This is my first story on Lit and also my first attempt at writing erotica. All comments, complimentary are highly appreciated!
*****
It was Friday night, and a beautiful one at that. Crisp as a night at the start of spring should be, and gorgeously starry, so most people had left the dorm. I cursed first my professor for making assignments due Fridays at 10pm and then myself for having procrastinated once again. It sucked working in the lounge as I watched all my friends leave to have fun, but at least if people were walking by me I'd know what they were up to so I could join. At 9, I had dressed for the evening already and was finishing up the work, looking forward to heading to Jamie's place for movie night. It would be a fun time - hanging out with my ex in a larger group of friends, proving to ourselves that we could be normal again just a few months after breaking up.
"Hey, Ellie! Stats homework again?" I looked up to see Dan walking out of his hall and into the lounge in his pajamas, hair rumpled and eyes sleepy. He must have been napping. I love that being in college makes it appropriate to take random naps at age nineteen. We had gone for a run before dinner, and a warm shower afterward would have put me to sleep, too - so I showered in frigid water to get myself in the problem set mood.
"Yeah, just finishing up," I said sheepishly. Clearly I complained about this more than I realized if he remembered. "What, did running a couple miles put you to sleep?"
"Nah, but eating a couple dinners afterward sure did!" he joked. He came and sat down by me as I clicked submit. "What's the plan for tonight?"
"Most of the gang's probably at Jamie's by now. I think we were going to watch Love, Actually? Meg's pick." A good movie, of course, but I had already seen it enough times to have it memorized. We all took turns picking a movie for Friday movie night, hosted at Jamie's because he lived in an apartment rather than the dorms so we could be as loud as we wanted. My last pick had been Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Dan's, if I recalled correctly, had been Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights. Not the manliest, but hey, I thought it was good. Most of the guys, Jamie included, tended toward dystopia and action flicks. I'll watch a good thriller any day but I'm not big on depressing futuristic stories.
Dan yawned as he sat down beside me. "Okay. You ready to go?" I nodded as I put my computer to sleep. "Okay" - yawn - "give me five minutes more to vegetate and I'll go change so we can walk over together." But he actually slumped down further. I groaned, realizing that it was going to be a chore getting him back up if he was in a lazy mood. He can tear up trails like anyone else when we're running, but outside of that Dan's the most laid back guy in our group of friends - so much so that he has watched a couple of the girls he liked get asked out by his friends while he waited around to make a move. It's a shame, really, because he's a great person.
I scrolled through emails and texts on my phone to kill some time and make sure plans hadn't changed. A couple minutes later, my I-don't-plan-to-think-about-work-for-the-next-24-hours high kicked in, so I stood up, faced him, and stuck my hands out to him. He took both my hands in his and I pulled. To my surprise instead of getting up he pulled back, and I toppled, landing half on him and half on the floor.
"Hey! Come on, it's Friday night, dude, let's go!" Dan sighed. He was still holding my hands and he hummed absentmindedly as he moved them in a semblance of a dance. I recognized the humming as the song from Dirty Dancing - "Time of My Life". "Da-aaan," I whined as I untangled my fingers from his. "If you don't get up now, I will tickle you until you scream."
He stopped humming and stared incredulously at me through messy, light brown locks. "Oh, yeah? Do it. I dare you." And he dropped my hands, holding his arms out as if to expose himself as much as possible. Okay, not quite the reaction I had planned for. I lightly ticked his sides. No response. I tried his stomach and even armpits. Nothing, damnit. One of those unbelievable people who aren't ticklish. I groaned.
He smirked a bit. "Now, what do I get to do in return?"
"Anything, as long as it results in you getting up and getting ready!"
"Anything, huh?"
"Sure..."
He stood up - finally! - and brought me up with him. Then he bent a bit, picked me up by my thighs and threw my torso over his shoulder. What! Manhandling me was not included in "anything!" He quickly crossed the lounge and tossed me down on the other couch, laughing. I wanted to be indignant about the whole thing, but his blue eyes were sparkling and seemed to be getting such a kick out of it that I started laughing, too.
As I started to sit up, he sat down on the couch with his thighs over my shins, making it impossible for me to stand. "Dude, let's go!" He faced me, laughing now quieted to a wry smile.
