2The shuttles on campus were always crowded. Campus was way too spread out to only have one parking lot. Colin had the least amount of luck out of anyone (well, at least he thought so) because his classes this semester only fit together if he had 8 am classes everyday. He was starting to regret his choice of being a physics major. Sophomore year could be worse. However, at least he always got the first pick of seats while everyone else had to fight to even sit down.
Not that it would've been hard. He was smart but he held his own in kickboxing. It was the one hobby he had, that was physical activity. He wasn't short either. Colin was about 6'2" and fairly lean. Sure, he needed glasses but he preferred contacts for their practicality. Besides, his mother said that glasses hid his "unique" blue eyes. Whatever that meant. He kept his dark brown hair short and parted to the side. One of his friends had called him Toby Maguire once, but he dismissed it because their eye colors were different.
The first day of classes, Colin found himself sitting at the back of the bus ready to ride across campus. Steadily the seats filled up as they passed through the dorms. Colin popped in his earbuds and started reading his textbook. After a few minutes, the smell of warm cotton and citrus enveloped Colin but he didn't really notice until a small tap on his shoulder made him look up.
Standing over him was a girl with short blonde hair which shone from the light of an open window nearby. It reached just below her chin. It was clear she'd tried to tie it back but strands fell out framing her face and dusting her neck. Her eyes were a chocolate brown with long eyelashes that seemed to stare into his soul. She had high cheekbones and freckles that dusted across her face.
"Is that seat taken?" she said, gesturing to the last open seat on the bus, which just happened to be next to him.
Colin looked at the seat and back at her face. He shook his head and scooted over. She replied with a smile and gracefully sat down. In her seat, the girl leaned her head back and looked at the roof of the bus for a moment before she took out a pair of headphones and began listening to what looked like Queen from the album cover, but Colin wasn't sure.
It wasn't until she met his eyes, that he realized that he was staring. Colin quickly averted his eyes to look at his textbook once again. The ride was uneventful after that. They both got off at the same stop. As Colin ventured towards the engineering building, the girl seemed to wander towards the health sciences building. He silently humphed at that. For some reason, he had pegged her as a music major.
His classes went by in a blur until noon when he had a two hour break in between calculus and astronomy. He calmly went to the dining hall and grabbed a plate of pasta. It appeared he chose to go at the right time too. Just after he sat down, the lines became long and the tables filled up. He had a mouthful of spaghetti when a shadow fell over his table. The smell of warm cotton and citrus invaded his senses once again.
"Is that seat taken? Every other table is full." a familiar voice sounded.
Colin looked up to see the same girl from the shuttle. Trying not to look dumb while eating his lunch, he nodded while simultaneously wiping his mouth. She smiled once again and sat down in front of him. Despite the warm day, she had decided to eat some kind of soup.
Colin took the time to set his fork down and swallow before thinking of something to say. "Are you following me?" He was actually flirting. This would be the highlight of his month.
"No, but coincidences happen all the time. I didn't ask for everyone to sit everywhere except next to you." she shot back. Despite her uninterested tone, a smile was turning up the corners of her mouth.
"Name?" he asked in a simple reply.
"Quinn, what about you?"
"Colin," he tried to say without cracking his voice. "What are you studying?"
"No," she retorted, startling him.
"What?"
"Since your senior year of high school, how many times have you been asked that question?" She said, answering his question with another question.
That surprised him, "A fair few," he answered simply.
"Exactly, I'm done answering the same things over and over. I'll answer that question someday, but not right now." she sighed.
"Well, then you lead the conversation." Colin replied in confusion.
"What's your favorite color?"
"Um, blue." he replied and nodded for her to answer it as well.
"Grey," she said.
"Why so gloomy?" was all Colin could think of.
"It's a universal color. Colorblind people can see it. It's what newspapers are printed on. It brings life. Think of the stormy clouds that bring fresh smelling rain." He wasn't expecting such a lengthy explanation. "Why so boring?"
"Hey, that's offensive!"
"You called mine gloomy. Don't be a hypocrite."
