After Class (10 page)

After kissing her deeply, James pulls away and brushes the hair from her face. He studies her beauty, as if looking at her for the first time. He stares deeply into her eyes and smiles. Taylor cannot help but smile back.

“Well, I would say that deserves an A+,” James whispers and laughs.

Taylor turns on top of him and straddles him on the bed. She kisses him and bites at his bottom lip to tease him. “Want to try for an A++?”

18

James’ car pulls up about a half a mile away from the dormitory where Taylor lives with Nicole. He puts the car in park and allows the engine to continue running. She sits, staring at the building and thinking about how she is going to get inside. She prays that Nicole isn’t there and that she isn’t going to get busted but with the time being 3:10am, Taylor knows that her chances are very slim.

“So, what’s your plan of attack?” James asks beside her. The streetlights illuminate only part of his face, casting this shadow on him that makes him look so sexy and mysterious. “You know, you could just stay the night at my house. I promise we can sleep in separate beds.”

Taylor looks over to him and gets lost in his eyes for a moment. “Don’t be such a tease,” she says while pushing him in the chest playfully. Any excuse to touch him, she takes advantage of. “I can’t. I told Nicole I’d be in bed sleeping off the alcohol. I have to go.”

James sighs deeply. He doesn’t want her to leave and he wants to spend the night with her in his arms. Taylor’s gaze goes from the building into James’ eyes. His eyes are much more welcoming. “Well then, my dear, you better get trekking,” he says. “I’d be a gentleman and walk you to the door but I just don’t think that is appropriate right now.”

Taylor giggles quietly. “It’s the thought that counts.” She looks towards the building and knows she is losing precious time while sitting in the vehicle with James. She inhales and exhales deeply and unfastens her seatbelt.

“You doing this?” James asks.

Taylor shakes her head yes. “I’m doing it,” she says as her eyes meet his one final time. Unsure what to say, she lets the silence linger a bit. Hoping James knows what to say, all she can do is look at him.

“Well, then you better get moving, kid,” he says to her. James doesn’t mean for the pet name to come out and he looks slightly embarrassed after the fact.

“Kid, hey? It’s cute. I like it,” says Taylor. “I’ll see you on Monday.” She opens up the car door and is just about to get out before James grabs her by the arm.

“One more thing,” he whispers as he pulls Taylor back into the car. He leans into her close and kisses her deep. As soon as their lips touch, Taylor is melting once again. Every nerve ending in her body is firing and she is being driven wild with lust. Just as she wants to get into it, James pulls away. “Now you can go,” he whispers.

Flustered, Taylor composes herself and exits the car. She starts moving across the street towards her dorm, the headlights from James’ car illuminating the way for her. She moves swiftly, yet carefully, ensuring that she cannot be seen from all angles.

As she approaches the front doors to the building, she can hear James’ car take off. The moment this happens, she can feel butterflies in her stomach. Not being near him or having him close makes her have this sense of nervousness. She shakes it off and continues through the building.

Taylor starts walking up the stairs and just as she does so, she can hear voices in the lobby of the building. She listens for a moment. One of them is Nicole.

Adrenaline starts pumping through Taylor’s veins. She knows that Nicole takes the elevator and Taylor needs to get to the seventh floor before Nicole does. She starts sprinting up the stairs. Even though she is athletic, after having mind blowing and life altering sex of that magnitude and James’ hard body pumping into her, it’s safe to say, she is a little weak.

By the time she reaches the fourth floor, her legs are about to give out, but she pushes through. The sixth floor hits and Taylor knows that she isn’t going to make it. She needs another plan of attack.

Taylor waits by the stairs entrance on the seventh floor and just as she is about to open the door to bolt down the hallway, Nicole comes out of the elevator. Taylor stands for a moment, her heart beating in her chest. She waits for Nicole to enter their room and as soon as she does, Taylor runs for the shared bathroom. She enters the bathroom and feels safe but only for a brief moment. She needs to put on a performance to trick Nicole. She knows she can’t bring her purse into the room with her because Nicole would know that she was lying.

