Dirty Rush by Taylor Bell Page B

at college than you are at home.”
    â€œThat’s the whole thing, isn’t it? You get here and you’re handed this amazing, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to completely reinvent yourself. You can be whoever you want to be at school.”
    Jack was so right. That thought had been bouncing around in my head since I got here, but I hadn’t been able to articulate it. Never in a million years would I have described my sister Kelly as a leader. Growing up she was always annoyed with everyone and everything, constantly complaining, and the last to offer a helping hand. But from the sense I’d gotten from the other BZ girls, she was totally respected here for being a decision maker and a boss. They all looked up to her. I felt proud to be her sister for maybe the first time ever.
    â€œI think you’re a good guy, Jack. I just wanted you to know.”
    â€œGood. I’m glad. You’re not so bad yourself,” Jack repliedwith the cutest fucking grin. He had the type of face you want to just lie in bed and look at all day. It was gross, in the best way ever.
    â€œYou’re so easy to talk to. And it’s never that easy to talk to people that I really like,” I flirted back.
    â€œSo you’re saying that you really like me?”
    â€œSure.”
    â€œIs this your way of flirting with me, Taylor?”
    â€œI guess.”
    â€œI like your style. You want anything else? Dessert, maybe?”
    â€œI’m good.”
    My eyes shifted down to his hands. They were good hands. I think I may have been staring.
    â€œYou’re not saying much all of a sudden,” Jack broke the silence.
    â€œSo, my roommate went home for the weekend . . .”
    â€œWow.”
    â€œWhat? Was that weird? Am I being too forward? You said that college is all about being who you want to be, and this is who I want to be right now.”
    â€œThat’s great. You’re totally right. The ‘wow’ wasn’t a bad ‘wow.’ It was definitely a good one.”
    S itting next to Jack in his completely adorable vintage Land Rover, I was nervous and excited and anxious and ecstatic all at once. I hadn’t felt this way in a long time, maybe ever, actually. When Jack parked the car, we just sat there in silence for a solid thirty seconds. Weboth knew what was about to happen—the connection felt almost chemical—and it was nice to pause and just enjoy the moment.
    Jack turned to me.
    â€œI can’t stop smiling,” I said.
    He leaned in and kissed me so perfectly that I melted inside. The perfect combination of firmness and tenderness. I kissed him back, and luckily our styles meshed. It’s the worst when you don’t mesh well with someone’s kissing style, but this wasn’t one of those times, thank God. Jack slid one of his big hands behind my head and another one around my waist and it felt like he was holding every part of me. I didn’t want to be sitting in a parked car anymore.
    â€œLet’s go up,” I said.
    â€œYou sure?”
    â€œSure . . . I mean . . . definitely.”
    As we got out of the car, I felt my phone vibrating in my pocket. It was definitely a text. Then I felt it again. Then again. I looked and saw that they were all from Meg, but I chose not to read them. I was positive she was summoning me and the twenty other pledges to the Beta Zeta house or one of the satellite houses for some last-minute meeting or bonding exercise, but I wasn’t going to be taken out of this moment. We had been warned that we needed to be on call 24/7, but it had barely been a day since we’d gotten our bids and I’d already been to the BZ house once today for a “History of Beta Zeta” lecture that lasted almost two hours. I was not about to abandon Jack when we were steps away from my bed.
    â€œI lived at Lincoln my freshman year. A lot of good memories in this building,” Jack