We walk side by side in the now empty street.

Almost all houses on this long road are for students. So no cars ride on it unless it's owned by a student. And since most students come to parties on foot, not a single vehicle has driven by us since we stepped outside of Ben's house.

We keep stealing glances at each other. But every time we make eye contact, he looks away swiftly.

The walk goes by quicker than I want it to. We reach our street and not a word from either of us has been uttered.

He's acting a bit different, distant, since our kiss and I can't figure out why. Did he regret kissing me? He was the one who made that bet.

Was I a bad kisser? I was told that I'm a good—no, great—kisser, so that possibility is slim.

Is he waiting for me to say something? I want to but I don't know what!

The building of my dormitory comes into view. The sound of my heels clicking on the asphalt is the only sound I can hear beside my thoughts, and it's almost driving me crazy.

Why did he offer to walk me back home when he was planning on staying mute the entire way home?

I open my purse and reach for the chip card so I can unlock the main door of the building. The back of our palms touch and I sense his eyes on me, but I just keep mine focused forward because I'm sure he'll look away when our eyes meet.

The front gate opens with a click sound. I walk inside and he follows me to the third door on the right, which is my dorm. I put the key in and open the door. I turn around to face him. His hands are in the front pockets of his shorts.

"Thank you for walking me back." I say with a soft smile.

He clears his throat before he speaks. "Yeah, sure. No problem."

He looks at my eyes and doesn't look away. My smile broadens at that. He didn't look away this time.

His gaze dips down to my lips. I want him to lean in and connect our lips.

He doesn't.

I take a small step forward. His eyes flick back up to my eyes. I see a slightly surprised look in them.

I put my hand on his shoulder and lean in. My face is inches away from his. I can feel his breath fanning my face. Our noses touch just slightly.

My head moves direction, and my lips connect with his left cheek. They linger on his cheek for a bit longer than necessary.

I back away, but not entirely, then I whisper a soft "goodnight" to him.

"Goodnight." He whispers back, his voice thick.

Removing my hand from his shoulder, I turn sideways so I can completely open the door. I step on the threshold and glance at him. His lips are parted and I regret kissing his cheek instead of his plump lips.

Before shutting the door shut, I give him one last smile.

I fall asleep replaying the amazing kiss in my head.

☀ ☀ ☀

Friday morning, I wake up pretty early since my body is used to it. I get up and decide to tidy my room a bit while Sara is still sleeping.

She really is not a morning person.

Eating a quick breakfast, I decide it's the perfect weather for a run. The sun is out, but it's slightly clouded. The early morning breeze makes my entire body erupt in goose bumps.

I start jogging, warming up. When I reach the end of my street, I go faster. I take the same route I always do when I sometimes go on runs. Past Ben's house and toward the beach–my favorite place on earth. As I get closer to the ocean, the air starts getting a bit colder. But it feels amazing on my hot body.

I take a seat on the bench that faces the waves and catch my breath. I

The main two reasons why I applied for UM is, one, because my mom lives here and two, because of the view I'm currently staring at. I'll never be bored by it. There aren't many people laying on the sand, only a few people running, and it just feels so peaceful sitting here, listening to the sound of waves crashing.

Standing up again, I run back to my dorm. When I enter, Sara is just coming out of her bedroom, rubbing her eyes.

"Good morning, sunshine," I say with an amused smile.

Sara grunts in response. She can't function without having her coffee first. I take the time that she has to drink it to take a shower. She'll be more energized after caffeine in her body and I won't feel so sticky with sweat.

Seeing as I have classes for the rest of the day, I dress in my go-to outfit for that occasion; jean shorts and a tank top.

"What time did you come back yesterday?" She asks when I re-enter the living room. I open the fridge and get the ingredients to make a protein shake.

"Some time past one."

"Something interesting happened after I disappeared?" She asks and I still.

Is this a trick question? Does she already know I kissed Luca?

I was going to tell her anyway, so I might as well say it now.

Facing her, I shake my bottle to mix the protein with the milk. The corners of my lips lift and I nod my head.

She narrows her eyes. "What did you do?" I drink the shake and walk to the living room. "Izzy!" She calls after me.

I ignore her and continue drinking. I can hear her footsteps approaching me.

"Isabella Davis! Tell me. What did you do?" She has her hands on her hips, as if she's disciplining a child. She even used my full name.

"Why do you always assume I did a bad thing?" My bottom lip sticks out in a mocking pout.

I can totally understand why she thinks I did something 'bad'.

I became the talk of the town several times after a party. One time I started line dancing like that scene from the Footloose movie on a table in the middle of the living room. Sara joined me and then more girls started dancing with us. Eventually almost everyone in the room started doing a drunk version of the dance.

Another time Ben and I started chanting our favorite childhood song using the mics from a karaoke set. Everyone started cheering and pretending we were some famous band. My mother shared that YouTube video on her Facebook and her her Facebook friends found it hilarious.

