I've never done anything like this, Kris thought. Never…
Her thoughts were slow, sluggish, and more than a little influenced by alcohol. She was drunk; she knew that much. But it was a wonderful kind of drunk, something she'd never experienced before. She wasn't a heavy drinker. She had been tipsy a time or two, but this was something else.
This was fun.
Next to her, Korrin took one last pull from the bottle and threw it. Squinting with one eye, Kris watched it sail through the darkness then fall away. Somewhere far below, she heard the bottle shatter on pavement. They both busted up laughing, as if it was the funniest thing ever.
I'd never laugh at something like that while sober. What has gotten into me?
But Kris had needed to blow off steam. She'd barely been over in Europe a couple of weeks—if that, she couldn't remember just then—and she was already feeling overwhelmed. Her classes were tough but manageable, but the pressure from her parents to succeed in something she had no interest in was almost too much to bear. Life was tough, but right then, she didn't mind.
She was having fun.
"Do you think they're still looking for us?" Korrin asked. He was swinging his legs from the walkway around the edge of the water tower, wrapped carefree around the railing. Kris, on the other hand, was deathly afraid of heights, and she was hanging onto the railing for dear life.
"Probably," Kris said. Truthfully, she didn't know. "Mostly for you, though. They'll probably think you've kidnapped me."
"I would never!" Korrin laughed, indignant. "That's not the kind of guy I am."
"And what kind of guy are you, Korrin Gitan?"
He shrugged his shoulders. Then he asked, "What kind of girl are you?"
Kris sighed, leaned backward, and looked up at the cloudy sky lit by the city lights. "I don't know. An overachiever, maybe. A good student. Someone who only lives to please her parents and do exactly what they want."
"I know exactly what you mean," Korrin said, as he too leaned back.
"Well, let's hear it. What's so tough for you? You didn't go to school, you don't seem like an overachiever, and I really doubt you work hard to please your parents."
"You'd be surprised."
There was silence for a few moments, broken only by wind rustling through the tree tops around them. Kris wanted to know more about Korrin, but he seemed withdrawn. She wanted to ask him questions like: If you didn't go to school, where did you learn everything you know? What is it you know? What is your life like? Your family? Any brothers, sisters? There were so many questions she could ask him, so many layers to the man lying to her left, but she couldn't bring herself to ask him any of them.
And why is that? The question bounced around in her mind, but she didn't have the answer. What makes this man so different than anyone else?
"So, Zach, huh?" Korrin asked, changing the subject.
Kris wanted to get back on track, try to find out more about Korrin, but she said instead, "What about him?"
"Could there be something there?"
"After what happened earlier? Not a chance."
"Some women like guys like that."
"Not this one."
"So, what kind of guys do you like?"
Kris turned her head to the side and saw that Korrin had done the same. Their faces were inches from one another, and her head was swimming.
"That, Korrin Gitan, is for me to know, and you to never find out."
"Oh, yeah? Why's that?" he asked. He sat up. Kris did the same and their faces were again inches apart.
"Because I'm a proper lady. I have a future ahead of me. I'm going to graduate school, which I will graduate from with honors, and then I'm going to start my life. I don't have time for chasing around boys."
"Is that what I am?" he asked. "Just some boy?"
"And what if you are?" she shot at him.
"I'm more of a man than Zach will ever be," he shot back.
"Oh, my God!" Kris said. "You're jealous of him!"
"I am not!"
"You are! Big, bad, Korrin Gitan, mysterious man from God knows where, is jealous of some guy I don't even like! You are! Admit it!"
"I won't!" Korrin said, rising to his feet.
"You are!" Kris yelled, doing the same. She swayed slightly. Korrin grabbed her, making sure she wouldn't fall. She knew that they were being loud and that if anyone—like the cops—were down below, they would know someone was up at the top of the water tower.
"I'm not jealous," Korrin said, his voice suddenly falling softly. Kris realized she was wrapped tightly in Korrin's arms, held against her swaying, ensuring she wouldn't go falling off the edge. His body was like a furnace; heat was radiating off him in waves. Kris could feel herself start to sweat, but she didn't think it was because of the heat.
"You're jealous that I spent my evening out at the bar with some other guy," Kris whispered.
"I'm not jealous," Korrin repeated, and then Kris pressed her lips against Korrin's. For the briefest of seconds, she could tell that he was surprised she'd kissed him, and truth be told, she was a little bit surprised herself.
But then his lips were moving against hers, and they were soft—so, so soft—so surprising for a man as rugged as Korrin. She'd expected his lips to be tough, hard in their insistence in the kiss, but he was careful, slow, and somehow… loving. His arms were wrapped tightly around her, pulling her up to his body, but Kris didn't mind. One of his hands was just above the small of her back, and the other one grabbed her by her butt. She squealed in delight but never broke the kiss.
