"Of course," Emily said, after another sip of her water, "He put his hand on my head and stopped me. He asked me my favorite shade of green and I said 'kelly' and he said 'bullshit' and I stood up to leave because I didn't sign up for any complicated shit.
"I was leaving and he screwed it up. He said, 'My name is Nathan.' So I couldn't leave then, because you can't, when he's kind of sweet and his name is Nathan and he's sitting there on some girl's bed with his pants around his ankles on his birthday. I told him my name was Lauren.
"'You're the girl from the bookstore,' he said, suddenly. I didn't say anything. He pulled up his pants. 'My friends are... idiots. They told me I should meet you. Here. Why did you show up?'"
"I told him about the stupid Encyclopedia and the arrangement. 'Look,' he said, 'This isn't me. And unless I really miss my guess, this isn't you either."
"I was still miffed about all the damn connecting. 'You don't know me.' I said, and I looked at him for the first time. He was sweet faced. Blond with brown eyes."
Jason was running his hand lightly along the length of Rebecca's thigh. Her skin was soft and he was pleased when she leaned into him slightly.
Emily sipped her water. "Nathan slid to the floor and leaned against the bed. 'I know you're willing do something extremely... awkward... to further your education, and I admire that. I also know you'll go to great lengths to disguise yourself as a hot but forgettable party girl. You want to be forgotten, at least tonight you do. We're both expected to pretend we're someone else tonight. Different people, shallow enough to use each other with my idiots snickering outside the door. Fuck that.'
"I told him my name wasn't really Laurel. He kind of grinned. 'So what's really your favorite shade of green?' I told him, then I sat on the floor next to him. Then he asked about the book, was it the one journalism majors had to get, because his older brother studied journalism and he had a book he wouldn't let anyone touch when he was in college because it was so expensive.
"'That's the one,' I said. He looked at me. 'I'll get it for you,' he said. I stared at him. 'It's just sitting gathering dust in my brother's old room. He left it when he moved out.' I thanked him, but it felt weird, like I should hug him, but I shouldn't hug him.
"'So did they pay you already,' he said, pointing his head toward the door, 'or are they waiting to see if you came through?' I shrugged, 'If you get the book for me I don't need their stupid money.' Nathan smiled. 'Maybe not, but I know Benny- the one with the earring- his family's loaded. He could have just bought you the book right there in the store and never felt it. Instead, he pulls this asshole move. In my view, assholes should be separated from their money at every opportunity. What do you say?' I said I could use a better camera.
"'You're going to have to convince them. Let's get you in shape.' He stood me up and looked me over, then he pulled my pigtails out, carefully, one by one, and mussed my hair.
Emily stared into her water like it was whisky.
"Then he took his thumb and smeared the lipstick on my upper lip. It was the strangest thing. I started to get turned on. Then he did it again, slowly, and I sucked in a big breath. He stepped back, and I could tell that he wanted me. It was all I could do to keep from jumping him right there. I was afraid to move.
"'Forgive me, but I think this will help,' he stepped forward and ran his hands up my back under my shirt and unhooked my bra. I wrapped my arms around him and held on. He was trying to figure out how to get the bra out without taking off my tank top, then he gave up and just held me too, breathing into my hair. He held me for a long time. He smelled good, and when he pushed me away gently, I tried to get back into him. He wouldn't let me. He took a step back.
"'There's a way to get your bra out without taking everything off, isn't there?' He said. 'Yes, there is,' I said, but I took my shirt off anyway. I wanted him to see me. I turned around slowly- a full circle. He completely devoured me with his eyes. He reached out, but didn't touch. Pulled his hand back. 'You'd better put your shirt on.' I did, but he kept looking at me like he could see all of me. 'Get some of that on me,' he said, his voice shaking a little. He stepped in and kissed me hard on the lips. I was gone, gasping into him. I couldn't get enough. I had his shirt in handfuls. His hands were in my hair, on my back. It was the only time he lost control, but he still pulled away first.
"He was breathing hard, looking at me. 'Go get that asshole's money. Get the book from the Journalism Department office on Monday. Then, when you're ready, come find me. We'll do this right."
Emily finished her water in a long pull and crossed her arms.
