05

CHAPTER ONE

The door closed behind her father, leaving Dana alone in her new room. She heard him herding her mother and siblings away. They had a long drive ahead of them and it was late afternoon now. She turned away from the door, feeling her eyes burn, determined not to cry. She was eighteen for god's sake. Legally an adult. She could deal with being left alone at college, even it meant living four hours from home surrounded by strangers.

The sound of her family faded, replaced by other voices, other footsteps. Other students moving into the freshman dorm, other families carrying their possessions, talking, shouting, laughing, slamming drawers and doors occasionally. When her family drove out of town, there wouldn't be a single person she knew in the city around her.

Dana sat down on her bed, which took all of four steps. It was a small room, and smaller still with two twin beds and two desks in it. Two three-drawer dressers were stacked between the beds, separating the room. Dana's bed was made, a cheerful flowered comforter adding some much needed color to the room. Her mother had insisted on making the bed before she left.

A set of sheets and blankets lay folded on the other bed, evidence—along with the clothing tucked into the lower set of drawers—that her roommate had been here. They smelled as crisp and clean as they looked. Dana wondered about her. The school had provided her name and hometown, but that was all Dana knew of her. Zoe Harrison, from Alexandria, Virginia.

Dana had never been there, despite growing up in southern Virginia. All she knew was that it was a suburb of Washington, DC. She wondered what Zoe would be like? Would she be friendly? Would they get along?

The door opened, startling Dana out of her thoughts. A young blonde woman entered the room. She grinned. "Hi! You must be Dana."

Dana nodded. "That's me. You're Zoe?"

"Sure am." Zoe closed the door, then offered Dana her hand.

"Pleased to meet you." Zoe was about her height and blonde, but that was the only similarity. Zoe's hair was a bright sun-bleached bob, unlike Dana's longer honey colored hair. Bright green eyes instead of plain brown. Her figure put Dana's skinny frame to shame, and Zoe dressed to emphasize it in a white halter and green shorts that contrasted with her tanned skin. Dana glanced at her own pale arms and legs, protruding from an oversized t-shirt and long shorts. She preferred reading inside to sunbathing.

"Same here," Zoe said. She glanced around. "Pretty small room, isn't it?"

Dana nodded. "It is."

Zoe gestured at the dresser. "I hope you don't mind that I took the lower set. I'm not real tall, as you may have noticed. For all I knew, you'd be a giant."

"'Fraid not."

"So I see. Well, we'll manage." Zoe moved the pile of bedding to one side and settled on the mattress. "So, Dana, tell me about yourself."

Dana felt her mouth dry up. "There's not a lot to tell."

Zoe gave her a skeptical look. "That can't be true. Everybody has a story. You've got a family, right?"

The reminder tightened Dana's throat. Her parents and siblings would be just reaching the highway about now, on their way home—without her. "Yeah, two sisters and a brother."

Zoe's gaze intensified. "Younger? Older?"

"All younger. My brother's the youngest. He's only ten."

Zoe asked more questions. Dana answered them. Zoe seemed genuinely fascinated by her life in a tiny rural farm town. Dana only realized afterward that she'd told Zoe a great deal more than she'd thought at the time.

"Wow, you really got me going. You're good at this."

Chloe shrugged, but her smile revealed her pleasure at the praise. "Thanks. I like talking to people, and learning about them. And it's good practice. I want to be a reporter."

"You're gonna study journalism?"

"That's my plan. You?"

Dana shrugged. "I don't know. English, maybe. I haven't decided."

Zoe smiled. "Well, you have plenty of time to figure it out."

* * *

Dana unlocked the door, pushed it open. Fumbled for the light switch. Light filled the room just as Zoe yelped in surprise. Dana froze in the doorway, shocked beyond words. Zoe and a stranger lay on her bed naked, faces turned toward her, eyes wide.

Dana's face flamed at the realization of what she'd interrupted. The boy on the bed with Zoe lay atop her, supporting himself on his outstretched arms. Zoe's legs were wrapped around his hips, her ankles laced. They stared at her for a moment longer, just as shocked as Dana felt.

The frozen moment of mutual shock ended. Zoe and her partner hastily grabbed for the bed covers, pulling them up to cover themselves. Dana ducked her head, cheeks burning, horrified to have interrupted...this. She fumbled with her key for an interminable period before freeing it from the lock.