"Fine," Colin took a deep breath before answering, "It's the color of my mom's favorite shirt."
"Of hers or yours?" the question could've sounded rude but instead her tone simply indicated curiosity.
"Of mine. She said it brings out my eyes."
"What kind of blue? Like a sky blue? Or a navy?" she asked.
"Um, sky blue." Colin answered hesitantly.
Quinn reached down into her backpack and pulled out a sky blue, zip-up hoodie. She held it next to his eyes and another smile creeped up onto her face. "She's not wrong."
Colin fought down a blush as she set the hoodie back onto her bag. "Thanks?"
"Hey, I have ugly brown eyes so I'd be happy."
"Well, that's a flat out lie." Colin shot back without thinking. "Your eyes are amazing."
Quinn looked up from her soup to give him a surprised look. He felt a little pleased to see a hint of a blush on her face. "Thanks?"
Colin finished the last of his pasta and stood up. "Sorry, I have to go. Astronomy is in twenty minutes."
"Understandable, I've got a clinical class in twenty as well." she shrugged, continuing to sip on her soup.
Thoughts exploded in his mind about Quinn. What kind of major was she? She sure likes to be mysterious, that was for sure. He picked up his bag but before he left, he asked one more question, "Am I allowed to guess and you verify what your major is?"
A tiny smile pulled at the corners of her mouth. "Depends on how close you get."
Colin couldn't hold back a full on grin. He gave a simple wave and continued to walk out the door.
The day passed by fairly quickly. At 4:45 Colin found himself getting on a shuttle to go back to the dorms. Apparently, so did everyone else. He was just able to get one of the last empty rows before more people got on the bus. Head full of talk about constellations and planets, Colin spaced out and allowed his head to lean back and stare out the window.
A tap on his shoulder led him to roll his head to the left. "Is this seat taken?"
Colin let a small smile grace his face. "Yes," he said sarcastically.
Quinn didn't even seem to hear him. "Whatever," she said, throwing her backpack down at her feet and sitting next to him. Unlike Colin who was simply thinking about school, Quinn looked dead on her feet. She was now wearing scrubs that were a dark grey.
"Would now be a good time to guess?" Colin asked innocently.
"It's basically spelled out for you," Quinn said.
"That's not really an answer," Colin replied.
"Sure," Quinn shrugged and she leaned her head back just like Colin.
"Nursing?" Colin scrunched up his face afraid to be wrong.
Quinn's head lolled to the side to look at him. "Do you want a prize?"
"Uh, not really. I think you might collapse or something."
"I was just forced to stand on my feet for the past few hours." Quinn's eyes fluttered shut and Colin realized that she had been regaining color for the past few minutes.
"Are you okay? Do you need some water or something?" Colin began to fret. If she was pale now, she was ghost white before.
"Relax. I have fainting spells all the time. I just haven't drank enough water today." Quinn said, leaning forward again to ruffle through her bag and pull out a water bottle.
Colin picked his head up and looked at Quinn. Bags were dark under her eyes and her short hair had been tied up but now it was falling out of the hair tie in chunks. Her scrubs were clean but her hands were shaking as they clutched her water bottle. He reached into his bag and found the small pack of trail mix he had stored earlier. Once it was in his hand, he held it out to the girl.
"Thanks," she sighed. "Salt helps."
Once they got to the dorms, Colin got off the bus early. Once Quinn stood up, so did he. He calmly continued to walk beside her and made small talk until she got to her building.
"Make sure you hydrate," Colin said as a farewell.
"Hey, I let you walk me home. You were on the bus before me this morning, yet you got off the bus with me now." She answered.
Colin smiled recognizing how clever she was. "It's only a few stops, I can walk a few blocks."
"Thank you," she said as she walked inside the building.
The night grew cooler, but Colin didn't feel it as he walked back to his dorm with a smile on his face.
"Dude," Colin said as he flopped onto his bed once he got back to his dorm.
"Um what?" his roommate Oliver said. Said roommate was working on an assignment on his laptop. He sat in a rolling desk chair working at a desk. "Wait, didn't your class end an hour ago? What took you so long?"
