Member-only story
Calling You Mine
Love was its own wayward path.
Justin and I knew each other through friends of friends. When I first met him, I didn’t think much of him. His buzz cut combined with an awkward smile may have been cute to a freshman girl ready to fall head over heels in her first love affair, but I told myself I knew better.
Besides, at the time, I was crushing hard on my creative writing professor who had two historical fiction novels published; I had read through both numerous times, highlighting my favorite parts that spoke to me in such a way that I thought we had a chance of being soul mates. But it wouldn’t have mattered. The professor never looked my way once.
But Justin? That night we met at Gary’s party, I kept catching him stealing glances at me. In a way, it was flattering. But some part of me was also annoyed. By the fourth time, I snapped, “Do you have something to say to me?” I had never been one for subtlety.
He looked startled that I had called him out. “Uh, no, not really,” he said. “I was just looking at your tattoo.”
“Oh,” I said, my hand immediately lifting to my collar bone across which lay a scatter of shooting stars in charcoal, silver, and gold. I almost felt bad for getting snippy with him. “Yeah, I got it a year ago.”