"Dana—"

"I'll just...go," Dana said. She ignored Zoe's cry. Responding would make it all too real to avoid. "I"m sorry I...." she didn't know what she was sorry for. "I'm sorry. I'll go."

She backed out, pulling the door closed. She felt and heard it latch. She stood with her hand on the knob, shaking with embarrassment and fear, though she wasn't sure what had frightened her so badly. In the silence of the hallway, Dana heard a faint giggle from inside the room. Zoe was laughing. At her? It hurt to think so.

Dana cocked her head, listening. The giggle wasn't repeated, though she thought she heard whispering. Then silence. Until it was broken by the faint squeak of springs and a soft repetitive slapping noise. Dana gasped, shocked anew by what she heard—and by her own behavior. Listening at the door!

She jerked her hand from the knob as if it were hot, and stepped back. She fled the door to her room. Indeed, she fled the floor, taking the stair back down to the lobby of the building and the conversation pit there.

* * *

Dana watched until she saw the boy leave. She almost didn't recognize him. She'd caught only a glimpse, and he'd been naked. The dark haired young man in jeans and t-shirt who moved purposefully across the lobby toward the door didn't register at first. Dana wasn't sure it was him until he caught sight of her. The sudden rush of color to his cheeks and the way he ducked his head, averting his gaze, proved his identity. He hurried out into the night.

She didn't return immediately. It seemed only right to give Zoe some time to clean up before she barged in. She hesitated at the door. She knocked.

"It's open."

Dana cracked the door. "Are you decent?"

"Yes."

Dana poked her head through the doorway. Zoe was dressed and sitting at her desk. Her bed had been hastily remade. Dana stepped inside and closed the door. She found it difficult to look at Zoe.

"Well," Zoe said. "I guess we should talk."

"I guess." Dana sat down at her own desk, studying the bare desktop. The desks were at the feet of the beds, facing them. Zoe was sitting to Dana's right, a vaguely perceived shape in her peripheral vision.

"I guess we need a signal of some kind."

Dana turned her head. "A signal?"

Zoe nodded. "Yes, so we don't walk in on one another like that."

Dana opened her mouth but didn't know what to say. It didn't matter. Before she could formulate a response, Zoe went on. "I'd have done it earlier, but I really didn't expect to get laid so soon."

"You didn't...." Dana repeated, shocked by the casual way Zoe described it.

Zoe took it as a question. "No. I met him at the mixer. He was cute, and charming, and, well, it's been a while. So I invited him back for coffee." She made air quotes with her fingers.

"He's not your boyfriend?"

Zoe looked surprised by the question. "Oh no, I just met him today."

"Today?" She'd had sex with someone she just met?

"Yeah. So it was kind of a surprise. Anyhow, we should agree on a signal. I'd hate to walk in on you that way."

Dana didn't know how to respond. The thought that she might be caught in bed with a boy—that she'd be in bed with a boy in the first place—was novel. Her cheeks warmed again. "That's...not necessary," she said.

Zoe looked puzzled. "Of course it is. You'll want privacy."

Dana couldn't meet Zoe's eyes. "I don't...."

"You don't what? Have a boyfriend?"

Dana shook her head, still not looking at Zoe.

"Well, the term is just beginning. There's plenty of time to find one."

Dana didn't answer. She felt terribly uncomfortable, her cheeks burning, her throat tight. Sex wasn't a topic of conversation she felt comfortable with. Especially as it applied to her.

Zoe remained silent for a minute. Then, "Dana, are you a virgin?"

The surprise in Zoe's voice caught Dana's attention. Surprise and something else. Dana glanced up, suspecting amusement. Mockery. But all she saw in Zoe's face was surprise, and perhaps a little pity.

"No," Dana confessed. "Not a virgin." She'd had sex. Twice. The first time the night of her senior prom, with her date. It hadn't been much fun for her. The second time, a month later, again with Mike. It wasn't any better for her—nor for Mike, she supposed. He never asked her out again.

"But you aren't planning to have any here at school."

She hadn't thought about it, frankly. It had simply never crossed her mind. She'd tried it, found that it didn't live up to its billing, and though hurt by Mike's de facto breakup with her, it relieved her of having to turn him down the next time. "No," she told Zoe.

Zoe didn't reply, but her expression spoke volumes. "What?" Dana snapped.

Zoe shook her head. "Nothing." She might have left it at that, but then she added, "I just...."

"You just what?"

Zoe pursed her lips, clearly considering whether to answer. Dana waited. Zoe shrugged and said, "I just can't imagine not wanting sex."