"I may or may not have walked a girl back to her dorm."
Oliver sighed, "How bad does the world want to show me that I suck at talking to girls by giving me a roommate who picked up a girl on the first day of school?"
"I did not pick her up. I just . . . found her very interesting and helped her stay safe as we walked back to the dorm." Colin uselessly defended himself.
Oliver snorted, "Did you get her number?"
"No."
"Did you kiss her?"
"Of course not!"
"Did you have a connection?"
"Maybe?"
"Nevermind. You didn't pick her up. You were too scared to even make a move."
Colin sat up on his bed sharply, "Hey! I was not scared. I was just . . . trying to establish a steady relationship?"
Oliver spun around to look at the other boy, "And I thought I was bad at talking to girls."
The next day, Colin got on the bus at the same time again. Despite his heavy eyes cursing the idea of 8am classes, he couldn't help but hold a little hope to see a familiar face. Every stop, he couldn't help but glance up from his textbook each time. Low and behold, a girl with blond hair and brown eyes got on the bus. There were still open rows, but a warm feeling spread through his stomach when she sat next to him anyway.
"You've got the devil's schedule as well don't you." he said instead of hello.
"Yep. Life sucks." she said in reply. Her eyes bore dark circles underneath her eyelashes and her short blond hair was tied half up, and half down. Pieces were falling out in the front and falling in her eyes.
"No offense, but you look exhausted." Colin blurted out without thinking.
"Yeah, well, that's my thing so get used to it."
Colin frowned in concern, "Being tired?"
"Yeah, well. I'm the one who always looks like it." Quinn said which didn't exactly help her statement.
"Is there a reason for that or . . . ?" Colin gently asked.
"Heh, yeah, I've had insomnia my entire life." Quinn said, leaning her head back against the seat."
"Well, that's one thing I guess I don't have a problem with." Colin said branching around the topic.
"You know what that is right?" Quinn said, a smile pulling at the corners of her lips.
"Um . . ." Colin simply answered in reply.
A small chuckle escaped her lips and Colin had to suppress a smile of his own. "It's the inability to fall or stay asleep."
"Oh, well, I feel like that can be a common illness." Colin responded in order to express some sympathy.
"That is an overstatement." Quinn said, squinting.
"Oh come on. We're college students. Everyone stays up late." Colin shot back trying to keep up.
"How long does it take for you to fall asleep when your head hits the pillow?" Quinn asked innocently.
"I guess . . . maybe, twenty minutes at the most?" he answered.
"I am usually in bed by midnight, but I haven't fallen asleep before 3am in months. Maybe years." Quinn shrugged.
"Okay, so there are some real differences." Colin said, changing his mind.
"Yeah," was all that Quinn offered as they pulled up to the health sciences and the engineering buildings. Within a few seconds, Quinn stood up, flashed a smile at Colin and made her way off the bus. Today, he had a chemistry class which was still a few stops away. As the girl left, he found himself leaning his head back against the seat and looking up at the ceiling. She was way out of his league.
Next time, Colin met her in a different situation, that afternoon. He was sitting in the grass of the main campus square enjoying the sun after a long chemistry lab. Despite the fact that they were being "eased" into the semester by dealing with water and oil, the professor still forced everyone to wear closed-toed shoes, long pants that hid the ankle, knee length lab coats, and safety goggles.
He wiped some sweat off his brow and took a huge bite out of the sandwich he had gotten from a nearby dining hall. Colin almost spit it out when Quinn sat next to him. Her hair was tied up again, but she hadn't changed into her scrubs. The front fringe of her hair was falling in her eyes as she calmly took out a salad from her backpack. Her lips puckered as she blew the strands away from her mouth. Colin was grateful for his sandwich filled mouth. That's cute. Was on the tip of his tongue.
After a long minute of chewing and swallowing, Colin opened his mouth and spoke with what he hoped was dignity, "Hey,"
"Hi," was all Quinn offered.
"How's your day going?" Colin spoke in desperation to escape the awkwardness. She didn't even dignify it with a response, only a withering gaze was sent towards him. "I, for one, am having an abysmal day."
