Ashley laid her head down, resting her forehead on the open textbook in front of her. She groaned. The librarian at the desk in front of the study hall glanced sharply her way, but stopped short of delivering a stereotypical "Shhhh!" Just barely. It was all in the look though.
There was a lot to cover for the exam tomorrow. Ashley knew she was in for a long night. At least it had been a good idea to get out of her dorm room. Lately, being around her roommates had been... distracting... to say the least. Not that she was complaining. In fact, quite the opposite. She felt herself getting moist just thinking about Jenn and Beth in passing...
She sat up straight again and out of habit, jangled the charm bracelet on her slender wrist. Her high school boyfriend had given it to her. It was quite juvenile but she still liked it. Hearts, clovers, and other shiny baubles dangled from its silver chain. Even though her former boyfriend was long gone, she reminisced about fooling around under the table during spare block. But that was then... now, she felt her skin get flushed as she thought of how much further (and more often) she'd come at the hands, and tongues, of her roommates, her new lesbian lovers. Reaching down, she fiddled with the zipper of her knee-high leather boot, and adjusted her skirt around her slim white thighs.
She glanced around the expansive study hall, resplendent under its high vaulted ceiling. Its sea of tables each sat two or three students with their textbooks and laptops spread out. The rustle of papers, chairs squeaking on the floor from time to time, polite little coughs - it all started to grate on her.
"Okay," she said to herself, standing up. Maybe a change of scenery was in order. She gathered up her books and slid them into her book bag.
Ashley strode across the hall to the elevators, and pressed the button. She knew just the place. Sub-Basement 3, in the stacks, the very far back corner, there were four study carrels near a little-used meeting room. She'd been there with a couple people from her Econ class when they were working on a seminar together last semester. It was quiet, out of the way, and just the perfect spot for concentration. No distractions!
She descended in the empty elevator and, exiting, struck out towards her secret spot. She walked past row upon row of those bookshelves that had cranks to open up spaces between them, because they were stacked so closely together to take up less space. Ashley wondered if you could get caught between those bookshelves and crushed!
She rounded the corner to her destination and slowed her step. Crap. Someone was already there.
Seated at one of the carrels was, well, a really cute Goth chick. Or what they used to call Goth. Well, maybe Goth-lite. She had pale skin, bottomless dark brown eyes, dark eyeliner, gorgeous jet black hair that flowed down just over her shoulders, and a tiny nose ring. A vintage black leather jacket was draped over the back of her chair, and she was wearing authentically ripped black jeans and a ribbed white cotton tank top. And no bra.
Ashley cleared her throat and gave a tentative half-smile. The girl looked up, raised an eyebrow, gave a slight nod, and got back to her studying.
Their study carrels were in pairs facing each other, on either side of a small hallway that led to a frost-windowed door - that was the meeting room. Ashley sat down in a carrel on the other side of the hallway, diagonally across from the other girl, and settled in, pulling her textbooks out and opening her notebook. She sighed and leaned back a bit, loosening another button on her white blouse and then laced her hands behind her head, steeling herself to dive back in.
Ashley glanced over at the other girl, and lingered. Goth Girl was biting her lower lip, chin resting on her fist, concentrating. Her lips were a little ashen, but had a slight sheen of lip gloss... she wanted to look like she didn't care about how she looked, but had spent a bunch of time getting to look that way. Her skin was either flawless or had skillfully applied foundation on it. Those smoky eyes, her cute nub of a nose, those lips - she was pulling it all off.
Ashley's eyes traced the curve of the other girl's neck and down to her perfect tits, hanging forward a bit in that white tank top. There was just a bit of side-boob showing, and you could really appreciate the shape of her breasts filling out that top, with slight hints of her small dark nipples underneath.
Suddenly, the girl looked over and caught Ashley's eye, directly. Ashley quickly averted her gaze and swallowed, embarrassed. Out of her peripheral vision, she detected a slight smirk and shake of the head. Ashley leaned forward and pretended to get back to studying.
And studying is what she tried to do, for the next fifteen minutes. But she couldn't shake the image of that girl out of her head. It was impossible. She found herself re-reading paragraphs over and over again. But then Goth Girl's lips would pop into her head, and she'd find herself drifting...
In frustration, she pushed back from the desk, her wooden chair scraping the floor, too loudly. Ashley carefully resisted the urge to glance at the other girl in embarrassment. She needed a washroom break.
Retracing her steps back towards the elevator, Ashley ducked into the ladies room.
Now that she was there, Ashley found she didn't really need to pee. The wall in front of the sinks was mirrored, all the way up to the ceiling. She regarded herself critically. Her long, curly red hair was in disarray, so she smoothed it with her hands. She smoothed her skirt too. Tucked into her skirt was her white blouse, and here she did up the button she had loosened earlier, which put more shape into her collars. She looked into her own green, amber-flecked eyes. "Wake up!" she said to herself, silently.
She turned on the faucet and let the water run cool. Cupping her hands under the stream, she bent over the sink and splashed the water on her face. As she did, she heard the bathroom door swing open. When she opened her eyes and looked in the mirror, water dripping off her face, sure enough, standing there was Goth Girl.
"Hey," the girl said, with a smirk.
"Hey," sputtered Ashley. She turned off the tap.
The girl sauntered over to the other sink. She opened the water bottle in her hand and began to fill it.
"How's it going, Red?"
"Fine!" said Ashley, grabbing a paper towel from next to her and dabbing at her face.
"It's a little hot down here, right? You look a little flushed." This caused Ashley to flush more.
"I said I'm fine!"
"Sure, sure, I don't mean anything by it."
Ashley stood there, awkwardly, sorry she had sounded so curt. Goth Girl smiled again, appraising Ashley in the mirror, really giving her a good once over. It became slightly uncomfortable. She took in a slow, deep breath through her nose, matter-of-factly. Then she flicked the faucet off, having filled her bottle, and backed away, screwing the cap on.
"Alright then," she said, turning towards the door and opening it. "See ya out there, Red."
"My NAME is Ashley." Her nostrils flared in indignation.
This stopped the girl in her tracks. She turned around, one hand still on the door handle, and grinned. And then she had the temerity to wink.
