Taylor

His tongue slipped into my mouth and I felt his hands grip my butt. My arms snaked around his neck as his tongue tangled with mine. The cool touch of his lip ring against my lip made me shiver. The next moment I felt him lift me off my feet and instinctively my legs wrapped around his hips. There were no thoughts and all I could concentrate on was the heat between our bodies and the feel of lips against mine.

He set me down on the bathroom vanity as his tongue stroked mine. His hands moved to frame my face as he kissed me with a hunger that made me shiver in anticipation. I wanted to hold onto him and let him have his way with me, but a prickle at my conscience began to nag at me. The nagging got stronger and stronger until finally I couldn't ignore it anymore and I pulled my lips from his. He rested his forehead against mine as I tried to catch my breath. We were both breathless.

"I can't," I whispered, reinforcing my conscience. I was about to go at it with Sin when Caleb was downstairs, oblivious. It was wrong.

I was going to make sure Caleb knew that we weren't exclusive, but now I didn't think there was any point trying to date him when I clearly couldn't keep my hands off the bad-boy I'd given my virginity to. He pulled away and looked at me with a slight crease in his forehead. His still stood between my legs and his hands rested on the bathroom vanity on either side of me.

"Why?" he asked as his gaze flickered to my lips and then back to my eyes.

"Caleb," was my answer. His eyes darkened with anger and his jaw clenched as he took another step back. I immediately missed the warmth of his body against mine.

"You can't deny what's between us," he stated confidently as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"I'm not," I replied. I hopped off the counter and he took another step backward, keeping his distance from me.

"It's just—"

"What is it?" he said, cutting me off and sounding a little agitated. "Yeah, don't worry, I get it."

He turned to the door and his hand reached for the handle. I reached for his wrist to stop him from leaving. He turned to face me.

"Don't worry, I get it. You prefer the preppy, rich guys," he said angrily as he pulled his wrist free from my grasp.

I was dumbfounded and speechless as he stormed out of the bathroom. I had no idea how the conversation had gone wrong so quickly. He hadn't even given me a chance to explain. He'd jumped to his own conclusions and judged me. Before I left the bathroom, I splashed some water on my face and dried it with a towel. I was on my way back downstairs to see if I could find Sin to tell him why I'd stopped him.

I was halfway down the stairs when I spotted him kissing some random girl in the corner near the dance floor. It felt like someone had punched me in the stomach. For a few moments I stood rooted to the spot, watching him make out with a girl just minutes after he'd kissed me in the bathroom.

Well, there didn't seem to be any point in trying to explain anything to him now. I descended the rest of the stairs and found my group. By the time I took my drink from Jordan, I had masked my hurt and I took a sip of the alcohol hoping it would numb the pain inside. I tried to keep myself from looking for Sin and the girl he was with, but no matter how hard I tried I found myself watching them. He leaned closer and whispered something in her ear and she beamed up at him. I wanted to throw up.

"Are you okay?" Caleb asked with concern. I looked up at him.

"I'm starting to get a headache." I said the little white lie with ease. I couldn't stand to be there anymore; I needed to get away.

"You want to go home?" he asked as he scanned my features. I nodded my head. I was taking the easy way out.

"What's wrong?" asked Jordan when she overheard Caleb's offer.

"I'm just not feeling very well," I lied again, rubbing my temple a little to make my lie a little more believable. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Sin kiss the girl again. I needed to leave now. I couldn't watch it anymore.

"I'm going to take her home," Caleb told Jordan as he held me by the elbow. "I'll come back later to take you home."

"Don't worry, I'll get her home safely," Slater stated. Jordan looked at him for a moment before she turned to Caleb.

"Slater will take me home," she confirmed. Caleb nodded briefly at them.

"Are you sure you're going to be okay on your own?" she asked.

"I'll be fine," I assured her.

Caleb walked in front of me and led me through the crowd of drunken people. I couldn't keep myself from looking back at Sin one last time as I walked behind Caleb. His eyes clashed with mine. His eyes flickered to Caleb before they settled back on me. He looked angry. The girl he'd been kissing stood in front of him with her arms around his waist and her head against his chest. Jealousy flared up inside of me, but I pushed it down.

I had no reason to be jealous of her. He wasn't mine, he never had been. I pulled my gaze from his as I followed Caleb out of the house. I was quiet and subdued for the ride back to the dorm. Caleb gave me a few concerned side-glances as he drove. Irrespective of what happened with Sin and me, I still needed to have a talk with Caleb.