Quinn snorted into her salad, "Way to break the ice."
"What ice? There was ice?" Colin asked innocently.
A real smile broke out on her face, "Yeah, okay. Sorry. It's amazing how early it is in the day and I'm exhausted."
"How many more classes do you have?"
"One," she simply said.
"Afterwards, take the time to go back to your room and take a nap." Colin replied with a little emphasis on nap.
Quinn laid back onto the grass and looked at the sky. "Homework," she simply said.
Colin shrugged in empathy. He had hours of homework a night. Life circled around school instead of school being a distant planet in life. He thought about it, then he checked his watch: 12:15. "When's your next class?"
"One." she simply responded again.
"You have 30 minutes," Colin said, moving subtly, so he cast a shadow over her, especially her head. "Close your eyes."
The girl glanced his way, and a warm smile spread over her face. She turned her head back to face the sky and Colin resisted pulling the few strands of hair off her face. He gazed at her face, and once again, he could see the dark circles under her eyes. Her clothes weren't revealing, but he could still see her form through it, and her ribs held a faint outline on her shirt. Her lips were a little dry and cracked Her blonde hair was splayed delicately across the grass, and Colin felt the pit of warmth inside him ignite just a little more.
True to his statement, he gently shook Quinn's shoulder after exactly thirty minutes. With a light shake of her shoulder, Quinn woke up and smiled at Colin. She picked up her stuff and Colin did his best to act like he didn't care that she had to leave.
He kept working on the last bit of homework he had taken out while Quinn was asleep. When she gave her farewell, he merely glanced up and waved. By the time he packed up, he looked over to where she had been laying only to find a snack-size 3 musketeer bar, and a note: Thanks! In the grass imprint that held the shape of her.
"So, you still didn't get her number?"
"No,"
"Give her a hug?"
"No,"
"Make a move whatsoever?"
"No,"
"Dude!" Oliver laughed. "Even I got my crush's number after I spoke to her twice!"
"I know! I know!" Colin shot back. "Wait, do you mean your lab partner?"
Oliver blushed but that didn't stop him, "I still asked for it! It still counts."
The two boys laughed and Colin sat up from laying on his back, "Hey, she chose to sit next to me and she gave me a chocolate bar, so that has count for something."
"Yeah, ok. I'll admit, that is a huge point in your favor." Oliver sat up as well. They had been playing video games for the last fifteen minutes. "But you have to take the next step sometime."
Colin sighed, "Obviously, but she is a hardworking student. I'm not going to be the one who ruins all that she's worked for. I also don't want to have to waste my time either. It has to lead somewhere, so I'm just making sure."
"Alright, you make some semblance of sense." Oliver conceded.
After that, Colin hardly went a day without seeing Quinn. They sat next to each other on the bus, they ate at the dining hall together, any breaks between classes somehow found them sitting on the lawn next to each other. Yes, he even got her number after the first week. They even sometimes met at the library despite taking different classes. But it never sounded like his or her idea, it was always brought up by the both of them.
It got to the point where weekends were a low point for him. He lost some alone time with a great friend (and secret crush). Oliver nagged him to within an inch of his life, but Colin wanted to take everything slow. He meant what he said earlier in the year: he wanted for her to trust him and he wanted to trust her.
One Monday, Colin got on the bus, and as usual, he waited for Quinn, leaving his backpack in the seat next to him so there would still be a seat open next to him. Just like clockwork, Quinn got on the bus in her scrubs with her hair tied back. (Similarly, Colin had to tame his constant thoughts of how amazing she looked in her scrubs).
This time, however, as Quinn passed the third row, someone called out to her.
"Quinn? Is that you?" a random boy(Colin was very firm on that observation), with obnoxiously long, red hair called over his shoulder.
Quinn had already passed him and was halfway back to Colin. After she heard the voice, her face scrunched up, clearly uncomfortable, before she put on a mask of polite surprise and turned around.
"Oh hey, Chris!" She said but not moving closer to the strange boy. "I thought you were going to school in California."
