p style="text-align: center;"span style="text-decoration: underline;"strongChapter Seven/strong/span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strongJeremiah: /strong/p
p style="text-align: left;"Excitement and terror surged through my body. Belly wanted to come back to my house. Granted it was my frat house but she wanted me to be the one to comfort her. She told me she needed a minute to get ready and went to the bathroom without any further explanation. She told me to wait in the hallway. Through the door I could hear her on the phone. /p
p style="text-align: left;""Tay... Yes he came... No nothing happened... I'm ok... Don't do anything illegal, Conrad's not worth it! I have to go." So Taylor was just as mad as I am at Conrad, at the moment. Good to know. A few minutes later Belly came out of her room. She was carrying a small overnight bag and I wondered if she was planning on staying the night. She had pulled her hair back into a pony tail but a few wisps escaped and framed her face. She truly was the most beautiful person on the planet. I can never imagine loving anyone else. We walked across campus in silence, not daring to mentioning Conrad and his surprise visit. /p
p style="text-align: left;"_/p
p style="text-align: left;"After hours of the two of us talking and stuffing our faces with takeout in my room, I finally got up the nerve to ask some real questions. "Belly, what did Conrad say to you?" I figured I should be as up front as possible if I was going to get some real answers out of her. /p
p style="text-align: left;""He told me he still loved me. He wanted to get back together," She didn't look me in the eye. She stared down at her takeout container, fiddling with the last of her noodles. /p
p style="text-align: left;""What did you tell him?" I had to know if she still loves him. She obviously doesn't want to get back together or she wouldn't have been crying when I came over. /p
p style="text-align: left;""I said that I couldn't handle anything like that now."/p
p style="text-align: left;"Her answers could not have been more dry. She wasn't telling me everything. "I only have one more question. I promise."/p
p style="text-align: left;""Ok."/p
p style="text-align: left;""Why did you bring that overnight bag?" I don't know why I was so nervous to hear the answer. There could be a lot of different explanations for her bringing a bag. /p
p style="text-align: left;"She finally looked up and met my gaze. She reached up her right hand and cupped the left side of my face, just like I had done yesterday. She leaned in very slowly, very gently, and pressed her lips against mine. It was the most innocent kiss but it held so much emotion and meaning. /p
p style="text-align: left;"When she didn't pull away, I grabbed the back of her neck and pulled her body against mine. I had waited so long for this. She tasted like Chapstick and smelled fresh, like deodorant. It was intoxicating. I ran my fingers through her hair as I slipped my tongue into her mouth. She did the same to me. Suddenly, we were full-on making out. Somewhere in the midst of all of this, we managed to get over to the bed. I was tugging at the hem of her shirt when she flinched. /p
p style="text-align: center;"strongBelly: /strong/p
p style="text-align: left;"Jeremiah and I had never slept together. I was always waiting for the perfect moment. I wanted my first time to happen at the beach house. I wanted it to be romantic, with candles and rose petals and everything. After we got engaged I just figured we should wait until the honeymoon and then we broke up. I never dated any one in Spain. So that left me here, in a frat house, on Jeremiah's bed, making out, and a virgin. /p
p style="text-align: center;"strongJeremiah: /strong/p
p style="text-align: left;"Right after she pulled away from me and hesitated I knew I was an ass. When we were dating, she was still a virgin. I just figured she had lost it to somebody in Spain. But I should have known that Belly could never do something like that. Everything with her had to be special and meaningful. She would never lose her virginity to some random guy. /p
p style="text-align: left;""We don't have to," I didn't want to pressure her into doing something that she didn't want to do. I didn't even know if she was stable enough to handle something like this. Conrad had been on her doorstep and in her room a few hours ago. Hell, a few hours ago she was telling me she wasn't ready for a relationship and she wanted to focus on herself. /p
p style="text-align: left;""Ok. Can I stay here with you though?" /p
p style="text-align: left;"She sounded like a little kid again. "Of course. We can do anything you want."/p
p style="text-align: left;"_/p
p style="text-align: left;"Belly left to change into her pajamas and brush her teeth. I told her to use the bathroom across the hall so she didn't bump into any of the frat brothers downstairs. When she came back to the room I couldn't help but smile. She was in a spaghetti strap tank top and emshort /emNike shorts. She climbed right into bed next to me and got under the covers. I wrapped my arm around her and she nuzzled her head into the space between my shoulder and chest. It fit perfectly, almost like we were made for each other. /p
p style="text-align: left;"When I thought Belly was asleep, I kissed the top of her head and whispered, "I love you."/p
p style="text-align: left;"With her eyes remaining closed she responded, "I didn't tell you everything before. I told Conrad that I thought you and him took turns breaking my heart. I told him that it felt like I was destined to be hurt by the Fisher boys, over and over again." /p
p style="text-align: left;"She didn't say anything else. I held my breath. Her confession felt like a punch in the gut. All the air was taken from my lungs. Her breathing quickly slowed and she rolled over in the other direction. I didn't sleep at all. I just kept thinking about how badly Conrad and I had screwed Belly up. /p
p style="text-align: left;"I hated to admit it, but what Belly said was true. Conrad's changing feelings for Belly gave everybody trying to understand their relationship whiplash and I had cheated on Belly and then basically left her at the alter. I had no clue how she could still stand to be in the same room with either of us. I just wish that one day she could find it in her heart to forgive me. /p