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It's been a few days since Katrina and Roman had talked and she had no idea why. Apparently niether did Derek and she had to admit, it made her sad knowing that it seemed and felt like Roman was trying to avoid her. She wondered if it had anything to do with Josh and started to think that he was the reason why he seemed distant lately. They would pass by each other and Roman would see the hurt in her eyes, and it killed him.
It made him feel worse for not talking to her until one day, he found himself texting her during a class. Luckily, they were taking a test and he frowned when Katrina never replied back. He found himself getting a bit of a taste of his own medicine and thought that she wouldn't show up to meet him in the locker room.
After practice, he went back to the weight room and drowned himself in working out after the entire team left. Roman went straight to taking a shower once he was done and leaned his head back against the wall as the water hit him as he thought about Katrina. Getting out of the shower, he put his regular clothes on and grabbed his things. When Roman looked down at his throbbing hand, he remembered the punch that he gave a locker earlier in the day, putting more of a dent to it than what was already there.
It was starting to swell a little and he decided to go to the trainers room to have it checked it out after convincing himself to do so. Roman made his way, cursing under his breath. Derek found Roman on his way there and accompanied him.
"Have you talked to Katrina today?" Asked Roman.
Derek shook his head. "I haven't talked to her since last night. I don't even know if she came to school today and she always lets me know when she gets to school."
They walked into the trainers room and Derek stayed by the door while Mr. Michaels checked his hand as Roman told him what had happened to cause his hand to start getting red and a bit swollen.
"There's nothing broken or fractured." Michaels said as he examined Roman's. "It doesn't seem to go deep enough to hurt the bone. You can move your fingers really well and it doesn't bother that much when you do. It's most likely just some bruising that's making it hurt along with the impact of when you hit it. I'm going to wrap it up, but keep from putting pressure on it. Put some ice on it as well to see if that'll help with the swelling because I'm sure that you're going to have some by the way that it's starting to look. Before I do that though, I want to get at least one x-ray to make sure that there's nothing wrong."
After they did everything that they were supposed to, Roman's hand was wrapped and had a bag of ice on it. Derek walked in and sat in front of Roman who wouldn't make any eye contact with him.
"You think she hates me?" He asked softly.
Derek looked up at him and knew who Roman was talking about. "No, she doesn't hate you. But I'm sure she's wanting to know why you haven't talked to her the last few days."
"I really do want to know." Said a voice coming from the door. It was Katrina standing there, with her arms crossed. Her long, chesnut brown hair was pin straight and reached just below the belt on her grey skinny jeans. Katrina's pink shirt, perfectly fit every curve that she had from the waist up and her blue eyes were stronger than the last time that Roman saw them. As much as he knew that Katrina may be upset with him, he couldn't help but get that thought in the back of his head about how sexy she looked when she's upset.
Derek took that as a cue to step out into the hallway and give them some privacy after giving Katrina a hug. She slightly closed the door and walked up to Roman who had his back towards the door. Stepping in the v of his legs, she gently grabbed the bandaged hand with one hand and the ice on it with her other hand.
"I'm sorry for how I've been acting towards you, lately and for not talking to you." Said Roman, barely above a whisper.
Katrina sighed and pressed her forehead against his. "Why are you acting the way that you are? Did I do or say something wrong?"
He shook his head. "No...but when I saw you and Josh talking that day after lunch, I'll admit that I got jealous. Hell, I was jealous the entire day knowing that he had your undivided attention and I couldn't even go kiss you and act like your boyfriend."
"Josh didn't have my undivided attention, Roman." She told him. "I was barely paying attention to him half the time. Part of it was because I had two research papers to finish that are worth over half of my grade and the other part was because I couldn't stop thinking about you. That was the most that we've talked since we met and I don't know why he all of a sudden cares to try."
"Because I think he likes you." Said Roman. "Or least, thinks that you're cute."
Katrina smiled when he looked down at his hand. "You were jealous?"
He looked up at her and into her blue eyes that he loved so much. "You're my girlfriend, Katrina. I want to hold your hand like all of the couples here do and kiss you in front of everyone. I want to show you off and let people see that I'm proud to have you instead of waiting until we're out of school to do that. I want to tell people that I'm taken and that I'm yours and yours alone and show it. I knew that it was going to be hard while we're at school, but it's even harder now because..."
"What is it?" She quietly asked.
Roman sat up a little straighter and looked at her. "Because I'm in love with you and I promised myself that I would never give up on us. I can't give up on the girl I love."
