This chapter takes place immediately after Chapter 1
*** Back to the Present ***
Sunday night after Melody left to return home. Anne confronted DC.
"You could have told me you had a girlfriend." Anne's voice held nine parts simmering righteous anger and one part broken heart.
"Before this weekend I didn't have one. Technically, I still don't."
"What, she just likes to show up and sleep with you every once in a while?"
"We didn't have sex."
"Your credibility isn't looking too good right now."
"I broke up with her before the semester started and now she wants to be back together."
It was like a switch flipped in Anne's mind and her temper faded. She could relate to this experience. "What do you want?" She sincerely asked.
DC studied at his feet and thought about it. The more time that passed the more confused he had become. The absolute conviction he had felt while Melody was visiting, that he belong with her, had faded with every mile of distance between them. He still desired her, but doubted her desire for him. If she only wanted him because he had made her feel that way against her will, it was just wrong.
Face still down toward the floor, he angled his eyes up to look at Anne's eyes as she waited patiently. "Honestly, I don't know."
"I get it." She said. "It's hard to let go of a person you cared about for a while. And if she still wants to be together it's hard to reject her. You don't want to hurt her. I had an asshole boyfriend I left behind. It was hard to finally confront him and break up." Anne had a sob in her voice. "But now, I thought I had finally found a decent guy."
"I'm sorry I wasn't."
"Don't be." Anne surprised him with a sudden kiss and broke away before he could respond. "Come find me when you need a friend to talk to. Or if you figure out that you can do better than her."
She paused. "You're probably going to see her on Thanksgiving, aren't you?"
"It will practically be impossible not to. We are neighbors back home and she'll most likely make a point of seeing me."
"Well, I want you to remember you have options."
DC's head was swimming from the first unexpected kiss, so the second one she landed onto his mouth, he went with and kissed her back. They battled tongues for a moment.
After she backed off from kissing him, Anne reminded DC, "You can always come to me if you need a friend." She smiled shyly. "Or something more."
Anne sashayed away feeling a bit better about her chances with DC. Maybe he really was a good guy.
DC immediately felt guilty. He shouldn't have returned Anne's kiss. He felt like he was cheating on Melody, his girlfriend that wasn't his girlfriend, and he was leading Anne on. She had no chance of dating him right now. He had to sort his head and feelings out before getting involved with anyone else.
***
Thanksgiving break arrived a few weeks later. Anne had hung around continuously leading up to the holiday. She surprised him with a few more kisses but each time he pulled back and told her he wasn't ready. He needed to sort things out. She was very patient with him which made it even harder to reject her.
His father picked him up Thanksgiving morning. He disliked not having a car. It left him to the mercy of others too much. He and his Dad had a nice drive, catching up on what was happening in the family.
Thanksgiving dinner that night was normal family stuff. After dinner he retired to his room and Melody called. She made arrangements to come by Friday morning to hang out.
***
His parents were out shopping the black Friday sales when Melody arrived in the late morning. He kept her on the outside of the screen door so that he could talk to her without being touched and distracted.
She was dressed in a purple floral jumper dress that came down to her mid-thigh. She was wearing black thermal tights that covered her neck and arms, and leggings that extended down to some fur lined boots. The thermal top encased her arms down to her wrists and stretched over her smallish chest as it continued high up her neck. The tights showed off her long slender arms and legs. She had her hair pulled back into a high ponytail helping to make her neck look long and delicate. Looking at her made him want to kiss and nibble at the exposed skin below her jaw while his hand explored her silk encased thighs, but business first.
DC shook off his distracting desires and asked, "How did you know about Anne?"
She looked around as though she was afraid someone might overhear. "Let me in and we can talk."
"No way. You'll just use your womanly charms to distract me."
She smiled sweetly, cocked her head a little to the side and fluttered her eyelashes at him, "I thought you liked my womanly charms."
He crossed his arms and held his ground.
She went from sweet to sour in a split second. "DC, open the damn door before I smash through it and strangle you."
"Just tell me and I'll open the door."
She studied him for a moment then huffed out a breath. "You have to promise not to be mad or tell her that I told you."
Her? What could that mean? "I promise"
"Okay," she paused, "it was Amanda."
"Huh?" This was not the grand secret of phenomenal mental powers he was expecting.
"My friend Amanda. You know, she was in our history class last year."
He remembered her from high school. And they both lived in the same college dorm building. He had even hung out with her a fair number of times since they moved into the dorms.
"I told her that I had a thing for you and I wanted her to keep an eye on you. I wanted her to help you fit in so that you could avoid reliving all that stupid high school crap."
DC realized why Amanda had befriended him so quickly and why she started to coach his behavior. He had thought it was merely the fact he was one of the few familiar faces around. She had worked out some simple hand gestures to let him know when he was being dorky around other people. He figured out pretty fast that she was telling him not to talk so much.
"She didn't think it was odd that you liked me?" He asked Melody.
"At first she did. After she got to know you she admitted that you are a real sweetheart. Don't let her know I told you. She wants to be friends with you but doesn't want you think that it is only because I asked her to. She doesn't want to hurt your feelings."
