College Romance

As Tavi and I made our way to my car, I spotted someone that I haven't scene in a long time and quickly hid myself behind a wall. Tavi looked over at me, confusion quickly growing in her face. I peeked around the corner to make sure that it was him. He looked over towards me and I quickly darted back behind the wall. Of all the places to run into him, it had to be here. It's been years since I've seen, let alone spoken to, him. I kept repeating in my head, Don't let him come over here!

Tavi tapped me on the shoulder and snapped me back to reality, "Are you alright Vinyl?"

I looked around the corner again and he was still standing there, "Y-Yeah...I-I'm fine. W-Why do you ask?"

"Because you're starting to act strange all of a sudden..." she looked around to make sure no one could here us, "is it that time of the month?"

My face turned a deep red. "If it was you would've known that a while ago."

Her face turned a deeper red than mine, "Oh yeah. Either way, are you sure nothing's wrong?"

"N-Nothing's wrong Tavi, I'm fine."

She looked over at the guy I spotted and then looked back at me, "Is it that guy over there?"

I looked back around the corner for a third time and nodded, "He was my first..." I trailed off from my thought as I continued to look at him. His deep blue eyes as gentle and caring as I remembered them, a bright smile that can open up any heart, long blonde hair that fell so carelessly on his shoulders. My face turned a deeper red as I thought about our nights together.

Tavi tapped me on the shoulder again, "Vinyl! Vinyl! Hello? Earth to Vinyl!"

I shook back into reality again and looked back at Tavi, "O-Oh...sorry."

"Look you can't keep yourself hidden behind this wall all day, so let's just go on and get to that burger joint before you start craving hot dogs instead."

Quickly getting what she was hinting at, I gave a playful punch on the shoulder, "You know the only hot dog I crave is the one you keep in your suitcase."

I came out from behind the wall and we continued walking down the hall. I did my best to avoid him, but that didn't work out as well as I had hoped.

He quickly recognized me and called out, "Vinyl? Is that you? I haven't seen you in ages!"

SHIT! I turned and looked at him, "Hey Neon, long time no see."

He walked up to me and Tavi, "It's been what, three years now?"

"Yeah. So um...how've you been these days?" I couldn't keep my face from turning red once again.

"I've been alright; playing at raging parties, stacking up the cash, and hitting on a little bit of that green every now and then, if you know what I mean."

"I thought you gave that up."

"Old habits die hard. But anyway, speaking of parties. I was offered a DJing job at Nightlock's party tonight. You remember him don't you?"

"Yes, and I also remember you trying to get me to agree to a threesome with him."

"Can't blame a guy for trying. But anyway, I was wondering if you'd like to go to the party with me."

I looked over at Tavi and then back at Neon, "Is it alright if I bring a plus one?"

He looked at Tavi, "Sorry, but this is a private party. And Nightlock only invited the people he wanted to come."

I looked at my watch and pretended to read the time, "Well, would you look at the time. It was nice catching up Neon, but me and Tavi gotta get going."

I quickly took Tavi's hand and started walking down the hall again. Tavi looked over at me feeling a little bit annoyed, "So, there's more to that guy than I thought."

"Look Tavi, that was in the past. I broke up with him a long time ago. I don't have any feelings for him."

"Then why was your face red?"

"It was an uncomfortable situation, and I knew he was going to be bringing up some topics that I didn't want to talk about in front of you."

"You mean like the threesome that could've been?"

"Exactly, I didn't want to talk about my past sex life in front of you."

We made it out of the building and started heading for my car, "You know that doesn't bother me Vinyl. You know that if there's anything you want to talk to me about, I'll be here for you."

"I know. But, there really are things that are better left unsaid."

We made it to my car and climbed in. Tavi looked over at me and put her hand on my shoulder, "You know I worry about you."

I let out a sigh and turned the car on, "C-Can we just not talk about it right now? I need to think about some things."

"Fair enough."

I pulled out of the parking lot and started driving off towards the burger joint. My mind was starting to fill itself with all kinds of thoughts from the past. It's been three years since I've seen him, and I still get really nervous around him. Why was it so hard for my mind to accept the fact that I no longer loved him? Well, it wasn't my mind so much as it was my body. No matter how many times I've said I don't love him any more, my body keeps saying different. Maybe there's still a part of me that wants him. Maybe that part of me just isn't satisfied enough with just fingers and tongue. I just couldn't figure it out.

