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Cinder woke up while the sky was still dark. She rolled over, wondering if she still had another hour of sleep in her. When her body refused to relax again, she sat up. Maybe she could get an extra hour of studying before finals.
She scanned the room to see if she awoke any of the other girls in the room. Scarlet and Winter on the bed didn’t stir. Cress was sprawled in over her cot. Iko was curled up comfortably in her sleeping bag. Slowly, Cinder removed the blankets covering her and searched for her backpack in the dark. Once she laid hands on the familiar fabric, she crawled out of the room until she made it to the quiet of the living room.
Scarlet and Winter shared a two bedroom apartment, unlike the rest of the group who opted to stay in their dorms for another year. Cinder couldn’t afford an apartment alone yet, and Iko didn’t want one. So they stuck with free rooming. Scarlet invited their entire friend group to study for their finals, little did they know that they’d end up pulling an almost all-nighter. The boys resided themselves in Winter’s room. Hopefully, they’ll sleep for a while.
She quietly turned on the standing lamp in the corner of the room. A quick glance from her phone told her that it was 5:06. Ugh.
Cinder found a nice spot on the couch and pulled out her Chemistry binder and textbook. It wasn’t a hard class for her, but it was the class she’d least studied for. She couldn’t help but feel she was unprepared.
She was in the midst of quizzing herself on definitions from flashcards when she hard soft footsteps coming from the rooms. Freezing, she craned her head to see who was coming in.
Kai, rubbing his eyes behind his glasses, walked in with his plaid christmas-themed pijama pants, and an extra-large super worn t-shirt. His own backpack was being dragged by his forefinger, seconds away from slipping. He paused, frowning at the light from the lamp. “Cinder?” He said, voice raspy from sleep.
Great. The one guy she didn’t want to be caught alone with. Two years worth of tension and lingering looks have left her very confused. Was he into her? Or was he just like that? It messed with her heart.
“Why are you up so early?” She asked, cocking her head.
His eyebrows furrowed shooting back: “Why are you up so early?” He sighed, shuffling his feet towards the couch until he collapsed next to her, groaning into a pillow. “I forgot about calculus.”
“This is why you don’t double-major.” She pointed out, not for the first time. “You wouldn’t have to take math.”
“I know.” The pillow muffled his voice. “How did I forget calculus.”
Cinder chuckled, scribbling annotations on her textbook. “C’mon. Calc is not that bad-“
He sprang up with energy he shouldn’t have at 5 in the morning. “It is the absolute worst. Evil incarnated. I hate that class with a burning passion.”
She raised in eyebrow. “Or maybe you’re overreacting?”
“I am not! That class is a special torture designed specifically for me.” He insisted. Hunching over, he placed his elbows against his knees and cradled his face. “I’m sure when someone finalized my schedule, they said: make sure to include calculus to torment Kai on an everyday basis. His character needs more suffering.”
“Your hate for math matches my hate for Public Speaking.” She mumbled.
He flopped himself on the couch again, sitting up this time. “We must have opposite brains, Cinder.”
She giggled. “STEM versus Humanities: who will prevail?”
Kai laughed with her. “I bet if we connected both our brains we’d be smarter than Einsten.”
“Oh, absolutely.”
They shared a severely sleep-deprived laugh. She sat criss-cross while his body lazily stretched out again. “You want help?” She offered.
His eyes widened. “Yes, please!”
Twenty minutes later and Kai was sprawled on the floor desperately solving equations while Cinder sat above him doing transformations. She got bored after getting most of her answers right and chose to watch him instead.
She’d always found him cute, since the freshman year. They met through a mutual friend, Thorne, and hit it off ever since. Yet, she always kept her attraction hidden. Their friends were so close that it’d be tense if they got together, and chaos if they broke up. Besides, what if it wasn’t requited? He was nice to look at, nice to talk to, nice to hang out with. He was a friend with an extra-pretty face.
Once he was finished scratching on his paper, he sprang the paper in her lap. “Check.” He said, biting his lip anxiously.
She lingered on his mouth half a second too long before accepting. After scanning his answer, she nodded. “Congratulations. You just got ten right in a row.”
A wide smile spread across his face. He hugged her knees, startling her. “Thank the stars! You’re an amazing teacher, Miss Linh.”