When he pulled up in front of the dorm building, he was about to get out of the car and I stopped him.

"I need to talk to you," I began before I could chicken out.

"Okay," he replied as he turned to face me. I clasped my hands together as I suddenly became very nervous.

"You're a really nice guy," I began as I looked at him. He was good-looking and nice. He was everything any girl could want.

"But..." he prompted, obviously having a good idea where this talk was headed.

"I'm sorry. It's just...you're a great guy, you really are...you're just not the guy for me," I told him, feeling horrible that I might be hurting his feelings.

"I have to be honest. It sucks," he said as he let out a sigh. "Thanks for being honest."

I had hurt him. It was evident on his face and it made me feel terrible.

"I'm sorry," I mumbled as I put my hand on his. It sucked that I couldn't choose who I felt things for. He looked at me for a moment and he reached out and tucked a stray piece of hair behind my ear.

"Don't be sorry," he said. "Can we at least try to be friends?"

I smiled at him, my burden of guilt feeling a lot lighter.

"I'd love that," I replied.

"Come on, let's get you inside," he said as he opened his car door and got out. I climbed out the passenger side. He walked me to the door of my dorm building.

"I'll see you in class," he said as he gave me a forced smile.

"Sure," I said and then I entered the building. I turned back to see Caleb walking back to his car. It was better to hurt him now than lead him on and hurt him more.

I let out a sigh. Suddenly I was starting to develop a real headache. It had been an eventful evening and I was feeling drained. I felt nervous and skittish when I entered the stairwell. I climbed the stairs as quickly as I could. When I reached my floor I got out of the stairwell and entered the busy hallway that led to my dorm room.

Once inside my room, I lay on my bed and tried to figure out how things had gone so wrong with Sin. I couldn't stop thinking about him and the girl and why he'd stormed out of the bathroom without giving me a chance to explain anything. It made me angry that he'd just jumped to conclusions and stormed out. Minutes later he'd been stuffing his tongue down another girl's throat. I knew I should just forget about it and put it down to a lesson learned, but I couldn't.

Lying in my bed staring at my ceiling, I wished I'd stayed and talked to Sin. But then if I had stayed I wouldn't have had a chance to talk to Caleb to tell him that I didn't want to date him. I tossed and turned for another thirty minutes before I had a thought. Unlike before, I was free to do what I wanted and I could easily clear up the misunderstanding with Sin.

So what was stopping me? Nothing. I got out of bed and pulled on the clothes I'd been wearing earlier. I put some shoes on quickly and grabbed my purse and phone. It was too late to try and walk even though it wasn't far. I wasn't stupid enough to risk that especially with all the strange things that had been going on lately. I was on the phone calling for a taxi. It was late, but ten minutes later I was in a taxi and on my way to Sin's house. I glanced at the time on my phone. It was eleven. It was the one time I was really thankful that my brother had made me program a couple of taxi company names into my phone. It had been his way of trying to make sure I never got stranded.

The party was still going when the taxi pulled outside the house. I got out and for the first time since I'd made the decision, I began to question myself. Nervousness built up in the pit of my stomach. I had no idea if Sin would even give me a chance to listen to what I had to say. I took a deep breath and expelled it to try and stop myself from chickening out. Life was short and there wasn't time for indecision like this. What was the worst thing that could happen? He could refuse to talk to me and then at least I'd know I'd tried. I didn't want this moment to end up being a 'what if' moment that I would constantly question for the rest of my life.

Determined, I walked up the porch steps past a couple of happy drunk guys. One did try to put his arm around me, but I managed to maneuver out of the way. Inside, the music was still pumping and people were dancing like they didn't have a care in the world. My eyes scanned the faces as I looked for Sin, but I couldn't find him. I didn't come this far to turn around and leave, so that wasn't an option.

There was no sign of Sin and there was no sign of Jordan and Slater either. Someone stumbled against me as I stood at the bottom of the stairs deciding what to do next. I grabbed the railing to keep from falling over.

"Sorry," the guy mumbled as he stumbled toward the bathroom.

If Sin was still in the house there was only one more place he could be. Nerves and fear mingled together as I made up my mind. Before I had a chance to change my mind, I climbed the stairs quickly. The closer I got to my destination, the stronger my nerves and fear grew.

Outside his door, I paused for a moment before I knocked. There was no going back now. I heard movement on the other side of the door as I held my breath. I had no idea if he was alone or not. The door opened and Sin appeared.