Promised at the Moon by Rebekah R. Ganiere

Friday. We did enough of everything on Friday.” She moved toward the door again. There was no way she was having this conversation in the hallway.
    Liam stepped in her way. “Asha, please, let me explain—”
    She held up a hand. Okay, maybe they were having this conversation now. She raced over the excuse she’d spent the weekend convincing herself of.
    “I understand perfectly. You didn’t want to chance me getting pregnant and due to our very vulnerable states there was quite a good likelihood that we could have ended up bonding which would have been a disaster. I get it and I thank you. Now if you’ll excuse me—” The words came out as hollow and as rehearsed as when she’d practiced them in her room. She moved around him.
    “That’s not it. I mean…” He ran his fingers through his hair. “Yes, there’s that, but that’s not why I didn’t want to—”
    “You admit you didn’t want to?” She crossed her arms over her chest in an effort to bind inside the words she wanted to spew at him. “Then why did you kiss me in the first place?”
    “Yes…I mean no…I mean—” It was his turn to growl.
    Natasha glanced down the deserted hallway and then into her classroom. Her professor walked to the door, grabbed the handle and looked at her for a moment.
    “Miss Moon, you’re a bright student and from the paper you just turned in I can see that you have a great future ahead of you. But only if you can get to your classes on time.”
    She nodded. “Of course. Thank you. Sorry, Professor.” She stepped out of the way as he closed the door in her face. Lovely.
    “If you’d just let me talk to you. Let me explain.”
    She’d convinced herself over the weekend not to care because he didn’t. If that changed now, she didn’t know that her heart could handle being rejected by him again later on.
    “I’ll spare you the trouble. We went for a ride, adrenaline started pumping, it’s almost the full moon. We talked, we kissed, that’s it. It’s okay. We don’t need to turn this into something it isn’t.”
    “That’s where you’re wrong,” he blurted. “This is something. Something I wasn’t prepared for. I didn’t want this.” He pointed between them.
    “You think I did? My last boyfriend tried to kidnap me. I wasn’t looking to come out here and find someone who I thought might actually be the one. You think I wanted to get my heart toyed with again and spun around like a yo-yo?” Her rib cage crushed in like an empty soda can. “I’m letting you off the hook. Neither of us wants whatever this is so we’ll just part here as friends.”
    “That’s not what I—”
    She shook her head. She couldn’t do this. The lies she’d just told him were enough to squash her under their weight. If he said even one kind thing to her, she’d cave. “Please. I’m late for class. I can’t do this. I just— I don’t have it in me.” She grabbed the classroom door handle and yanked it open. The professor stopped speaking and eyed her as she found a seat in the second row. What Natasha had wanted to say was that she didn’t have it in her to fall for someone who wasn’t sure about what he wanted. And Liam was obviously conflicted.
    She removed her notebook and her pen and stared at it. Her hands shook from adrenaline. That hadn’t gone anything like what she’d prepared for. She’d planned on keeping it cool. Not let him see how much it shredded her up inside like tissue paper knowing that he didn’t want her. It’s okay , she told herself for the millionth time. She shouldn’t be getting involved with a guy so soon anyway.
    Staring at the professor, she tried to concentrate on the lecture.
    It didn’t work.
    * * * * *
    Class ended, and Natasha looked up to find her classmates moving out into the hall. Glancing down, she found her notebook full of notes, but she didn’t remember writing them. She shoved her stuff into her bag. She had an hour before her next class.
    The brushing of