"Oh no, they didn't have what I was looking for so I transferred." he said with what he probably thought looked like confidence but Colin only saw arrogance.
"Good for you," Quinn continued while also inching ever so slightly back towards Colin again.
"To think we've been going to the same schools for 14 years," he said. Through all of this, Colin gave him a once over. His hair was way too long to look cool, and from what he could see of the boy's backpack placed impractically in the middle of the aisle, it was fairly empty indicating either a lack of inclination to do work or a fairly easy major. The kid's eyes were a beady black.
Colin made sure to make sure that his face was kept unreadable but he already hated the guy. Quinn was clearly uncomfortable and as Colin looked closer at the girl, he spied a bit of paleness. She's dehydrated again. He began to clench his fist, as the conversation kept going.
"Yeah," she answered. "Anyways . . ." Quinn finished the conversation awkwardly, and turned around to gently seat herself next to Colin. She moved slowly after that, easing her backpack off her shoulders. Colin did his part, and once it's weight was in her hands, he took the pack from her and moved it to their feet while also placing a bag of chips in her hand.
When he looked up again, he saw two faces staring back at him. To the side of him, Quinn was shooting him a grateful look. Out of the corner of his eye, he could feel the heat of the glare that "Chris" was pointing at him.
When the shuttle stopped by Quinn's dorm, Colin spied the other boy standing as well, so Colin elected to walk her back to her room again. The whole time, a pair of eyes stared through his head.
Once Quinn disappeared from his view through the door, he made to turn around only to run into Chris, face to face. Surprisingly, Colin had the height advantage. Chris barely reached Colin's nose.
"I'm warning you now, stay away from her. I knew her first, so I should get first dibs." the boy muttered through clenched teeth.
Colin raised his eyebrows in surprise, "Dibs? Really? What is she? A candy bar?"
Chris growled in response, "Whatever! I've known her for the past 14 years! I should be the one to be sitting next to her!"
At that point, Colin began to reflect on the kid, "How long have you been riding the shuttle?"
The boy suddenly slumped in confusion, "What does that have to do with anything?"
"She has been riding the shuttle since the beginning of the year. How did you only notice her just now? You have to have seen her at least a few times now." Colin replied.
"Hey! She looks different now! She used to have hair down to her waist. She never wore any clothes that actually showed off what she had to offer." Chris defended uselessly.
The statement made nothing better, "That's your reason? She didn't look hot then? Besides, fourteen years? You've had 14 years and from what I can tell, you have not made one move. Maybe let it go, man."
With that statement, Chris jabbed a sharp finger into Colin's chest and simply said, "I do not care! Leave her alone!" before turning around and disappearing into the night.
That Saturday, Colin was making his way back from the dining hall alone, because Oliver had gone home for the weekend, when he heard a noise. Colin stopped in his tracks as he heard a tiny squeak echo through a small gap in between buildings. Colin spun around and turned around to look into the alleyway and he found two familiar figures.
"Please, Chris. We've never been friends. In middle and high school, you pretended that I didn't exist. Just because I look different now, it doesn't mean I want to date a bully from my past." Quinn sounded desperate. Chris had her backed up against a wall and her face was turned to avoid the face that was clearly trying to kiss her.
"Oh c'mon. That was just teasing. We're both different people now! I know you have to feel at least something." Chris pleaded, taking a step forward when he was already way too close.
Colin began to feel anger boiling up in his system. Who is this guy? Just because the boy knew her in his youth, he barely knew her!
"Chris, get off!" Quinn spouted and slapped his hand away as he reached for her chest.
With that statement, Chris' gaze grew angry, "No." He replied. The boy pinned her arms behind her and began pressing his mouth to her jaw and neck. He was only successful for a few seconds, Quinn kneed him in the groin and the boy yelped, much to Colin's delight, an octave higher than his usual voice.
Before, Colin had been frozen in shock of how bold this boy was being. Now, Colin found his strength and lunged forward.
"Get away from her!" Colin yelled as he shoved Chris off the girl with his shoulder. Chris fell onto his side but got up quickly. It was clear that he wasn't going to give up. Chris threw a punch which Colin wasn't exactly expecting. A fist completely slammed into the side of his face. The alleyway wasn't very big which meant that when his head lurched back, it also slammed into the nearby wall.