"Nope. Your turn again, but I'll give you a choice this time. Truth or dare?" There was mischief in his eyes.
Truth or dare, really? Were we in fourth grade? What had gotten into the guy? Well, dares hadn't really worked out well for me so far, so I went with truth.
"Would you dance with me now?"
What an odd question. We've danced together before - we're part of a group of tightly knit friends in which everyone has danced with everyone in various styles and stages of inebriation, and Dan's probably the best of the guys. He moves well and has a lot of fun.
"Yeah, sure, I guess." He fished his phone out of his pocket, put some music on and stood up, spinning around to give me his hand. Truth doesn't really require one to follow through, but I figured why not. He was clearly in a really weird mood but I wasn't too torn up about missing Love, Actually anyway.
Dan whisked me into a pleasant dance. I can follow a lead decently most of the time, but I don't really know one style from another or what kind of music is required for what. This didn't feel sultry like Latin, but it wasn't stuck up like classic ballroom either - it was fast, something more like swing. I wondered as he spun me this way and that if people would think we were nuts if they walked by, but the chances of that happening at this time were low anyway.
As the song ended, I decided to play along with his game. We were both a bit winded, and had ended with him holding me close to him but facing away. I winced slightly as I realized that my hands in his were still a little cold, as always. "Truth or dare?" I asked, not turning to face him.
He hesitated a bit, as if he were surprised I was playing along. His lips were close to my ears when he spoke, still breathing just a little fast. "Well, since you didn't exactly get to choose the last one... dare." The last word was drawn out. It would have sounded like he was trying to be seductive, but given this is Dan, he was probably just playing.
I didn't really have a good dare in mind. It's hard to top bodily slamming someone on the sofa and swing dance with a half-naked guy in the middle of the dorm lounge. I thought for a couple seconds and came up empty. Dan was still holding me against him and our breathing had slowed to almost normal. His hands were on mine and his arms were draped around me as if he were my cape. I felt warm and safe in this embrace, and then I felt just a tad guilty for it. But hey, I was single and had been over two months, so why should I?
Completely uninspired and distracted trying to figure out what was really going on here, I decided to just follow the dancing theme. "Slow dance?"
I could almost feel Dan's lips curve into a smile behind my head. He walked us both sideways to the table where his phone was, swiped this way and that for a few seconds, then moved us back to the middle of the room. He doesn't want to let go either, I realized.
From the tiny phone speakers, I heard Elvis croon, "Ohhh, my love, my da-aa-rling". Unchained Melody. A bit intense for two friends having a bit of fun before heading out to chill with the rest of the gang, but also one of my favorite songs. We moved slowly, in no definite pattern, and I allowed his lithe body (whose proximity and semi-nakedness had not gone unnoticed by my baser instincts) to guide mine around the room once again. Halfway through, he spun me slowly around to face him.
Though I liked the old-fashioned sweetness of having his hands at my waist and mine around his neck, there were two problems with the new arrangement. One, the solid warmth holding me was gone - he was keeping me a bit farther now than before. Two, I had to look at his face this way, and the intensity and earnestness in his dark blue eyes was disconcerting. As the song finished, I found myself with my back against the wall, his eyes staring questioningly into mine.
Maybe it was just the heat of the moment, but for the life of me, I couldn't figure out what those pleading eyes were asking. I glanced away for just a second to compose my thoughts, and immediately the spell was broken. He dropped his hands from my waist and took a couple steps back. "Sorry, Ell. Got a bit carried away there. I'll get dressed and be right back and we can head out." He turned on his heel and quickly left the lounge, heading toward his room.
If I had missed his warmth when he turned me while dancing, this was like being drenched with an ice cold bucket. Maybe the metaphoric cold woke me up, because suddenly I knew what his eyes had been asking for - permission. To do what, I wasn't sure. Hold me closer? Kiss me? Whatever it was, I felt like an idiot for pushing him away and not finding out for sure, even inadvertently. Of course he wouldn't make a move without being really cautious. This was Dan, after all. He was Jamie's friend and I was Jamie's ex. Bro code and all that, even though I was fairly certain Jamie wouldn't have cared - as I said, there weren't really any hard feelings.