Katrina looked at him softly and grabbed his face with her hands. "You really love me?"
He nodded and remained serious. They heard some voices in the hallway, but nobody came into the room, so they continued their conversation. "Seeing you with Josh...it just proved to me even more, how much I'm in love with you."
She smiled at Roman and touched his nose with hers. "I'm in love you, too. But that still doesn't get you off the hook for why you've been acting like you have. It hurts when I walk past you and you don't even do anything. Not even smile. It makes me think I did something wrong."
Roman chuckled. "I know I have to make it up to you. What can I do?"
Katrina thought for a moment as she looked around. "You can start by promising me that you'll come talk to me if you ever feel like this. I won't know unless you tell me and we can't work on it if we don't communicate with each other."
"I promise." He told her. "I'm really sorry, Katrina."
"I know you are." She told him. "I understand it being hard because it's hard for me too. I want to scratch the eyes out of the girls that I see just drooling over you. But it's scary for me too because I've never been in love with anyone before."
They heard Derek say Josh's name loud enough for both of them to hear and they quickly backed away from each other. Katrina sat on the chair that was there and crossed her legs with Roman immediatley missing the warmth from her body near his. Josh peaked through the door and saw Katrina's eyes shoot straight to him with a look on her face.
"I'm sorry. I just wanted to see if you were here." Said Josh.
Roman looked at Katrina and smiled to himself, seeing the look on her face. "Is something wrong? How did you even know that I was here, I didn't tell anybody that I was coming here. All I did was ask on how to get here."
Josh thought for a moment before responding. "I asked for you and they said that you were going to meet up with a friend. I just wanted to see you is all."
"I needed to talk to Professor Reigns about something." Katrina told him. "It's important, can you wait a bit longer?"
He stood there as if he didn't hear a word that Katrina said, making her a bit annoyed. "Josh, I'm not in the mood right now for you to act like you didn't hear a damn thing that I said. I told you it's important,what I need to tell him. You have Derek to keep you company until I come back out. Now, go before my hand gives you a reason to."
"Fiesty today, aren't you?" He asked as he walked back out, closing the door completely behind him.
Katrina sighed and looked at her converse sneakers. She wanted to change into more comfortable shoes after her last class and decided to just leave her books in her car when she went to go get them. Looking up at Roman, he was already gazing at her and signaled her to come to him.
He gently grabbed her hips and pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her as his lips met hers for a kiss. Katrina placed her hands on the sides of his face to keep kissing him as she snuggled as close to him as she could. Knowing that she was just melting in his arms, he sweetened the kiss and forgot about where they were. Feeling him tighten his arms around her, she slightly pulled away.
"I don't want you to hurt your hand anymore than what it already is." She whispered against his lips.
"Don't worry about my hand." He said as his lips brushed against hers before another kiss and felt his silky tounge pass by her bottom lip, wanting to enter her mouth. Katrina opened her mouth a little more and allowed entry. She moaned softly when she felt Roman's tounge against hers as their kiss became passionate. He felt the hard on beginning to form in his pants when he heard the sound of her moans. Roman's hands traveled down to her perfectly round bum, and gently squeezed it, making Katrina moan even more.
"Have I mentioned that you look amazing in skinny jeans?" Roman whispered huskily against her lips when he pulled back.
Katrina giggled softly. "You're a mess."
Roman grinned at her. "Can you stay the night with me?"
"I thought you were going to hang out with Dean because of the away games you have this weekend." Said Katrina, still in his arms.
He nodded. "He is, but he's leaving when it's all done. I want you to spend the remainder of the night with me."
There was just something about the way his voice sounded when he said that to Katrina, that made shivers go down her spine. She bit her lip and looked into his eyes.
"I'll get some clothes from my place and I'll go." She agreed. "Just let me know when you have your place all to yourself."
"Maybe I can make it up to you, tonight." He whispered huskily against her lips, driving her crazy and having another kiss being shared before forcing themselves to pull away from each other. Wiping any evidence from their lips, of the kiss that they had been sharing for the last five minutes, Katrina straightend out her shirt and her hair before blushing at the wink that Roman had given her before watching her walk away.
Walking out, Katrina saw Josh standing next to Derek. She crossed her arms again and stared at Josh while the trainer went back into the room to talk to Roman.
"What are you really doing here, Josh?" Asked Katrina. "I didn't tell you I was coming here to meet up with Derek and Professor Reigns."
"Why don't you trust me?" He asked.
