1/28/08

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Mina and Kevin walked out of the pool hall and towards the alleyway between the pool hall and the neighboring building.

The alley was dark and had a lone lamp in the middle with puddles of moisture collecting randomly. A dirty dumpster with more trash around it than in it gave off fumes of pungent old trash.

Mina crinkled her nose as she tried to keep her sweats from dragging on the ground, soaking up any of the mysterious puddles on the ground.

They stopped a few feet into the alleyway, with the lamp standing a few more feet away from them casting shadows over their faces.

At first neither of them said anything.

Mina was sick of this. He was the one who wanted to talk and now he wasn't even saying anything. It felt like he was waiting for her to say something.

Oh hell no.

"Look Kevin, I don't have time waiting around for you to say whatever it is you need to say. I'm tired, this hasn't been that great of a day for me and I want to just go home".

Kevin looked at her and wished he could actually see her face. All he saw was her body position and from her crossed arms and tapping foot, her body language was definitely saying impatience and a low tolerance.

Kevin stepped in closer to her, bringing their bodies closer.

His brain had shut down and all the words he wanted to say to her disappeared.

Why did this have to be so hard?

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FLASHBACK

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He had always had a crush on her. It was obvious to everyone. The first time he saw her in that bookstore, with the beginning of the semester of rush of students scrambling for the last used textbooks. She was reaching up on a high shelf trying to get a book that had been pushed back from the edge. She was wearing a jean mini skirt and a t-shirt that had the school's name on it with some flip-flops. Her stretching up caused her shirt to ride up and showed off her flat stomach, but since her back was to him, her smooth back was shown.

Kevin wasn't the only one that had noticed Mina. She was beautiful, and hard to miss. In addition, she was semi-famous for being a swimsuit model. She had posed for last year's calendar of girls on campus, making her one of the well-known students on campus.

But Mina wasn't malicious as was a common trait for other beauties, thus making her even more popular and well liked.

Kevin had always been a shy and quiet guy. He had a presence about him that commanded respect, thus keeping away the bullies when he was growing up. His tall and fit physique also helped keep the bullies away. His physique also attracted the females.

Girls loved Kevin's brooding personality and his football player physique but were soon turned off when Kevin wouldn't respond to their advances and hints.

It wasn't Kevin's fault. He had wanted to respond to a few girls but in reality he couldn't. Kevin was more of a gentle giant than anything else. He shot to his 6'5 frame at a young age and his strength came before grace. The combination of his natural shyness and clumsiness made a few of his younger years hard on his self-esteem.

However, Kevin soon mastered his strength and grew more comfortable in his skin. He was the university's star defensive player. But sadly, Kevin was still shy, especially around girls he thought were hot.

And to Kevin, Mina was smoking hot.

Which meant that Kevin was already reduced to this pile of mush with his tongue glued to the roof of his mouth just by looking at her.

But by some strange twist of fate, they had the same friends and Kevin was always around Mina. That gave him a distinct advantage over the rest of the male population at school however Kevin had yet to use his advantage.

It wasn't until that one faithful night when he was at home alone.

Instead of going out to some random house party, Kevin had decided to stay home by himself. He had his schoolbooks spread out on the kitchen table, however all he could do was stare out the window.

It was raining that night and as a particularly bright flash of lightening streaked across the sky, the electricity went out.

Annoyed, Kevin flicked the switch a few times to make sure that the lights were out and flipped it off in disgust. He went over to the kitchen, looking through the pantry and drawers for a candle. He knew his mother had left some somewhere when he had first moved in.

"Ah ha!" he said to himself as he pulled a set of emergency candles. Grabbing a cup from the cupboard, he stuffed in about 4 candles into one cup. He grabbed his stovetop lighter and lit all four candles. The light from the four candles was bright as he put the cup on the kitchen counter. He walked out of the kitchen and was about to settle on the couch when there was a soft knock at the door.

At first he thought he was hearing things, but went to check. He peeked through the hole and saw Mina.

He quickly opened the door to find her completely soaked with a sad expression on her face.

"Mina what happened?"

"Can I come in?"

Kevin wanted to smack himself on the head for not letting her in sooner and quickly opened the door wider.

He led her to sit on the couch as he went to the bathroom to grab a few big plush towels.

Mina opted to stand as to not ruin the leather couch. Kevin came back and wrapped a towel around her, placing one on the couch and then giving her the other to dry herself off with.