Colin felt the sting of a cut opening up on the left side of his head but he regained his balance to fire back a punch of his own. Colin felt his fist slam into Chris' stomach and the boy doubled over in pain. Colin took a deep breath and when the boy stood up straight again, he was prepared this time. When another punch was thrown, Colin blocked it and made sure his own fist connected with Chris' jaw. Following the blow with another blow, Colin used his forearm to pin the other boy to the wall. Not well enough, Chris fought back and shoved Colin backwards. Colin stumbled and another fist connected with his right eye. Colin did his best to recover quickly and used the last of his strength and struck Chris with another punch to the gut. This time, he aimed for the lung. His aim was true and Chris doubled over once again. Using that position to her advantage, Quinn knocked the boy's knees out from behind. Colin blinked in surprise, she had come from nowhere. From there, she stepped right onto the boy's back, like he was a step ladder. She pulled the familiar sky-blue hoodie that Colin hadn't noticed was wrapped around her waist and tied it around Chris' hands.
"Are you okay?" she asked Colin.
Colin laughed, "Am I okay? Are you?"
Quinn clearly didn't think it was funny. "Just answer the question!"
"Alright, yeah, I'm fine." Colin followed up.
It was only then, that she let out a sigh of relief. Colin watched her pull out her phone and call campus police. After that, Colin saw everything fade into a blur, he was blinded by the shock and anger at what had just happened. The flash of police lights, the background sound of questioning students, and Chris' cowardly weak confessions seemed dull. It wasn't until Quinn had finished being questioned and tugged on his wrist that he became aware of everything. Even then, he didn't say anything. He stayed silent as he found himself being tugged towards his building which was nearby.
He was surprised that Quinn had even remembered where he lived. He'd only brought her to his room once because he'd forgotten his textbook on his way to the library with her. She didn't even wait for him to take out his keys, she simply grabbed his keys from his pocket herself. Once inside, she sat him on the bed, turned on a single lamp, and dug through his desk and cabinets.
After a few minutes, she seemed to give up. "First-aid kit?" she simply put.
Colin straightened in realization and leaned over to pull out a small kit that his mother had forced upon him at the beginning of the year from under the bed. It still had the plastic wrap around it. It wasn't until now that he felt the trickle of blood running down his temple.
Quinn took it out of his hands and opened it next to him. She tore open an alcohol wipe and Colin tensed in apprehension. He knew it was going to sting.
"On three," Quinn said gently, resting her free hand on his cheek, carefully avoiding the blossoming bruises surrounding his eye socket. Colin relaxed at her touch and nodded looking up into her eyes. "One," Quinn began and Colin hissed as he felt the signature sting of his cut being cleaned.
"What happened to two and three?" he asked indignantly.
Quinn gave a guilty smile. "It gets the job done faster and over with."
He rolled his eyes and stood up. He dug through the kit to find a tiny square shaped band aid. He shrugged and stood in front of the mirror on his closet door to place it on. The fabric was definitely not big enough and some of the stickiness was still over open skin. He turned around only to find Quinn looking at him with an irritated frown.
"What?" Colin shrugged.
He stepped back in surprise as Quinn sharply stood up and marched over to him. He found himself backed against the wall and he swallowed loudly as she looked into his eyes. He found himself leaning in. Just as their lips were about a centimeter apart, her eyes shifted to his cut.
"Never become a doctor," she said while simultaneously ripping off the band aid.
"Ow! Hey! Can you stop that?!" Colin yelped.
"I standby my previous statement." Quinn simply said.
She came back with some kind of white bag tucked under her arm and a weird white strip in her hand. She steered him back on the bed and rolled her eyes as he flinched when she lifted her hands.
"I'm just going to put a different bandage on. Relax, only one of us is in the medical field and it's definitely not you."
