The next morning, Cat awoke to a text from Ryan.
“Hi! Hope your semester is going well :) Do you have time to get coffee next week?”
Her heart sank. She had meant to keep better in touch with him, but as classes had picked up, and she had started spending more time with Melissa, it had been harder and harder to stay connected. And besides, Melissa had said, they had only gone to prom together–it wasn’t like they had dated or anything.
“Hey! It’s going great! And yeah I would love to!” Her finger hovered over the send button.
She deleted it. She would think of what to say later. Right now she was late for brunch, and she also needed to start packing for Thanksgiving break. And not only that, but she also needed to think of what the “sermon” this morning had been about so she could tell her mom later. She had really meant to go to church every Sunday, or at least every other Sunday, but Saturday nights and Sunday mornings just hadn’t turned out to be compatible.
When she walked into Pancakes, Etc., everyone was already seated. Jack had saved a seat for her at the end of the table. Turning bright read, she sat down next to Melissa and picked up the menu. Her phone buzzed—just a winky face. She glanced at Jack, and he grinned when their eyes met.
“I need to study tonight,” she responded.
“Oh don’t worry, I had plans anyway.”
She looked up at him again. This time he was talking to one of his frat friends, the one who only wore Hawaiian shirts.
“Heyyo,” Melissa cut in.
Embarrassed, Cat tried to respond to what she had been saying, but she couldn’t remember any of it. She felt hot.
“So did you respond?”
“What?”
“To Ryan. Did you respond?”
She had completely forgotten about that.
“Oh, um, yeah, I did.”
“Aaaand?”
“Oh I mean, no, I’m going to respond later.”
She sipped her water, trying to cool her face down. Melissa beamed at her.
“Do you think I should see him?”
Melissa shrugged.
“I mean, you want to stay friends right?”
Cat nodded. Mercifully, the waitress showed up, and Melissa spent the next five minutes laughing and complimenting everyone’s orders. Cat smiled to herself—Melissa loved doing stuff like that. Jack caught her eye again, and she blushed, and started to say something, but then he was giving his own order, and by the time the waitress had gotten to Cat, he was talking to his friend again.
Melissa was excitedly tapping her forearm.
“Won’t that be amazing?”
Cat tried to remember what Melissa had been saying, but again she couldn’t.
“Sorry, Mel, I’m, umm.”
Melissa covered her mouth with both hands to stifle her gasp. Her eyes were wide.
“I had no idea.”
Cat blushed. Melissa leaned in closer and lowered her voice.
“How was it?”
Looking at Jack out of the corner of her eye, she stumbled over her words.
“It was um, well, it was–”
Melissa cut her off.
“We’ll talk about it later.” Beaming, Melissa gave Cat a side hug.
The rest of brunch was a blur. When Melissa dropped her back at her apartment, she started packing. Her big jacket was taking too much space in the suitcase, so she texted her mom to make sure she still had her old leather jacket, and then she started picking out shirts. She couldn’t find the shirt with the cartoon turkey on it, so she went to dig through her laundry hamper.
Her panties from last night were on top. They were still damp.
When Jack had pulled her leg across his lap last night, she had started giggling again. The next few minutes she couldn’t remember distinctly—it had seemed like his hands were somehow everywhere at the same time. She remembered her back arching, almost involuntarily, and she remembered the way her whole body had twitched when his fingers had worked their way between her lips. She remembered him saying how wet she was, and she remembered that she felt like she hadn’t realized she was wet until he said that. Mostly she remembered the feeling of his kisses on her neck and chest, and the feeling of the wet spots they left behind.
“No worries if you don’t have time :) Christmas break would be perfect too!”
It was Ryan again. She silenced her phone, and started digging for her turkey shirt. It wasn’t there—it must be at Melissa’s.
“Can you see if my turkey shirt is there?”
Yet another text from Ryan. She swiped it away.
When Jack had first pulled his shirt off, she had gawked at his abs. She remembered feeling like a girl from a teen drama for staring. She also remembered him laughing and kissing her forehead, and then—
“Yep lol I meant to bring it to brunch!”
“Okay yay tysm. Can you bring it by in a little while?”
What the teen dramas hadn’t prepared her for was the way his back would feel under her hands. The way the feeling of his strength would somehow frighten her and enthrall her at the same time. How it would feel so natural, even effortless, when the moment came that he asked for it, for her to give her body to him. It was as if some part of her, some part of her psyche that had never woken up before, had been flipped on when he had whispered in her ear that he wanted “everything.”
“I’m here with your shirt!”
“Kk the door is open just come in :)”
She had walked to her dresser again. She was rummaging through her jewelry, trying to decide which earrings to bring. She heard the door open and close. Melissa burst into the room a few seconds later.
“Girrrrrl!”
Cat and Melissa ran into each others’ arms, and then collapsed onto the bed in a puddle of giggles.
“Okay. You have to tell me everything.”
Source: reddit.com/r/eroticliterature/comments/hk6s1g/her_first_year_of_college_ch_2