All Things Holy

Eleven

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Chapter Eleven
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It had been two and a half weeks.

I hadn't spoken to Zane once since the night at the club, true to my word. He didn't try to reach out to me, either, so it wasn't hard to pretend like all of it never happened. As far as I was concerned, it didn't.

Kaya was about to land at the airport for our Valentine's Day weekend. I hadn't told her about what happened with Zane and wasn't planning on ever doing so. It was a one-time lapse in judgment and the deeper in the shadows I pushed it, the better. Only he and I needed to know about our kiss, the dancing, and the weeks of harbored tension between us.

I stood with my hands in my pockets. It was no less cold than it was in the beginning of January when I first arrived. The airport did provide a warm embrace, but I was still shivering from nerves. I was a terrible liar, especially when I hadn't actually seen her face to face in a month or two.

Her squeal of delight caught my attention from eight yards away and I stood up straighter. There she was, beautiful as ever.

She dropped her backpack on the floor and dove into my arms. I held her tightly, a genuine response, because the comfort of having something from home in this foreign place made me instantly feel less homesick. We embraced for ages, just holding each other and releasing excited noises.

"It's so cold," Kaya commented first.

"Wait until you see the snow."

We headed out of the airport. I carried her bag for her and she freaked out over the mounds of snow outside of the airport. It was a natural reaction from a southerner who hadn't seen snow in her entire life. She gathered a snowball and tossed it at me, which began a miniature snowball fight until I almost hit an old lady with a big one.

In my car, she was buzzing with joy. "I can't wait to see your dorm and meet all your friends," she said and I felt my insides curl. Not all of them.

"My roommate is throwing a stoplight party for Valentine's. You have to wear red, yellow, or green depending on your relationship status," I told her, shaking my head at the ridiculousness of it. She gasped in excitement. "Your first college party, babe."

Kaya talked the whole way to my dorm about her itinerary that she made before she came, including the things she'd like the squeeze into one day of sightseeing she hoped we'd do tomorrow. She went back on Sunday afternoon, so we only really had tomorrow to get anything done.

Tonight was the party. I was afraid my friends would do something to embarrass me, like tell Kaya about how much I'd been drinking or the time I'd been spending with a boy who's known to like other boys. Obviously, Kaya had met Zane on that Facetime call a few weeks back, but she didn't know the extent of our friendship.

Tyler was the type of guy to bring up how Dani was all over me, but I hoped he wouldn't. This was meant to be an easy-going, fun visit with my girlfriend. That's what I needed.

Back at my building, Kaya followed me in and we shivered our way up the elevator. She huddled close to me for warmth, but it made me feel colder.

"This is me," I said as I unlocked my door.

She walked in first and looked around with her eyes wide. I stood by the kitchenette while she eyed the tapestry on the wall. Just as she was about to say something snarky about it, thankfully, Tyler walked out. "Hudson, my man, I bet Dani's gonna be wearing green— Hello," he said, noticing Kaya standing in the living room.