As she stands and thinks for a moment, she can hear footsteps coming towards the bathroom. Taylor darts for an empty stall and stands in there while the girl enters the washroom. Taylor peeks out from under the stall and sees Nicole entering the washroom. Her breath gets caught in her chest and she panics. She knows she can’t head back to the room because Nicole has already been in there. She feels trapped.

Nicole enters into a stall a few down from Taylor. She can hear everything that Nicole is doing. She tries to reposition herself in the stall to be quieter. She waits.

Nicole exits the stall and heads for the sink. She washes up, grabs some paper towel and is just about to leave when Taylor’s cell phone’s text message function goes off, causing a loud jingle to fill the bathroom. She sees that the message is from James and she stuffs the phone into her pocket.

“Taylor?” Nicole’s voice calls out. “Is that you?”

Taylor knows she is busted and she can’t do anything other than fess up. “Yeah, it’s me.”

“Have you been in here all night? Were you sick again?” Nicole asks as she bangs on the door. “Are you okay?”

Taylor realizes she can fake it. She knows that she can pretend that she was sick in the bathroom all night again. She gets ready to put on her Oscar award willing performance, method acting and all.

She opens the bathroom stall and pretends to be falling over. Nicole grabs her immediately and takes care of her. “Oh honey,” says Nicole. “We really got to train you.” She laughs and acts as Taylor’s crutch, unaware that Taylor is actually fine. “Let’s get you to bed.”

The two girls walk down the hallway together. Taylor feels waves of relief come over her. She continues pretending to be intoxicated just for Nicole’s sake and so she can get away with this act until she is safe in her bed. Taylor amps up her “drunken state” with small mumblings as the two girls walk. “You’re the bestest friend any one could have Nic,” she mumbles as the two walk. “I’m so lucky to have a friend like you.”

Nicole laughs as she keeps walking Taylor down the hallway. She grabs her dorm room key and opens the room for the two girls. “Okay, you lush, let’s get you into your bed.”

Nicole helps Taylor to crawl into bed. She takes off Taylor’s heels, coat and uncovers her bed cover for her. She allows Taylor to get under the covers before she tucks her in. The whole time Nicole is helping Taylor, all Taylor can think about is her phone and what the text message says. She wants to read it and is very eager but knows that she needs to wait until Nicole is fast asleep.

“Alright, there you go. Now, rest up okay?” Nicole whispers gently as she kisses Taylor on the forehead. As she leans in, Taylor can smell the alcohol scent on her breath. She watches Nicole turn to head for her bed and wonders how she can keep herself so composed while being so intoxicated.

For a moment, Taylor becomes worried. Maybe Nicole has a drinking problem but all is interrupted as Nicole says “Goodnight!”

Taylor lies for a moment in silence on her bed. She can hear Nicole rustling and when she finally hears silence, she is able to think clearly. She lies awake and all she can think about is James. She thinks about the way he made her feel and how it was something that she has never experienced before. Her heart patters in her chest and her body trembles as she reminisces on the events that just occurred not more than an hour ago. She can still taste him on her lips and she can still feel the lingering effects of the mounds of pleasure he gave to her. It was amazing. He is amazing.

 Taylor continues lying still, waiting for Nicole to fall asleep. When she can hear the faint sound of snoring, Taylor rises slowly from her bed. She searches through the darkened room, looking for where Nicole stashed her coat. She finds it hanging on the back of her desk chair, which is a few steps away from her bed. Taylor quietly rises out of bed and tip toes along the hardwood floor. The floor creaks beneath her steps.

She gets to her jacket and carefully slides her hand into the coat pocket. She finds her phone and yanks it out. As she makes her way back to her bed, she can hear Nicole rustling in her sheets behind her. The moment she hears Nicole grunt, she stands perfectly still. Another moment of silence falls over her and she quietly starts tip toeing again. She reaches her bed and climbs in.