Katrina scoffed and looked at Derek. "This is about trust now? Darling, we've known each other for five years and now you, all of a sudden, give a damn about wanting anything to do with me and you want me to just quickly trust that because you're nice to me?"
Josh looked at her and had nothing to say about what he had just heard. "Do you even know why Derek and I confide in him as much as we do?"
"Because he's a nice guy?" He asked, in a guessing type of tone.
"Professor Reigns is the best teacher that I've ever had." Derek answered. "He has taken the time to get to know me and he has taken the time out to get to know why I love writing so much. He has become a mentor to me and he has helped me develop my creativity and to go to a whole other level that I never thought possible."
Katrina walked closer to him. "But most importantly, he gives people a safe haven to go and talk about whatever is on their mind. He doesn't judge and he won't go telling your business to other people. We confide in him and for you to come after me...if you wanted to talk to me, we had like two classes together today. You could have talked to me before and after class. I don't bite."
She walked away and left him standing there with Derek. Katrina didn't want to give anything away as to why she trusted Roman so much, and left before he ran her mouth to the point of no return for trying to defend something.
Before driving off in her brand new Range Rover, that she had gotten before the semester started, she texted Derek to let Roman know that she was going to get a few things for later on in the night.
Meanwhile...
"So Katrina's coming over later?" Asked Dean as they tried out that new restaurant the Derek and Katrina mentioned to them earlier in the week.
Roman nodded as he drank some of his soda. "I wanted to spend some time with her before I left for the weekend for the away games. It's been a rough week, so I'm hoping we could end the week on a good note."
After Roman got home, he took a quick shower and set some things up in the living room for when Katrina got there. He heard the doorbell ring and was surprised to know that she came a few minutes earlier than what he thought she would and greeted her with a kiss. Because he had already shown her around earlier in their relationship, she went straight to his bedroom to put her things down and didn't have a problem finding it.
Katrina came back downstairs in shorts and a white tank top, and barefoot. Roman smiled at her, like he always did whenever he saw her and let her sit in between his legs as he sat on the floor by the couch. He had a blanket that he covered her with and gave her a small plate with cheesecake on it with two forks for them to share. Kissing the tattoo on her shoulder, she snuggled closer to him and turned her head to kiss his cheek. After finishing their cheesecake, Roman went back to cuddling with Katrina before talking again.
"The reason I don't talk much about my feelings is because of what I've been through in the past." He told her softly as he rested his chin on her shoulder. "I always got called a big baby or a softie for talking about my feelings, so eventually I just stopped and I became the man who doesn't always show what he's feeling. The last time I talked about what I felt to a girl, I got hurt big time and so I got scared that it would happen to me again."
Katrina stayed quiet for a moment before responding. "You can always talk to me about anything. I won't judge you for it. I actually like when you do. It lets me see a different side to you that I don't always see."
They laced their fingers together and held hands while they ended up talking about random things and laughing at what others may consider the stupidest jokes. But Katrina and Roman didn't care. They loved the moments like this that they got to share without any interruptions or worrying about anything.
"Roman?" Asked Katrina after about two hours of talking, nonstop. It was about to be one in the morning and they were both still wide awake.
"Yeah?" He asked, giving her shoulder another kiss.
She thought for a moment, wondering how to form the words for what she wanted to say.
"Can you make love to me tonight?" She asked, softly. Looking up at Roman, he looked into her blue eyes and allowed her eyes to let him know that it was something that she wanted.
"Are you sure?" He asked, anyways. Roman wanted to be positive that she wouln't end up feeling forced into it.
Katrina nodded, gently squeezing his hands. Pulling her up, he grabbed her hand and took her upstairs after turning the lights off, downstairs. When they got to Roman's room, he closed the door behind them and took Katrina in his arms. He laid her down without breaking the kiss that they now shared. Feeling their legs getting tangled up with each others, Roman's tougne licked her lips, and Katrina quickly allowed entry. She moaned feeling his silky tounge against hers and felt Roman's hard on beginning to form underneath his pants.
"I don't want you to feel forced to do this." Roman whispered against her lips.
"I obviously want this, otherwise I wouldn't have asked you to make love to me." Replied Katrina. "How is that me being forced to be intimate with you?"
Roman stared at her and quickly thought of something to prevent it from going wrong. "I just wanted to make sure. And I don't have a condom, by the way."
Katrina blinked a few times before sitting up when she almost shoved Roman off of her. "Are you trying to make me say to just forget about it?"
"I just don't want to risk anything." Said Roman. "It's your first time and I don't want to risk having us getting pregnant."