Dana had no answer for that. It wasn't as if she didn't think about sex. It just...didn't seem likely.

"Well, even if you're not going to use it, we still need some kind of signal," Zoe said. "Just so you know when I have a boy in the room."

Dana frowned, not liking the idea. She'd been here for fewer than forty-eight hours and Zoe was already fornicating with a stranger. "You aren't going to do this a lot, are you?"

Zoe's smile slipped. "You mean sex? Every chance I get."

Dana gaped, shocked by Zoe's brazen attitude.

"I like sex," Zoe said. "I like it a lot. I want to have lots of it, as often as I can." She paused to study Dana's face. Dana hadn't known Zoe long, but she knew determination when she saw it. "I'll try to do it elsewhere some of the time, but some of the time it's gonna happen here. I'll try not to inconvenience you too much."

Dana couldn't look at her. She nodded as she turned away. "Okay." It

wasn't

okay, but she didn't want to fight with Zoe over it. What if Zoe got mad at her? Shouted, or gave her the silent treatment? Or—threw things? Dana wasn't ready to face any of that. Maybe it wouldn't be too bad.

CHAPTER TWO

Zoe wasn't kidding. Dana grew accustomed to the buzz of her phone announcing that Zoe was "entertaining" again, or coming back to the room two or three times a week to find a note from Zoe written on the whiteboard mounted on their door.

Please do not disturb

, written in Zoe's hand, followed by the time. Afternoons and evenings were prime times for Zoe's assignations. Dana could only rely on the room being empty—or at least not being off limits—in the morning, when Zoe had most of her classes.

Dana suspected that the notes were as much a way of bragging as a warning that she was occupied. How else to explain the times written in and then crossed out, sometimes several in an evening? She could just have texted Dana when she was going to be using the room—which, to be fair—she did. But she also used the white board. She wanted Dana—and everyone else on their hall—to know just how often she was getting laid.

Dana got into the habit of staying away from the room most of the time. She came to know the library, the local delis and coffee shops, and the conversation pit in the dorm lobby very well. Fortunately she found some friends on campus, fellow science fiction fans and gamers. She spent a couple of evenings a week with them, at a weekly club meeting and playing role-playing games in the room shared by a couple of the gamers. That still left plenty of nights when she couldn't return to her dorm until Zoe gave her the all clear.

Her frustration and annoyance grew as the weeks went by, all the worse for not being voiced. Aside from her obsession with sex, and the way she monopolized the room while in bed with someone, Zoe was a great roommate. She was neat, friendly, helpful, and fun to be around. She could be a good friend if Dana wanted. That made her behavior in this one area that much more aggravating.

Dana tried to talk to her about it, but Zoe was unyielding. She refused to pass up an opportunity for sex—and said so in so many words.

"Why?" Dana asked after another attempt at discussing the issue, without really intending to. It just slipped out. She understood, intellectually, that sex was enjoyable, though her own experience of it left a lot to be desired. But lots of things were enjoyable—and Zoe didn't obsessively pursue

those

things.

Zoe looked down at her hands on her knees. When she spoke her voice was low. "Well, I could tell you that I had cancer when I was young, and didn't think I'd live to be old enough to date, much less marry. That after I finally beat the cancer, I determined that I was never going to pass up a chance to live, or an opportunity for pleasure, because I knew how short life could be."

When she looked up, Dana saw the teasing smile and realized she'd been had. "I could tell you that," Zoe said, "but I'd be lying. I was never sick. No more than any other kid."

She shrugged. "I don't know what to tell you, roomie. I just really like sex. Can't get enough of it. Given a choice between sex and just about anything else, I'll choose sex every time. I guess I've just got a very high libido."

"I guess so." There didn't seem to be anything to say to that.

Zoe sighed. "I know I've been monopolizing the room, and you've been staying away a lot. I'll try not to be quite so selfish in the future. But I gotta be honest, whenever I can arrange to have some guy between my legs giving me orgasms—I'm gonna do it."

And that was that. Zoe wasn't going to let an opportunity slip away. She'd go to the boy's room if possible, but they had roommates too. If Zoe found the room empty when she arrived with a boy in tow, she used it.

The maddening thing about it was that otherwise Zoe was a great roommate. She was neat, she did her share of cleaning the bathroom, and she allowed Dana to make use of the mini-fridge she'd brought to school. They spent a lot of time talking, getting to know one another, and Dana liked her. She was even a good role model for studying—and Dana needed one. The first two tests Dana had in her classes were a shock.

