A Friendly Favor: Under the Desk (Second Edition)
April 2020
The pandemic is in full swing, the city streets are about as quiet as a church, and here I am with my cheeks rested on my desk as I laid fast asleep.
Strewn around my room was the usual clutter - beer bottles, cigarette butts, empty Adderall bottles that I bought from my best friend, Dylan, and papers galore - letters from my landlord about rent long overdue, and homework assignments that might well take me years before I finally finish them. And on my desk was my laptop with a blank page opened, and a mug of stale, cold instant coffee.
About a few minutes into my seemingly endless, procrastinating slumber, my phone vibrated, making for a rather rude interruption that bitterly brought me back out of the dream world and into the real one.
"Can't I just get five more minutes?" I mumbled under my breath, my voice raspy. I glanced at my phone to find a text.
Kota:
finished your paper yet?
"As if I'll ever," I remarked. With some reluctance, I finally rose from my desk to, at last, type out the first words of my paper - my name - Josh Ramirez.
"Two down, a couple more
thousand
to go," I said. Just when I was about to type the rest of the paper, there was a rude knock at the door.
"Josh!" a voice called out through my door. "You there? You didn't answer my text."
I replied with a sigh. "Didn't think I needed to. So what?"
"We're study partners, aren't we? Isn't communication key?"
Not thinking of anything more to say in that moment, I got up from my chair to open my door; standing in the hallway was none other than Dakota Williams (or Kota, as me and Dylan called her). The strawberry-blonde hair atop her head was neatly tied into its usual bun, and she stood before me at a height a few inches taller than me, with a visibly athletic build from her frequent visits to the gym, which often led to quite a bit of ogling from my classmates (though how she never noticed this was beyond me). Clothing-wise, I could tell that she chose it all in a haste - a turquoise surgical face mask, jeans tattered at the knees, worn-out sneakers with no socks, and a stretched-out white Calvin Klein tank top.
. . .
Josh stood at the doorway and continued gawking at me to no end; either that, or zombie viruses somehow finally became a real thing.
"Josh?" I prompted him. Aren't you gonna let me in?"
"Oh! Right. Yeah, come in." He stood aside to let me enter, before continuing with, "Let me just go on record - it's weird seeing you wear that face mask. I feel like an alien being captured by a government scientist."
"Hey, this COVID thing's no joke," I said, still standing in the hallway.
"I never said it was," he responded. "But I don't think it's
that
big of a deal either."
Just when I was about to open my mouth for another counterattack, I closed it and decided not to discuss the topic any further.
Forget it. I do not have the energy for this right now.
I entered the apartment and took a moment to glance at him and the room while I took off my mask once Josh closed the door.
"Ugh! You're lucky that
cleanliness
isn't mentioned on the rules of conduct here," I commented.
"Hey, Ernest Hemingway regularly lived like this," he countered. "And so did Albert Einstein."
Josh was no different from his apartment in his appearance either; there was a stubble on his face, and his black hair was as bedraggled as ever. He wore a cheap tan t-shirt, and at his waist was nothing more than a pair of plaid boxers. Surprisingly though, his teeth maintained their pristine, straight white look, and his body started to show some muscle after he finally caved in and joined me in going to the gym two months ago. Granted, a skincare routine would be a welcome addition, since his complexion's been a little pimply lately from all that pizza. How he never noticed
this
was beyond me.
"Where are your roommates anyway?" I asked, slightly taken aback by the emptiness of the apartment.
"They're out shopping," Josh explained. "I don't know when they'll return."
"Hopefully, it won't be for a while." I then took my seat at my classmate's desk and unpacked my things.
"Alright," he said, changing the subject and slowly taking his own seat at his desk. "The paper, let's go over it again."
. . .
Kota then went on about the outline of the paper as I took my seat next to her, even writing it out for me in her notebook. Though I tried my best to pay attention, I suddenly remembered why I asked her to study with me in the first place; I just couldn't help but feel mesmerized by the movements of her lips and mouth as she talked.
Damn! She's really that good, Dylan?
"- so my basic point is that sex preferences aren't really universal, but dependent on culture and other factors."
"Yeah...totally," I responded, more distantly than I intended whilst I kept watching her mouth in a trance. "You know what? I think I know the
real
reason why you wear a mask these days."
Why the hell did I say that?
Immediately, my study partner's expression went from confident and scholarly, to completely confused, as though I really had revealed myself to be an alien.
"Okay?" she said. What does that -"
"Dylan told me," I spat out. "Dylan told me." By this point, the temperature in the room must've skyrocketed to at least two-hundred degrees; there was a layer of sweat on my palms and temples now, and my heart raced faster than Usain Bolt ever could.
"Told you what, Josh?"
For Fred Fuchs' sake!
"That you give good head," I finally said.
Well, at least it's finally out of my system.
While normally, this would be something that eased my tension, the exact opposite happened when Kota practically turned the same shade of red as me once I said what was really on my mind.
. . .
How the fuck did he find out!
I thought to myself in complete embarrassment and outrage.
Dylan, so help me, I will fucking kill you.
It was in that instant that I felt pretty much the same as Josh, as far as I could tell, and I deeply wished that I just burst into flames and disintegrated right then and there. And yet, here I was, slacking off and talking to my dumbfounded classmate. All the while, I was screaming in my head, "God, Josh must be thinking how much of a slut I am. BUT IT WAS JUST AN EXPERIMENT!!!"
"Alright. Listen," I said, giving my all into sounding as calm and composed as I could despite the redness of my face. "Some things are best left in the bedroom."
Or janitor's closet for that matter.
"You got that?"
"Yeah," he said. "I get you. I shouldn't have asked."
"Thank you."
He seemed relieved once I put the matter to rest (so I thought), and the two of us spent the next half-hour or so planning out the paper and comparing first drafts. The room and the world outside was as quiet as ever, and things overall went well without a hitch - that is, until he started wanting some music.
"You have any music preferences?" he asked while he scrolled through his phone.
"Pop's a guilty pleasure of mine once in a while," I replied nonchalantly. Josh cackled.
"
Pop
?" he said, his sly smirk continuing on to no end. "
Pop
?"
"Yes," I hissed. "I swear, you're a broken record today."
"Sorry, it's just..." he paused for a moment after his smirk faded away and his expression went blank; I could've sworn that in that moment, his breathing hastened, and his eyes darted from my breasts to my face. "I figured you were more of a jizz...jazz listener. Sorry."
Ugh, I should've known Dylan would open his mouth. Why the hell didn't I tell him to keep things secret?
I sighed and thought long and hard (no pun intended) in silence for a bit, and then looked up to admire my work. Josh made some real progress over these past two months - his shoulders are much broader, his pecs, biceps, and other muscles have really developed to the point where I honestly could gaze at them through his shirt for long periods of time, and even his posture's become much straighter, whether he's sitting or standing. I had to admit that he deserved a reward. Not to mention, the fact that we're both single...
"Alright, Josh."
"What?" my head-in-the-gutter partner asked.
"I'll suck your cock."
You're blowable enough.