Loving the Campus Monster

Chapter 16 (Old friends?)

Laura

The next morning, I wake up before Ross and manage to roll him off of me and untangle our legs without waking him. The memory of what he did and all the other secrets about himself he disclosed to me makes my stomach flutter. He was so unguarded and open last night, like he was at the park but more. He revealed more to me than I thought he would, but even though he didn't reveal the one secret I hoped he would, it still made me care for him even more. I sensed that he didn't like talking about his past or the person-or as he likes to call himself-the monster he became after his brother died, but I didn't see him that way. He may have been that way in the past but he's changed now. His transformation over the past few months since I met him has been amazing. He's changed from the arrogant, cold-hearted, mean guy I first knew to a person who's nice, caring and even.. thoughtful. Oh, he can still be a bossy asshole at times, but I think that's how he always been. But I think I am starting to see glimpses of the happy boy he used to be with his brother, and it makes me excited to see it, but I have to wonder why it's happening now.

Is he changing because of me? Does he really care for me that much? Better yet, how much am I starting to care for him?

The depth of my feelings for him scares me and I don't know if I'm ready to face them yet. I put on his hoodie and my yoga pants again. I get my curling iron and small bag of make-up I borrowed from Holly and walk out of his room and to the bathroom across the hall to get ready and brush my teeth. The hallway is empty, and no one knocks on the door while I get ready. I was expecting Cory to be up by now since he's an early riser like me.

On the way back to Ross's room, Cory comes around the corner from the kitchen, already dressed in his usual funky attire of red and white plaid pants, white shirt with a red vest.

"Well morning Laura." Cory flashes me his perfect smile with a cup of coffee in his hand.

"Morning. I see you're in a better mood than last time. Does that mean that you made a decision about Mel and Katy?" I ask him, wondering if he had a chance to think about it.

He shakes his head, frowning. "Not really. I'm still trying to figure that out still."

"Did you talk to Mel at least?" I ask him.

"I have, and it turns out everything she said was.. true." He sighs.

"Oh.. what did you say to her?"

"I told her the only thing I could, that I needed time to think about all of this." He waves his hand and then looks at me again. "You know I never really saw Mel in that way... until now at least." He says softly.

"I'm sorry Cory." I really did feel sorrow for him and the dilemma he's having. This isn't exactly a situation anyone would want to be in because one was bound to get hurt, maybe even two of them.

He frowns before sighing and running his hand through his hair, shaking his head. "I don't want to talk about this anymore. It's too early to be thinking about such heavy stuff. Why don't you tell me why you're here instead and why you're getting up so late?" He raises his brows at me, a teasing smile on his lips.

I eyes widened slightly at that one word. "Late? How late?"

He looks down at his watch on his wrist. "Well, you only have about ten minutes to get ready before class starts, so I say pretty late." He says, chuckling.

I gasp before quickly rushing to Ross's bedroom. I can't believe I'm about to be late when I've never, ever been late for anything before in my life. I wasn't even late for my own birth, I was right on time, a few hours early too. But Ross has a way of making me forget the most important things. When I'm with him I feel like I'm flying-floating in our own reality where it's just me and him.