Read The Saving of Benjamin Chambers (The Uni Files) for Free Online Page B

knew why.
    “So what you studying?” I feel like I should be a host on some TV show or something, but I want to know everything. Right now.
    “History.”
    It’s a sheer miracle I don’t choke on the lungful of smoke I have just inhaled. That would not be cool at all.
    Holy Mother of God. She is going to be on the same course as me.
    She has no idea that my brain is going to explode with the magnitude of that last snippet of information. It’s like offering cookie crumbs to a kid at Fat Camp. I can’t stop myself. I move right into her space, as close as I can physically get without causing her injury or alarm.
    She is still trying to make small talk with me, not even realising that she does not need to, because I want to talk to her forever and then maybe a little longer after that.
    “So you been with the band long?” she asks, completely oblivious.
    I want to laugh but I don’t.
    “Ten years,” I tell her, taking another drag of my cigarette.
    “Wow, that’s a long time.” She sounds impressed.
    I feel a little tingle of pride that I have never felt before.
    Attempt nonchalance.
    “Yeah, I guess.” I take a last drag on my smoke and then flick it away.
    She does the same and the moment both our hands are empty, I am acutely, to the point of painfully, aware of how close we are. Toe-to-toe.
    My body is aching in a unique way that I will from here on in have to call the ‘Lilah Effect.’
    “You don’t remember me, do you?” I ask. I have to physically restrain myself from edging even closer.
    She cocks her head to one side. “No. Should I?”
    Uh, yes, because I’ve been in love with you for months after the one conversation we had, one snatched and too brief conversation where you gave me something new and unexpected to live for. You.
    Maybe not.
    “I played at a Christmas party last year. You were there.”
    I watch as she clearly tries to recall the evening, our conversation, or even me. I hold my breath as I wait for her response.
    “Sorry.” She shrugs.
    Damn it.
    Wait a minute . All is not lost. Time to play my trump card because the truth is I remember her. Every single bit of her.
    “I think I prefer the white dress to the red,” I say. This is only half the truth.
    The whole truth would be that I prefer the white dress to the red, but I would much rather there was no dress at all. Or if there had to be one, that it was decorating my bedroom floor.
    That thought along with the sight of her mouth opening in shock is the end of my self-restraint. In one single fluid movement, I slide one arm around her waist and pull her in close to me. Her body is tight against my own as I lean in and kiss her in the way I have been imagining for the last nine months. My other hand automatically reaches for the chocolate hair, and I entwine my fingers in the strands to keep her fixed to me, not that she seems to be moving anywhere.
    It’s everything, and then a little bit more.
    She edges herself a little closer until our bodies are merged and fit together in one sinuous line. One of my knees slides in-between her thighs. I can feel her faint breath against my mouth, and I want to take it one step further and then another until there is no separating us.
    This is so not a tame first kiss. She sighs a little as I flick my tongue against hers and my fingers tighten in her hair. I graze my thumb along her throat. I want to lower my lips to the exposed soft flesh of her neck but my concern is if I break the kiss she may leg it across campus, away from me. Again. So I don’t. I just stand there and kiss her some more, feeling my body start to sizzle against hers. One of my hands, with a will of its own, slides down the slope of her back, smoothing over the concave dip of silk dress at the base of her spine before continuing down to her thigh.
    Crap. I want to take this dress off.
    After a few moments I realise that I am practically holding her up. She seems to have gone completely limp in my arms, and as I