From what I've heard, my mom was even worse than Ben and I during college. No wonder we turned out this way. She has done more wild things than both her children have done combined,

She scoffs. "Do I need to remind you the time you started line dancing on the table or the time you dared a random guy you could break his nose from a single punch or the time you decided it was a good idea to try–"

"Okay, okay. I get it. Damn." No need to remind me.

She sits next to me as I place my empty bottle on the table and she raises an eyebrow.

"Well, this time it wasn't anything bad. Though all those things you just said weren't that bad. Like come on, people still tell me they had the most fun when we danced on the table or when I make dares with other students."

"You may be right but some stuff you got dared to do were really absurd and stupid and if Ben didn't intervene and scare off the other person..." she jitters at the thought of what potentially could have happened.

I roll my eyes at her. She is chastising me for those things, but half of the time she did them with me.

She motions with her hand for me to continue.

"So this time I did nothing–" I lift my hands to use air quotes "--bad or anything. It was quite the opposite, actually." I can't help the smile that tugs at my lips as I recall the heated kiss between Luca and I.

"Ooh, please continue."

I tell her the story behind the beer pong competition. She listens with a shocked expression. I then retell her the event of the amazing kiss that I shared with Luca.

"I think we made out for a full five minutes." I finish. She stares at me for a few seconds, processing all the information.

Then she squeals. "Oh, my God! This is awesome. So what happened after? Please tell me you've hooked up with him?"

I remember how he got kind of weird with me, and I frown.

"We got interrupted by his phone. He offered to walk me back here, but he said nothing the entire way and I didn't either." I shrug.

Her eyebrows furrow a little. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"I didn't know what to say. Every time we made eye contact, he looked away. Maybe he regretted it." I hope not, because I don't.

"I don't think so." She shakes her head. I open my mouth but she continues, "Maybe he got nervous or something. Or he thinks you're out of his league–and you are." She winks, trying to assure me, but the thought that he might have regretted the kiss keeps on getting stronger.

"I can tell Alex to talk to him. You know, from dude to dude. See what he–" I shake my head to interrupt her.

"No, no need. I'll talk to him myself." I'm sure we'll run into each other a lot and spend time together because he's friends with Sara and Alex and I'm friends with them.

She nods and stands up, "I have a class in an hour so I'm gonna get ready." She kisses my cheek and goes to her room.

The next couple of days I was busy with schoolwork. I had lunch with Ben. Finished an essay in advance. Worked on my project. Went to visit my mom on the weekend.

I hadn't seen Luca since the kiss happened on Thursday and I was busy, so I had little time to think about it. And how weird it got afterwards.

It is now Wednesday evening, and I lay on my back, panting and catching my breath.

I stare at the white ceiling when his head comes to lay on my naked chest.

"Stay the night," His voice comes out muffled because his lips are pressed against my skin.

"I can't." I say.

His head lifts to look at me. "You can, you just don't want to."

I sigh. "I told you, I don't like spending the night."

"But just this one time ple–"

"Jace." I say, shaking my head. He sighs and rolls off me.

Jace and I have been sleeping together since last summer. After hooking up at a party, we both came back for seconds because we liked it that much.

We've been friends since I was a freshman, and now we are friends with the added benefit of having sex together every week.

We have a nice deal going on.

It's easier to just sleep together than having one-night stands with strangers, since we learned the other person's likes and dislikes and we've become quite comfortable with each other.

If he or I are ever in a situation and we sleep with someone else, it's fine as long as we tell each other. This way we can talk about getting tested or not before having sex together again.

Safety first!

That hasn't happened yet.

I stand up and start putting on my clothes. Jace is laying on his back with his arms behind his head. The muscles on his chest are on full display. His blonde hair is dishevelled from my fingers tugging at the roots. His eyes are still glossy over from his orgasms.

I smirk when I catch him looking at my boobs as they bounce softly from tugging on my leggings.

When I finish putting on my clothes, I put my hands on his chest and lean forward to give Jace one last kiss.

"Thank you for the amazing sex." I say in my most seductive voice against his lips.

He groans, and my smirk deepens.

I open the door of his room and take and peek out at the hall to see if there are other people walking around. When I don't see anyone—including Ben—I step outside and walk fast till I reach my car.

Nobody, except for Sara, knows of our deal. I don't want everyone knowing who I sleep and don't sleep with. And I don't want to tell Ben because he wouldn't be that happy that I'm sleeping with his teammate, roommate and best friend.

Ben has never explicitly told me not to sleep with his teammates but after sleeping with a couple of football players and then Ben almost beating them up because they started bragging about the fact in the locker room, I decided to stay clear of the footballers after that.

Well, except for Jace...

☀ ☀ ☀

A/N:

Did you see that thing with Jace coming? Let me know and don't forget to click on the star.