Sext Me Crazy Series

Chapter 10

Sophia

I looked calmly up at Elijah, who was staring at me with a surprised expression. On the inside, though, I was the furthest thing from calm.

Was he...serious?

"U-um," he stuttered, blinking at me.

I frowned. "If you're not free, just go wherever you were going."

It was taking him too long to answer, and I lost the courage I'd had when I opened the door. I'd waited so long, because I didn't want this to be another of his pranks, and I managed to psych myself up for it. But of course, how could it not be a joke?

"Wait!"

I was turning around to close the door again when his shout came, and I froze immediately. My heart practically skipped a beat, and I looked cautiously at Elijah. He took wide strides to close the space between us, and my hand clenched hard on the door.

"I'm free. Right now. Have you eaten lunch? We can go right now."

I watched him for a long moment. He looked different today, and not just because he looked like he'd bothered to get dressed up. The expression on his face looked almost anxious, and it wasn't a look I was used to seeing on him. I gave him a short nod, then walked back into the room. My gaze met Dana's.

After a long, silent moment, she rolled her eyes at me. "You can go, I don't mind. We can watch another movie some other time."

"Thank you," I murmured.

I picked up my purse and the shoes I'd tossed off, put them on quickly then went outside. I closed the door behind me and turned to Elijah with a look of total calm once more.

"Let's go," I said, voice firm.

He probably didn't notice how I trembled.

"Did you eat lunch already? I had a heavy breakfast and some water before the game, but that's it. It's a little late for lunch, though. Would you mind?"

"It's fine," I said.

There was no way I was going to tell him I waited for a little over two hours for Student X to show up and didn't have any lunch because of that. I'd forgotten all about being hungry, and Dana gave me snacks, so it wasn't like I was starving, as if I could eat anything and I mean anything!

Elijah and I walked silently with a bit of space between the two of us. Neither of us tried to close it. Elijah had his hands shoved in his pockets, and I had my arms wrapped around myself, but it was enough of a miracle that we were walking together at all and with no argument.

I did my best to keep my composure, but inside, my emotions were in turmoil.

Though I had pictured Elijah, or someone that looked like Elijah, when I was waiting for Student X earlier, I never actually expected it to be him. The most surprising thing was how well we got along online. How did he even know I was Rogue H? And, most importantly, how the hell did we have so much in common? I had thought, before, that Elijah would be the farthest thing from a match I could get. Especially after my ex. But...maybe it was wrong to judge him that way?

I had thought we were hopeless, but from our talks, I'd thought we were compatible, too.

Another thing, I had never been so close to him before when I wasn't glaring at him, and I just realized how tall and big he was. I wasn't a small woman myself, at five foot seven, I was considered tall. Dana was shorter than me, and I was the same height as some of the guys at school. I was a little curvy, but my body was built slim.

Elijah, on the other hand, was six feet and five inches tall, and thickly muscled. I tightened the grip I had on the tops of my arms as I imagined his wide palms pressed up against my back as he held me to his wide chest. My face felt grew a little warm.

"Do you mind if we leave campus?" Elijah asked, glancing down at me.

I startled and looked back at him. "Um, what?"

"There's this café just off campus that's good. We could have something there if you'd like?"

"Sure," I said quickly, ducking my head.

We resumed our silence, but I was walking stiffer than before.

The café really wasn't that far, but my feet still ached a little because I was walking around in heels, though they were only a couple inches tall. The place was half empty, so we found a good table easily. We both busied ourselves looking at anything but each other. I looked around the café then down at the menu on the table. I'd been here before, and I loved their cakes. A waiter came over to us quite quickly.

"Hi, my name's Ken, and I'll be your server today. Would you like to order now or wait?"

Elijah glanced at me and waited for my nod before answering.

"We'll order now."

He looked over the menu and gave his order out. Then they both turned to me. Ducking my head, my face feeling warm, I took a quick glance at the sandwiches and ordered whatever sounded good with a mocha.

"Would you like any desert?" Elijah asked.

"A slice of red velvet cake, please," I said quietly.

"All right," Ken said with a smile at the both of us. "I'll be right back with your order."

He walked away, and awkwardness descended on our table. I clasped my hands together on top of the table, playing with my fingers. Then, I heard Elijah clear his throat and looked up.

"I wanted to talk to you," he reminded me quietly.

"Right," I sighed. "Well, get on with it."

His fingers tapped a rhythm on the table. "I guess I could start with the whole dating site thing?"

