In the Air (The City Book 1) - By Crystal Serowka Page 0,18

following me?" I looked at her, noticing the similarity in our heights, and waited for her answer.

"Don't be so full of yourself. I have somewhere to be."

The elevator descended to the first floor in silence. I was thankful the altercation had ended. I exited, Kingsley still trailing behind me.

The weather outside was warm for September and the mugginess intensified my hangover. I spotted Natalia standing near the building and headed in her direction.

"Natalia, please tell your friend to stop following me like a lost puppy."

Natalia looked at us both, unimpressed, and started walking away.

"Seriously, you're not going to help me out?" I yelled after her.

Natalia turned around and looked at me, daggers shooting from her eyes. I was surprised my body didn't collapse from the effect. "Help you out? Here's a tip: your pants are too tight. It gives the wrong impression, and since you're already a ballet dancer, you're going to start turning the wrong heads."

Kingsley cackled wildly after hearing Natalia's response and walked away.

I groaned. "Can we talk?" The hurt on Natalia's face was apparent. I stepped a little closer to her to bridge the distance.

"We already tried that in class. It's not getting us anywhere," she responded.

"I just want to make sure we're okay."

The laugh she gave was not pleasant.

"We're great." I noted the sarcasm pouring from her.

I stepped forward to reach for her arm, but she backed away. "Are you okay?"

"If you're referring to my ass, it's bruised, but I'm fine." Her tone remained short.

"Natalia, I already told you that I'm not good at apologies and I just don't want you to think that it was something more than it was. We had a moment and I couldn't control myself." Excuses rolled off my tongue. I hoped they weren't transparent or else she'd hear that I didn't want to pull away. I wanted the kiss to last all night. My lips still stung from the electricity I felt when they were pressed to hers.

"Nice, Samson. I really have to go. Let's just keep our conversations limited to our rehearsals. Okay?"

I watched her walk out of sight and knew I had just made the situation worse. I'd never met a girl that got under my skin so quickly. I didn't like the way she seeped into my pores and set up camp in my head. I needed to come up with a way to halt all of these emotions before the situation got out of hand.

After the conversation with Natalia, I needed to sleep off the frustration that was growing inside me.

Just as I stepped into my dorm room, my phone began to vibrate. Looking down at the screen, I contemplated not answering Aubrey's call. Her smiling face filled the screen and remorse filled my body. I took a deep breath and answered, preparing myself for the next several minutes.

"Hey, Aubs." Silence. I looked down to make sure I had pressed the right button. Nothing. "Are you there?" My room was dimly lit, the curtains still drawn from last night.

"I shouldn't be," she answered quietly. "But if I waited for you to call me, we'd never talk."

"It's been a really long morning, Aubrey. Can we not do this right now?" I removed everything but my pants and wrapped the sheets around my exhausted body.

"I'm calling to let you know that I'll be in New York this weekend. My father is having a benefit. You know how I don't like to let Daddy down, so I expect you to be there with me." I didn't understand why Aubrey continued to call him "Daddy," considering she was older than twelve.

"Can I get back to you about this? My head is killing me and I need some rest before my next class." Knowing I'd possibly see Aubrey's father this weekend didn't help.

"If you didn't drink so much, you wouldn't get headaches all of the time." Aubrey nagged. If we were having this conversation face to face, she would have her arms crossed and her feet tapping loudly on the hardwood floors.

"Look, I don't drink so much."

"If you say so, Samson. Get back to me within the next few hours about this weekend."

"I'll call you later. Enjoy –" I heard a click. Once again, silence. My girlfriend had become the Queen of Hang-ups.

Every woman I've come in contact with these past few days is sucking the life out of me.

Before I drifted into a deep sleep, I remembered dancing with Natalia. Her movements had a way of manipulating so much emotion