, but then someone else walked in the room. Levi. He wore no shirt, his torso glimmering with sweat, and the same red athletic shorts I’d seen him in before. He stood near the door to the room, tossing a thumb over his shoulder.
“Why are you still in here? I’ve been waiting for you,” he said. “Come on.”
My stomach clenched. He was waiting for me. How? Why? For how long? A thousand questions raced in my head, but I set my pencil down and followed him anyways. Like I was going to wait here, when I was so very obviously needed wherever he was at.
Where he was was where I wanted to be, as dumb and lovestruck as it sounded.
I trailed after him, and the moment I stepped out of the bio