"You probably should," I said, arching an eyebrow and folding my arms over my chest. "It's a surprise that you of all people would need to go to a dating site."

"It's not that I needed it or anything, but I wanted to. And then I found your profile, and we just started chatting..."

"There is something I'd like to ask," I said cutting in. "How did you know it was me?"

I frowned because I didn't think I'd given it away at any one time. And if I had, then he would know it was me, and wouldn't he have stopped chatting with me? I got the impression from Elijah that he didn't like me any more than I liked him, so why would he still talk to me while knowing?

"It was..." He shifted his eyes around. "Uh, I figured it out. From some stuff you told me."

My frown deepened. Had I said something to give myself away at some point? I didn't think so...besides the fact that we were the same age, the same school year and in the same major, we hadn't shared a lot of personal information. Well, I did tell him about my past a little, but no one else knew about it, so it wasn't like he could figure it out from that. And I couldn't even check, because I'd already closed my account, and I would have to open a new one to get into the site, all the info I'd had on my old profile would still be gone.

"How long have you known?" I asked, putting the other issue aside.

"I've known for a while."

"And...you still kept talking to me?"

He shrugged and said honestly, "When it's online, I like talking to you. You treat me like a person instead of a walking meathead and we actually get to talk. I loved getting to know you, so...even knowing it was you, I didn't mind. And I wanted to meet you to tell you face to face that... I like you."

I inhaled a sharp breath, leaning back in my seat and gaping at him. My face felt like it was burning. Elijah was a straightforward kind of guy, or so I'd heard around, but I hadn't been on the receiving end of it like this before. My heart started beating wild in my chest. Luckily, before I could figure out what to say, the waiter showed up with our orders.

"Here you go," he said, setting everything down. "I'll be keeping a look out for you guys so please raise your hand to let me know if you need anything."

"Thanks," Elijah muttered, picking up his coffee and looking down as he took a sip.

I was relieved that he looked down because I needed some time to compose myself. I took my own mug and took a sip of mocha, sighing at the sweet taste. Though I wouldn't have minded more cream and sugar.

We ate our meal silently, and Elijah paid afterward. We left the café and walked around a little. There was a small park not far from the café, and we ended up there, seated on a bench under a tree. Like the spot in front of the library when we were supposed to meet. Which reminded me of something else.

"Why did you ask me to meet you when you knew you had a game?"

He smiled sheepishly at me. "Actually, about that. See, we kept chatting so much that I wasn't thinking much about hockey, so when I asked to meet, I gave you the time we'd be having the game. I didn't even realize until we were about to start, and it was too late to message you. Then after the game, I was held up a little. I did stop by the library, and you'd already left by then. I went back to my dorm to get showered and changed, and came to look for you."

Elijah was so honest and frank; it was hard to remain mad at him about it. I could forgive it if it were an honest mistake, and the tone of his voice, as well as the sincere look in his eyes, told me he wasn't lying to me. Slowly, I was starting to change my mind about Elijah. I was already attracted to him, so realizing he was a nice guy was icing on the cake.

We chatted lightly as we sat under the tree, then got up to walk around some more after a bit. Before I realized it, nearly two hours had passed, and Elijah offered to buy me dinner. I didn't want the day to end yet, so I agreed. We talked through dinner, and the conversation wasn't awkward or stilted at all. After a while, I even forgot all about my social anxiety. I discovered that Elijah could be a funny guy if he wanted to be, making me laugh over and over.

By the end of the night, he walked me back to my dorm. It was dark already, and we were both quiet again, but it felt much more comfortable than earlier. He walked me all the way up the stairs and to my door, and my heart started beating fast once more as I grew more and more aware of him. We were a lot closer to each other than earlier, and though we didn't touch, I could feel his warmth. My body felt all tingly, too, and I could remember the last time I felt this way around a guy.

I forgot just how much I missed it.

I unlocked the door and pushed it open. The room was dark, and when I hit the light switch, I realized it was also empty. Dana must have gone out, probably to stay with Logan. I turned around, and Elijah was still standing there at the door stop.

"Well," he said slowly, his eyes never meeting mine. "I guess this is it."

For a long moment, we just stared at each other. My heart was beating so loudly I thought he could hear it. When I saw him shift like he was about to turn around and walk away, my hand shot out and grabbed onto his arm. His eyes widened in surprise as I dragged him into my room and closed the door behind him.