He spun them around, and for a split second, Kris thought they were going off, but Korrin had spun them around and pushed her against the cool metal of the water tower. Then, with one powerful arm, he lifted her up, pressing her against the metal. Kris wrapped her legs tightly around Korrin's midsection, and his lips broke their kiss and moved down to her neck, almost ravenous. Kris took a few deep breaths, heart pounding.
I've never done anything like this before. Nothing has even come close.
His lips were kissing her neck, her cheek, her ear. Her hands were running through his hair.
"Not here," he whispered, still kissing her skin, but he was pulling away slowly. "Not here…"
"Yes…" Kris whispered. "Here…"
But Korrin had pulled away, carefully setting her down on her feet. Kris wanted him to keep going, but she looked over the side of the railing and everything started to swim again.
"We can lay down. Something…" Kris said. Her heart was pounding, her face was flushed, and she was ready for Korrin to rip off her clothes. What has gotten into me?
"We'll go back to my van."
"Your van?" Kris asked, incredulous. "That's romantic."
"Do you have a better idea?"
"I have a room."
"Okay," Korrin agreed. "Let me go down first."
"So, you can catch me if I fall?"
"Absolutely," Korrin said, his voice sure of himself. Kris couldn't help but laugh at his confidence. He swung a leg over the railing and started down without the slightest bit of hesitation. Kris watched as the ladder swayed and creaked, and then finally it was still. From below, she heard Korrin yell, "Come on down!"
Kris leaned over the railing, and if things had been swimming earlier, now they were like waves crashing down on the beach. Her head was spinning, her heart pounding in her chest—for all of the wrong reasons—and she felt like she might be sick. Kris took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and swung her leg over the railing.
Her hands were slick with sweat, and suddenly she felt more sober than she'd ever felt before. She knew it was just a trick, that she was still dangerously drunk, this high up, but she pushed those thoughts away. She pushed a foot down blindly, felt the first rung, and started to descend ever so slowly. She didn't know how long it took her to get down, but all the while, Korrin was offering words of encouragement. At least, she thought they were words of encouragement; she'd tuned him out completely. Eventually, she felt grass and earth beneath her own two feet.
"You did great," Korrin said, suddenly at her side. Kris felt herself sway. Her legs felt like rubber. She held out one hand, which trembled noticeably.
"Let's never do that again."
"It was your idea," he pointed out.
"Don't remind me," Kris said. She was going a hundred miles a minute. She was still wanting Korrin to grab her right then and there, but her heart was also pounding from climbing down. She was relieved to be alive, yet disappointed that nothing besides kissing had happened between her and Korrin.
She felt his big hands wrap around hers, his fingers slipping between her own. Together, they started walking back toward her room on campus.
"We'll have to cross through the bar district to get to my place," Kris said. "Unless you want to take the long way around."
"I don't think I can wait that long," he said, grinning. "Besides, it's been a few hours. The search has definitely died down for us. Plus, they probably don't even know what we really look like. We'll be okay."
"I hope you're right," Kris said. "Because I'm not looking to go to jail tonight. That would be the worst thing that could possibly happen to me."
"Trust me," Korrin said. "You're not going to jail tonight."
They walked slowly, enjoying each other's company. Kris had no idea what time it was, but it was getting late. She wouldn't be surprised to see the sun coming up over the horizon any second. Kris rested her head against Korrin's arm; his shoulder was much too high for her to comfortably lean against while walking.
"So, about all of that pressure?" Kris asked, carefully prodding.
"Let's just say I'm a disappointment to my family. They had high hopes for me, and I never met them."
"Looks like we're in the same boat. No matter what I do, it's never good enough for my parents. I graduated college and didn't even get a 'well done.' They were already looking for the next big thing for me to do to please them and their friends."
"You should do what I do. Just ignore anything your family wants you to do. When they tell you need to shape up, ignore it. Or if you're feeling especially great, just do the opposite of what they want. It works, trust me."
"My parents would kill me," Kris said, but she had to admit: it sounded good. It wasn't that she didn't like school or didn't want to be successful, but she wanted to do it on her own terms. She wanted to be her own woman.
"Korrin, what do you do? What does your family do? What is it they want you to do?" Kris asked. She wasn't able to ignore those questions any longer.
"Run," he answered. Run?
"Run?"
"Stop right there!" a voice yelled.
Kris jumped and looked up from the sidewalk. In front of her were two police officers, and they were coming at Kris and Korrin, their guns drawn.