He climbs onto his bike and reaches out a hand to help me up, but I hold onto his shoulder and swing my leg over like I have done this a hundred times.
"You've ridden before. Do you have one?" he asks.
"No. I've been on them, but I don't own one."
"Why not?"
"Maybe I'm not made of money."
He lets out a short laugh and revs the engine. "You know what I'm made of."
"Are you sure about that?"
"If it wasn't for the condom, you would have been soaked in it."
I barely get the chance to roll my eyes before he backs out of the parking spot and speeds off. I wrap my arms around his stomach and rest my cheek against his upper back. He is warm and solid, just like I remember. I feel myself wanting to fit even closer against him.
Great. It is a good thing I did not drink anything, because I would be acting even more obvious right now.
He takes us to a part of campus I have not seen yet. Instead of dorm buildings, there are small houses lined up in neat rows. He pulls up in front of one.
"Welcome to my humble place," he says. This time he does not wait for me to decide. He helps me off the bike himself.
"What are these houses?"
"Upperclassmen can live in a house if they get lucky," he says.
"How many people per house?"
"Four."
"Are those same guys from the restaurant your housemates?" I ask. I try to sound curious without sounding too curious. It is difficult when the way Robb is staring at me right now makes my knees feel weak. It is like he wants to eat me alive right here next to the bike.
"No," he says quietly. "They are my housemates, but they will not be coming here."
"Not until later?"
"Not tonight at all."
Great. That does not sound like someone who wants to talk.
Robb keeps hold of my hand and guides me to the front door. With his free hand, he unlocks it and leads me inside. He closes the door behind us and locks it.
A part of me should be more nervous about that. I know that. Somehow I am not.
I clear my throat. "Do you have a kitchen?"
"We can do a full tour later," he says in a calm tone as he pulls me toward the stairs. "I figured we could talk upstairs."
Of course. That is where his bedroom must be.
"The couch looks comfortable," I say.
He laughs. "Do you want to know how many kinds of body fluids have touched that couch?"
"No, thank you," I mutter.
He pulls me upstairs with him. His room is surprisingly neat, though it is only the first day of classes. Give him a few weeks, and I am sure it will look more like what I expected. Unless he keeps it cleaned up to impress the girls he brings here.
He does not close the door behind us, which reminds me that we are completely alone. More than enough time for whatever he clearly wants to happen.
He sits on the edge of the bed, then lies back. His bulge is right there, and I immediately look away.
"You said we would talk," I remind him.
Robb laughs softly. "I said we need to fix things. And we can." He props himself up just enough to pat the spot beside him. "Come here."
Fix things. That is what he actually said. I had simply assumed talking was part of that.
Classic. The girl wants to talk everything out. The guy thinks sex will magically repair everything.
I look at the floor as he shifts and rubs himself through his jeans, maybe trying to get more comfortable.
The bed creaks as he stands and walks over to me. He cups my face gently and leans in to kiss me.
I almost let him. A part of me wants to. But I raise my hand just in time to block his mouth.
"All you want is sex," I whisper.
Robb steps back and lifts his arms slightly. "What did you expect, Kate?"
"I thought we would talk."
"Talking ruins us. We proved that earlier."
"There is no us."
"There can be."
"So what? We will just keep sleeping together and never deal with anything? That is not what I want. If all you want is sex, then I am done. Whatever this was between us is over. We talked on the cruise ship."
"We flirted on the cruise ship. And we can flirt here too. We had sex on the cruise ship. And we can do that here too."
"Just because we can does not mean we will," I snap back.
"What has gotten into you?" he asks, clearly frustrated. "I swear, the moment you realized you ran into me—"
"It was an accident!"
"I don't care about that. What bothers me is how you suddenly started treating me like garbage, and even now, I'm here trying to give you another chance—"
"Another chance for you to fill a condom so I don't end up covered in your cum?"
"All I want—"
"What about what I want?"
"Christ. Are you going to act clingy now?"
"That's the problem," I say calmly. "You're the clingy one, not me. I want to leave."
"Then go," he snaps. "I thought we had something. I couldn't get you out of my head, and that's… You know what? Forget it. Just leave."
"It would have been better if we never met."
"Totally agree."
He walks me to his bedroom door, and I expect him to stop, but he keeps going, escorting me all the way to the front door. That one he slams shut, the sound echoing behind me. I flinch.
The walk back to my dorm feels long and empty. I take a wrong turn, then another, and by the time I finally find the right path, the sky is getting darker and darker. All I want is my bed.
So much for celebrating my first day. I mean, I did survive it. I'm still alive, at least. But everything with Robb? That couldn't have gone any worse.