My eyes snapped open, and panic and guilt blasted through me. What the FUCK are you doing, Kaitlyn?!I pushed Derek off me with a jolt of adrenaline so powerful it took us both by surprise. He toppled backwards onto his ass, a look of shock on his face. I scrambled upright and snatched up a bunch of crinkled notes, then stared at them with an intensity people usually reserve for notices of foreclosure and bad medical reports.Except I don’t think most people in that situation have faces red as a tomato and hot as a coal.The door swung open and Shanna entered, groaning as she dumped her backpack on the floor. “OH MY GOD, my paper’s finally done and emailed and I want a drink so BAD – ”She stopped in her tracks, her mouth open, as she actually looked into the room for the first time. What she saw was Derek on my bed, sprawled out on his ass and propping himself up with his hands, and me completely ignoring him as I stared intently at a fistful of paper. Oh, and my face probably looke
As soon as Derek left, the fun really started.“OH MY GOD what were you up to?!” Shanna squealed.“Nothing,” I insisted. My blushing, which had started to die down, returned with a vengeance.“OH MY GOD you were totally gonna bone him, weren’t you?!”“NO!” I shouted, sick to my stomach.But what I did was bad enough.“Dude is packing some serious heat,” Shanna said, and turned her head back to the hallway as though she could see around the corner and down the hallway if she tried hard enough.“Shanna – ”“I mean, I’ve seen bigger, but not attached to a bod like that – ”“Shanna – ”“I mean, not outside of pornos, anyway – ”“SHANNA, would you please stop talking about his thing?” I hissed.“I’m not talking about his thing, I’m talking about his cock,” she said, relishing my discomfort.“Then just stop talking, okay?”She belly-flopped on her bed and then grinned at me like we were at a sleepover. “What’d you do with him?” she asked as she doubled her pillow under her chin to prop up h
I sat there at our table in the lounge, listening to Shanna order some specialty off-menu cocktail, and thought about everything that had happened between us in that dorm room four years ago.Once she was finished, I told the waiter, “Just a glass of merlot, please.”“Jeez, you’re a cheap date,” Shanna said as the waiter walked off.“I don’t have as much money as you.”“I told you, I’m buyin’ first round. You shoulda got champagne to celebrate. Maybe not Cristal, but…”“Mm.”Life had gone well for Shanna over the last four years. Her parents hadn’t let her go back to UGA, so she’d gone to community college, just like she’d predicted. And then she’d flunked out of there, too. Too much partying, too much living life like it was her last day on earth.However, her other… skills had led to more interesting prospects. She slept with an up-and-coming (pun intended) fashion photographer and ended up in a relationship with him. Because she didn’t have anything else going on, he took her on as
A couple hours after Shanna and I made up, the company that rented us our tiny dorm refrigerator came by and picked it up. There were two guys, and they went from room to room wheeling out the fridges on hand trucks as people packed up to go home.Then, an hour after that, Derek stopped by with Ryan in tow.“Oh my God!” Shanna squealed, and pushed a lock of her hair back flirtatiously. “It’s so good to see you!”“Good to see you, too,” Ryan said nervously, then looked at me. “Hi, Kaitlyn.”“Hey, Ryan.” I turned to Derek. “What are you two doing here?”“Well… I knew you were leaving after your exam, and I knew that was this morning, so… how’d it go, by the way?”“I think I did pretty well, actually. I think.”“Good.” He smiled, and his eyes twinkled. “So all that studying last night paid off.”Shanna snorted.I blushed.Ryan looked around, confused. “What’s… what’s the joke?”“No joke,” I said quickly. “There’s no joke. Soooo… did you come by to – ”“When are you leaving?” Derek interr
Two more rounds later, we stepped tipsily out of the Forum. Shanna immediately began scanning for taxis. One came down the street and she hailed it.“You comin’ with me?” she asked.“No, I’m going to take the subway back.”“I can give you a ride – ”“Naah, it’s just a couple blocks that way.”The taxi drove up to the curb in front of her.“So, are you going to go do it?” Shanna called out as she opened the rear door.“…yeah,” I said grudgingly.She threw her arms up in the air in a giant ‘V’.“YES! Shanna Williams for the win!” she yelled to all of New York City, then turned back to me. “Let me know how it goes!”“Yeah, yeah,” I grinned, and started off down the street.She started to get in, then stopped and hollered, “Hey – wait – I know you didn’t sleep with him, but you never told me what happened after I left that day!”I turned around and yelled, “Read the fuckin’ article!”“You bitch!” she laughed, then got in the taxi and sped away.I called Rolling Stone the next morning. The
Derek walked me back to my room. Neither of us said much on the way up the stairs. I was seriously nervous; he was Mr. Calm, Cool, and Unruffled.“You need help packing?” he asked.“Um… I guess…”I unlocked the door and we stepped inside. Shanna’s half of the room was stripped bare – metal-frame bed, old mattress, empty wooden desk. I felt lonelier just looking at it.“Can I ask you a favor?” Derek asked.“Um… depends on what the favor is…”“Can you not leave today, and just stay one more night?” he asked, staring into my eyes.“I… I told my parents I’d be back today…”“I’m probably never going to see you again once you leave. Could you please, please just stick around one more night and give me some more time with you?”One more night.The phrase made me weak in the knees.Maybe from how many times I’d heard it in love songs.“…please,” he whispered.All the little voices in my head were screaming, No! Don’t! Bad idea!But the feelings in my body were saying something else entirely.
I sat across from him as he cut the foil off the wine bottle with one of those combination knives/corkscrews.“How’d you get all this stuff up here?” I asked.“Ryan. He snuck the picnic basket up here when he disappeared.”“Ahhhh.” I looked around at the plates and silverware and glasses. It was pretty damn nice for a picnic basket. I probably would have gone with plastic plates and cutlery. “Did you buy this?”“No, it’s Ryan’s parents’. He kind of borrowed it for me.”“Kind of?”“Ahh, they never use it.”Derek pulled out the cork, then poured us each a glass. He clinked his against mine.“To you… and to your brilliant future as a world-famous journalist.”“And to your brilliant future as a world-famous rock star.”“I’ll drink to that,” he said, and we both took a sip.I had only tasted wine at a wedding before, and I was expecting not to like it – but I did. It was a lot sweeter and mellower than the sour stuff at my cousin’s reception, and a hundred times better than the crappy beer
I stood up gracelessly, plopped down on the bed, and removed my shoes and socks.He moved the dishes over to Shanna’s side and put up the picnic basket.“…wow… a guy who makes me dinner, and cleans up…” I giggled as I stretched out on top of the covers.“Damn straight.”He started blowing out the tea lights.“…no… leave them… they’re pretty…”“Okay,” he agreed, but moved the ones on the floor over to the window ledge. Then he kicked off his clunky boots, pulled off his socks, and laid down next to me on the bed.The weight of his body next to mine sent another jolt through my lower extremities.“Turn over on your side,” he commanded me gently. “I want to spoon you.”“…oh…” I said, catching my breath. “…okay… but no forking…”He frowned. “Forking?”“…joke… sounds like…” and I silently mouthed ‘fucking.’He burst out laughing. “Okay – no ‘forking.’”“…okay…”I turned over onto my side and he snuggled up against me.Sweet baby Jesus.As soon as I felt him against me, I was wide awake, an