He went back into his room and grabbed a t-shirt a pair of his old sweats that he had grown out of before going back into the living room.

"Here, you can borrow these. You'll get sick if you stay in those wet clothes"

He held out the clothes to her but she didn't seem to be paying attention. She was staring out the sliding glass doors watching the rain pelting against the glass.

"Mina? You okay?" he asked her before setting the clothes on the coffee table. He sensed that she was deeply hurt.

She turned towards him and the sadness in her beautiful blue eyes was staggering. He wanted to kill whoever made her feel this way and to hug her close to him.

But he did neither. Instead he sat down on the couch next to her at a respectable distance.

She followed his movements with her eyes and finally spoke.

"You like me right Kevin?"

Kevin felt his face flush, as he knew that she wasn't asking about him liking her as just a friend.

She turned towards him, bringing one of her legs up on the couch as she sat facing him. She saw him blushing, and knew her answer.

"Kevin, look at me." He turned to look at her and slowly they leaned closer to each other.

When they could feel their breaths on each other's faces, he whispered "Mina…"

She stared into his beautiful light gray eyes and closed the last distance between their lips.

Kevin brought up his hands to bring her in closer, as Mina held his face between her hands. She wanted to keep him from pulling away but Kevin didn't want to be anywhere else than right there with her.

She angled her head to get closer as she got the taste of him, alternating between nibbling his lips and meshing their tongues together. He gave a little groan and the rush of power she felt from eliciting that kind of response from Kevin gave her a little thrill.

She tasted so sweet to him and at once he was addicted to it. He knew that he had to have more of her.

He kissed her along her jaw and down her neck, nipping at random places on her neck causing her to shiver in delight.

She panted against his ear and the rush of air against his ear urged him on. He leaned back into the couch and she straddled him before laying down allowing full body contact.

She pulled back to bring their lips together and kissed him again. He tasted so good, like a man and she loved it. But there were too many clothes between them so she sat up and pulled her wet shirt over hear head before throwing it away randomly.

He looked up into her face and slid his gaze down to her wet bra covering her luscious breasts, down to her smooth toned stomach. He slid his hands up from her hips and brushed his thumbs along the sides of her breasts, underneath her bra.

"Mina" he said before she unclasped her bra and threw it off. She leaned down to kiss him as he sat up to pull off his own shirt and to meet her lips.

He started to kiss down her neck, to her chest, causing her to throw her head back allowing him even more access as they both sat up to in equal height. She cradled his head to her chest as he gave open-mouthed kisses against her skin.

The bright candle slowly melted onto the countertop, the melting wax overflowing the cup – dripping onto the countertop.

But neither Mina nor Kevin were aware or paying any attention. They were in the heat of the moment and there was no going back.

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That was how their 'understanding' started.

She made it clear the next morning that all she wasn't looking for a relationship but she believed that they should continue on as they had the night before. A mutual physical understanding is what she had told him that she had wanted. At first Kevin was ecstatic to have her be with him and agreed but then he wanted more.

He wanted her exclusively.

When they were out, they acted as they always had. No one knew about their physical relationships and Kevin was jealous of all the guys she flirted with.

And now here they were in an alleyway and all Kevin had to do was say it. He feared rejection but what he didn't know was that it was already a done deal, as Mina wanted him too.

She just wanted him to be the one who admitted it first. She had her pride and vanity. Guys chased after her, not the other way around.

It made Mina conceited when it came to guys but guys were also always the ones who betrayed her. She needed Kevin, one of the best guys she had ever met, to say it. She needed protection.

She needed Kevin.

"Mina, I-" he started to say before his throat dried up. He cleared his throat, "Mina, I want – "

Mina looked up into his eyes earnestly, her body language changing from one of impatience to one of eagerness. She shuffled in closer to him and looked up into his eyes earnestly.

She bit her bottom lip, waiting for Kevin to say what they both had on their minds.

"Me too" she said. His eyes widen in shock at what she said. She never was good with patience.

He broke out into a beautiful genuine smile that Mina could see through the shadows of the alleyway. She smiled back as well and kissed him.

He leaned down to wrap his arms around her waist as her arms came up around his neck and he stood up with her in his arms, her feet dangling.

They twisted their mouths to get closer together.

And breathed a mental sigh of relief: FINALLY.