“Don’t call me that.” She said, shaking him off, slightly chuckling. This was exactly what she meant. Was he into her, or was he just like this normally?
He didn’t let go. “I might pass, thanks to you.”
“You’re acting like you don’t already have an A in the class.”
He placed his forehead on her knee. “You are a miracle worker.”
After a small hesitation, he stood up and sat himself next to her. In the silence that followed, the air seemed heat up. She shifted her body to him. The dim light made it hard to straighten out the features of his face, yet his eyes shone with something intruiging. He studied her for a moment. “I’ve always admired you, y’know.”
She blinked, not expecting that at all. “What?”
Kai smiled nervously, rubbing his neck. “I didn’t mean to say that out loud.” He admitted sheepishly, glacing at her. “I won’t take it back though.”
She frowned. “Why?”
“Why?” He laughed. “It’s hard not too. You’re the smartest person I know. You’re always calm in the craziest situations and, recently proven, quite the tutor. I could go on.” He leaned his head slightly to the side, a piece of his hair falling into his eyes. The silence made it seem like he was considering adding: “Not to mention your physical appearance.”
Cinder’s face never felt hotter. She brushed her cheek, wondering if she was sick or something. Why was he saying such things? It must be the lack of sleep affecting his thoughts. “What about my physical… appearance?” She murmured, confused.
He looked away, as if he were shy. His fingers stretched out the skin on his forehead while he chuckled. This action was admittedly adorable. “You’re out of this world pretty. Like jaw-dropping beautiful. Surely you know the effect you have on people.”
Cinder was very confused. Very few people have confessed to being attracted to her. Even fewer called her stunningly pretty. Her body began to shake. He thought she was beautiful. Was he attracted to her? “What?” She repeated, at a loss for words.
His eyes squinted underneath his glasses. “What do you mean? Did you not know?”
“N-no?” She scowled. “Is this a joke? Are you messing with me right now?” She couldn’t think of another answer.
He scoffed. “Do you really think that low of me? That I would mock you like this?” He sighed, looking at the ceiling. “I’m not lying. I wouldn’t hurt you like that.”
He glanced at her again. Cinder bit her lip. “Why are you saying this, then?”
“‘Cause I need to get it off my chest. Because it drives crazy whenever I think of kissing you and can’t because of our friends, or environment, or the fact that you might not even think of me like that. Ever.”
Her chest constricted. She stopped shaking. Her breath stilled. What? So she wasn’t going crazy. He did reciprocate her attraction. He did intentionally look at her certain ways and always took the opportunity to touch her. Maybe it was time for her to confess. Gathering the courage, she cleared her throat. “Kai, do you know the effect you have on me?”
He raised an eyebrow. “Tell me.” He murmured.
She paused, gulping. No going back now. “You are so unbelievably hot that I think I might pass out whenever you stare at me.”
He burst out laughing, his whole body leaning forward. “I’m being serious!” She giggled out.
“Thank you?” He said, eyebrows furrowed. Once they calmed down a bit he smiled. “Is that all?”
“You’re pretty smart too, I guess.” She teased. “And you’re a pretty talker.”
“Huh. How so?”
“Well you always know how and when to say the right thing to people. And you said all those nice things about me before.” She noted, still worrying her lip.
“I guess I did, didn’t I.” He trailed off, getting distracted. His eyes dipped once to her mouth, then twice, then often enough until they stayed there.
His gaze made her bit her lip. She heard him take a sharp intake of breath before speaking. “Did you know you’re so unbelievably hot that when you bite your lip I think I’m going to pass out?”
She laughed softly, but was short-lived. The room seemed to spike in temperature as the tension grew thicker. “Kai..”
“Cinder.” Kai smiled lazily. She could see her face in the reflection of his glasses. He leaned so close that a simple dip of his head will result in a kiss. A kiss? With Kai Prince?
Shaking herself out of the daze, she shuck her head slightly. “Kai, what difference am I to all the other girls you flirt with?”
His smiled twitched. “Well, the other girls are a result to my ‘I’m just a boy in college tendencies’ and you are a result of my heart’s deepest secret.”
“And that is…?”
Kai bit his lip and got closer to her again. His fingers swiped the bangs from her face and slid down her face until he reached chin. “Something I will reveal in a few months if we choose to take this path.”
