After taking her shower, Jessica decided to walk around the neighborhood and, for the first time during her schooling, enjoy the outdoors. As she walked down the road from the campus, she spotted him with some of his friends at the local coffee house. She was contemplating whether or not to walk up and talk to him or to just leave and wait till later to talk to him. Before she made a decision, she saw him and his friends get up, leave a tip at the table for the waitress, and start walking towards her. She was so nervous about meeting him in front of other people that she decided to wait until later and hoped that he didn't see her as she walked past his oncoming group. Unfortunately, he did catch her trying to be unnoticed and smiled at what he could only describe as a nervous panic written on her face.
"Hey, Jessica," he said with a gentle smile. He didn't want to cause her any unnecessary grief or embarrassment.
"Oh, hey there," she replied kind of nervously, "what are you up to?"
"Just came back from the coffee shop and we were heading back to the dorms to play some games then do some studying for chemistry... Apparently we ALL need help," he chortled, "Would you like to join us?"
"Oh, no thanks," she replied as if the mere thought of being invited was out of the question, "How about I help you clean up that English paper of yours? If I remember correctly, it's overdue, right?" she asked. Again he smiled knowing full well that she just wanted to talk to him privately, or at least be alone with him.
"Hehe, yeah, it is," he replied, "Okay, I'll meet you at about 4:00 then? I'll skip the poker game and finish studying with these guys. Meet me in room 310 at the library, okay?"
She was, for some reason, so inexplicably happy that he wanted to be with her and her alone while they would be studying. With this she instantly agreed, said her good-byes and then started walking a little quicker with an almost unnoticeable bounce in her step as if she wanted to skip down the sidewalk. She headed to the outdoor mall that the coffeehouse was on the end of. She stayed there until 3:00 then went back to her dorm, all the while thinking about what might happen and what could happen and what she wanted to happen. She took a hot shower, feeling sexier than she ever had before so she rubbed herself until she forced herself to stop so she could meet him on time. She got dressed in a simple black T-shirt that showed her beautiful curves with a flowing white knee-high skirt. She brought along a white sweater just in case it got cold in the evening. She grabbed her purse and her backpack, which were ready to go the moment she came back to her dorm from the outdoor mall and headed for the library. When she arrived at the lobby, she saw him standing at the third floor glass window staring out into space waiting for her. She smiled to herself and quickly walked to the elevator. Her fingers were twitching with excitement so she pushed the button for the third floor extra hard, taking a joyous sensation that she was getting closer to him. As the bell inside the cool elevator dinged, the doors opened with a terrible rumbling noise, as they were very old. She was so intent on getting to that study room that she almost didn't notice him standing to the side of the elevator where he waited for her to come up.
"Whoa there," he exclaimed, surprised that she almost hit him because she was so oblivious.
"Where are you headed in such a hurry," he asked with a quiet smile creeping across his face.
She sighed and ran into him holding him tightly. "I hate you for making me feel so dependent on you all of a sudden, but I have to thank you for the pleasure you've given, too. But," she cleared her throat and started in her business-like tone as she let go of him, backed off, and pushed her hair behind her ears, "Lets finish working on your paper."
He gave a quiet laugh that made her look at him funny for a second.
"I uh, I finished the paper before I ran into you at the coffee shop," he said. "My friends and I were having a discussion as to whether I was as clear and succinct as I like to be in getting my point across. You can read it if you want but I finished it already."
For a second, Alex thought he saw a glimpse of disappointment flash across her face but decided not to say anything.
"Shall I escort you to our study room?" he asked politely.
"Yeah, sure," she responded.
He offered his arm to her, but she kindly refused. "There are still people here that I know," she said quietly as if they could hear her.
"Fair enough," he said, understanding that she wanted to maintain her reputation. And without another word they went to the study room that was farthest from any disturbances.
As soon as they walked into the study room, Alex lowered the blinds and quietly thanked whoever bought them that they went all the way to the floor. The room wasn't really that big, yet it still had three creaky wooden chairs that were as old as the school, a recently-oiled wooden table that seemed to be the same age as the chairs, a new two-seat couch that the school bought at the beginning of the semester. It was enough room to fit five people in the room comfortably. What was really neat about this room was that one could dim the lights instead of just turning them off and that is exactly what he did. He lowered them enough to be able to see but not much brighter than that. Meanwhile, Jessica had set her sweatshirt, purse and backpack in one of the farther corners of the room, out of the way and sat down in one of the chairs as she waited for Alex to finish setting up the room for a little privacy. He just finished when he pulled out a piece of cardboard.
"For the finishing touch," he laughed.
The piece of cardboard had a piece of paper glued on one side that said 'Do Not Disturb. Testing In Progress.' He taped the sign up then sat at the opposite end of the circular wooden table as her.
"Sleep," he said.
Immediately, her head dropped to her chest. He sat there for a minute or two, just watching her chest rise and fall with each breath. God, she looks so beautiful, he thought. He got up, and picked her up and moved her to the couch where she could lay down. He set her down gently and stared at her until he reached out a few fingers to brush the hair that had fallen in her face.