We made it to the burger joint and I parked the car, shutting off the engine. I let out a long sigh and rested my head on the steering wheel. Tavi looked over at me, her concern becoming more and more evident. I looked over at her and sighed, "You go on ahead and get us a table. I'll be in in a moment."

"Are you sure you're feeling alright? We could go home so you can relax if that's what you want to do."

"I'm fine Tavi, I just need a moment to clear my head."

"You could talk to me and..."

"I'M FINE TAVI!"

She fell silent and looked down at the floorboard, "Sorry."

"No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled at you. But, I really do need a moment." I leaned over and kissed her on the cheek, "Just go and get us a table, I'll be in shortly."

She wrapped her arms around me, "Like I said, if you need to talk, I'm here for you."

I gave her a soft smile as she left the car and went inside. I put my head back on the steering wheel and took some time to relax myself. Why now of all times did I have to run into him? Why was it so hard to fully admit I didn't have feelings for him? I couldn't get my thoughts straight at all. I took a few more deep breaths and got out of the car. I looked around the near empty parking lot for a moment and went inside. Tavi had already got us a table at the far end of the diner. I walked over to the table and sat down across from her.

She looked at me and smiled, "Are you feeling a little better?"

"Yeah, I've finally calmed down. And again, I'm very sorry I yelled at you. I know you mean well, and I know you want to help me. And I had no right to yell at you for it."

"It's okay Vinyl, I really shouldn't have been trying to force my help onto you when you didn't ask for it."

I smiled at her and put my hand on hers, "I love you Tavi, and nothing in this world is ever going to change that."

"I love you too Vinyl."

The waitress walked over to our table, notepad and pen in hand, "Hello girls, what can I get for you all to drink?"

Tavi looked over at the waitress and smiled, "Some sweet tea please."

I looked up at the waitress, "Do you have any root beer?"

The waitress looked at me and shook her head, "I'm sorry sweetie but we don't have any."

"That's fine, I'll have some lemonade then."

She wrote our drink orders down and gave us a smile, "I'll be right back with your drinks."

She walked off into the kitchen. Tavi and I looked down at the place mats/menus and began to look for our food orders. Though I already knew what I wanted, I still enjoyed looking over the menu to see what they had to offer. Tavi quickly found what she wanted to get and set her menu back down. I took another couple of seconds to look at the menu before setting it back down.

Tavi smiled at me again, "You know, it's been forever since the last time I've been to a burger shop."

"Really? My family usually goes once every week or two."

"I guess I've just never been a fan of fast food."

The waitress came back and set our drinks on the table, "Have y'all decided on what you'd like to eat?"

I looked up at her, "I'll have a bacon double cheese burger cooked medium well."

She wrote down my order and looked over Tavi, "And for you sweet heart?"

"I'll have the grilled chicken strawberry salad with no tomatoes."

The waitress wrote down Tavi's order and smiled at us, "I'll get this into the cook and it should be about a ten minute wait."

We gave her a nod as she went back into the kitchen. I looked back over at Tavi, putting my hand back on hers, "Tavi, I was thinking about going to that party tonight."

Her face quickly gave away her concern, "What if Neon tries to do something? You didn't tell him that we were going out."

"I'll be alright Tavi, if anything starts to go wrong, I'll be sure to call you and let you know I'm coming home."

"What if you get drugged? How would you be able to call me then?"

"I'm not going to get drugged. Neon may be a sex hound, but I doubt he'd go so low as to drug a girl to get any."

"Look, I'm just concerned about this. I mean, you haven't seen this guy in three years and now he's trying to act all sweet and everything just so he can get into your pants."

"Tavi, I still haven't even told you anything about him. He's not a major asshole like some of the other guys I've dated. He's always been nice to me, even before we started dating. He's never done anything to try to hurt me at all, and he's never once tried to manipulate me into having sex with him."

"Look, all I'm saying that I want you to be careful. I don't want anything bad to happen to you."

"I know you don't, and I promise that I'll be alright."

She smiled and gave my hand a light squeeze, "Okay, I trust you. Just make sure you call me should anything start to go wrong."

"I will, I promise."

"And make sure you get your own drinks, never leave it unattended, and most importantly, keep your phone on at all times."

"Okay mom, do you want me to be back before midnight?" I giggled and gave her a cute smile.

She rolled her eyes and shook her head. Before she could say anything the waitress brought us our food and set it on the table, "Enjoy dears, let me know if you need anything else."

We both gave her a smile, "Thank you." With that, she left the table and we began eating.