Her breath shook. “So, what does this mean?”
“Whatever you want it to mean, lovely.” She blushed at the nickname. He smirked, unable to stop looking at her mouth.
“You know,” she started, finally glancing at his lips, “I’ve never been good with words.”
She began to feel bold as she leaned forward. “That’s perfect. I feel I will understand it more if you show me anyway.” His hand started full on caressing her face and moved to her hair.
The heart in her chest thumped so loud she feared he could hear it. Slowly, she moved her hand up his arm to his shoulder to his cheek. “Show me.” He whispered again in a pleading tone. To top it off, his eyes bore into hers.
Finally, she forced herself to peck him on the lips. When she pulled away he stared at her in confusion. “That couldn’t be all.”
It wasn’t but she was so nervous she couldn’t move. He took matters into his own hands and pulled her head to him until her mouth crashed against his. Her eyes closed immediately as she tried to breathe but she was too caught up in the feeling of his lips.
His glasses clunked awkwardly against their faces more than once. In a small fit of frustration, he pulled away and threw them off. They cluttered away somewhere on the floor. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, digging her fingers into his hair.
He moaned quietly, deepening their kiss. Their bodies seemed to know what to, as if they do this all the time. He pushed her until she was on laying on her back and stayed on top of her. His hand tightened against her waist as the other squeezed her jaw. “Cinder.” He murmured in between kisses. “You taste so nice.”
Good stars. Though a little confused, couldn’t help but smile at his words. He left her lips and traced a line down her throat. The hand on her waist slid all over her thigh until he found her knee and hooked it over his waist.
“Oh, Kai.” She whispered as he nipped the skin of her collarbone. Her fingers twirled around his hair. She practically wrapped himself around his body as he kissed, and kissed, kissed her own body.
He found her mouth again and, like he forgot the feel of it, took her lip between his teeth and bit down. She yelped but he ignored it, using his tongue to seethe the pain. He knew what he was doing. Just how many girls had he been with?
No, don’t think like that, Cinder. She told herself. That was the path to self-loathing and terrible jealousy.
Kai pulled away out of breath and kissed the tip of her nose, both sides of her cheeks, and forehead. She could feel his short puffs of breath as he hovered over her. Cinder opened her eyes, smiling up at him.
He chuckled, pressing his forehead to hers and bringing both hands to cup her face. “You are insanely good at this.” She admitted.
He grinned. “I try.”
Just as he was leaning in for another kiss, Scarlet walked out in the bright red matching pijama set she slept in with a frown on her face. “Why are you guys getting freaky on my couch?”
Kai sat up, his face as red as her clothes. “My bad. She’s way too cute to resist.”
Cinder covered her face, absolutely mortified.
Scarlet sighed. “I don’t mind that it’s you guys though. Normally, I would be ecstatic that I found you guys making out, but it’s way too early to feel emotion. At least for me, evidently not for you.”
“Sorry.” Cinder mumbled.
“It’s okay. Congratulations or whatever on figuring out your feelings. Invite me to the wedding.”
No one said anything after that. They cleaned up their books and helped make breakfast. Once everyone woke up took their seat around the living room, they dug in.
Cinder was starving, yet she couldn’t eat due to the jitters Kai left her. He ate normally, finishing his egg in seconds. They were sitting on the couch again, way closer than normal. “Are you not hungry?” He asked.
“I am. Just give me a second.” He nodded and finished his plate.
“You know I was thinking…” He started.
“Yes?” Cinder answered, a little too quickly.
He smiled. “Once we ace our finals and everything, you could come on over to my apartment and we could finish where we left off. How does that sound?”
She might have melted a little. “Okay. Tonight?”
“Anytime. But, yes, preferably tonight.” He brushed hair out of her eyes again, his fingers lingering on her skin.
Scarlet coughed alarmingly close to them. They jumped and separated. Thankfully, the red head didn’t tell everyone their business but she seemed quite close to doing so.
Cinder shook her head in negation. Scarlet raised an eyebrow. “Please?” Cinder mouthed. Scarlet only rolled her eyes and walked away, though fighting a smile.
What an interesting turn of events. Nobody was disappointed though, especially Cinder. And judging by the blush that never seemed to fad away from his face. Neither was Kai.