"You failed them?" Zoe asked. She'd come into the room—alone for a change—to find Dana seated at her desk staring at her test results.

"I failed one. I passed the other—barely."

"Did you study?"

Dana shrugged. "I guess. I read over my notes, and reread the chapters we covered."

"That's...not really studying," Zoe said. "Not the way I was taught, anyhow."

"No?"

Zoe shook her head. "Is that what you did in high school?"

Dana nodded.

"And you did well?"

"I always got A's in high school," Dana bragged. Honesty prompted her to add, "Well, except for math. I got a lot of C's and D's in math. I'm not any good at math."

"Huh."

"What?" Dana asked.

"You must be pretty smart. I had to study to get good grades. Did you try studying for your math classes?"

"I...tried," Dana said. But not very hard. It hadn't come easily to her so she'd avoided it, which only made things worse. She didn't like admitting that—was surprised to find herself doing so, in fact. Zoe had a knack for drawing her out that way.

"Well, unlike

some

people," she gave Dana a mock glare, "I have to study to keep my grades up. And as it happens, I need a study partner. How about we schedule some time to study together? I'll show you what I do. You can see if works for you."

Dana nodded. "I'd like that," she squeaked. Why was she feeling so choked up over a simple offer like that? It took a moment for her to realize her whole body was tensed, as if anticipating a storm of accusations and disappointment. And she was. That was exactly what she'd come to expect from her parents when she confessed to bad grades.

"You okay?" Zoe asked.

Dana realized she'd been sitting silently for a minute or more, lost in her thoughts. "Yeah, I'm okay. Just thinking."

Zoe didn't look entirely convinced, but she didn't press. They agreed on a time for their first study session. It was a revelation. Dana discovered that she really

didn't

have a clue about how to truly study. It was a lot more work than the desultory attempts she'd made. But it paid off very quickly, when her next test result was vastly improved.

She burst into the room, eager to share the news—and her thanks—with Zoe, then backed out just as fast, eyes averted.

CHAPTER THREE

"I'm afraid there's nothing we can do," Mrs. Stapledon said.

Dana had approached the Housing administrator without much hope. It still stung to be turned down so bluntly. "Nothing?"

Mrs. Stapledon looked like she wanted to sigh. "It's early in the year, Ms. Smith—"

"Dana."

Mrs. Stapledon smiled. "Dana, then. It's early in the school year. All the campus housing is occupied. It's possible that some spots could open up in a few weeks or months, as students drop out or transfer to other schools.

"But as I'm sure you were told, we have more students than we can accommodate in the dorms. We only guarantee a spot on campus to freshmen. It's quite likely that either you or...Zoe, or both of you, will have to find an apartment off campus for your sophomore year."

"Oh." Yes, she'd been told as much.

"Is it so bad?" Mrs. Stapledon asked. "Your situation? Isn't there some way you and your roommate can learn to get along?"

"It's not that." Dana didn't want to give the woman the wrong impression. "We get along okay. I like Zoe."

"Then I don't understand. Why do you want another roommate?"

Dana looked away, unable to meet the woman's eyes.

Because Zoe is constantly having sex in our room. I spent more time away from the room than in it.

"Dana?"

"It's just that...." Dana felt disconnected from her voice. It ought to be so easy to say, but the words stuck in her throat. "Zoe, she—"

The silence stretched between them. "She's having," Dana glanced sidelong at Mrs. Stapledon. "You know...sex."

Mrs. Stapledon's frown of puzzlement lifted. "Ah," she said. "And you disapprove?"

"What? No." Or not much. And it really wasn't her place to judge. "But she does it"—she stumbled over

it

—"a lot."

"A lot?"

"Every day, almost."

"I understand how that could be a problem. You're feeling like she's monopolizing the room? That you can't spend time there because of what's going on?"

Dana nodded, relief at finally making herself understood unknotting her muscles.

"I'm afraid that there's still nothing I can do. There simply aren't any openings in other rooms. I would suggest that you try to find a student willing to swap with you, but if the problem is as bad as you suggest, I doubt anyone would be interested.

"I'm afraid you're just going to have to make the best of it. I can put your name on the waiting list for any openings, but I don't want to give you false hope. You'd be at the end of quite a list. The chances of your getting another room assignment are remote.

"You're both adults. I'm sorry, but you're going to have to settle your differences between yourselves."