"We weren't thinking about that all of those times when I was in your office in the locker room and we almost had sex, had it not been for something going on to stop us." Katrina told him after giving a sharp scoff. "So why are we all of a sudden thinking about condoms?"
He stayed quiet, not knowing what to say. He tried to de-escalate the situation and he couldn't find a way to do so.
"Are you still upset about the whole Josh situation?" Asked Katrina.
"This has nothing to do with Josh." He replied, but he knew that the feelings that he had towards that situation were definitely playing a part in what was going on. He wanted to tell the world that he's hers and not have to worry about any other guy, just like she wouldn't have to worry about him being with anyone else. He knew that if they were to be intimate, he wouldn't be able to keep them a secret from everybody at school much longer. Roman wasn't going to risk having her career get messed up before she even graduated.
"Then what the hell is with all of the questions?" She asked.
Seeing the look of embarrasement on Katrina's face as it turned a slight shade of red, he reached out to grab her hand, only to have her pull away before Roman could reach her hand. He saw as Katrina tried to fight back some tears as she fixed her hair before pulling the covers over her and laying with her back towards Roman.
She felt stupid for even considering being intimate with Roman tonight and it broke her heart. It's like that pain that you swear you could feel in your chest when you hear or see something that you don't want to. Right now, she felt like Roman didn't want her in an intimate way. Or at least as much as he made it out to be. Had any of those passionate moments that they shared over the last few weeks mean anything to Roman, because it sure meant a lot to Katrina.
The next day...
Katrina sat in the passenger seat of Roman's Tahoe as he drove to school to meet up with the team to get on their way to a college in Tallahassee for their first away game of the college football season. For the first time in his life, he would allow someone else to drive his car without him being around. She was quiet the entire time and didn't even make a sound throughout the entire ride. Not even when some of her favorite songs were playing on the radio. Roman knew that she was upset and for her to be this quiet, meant that she was livid.
They got to the school parking lot and turned the car off when Roman parked it. He opened the back to get his bags out and saw some of his players already there with the Assistant Coach walking up to them with his bags in hand.
"Katrina, I'm sorry about last night." He whispered to her as she stood next to him, not once allowing her face to be seen by the people already there in case there was somebody there that may have seen her around school.
"Sure." She whispered back. Katrina was hurting and he could see it on her face.
Roman sighed as he finished taking the last of his bags out of the trunk. "I really do want you in that way. I think about it all the time. But the things that may happen if we were to be intimate now...I don't want to risk anything."
"What are we going to risk?" She asked sharply. Her tounge oozed of poison and she was holding back from striking.
"You know how much more protective I'll be of you, Katrina?" Roman asked. "On top of that, I won't be able to keep my hands off of you. You think it's hard for me now to keep us a secret in and around school, imagine after we become intimate. The entire school will know about us, within a matter of hours. Possibly within minutes because of technology."
"That still doesn't change the fact that I wanted it." Katrina said softly.
He sighed and saw her step back before he even reached for her. "I don't know how to deal with keeping us a secret. I want us to be exclusive to everyone. But that would include everyone here at school as well. I think we should wait a little longer before becoming intimate. Maybe until you graduate."
"Next semester will be my last." Said Katrina, almost in a pleading voice. "But that means that my graduation won't be until May at the latest, Roman."
It broke his heart, because he knew that he would give in because his own will power wasn't strong enough to avoid Katrina's touch. He can't even avoid her for more than a few hours because he goes crazy when he does.
"Just go." Said Katrina, with a small whimper in her voice. "Go be with your team. Good luck in your games, and I genuinly hope that you win. Hopefully I'll be able to see at least one of your games this weekend."
She closed the trunk and tip-toed to kiss Roman's cheek. He wrapped an arm around her and hugged her tightly. It took a while, but Katrina eventually wrapped her arms around his neck.
"I love you." She whispered in his ear as tears fell from the corner of her eyes.
"I love you, too."
Pulling back, he looked at her and allowed his eyes to linger on her strong blue eyes as he stroked her cheek. Leaning in to his hand, she closed her eyes and felt even more tears fall before pulling away.
"I'll see you when you get home. Be safe." Katrina told him and walked away. He heard the door close and the engine turn on as he walked away. When he got to the rest of the team, he looked back to see Katrina carefully backing out of the parking. She honked the horn when she saw him with his team and drove off.
A/N: Do you think that Roman has a point as to why he decided to not be intimate with Katrina? Is he right in how he's handling the situation or could he have done so differently?