Rebecca was trying not to breathe hard. Jason's fingers, gently touching her leg, weren't helping. "Then what?"
"Nothing," Emily said. "That's it. Well, I got the book."
"You never went back to him?"
"I was humiliated that night. I just want to forget the whole thing. He probably just had a fit of virtue. Anyway, I couldn't afford to take the chance."
"How could you do that?" Rebecca was outraged, "Leave such a nice guy like that and never even give him a chance... when he did something so generous!"
Emily's eyes kindled. "Don't lecture me about taking chances. You've never taken a chance in your life! You're safe, analytical, methodical, and if I hadn't seen you two playing doctor this afternoon with my own eyes, I wouldn't have believed it." Emily paused, had a thought. leaned in and whispered "Did they give you drugs?"
Rebecca didn't laugh. "I need to get on the same page with Jason about this. Can you give us a moment?"
"I have to pee anyway," Emily said, and disappeared down the hall.
"That was one of the hottest things I've ever heard," Rebecca said under her breath when Emily was gone. "She was really turned on, and I'm all hot now too."
"Me too," Jason said, gesturing at his shorts. "Look at me. I'm never going to get away from the table without poking someone in the eye."
Rebecca laughed. "Okay, listen, Emily's playing one of her games and I want to mess with her... and there's something sexy I'd like to try- it's actually one of my favorite fantasies. Are you game?"
"Sure. Are you going to fill me in?"
"No. I don't think so. It will be more fun that way. Trust me?"
Jason grinned. "I barely know you."
Rebecca smiled back at him sweetly, "You know me enough."
Jason tried for a poker face as Emily came back into the room.
"Nice try," she said as she sat. "You'd better have a damn good story for me."
"I don't know if we can compete with the, ah, colorfulness of your story," Jason said, "but I'll try to keep you interested."
"If Safety Patrol here doesn't put on the brakes." Emily's jab was what Rebecca was hoping for.
"You go first. I think you can tell her everything," Rebecca said, "I'll just fill in if you forget anything."
"It was Professor Suarez and Professor Danton that told us about the program," Jason started, "It's called the 'Amnesty Program' and it's an experiment to see if they can help high-performing students to develop more balanced lives..." His voice trailed off as Rebecca slid off her seat and under the table.
"Dropped an earring," she said from somewhere around his knees, "go ahead."
Jason looked across the table at Emily, who was eyeing him skeptically. "Um, ...balanced lives. Apparently a lot of good students don't do so well in life because the skills you learn to excel in school don't line up with the skills you need to excel in life..."
Rebecca's hand was running from his knee up his thigh, making it hard to concentrate. It was about to get harder.
"But what's the experiment?" Emily said, "What's all the fuss?"
"Oh, well, we have to do exercises that they give us every day and write what happens in a journal."
"That's it?"
"And if the ahh..."
Jason felt Rebecca's mouth cover his cock from outside his shorts. She blew her hot breath through the cloth, making him feel like his dick was in a sauna.
"...if the exercises interfere with our... oh lord..."
Rebecca was tugging on Jason's shorts, trying to get them off, and nibbling him through the cloth at the same time. He shifted to help her. He felt them slip down to his ankles.
Emily frowned at him, then her eyes popped wide. She looked under the table, then snapped up straight. Jason's face was a study in confused desires.
Rebecca's voice floated up from under the table, "Don't forget the grades." Then she licked Jason's cock from his balls to his tip.
"They gave you
drugs!
" Emily hissed.
Jason shook his head. Rebecca was teasing gently, just running her fingernails gently over his balls. She was resting her head on his thigh, her breath tickling his skin. "No drugs," he managed, "we have amnesty for our grades. They know we can ace everything, so as long as we stay above a C average and we're doing the amnesty work, they'll ahhhhh... record all of our scores as 'A's."
Emily felt pulled in all directions. She wanted answers, and she wanted to run out of the room at the same time. She also wished the table was transparent. "Why is she doing that?"
Jason closed his eyes "Because she wants to," he paused, took a slow, open-mouthed breath and smiled, "and because you told her she never takes risks. Thank you."
Emily "So no drugs? at all?"