Colin still tensed and squeezed his eyes shut. Instead of the sharp sting he had been suspecting, gentle but cold hands caressed his forehead until they reached his cut. The tiniest amount of pressure squeezed his wound shut and he felt the fabric of the bandage hold it closed once the cool touch disappeared. The sound of crinkling plastic was brought to his ears and he opened his eyes only to have one covered by an instant ice pack.
"You have 15 minutes." Quinn whispered before sitting next to him. "Close your eyes."
Colin smiled dopily at the callback to that small moment they had had months ago, but she took it a step further by her cool hands guiding his head to lay in her lap. The throbbing pain of his eye began to subside and he felt the girl caressing his knuckles. Her cool touch soothed the bruises forming there too.
He didn't realize how much time had passed until a quiet voice said, "Okay, you're free."
Colin hesitantly opened his eyes and moved the ice pack away from his eye. He looked up to find her beautiful brown eyes in the small amount of light, gazing right back at him. He let the pack fall to the ground with a quiet thud that no one paid attention to. He slowly sat up as Quinn slowly bent down. When their lips finally met, Colin couldn't tell who sighed. Maybe it was both of them, but it felt like taking a breath of fresh air just after a rainstorm. Like finally going on a roadtrip with friends after a long week of work. Like getting out of finals to relax for days.
In any case, it was amazing. Her scent of cotton and citrus seemed overwhelming and not enough at the same time. Her cold hands helped decrease the growing blush in his cheeks which he would never admit to. As he tangled his hands in her short hair, he found himself thinking, this is it. In any sense of that statement, he couldn't agree more. He'd never met someone he'd been so happy to date or fall in love with, or fantasize marrying. Again, he would never admit that, but yes.
He tilted his head ever so slightly, and the kiss deepened. Quinn tasted like everything good in the world. Cookies, and sugar, but also savory and nice. It sounded insane but Colin never wanted it to end.
The two broke apart with only a gasp between them before crashing their lips back together. Colin felt Quinn smiling and he had to fight the urge as well. Before he knew it, he was on his back with her straddling his waist. After a few minutes, okay, maybe an hour. Colin ended it with a final sweet peck. He felt Quinn press a sweet smile into his collar bone and he could help but let out a grin of his own.
Quinn sat up and rolled her eyes with a smile before reaching across Colin and turning off the light. He felt her curl up against his side and he in turn looped an arm around her waist. With one last peck against her sweet smelling hair, Colin closed his eyes with a smile.
Colin blinked awake feeling heavy and oddly happy. While he made the effort to open his eyes against the early rays of sunlight, he began to stretch only for his arm to erupt in pins and needles. He turned his head to the side and a blurry Quinn came into focus. Oh, yeah.
Said girl stretched as well and snuggled deeper into his chest, "What time is it?" she mumbled.
Colin held his watch and squinted, "Uh, morning sometime. I don't know. I forgot to take my contacts out and they get dry if I leave them overnight."
He reluctantly got up and took out the lenses and dug out his glasses. When he turned around to look at Quinn, he found the girl biting her lip as she looked him up and down.
"What?" Colin asked, a blush warming his cheeks.
"I didn't know you wore glasses." she said simply.
"Mom says that they hide my eyes." Colin admitted the first thing that came to mind.
Quinn shocked her head, still biting her lip. "They really sharpen your jawline. I think they make you look handsome."
"Really?" Colin said, pulling on a smirk and crawling back onto the bed.
Quinn snickered and pulled the glasses off his face. She put them on herself and posed playfully. "How do I look?"
"Hideous," Colin deadpanned before tackling the girl and tickling her.
Tickling quickly evolved into kissing. Which lasted . . . a while. Long story short. Colin got out of bed with more bruises than just on his eye and hand.
1 year later
"Is this seat taken?"
Colin looked up from his book that he had been reading on the couch in his apartment. Quinn smiled at him as she cradled her mug of hot chocolate in her hands. He held out his arm without question and he tucked the girl into his side as she turned on a Harry Potter movie.
"Why is it always the Prisoner of Azkaban?"
"Hey! I bought the TV, I use the TV how I want."
Colin chuckled and pecked her hairline before going back to reading his book in their apartment.