Finally, she feels like she can move freely again. She gets comfortable in her bed and opens up her cell phone. The light blinds her at first so she shoves it under the covers. Knowing that the light could easily shine so bright and wake up Nicole, she changes the brightness settings solely based on memory. She brings the significantly dimmer phone up to her eyes and reads the text message from James.

“HOPE OPERATION SNEAK-IN WAS A SUCCESS. SLEEP TIGHT KID.”

Taylor can’t help but smile and become overtly giddy. She starts typing in a message but realizes the tapping of her manicured nails could annoy the light sleeper, Nicole. She knows that she has to keep this brief.

“THANKS PARTNER IN CRIME. TOTAL SUCCESS. NIGHT. XX”

The moment Taylor closes her phone, she realizes she wouldn’t have put on a show or tip toe around to read a text message if it was anyone other than James. A sense of guilt pours over her hard. From one moment of feeling untouchable and a sense of sexual power, Taylor now lies awake, thinking of Chad and how she betrayed him. She thinks of Nicole and how she just lied to her. This wasn’t like her to act like this. She was a good girl. She was a good friend and a good partner.

Even though she is stricken with this form of regret, Taylor can’t help but smile at the thoughts of James. They soothe her and make her feel like everything is going to be all right. She imagines him beside her, holding her close and protecting him in her big arms. It is enough to make her doze off and come 4:00am, Taylor is finally asleep after what will surely be a night she won’t soon forget.

19

Taylor’s planned 8:00am wake up call hits her hard and fast. It is Sunday morning and the sun breaks through the blinds casting rays of shade on the two girls as they sleep. The room smells of alcohol and Taylor can still smell the scent of James on her skin. He is the first thought that crosses her mind this morning. The way he makes her feel and the sensation she gets from it causes her to feel awake, even though her body would disagree. She knows that she has an intense week ahead of her. It is exam week and she needs to do well or else her parents will have something ugly in store for her. She pulls herself out of bed and takes a big stretch, opening up her body and allowing more air in. She feels sore from James, yet she finds it pleasurable the way her body aches.

Suddenly, her cell phone rings. She cannot help but want it to be James on the other end but is wrongfully mistaken when the caller ID reveals it is Chad. As soon as his name comes up and stares Taylor in the face, her mood changes drastically. Afraid, she lets the call go to voicemail. She’s not ready to face this yet and she doesn’t know if she’ll ever be. The ringing of her cell phone causes Nicole to wake up. “Who was that?” Nicole asks, in her groggy, hung over state.

“Chad,” says Taylor, having to clear her throat as she speaks.

“Why didn’t you answer it? Isn’t he coming this week?”

She forgot. Amidst studying and her new fixation on James, Taylor completely forgot that Chad was planning on coming this week. This sense of panic takes over her body. She shakes her head and hangs it down by her chest. She wants to let out profanity. She wants to curse and she wants to let her true feelings show but she cannot in front of Nicole. She makes up yet another lie. “I just still feel sick. I wasn’t ready to talk yet. I’ll call him back.”

Nicole stretches and sits upright in bed. “Are you excited to see him? You guys haven’t seen each other since like Christmas break.”

“Yeah, it’s been a while. Of course I’m excited to see him,” Taylor says as yet another lie spits through her teeth.

“So is our room going to turn into some love palace?” asks Nicole as she yawns. She smiles big at Taylor.

“No,” Taylor says to her. “I won’t be following in your footsteps and tainting this place.”

“Yeah, you say that now, but when you go months without seeing each other and getting no action, you’ll think otherwise.”

The words getting no action make Taylor feel guilty. She tries not to let it show. “Well, we will see I guess.”

Nicole continues waking up and looks at the clock on the wall. “Why are you awake? It’s 8:00am!”

“Studying. It’s exam week. I need to get to work.”

“You’re crazy,” says Nicole as lies down again. “I’ll see you this afternoon.” She rolls over and heads back to sleep.

Taylor sits, motionless on her bed. She looks at her cell phone and all she can think about is Chad. She feels sick to her stomach and doesn’t know what to do. In the meantime, all she can do is wash away the scent of James and change out of the clothes that will remind her of this feeling.