Contemporary Nights Volume One

by C. J. Ellisson

  Fake. I have to keep reminding myself of that. This isn’t real. She isn’t really my girlfriend, attempting to cook me breakfast after staying the night. She’s my groomer. My pretty tutor. Talk about being hot for teacher. My dick twitches.

  “How about I whip up some eggs?” I ask.

  “You’re a brave, brave man to take on the eggs.” She moves out of the kitchen toward the bedroom. “Do you mind if I take a shower? It’ll be nice to take one alone for a change. The dorms are wide open. There’re definitely no secrets on my floor.”

  “I guess joining you is out of the question, then,” I blurt it out before I realize it and I’m shocked at how easily I say it. I’m shocked at how easily I do anything with her.

  She turns and backs down the hall, a sultry come-and-get-me grin curling her lips. “What about breakfast?”

  “I’d rather have you.”

  “Very smooth, Ryan. You sounded so cool and casual. I think you may have actually caught me off-guard.”

  I grin as I fight to keep my nerves in check and my hard-on from showing. In flannel PJ bottoms, it’s impossible. I’ve never taken a shower with a woman before, but I’ve heard the guys talk about it. They make it sound like it’s the sexiest thing ever. I want to be the judge of that. Then again, anything with Emma is going to be sexy. “In a good way?”

  “Why don’t you come and find out?”

  Emma

  “How was your date?” I ask Britt as she does the walk of shame into our dorm in the same clothes she had on last night. I have no right to judge since I did the same walk less than an hour before. She has that morning sex glow about her and I wonder if I have that same look about me. Granted it wasn’t exactly sex, but a hand job in the shower isn’t a bad way to start the morning.

  I pour her a cup of coffee and add the perfect amount of creamer before handing it to her. She takes it and inhales the steam. Her hair is a mess and so is her makeup, and yet she still looks ready for the runway. I’d hate her if she weren’t already my best friend.

  “I’m in love,” she declares.

  “Of course you are.” I grab my book bag and nod for her to follow me. “Come on. We’ve got five minutes to get to lab.”

  “I’m serious, Em.” She follows me out of our dorm and across the quad to the IT building. Hopefully that bitch Nancy, the TA from hell, isn’t there. Not only will she make Britt throw out her perfect cup of coffee, but she’ll find some way to pile more work on me just in time for the weekend. The bitch hates me and I have no idea why.

  I relax when I don’t spot Nancy and we hurry to the last two computers still open. They’re up at the very front of the classroom and both Britt and I groan.

  “I hate sitting in the front,” Britt grumbles.

  So do I. It makes us bigger targets for Nancy. “If you would have come home earlier, we would have gotten here earlier.”

  “I couldn’t.”

  We sit down and I wiggle the mouse to wake the computer. “I don’t want details, and yet, I do.”

  “He made me pancakes this morning. No guy has ever done that for me before.”

  “Pancakes. The breakfast of champions.” I keep to myself what I had for breakfast. After the shower, Ryan toasted the bagels to perfection and made true on his promise to whip up some eggs. Who knew? Not only can he bring me to orgasm in record time, but he can cook. Not a bad combo.

  “Would you be serious for like one second? I’m trying to pour my heart out here.”

  When I don’t acknowledge her, she grabs my hand off the keyboard and the computer beeps at me. Shit. Try number one on my username and password is an epic fail.

  “Okay,” I tell her and give her my undivided attention. “He made you pancakes.”

  Britt beams as her smile brings a brilliant twinkle to her eyes. I swear I hear some guy behind us sigh as he, no doubt, gets caught in the Britt web.

  “With blueberry syrup and whipped cream. Of course, we ended up doing something a little more creative with the whipped cream.”

  That explains the morning sex glow.

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa.” I put up my hand to stop her from filling me in on the details. “This conversation just got really awkward.”

  “What? I tell you everything.”

  “Not in the middle of class.” I nod at the mouth-breather directly behind us. We both roll our eyes. I over exaggerate a shudder and Britt covers her mouth as she giggles. She suddenly whips to face her computer. I immediately bring my fingers back to my keyboard. Only one person causes Britt to look like she’s paying attention.

  “Good morning, ladies.” Nancy Pettigrew—yes, just like the movie—walks up, her stained coffee cup in hand. It used to be white but since she never washes it, the inside is more a baby shit brown. And she always has nasty coffee breath that overwhelms me when she invades my personal space to talk to me, which is every time she talks to me. “Is that coffee in that cup, Brittney?”

  “Tea,” she lies. “I have a scratchy throat like I’ve been screaming all night.”

  I snort and cover it up by coughing.

  “You know the rule about drinks in the computer lab.”

  Britt eyes Nancy’s cup. “Is that coffee?”

  Nancy thins her lips into a snarky smile and takes a long drink. “Teachers are granted a few exceptions.”

  “You’re not a teacher,” I point out. “You’re a teaching assistant. You’re doing the teacher.”

  She nails me with a heated glare. Okay, so maybe I do know why she hates me. She scoots closer and the stale coffee on her breath oozes into my nose. I breathe through my mouth. She then sits on my keyboard, causing it to beep. Damn. Fail number two. One more invalid entry and I’ll have to call a green vest over. The students that work at the computer center hate dealing with password-challenged students like me. I know this from experience. Technology scares the shit out of me. I know how to Google and check my email. That’s about it. The green vests can smell my fear.

  “How’s the midterm coming? Do you need any help?”

  I know better than to trust her. She never does dick to help me. The last lab she helped me on put me on academic probation. I have no idea what I was thinking signing up for a programming class. Actually, I do. When I read the title, Java in the Morning, I seriously thought I’d be in a class about coffee.

  “I’ve got it under control,” I tell her. “But thanks for the offer.”

  She lifts a penciled-in eyebrow, mocking me. “Really? Why not show me what you have?”

  Shit.

  “It’s not due until next Friday.”

  Nancy moves her ass off my keyboard. “Oh? Didn’t Professor Baker tell you? He moved that up. It’s now due Monday.”

  My fingers skip as I attempt my password. Awesome. I just locked myself out of the computer with my third failed password attempt in a row. After I swallow down how much I want to tell the bitch to choke on her coffee, I turn to her. “No, I guess I missed that memo.”

  “I guess so.” She gives me a smile that shows off those gross coffee-stained teeth.

  Oh, how I hate this class’s TA.

  She’s doing this on purpose. I swear. She hates anyone under twenty-five. I’m only twenty-two. Britt’s even worse off at twenty-one. Nancy hates us both with a passion. Maybe we remind her of her youth. Of what she’ll never be again. Young and attractive.

  “Is that going to be a problem, Emma?”

  I know better than to go up against Nancy Pettigrew and shake my head. The last person to tell her no ended up failing a major project. “No problem, Nancy. Monday it is.”

  “Morning,” she adds. The bitch.

  I force a smile. “You got it.”

  “You didn’t have any plans this weekend, did you?”

  Like I’d tell her even if I did. “Was there anything else you needed? Since you moved up the due date I have a lot of work to do before the end of class.”

  She pushes away and goes off to annoy a cluster of girls d
oing their makeup. I blow out a breath and stand.

  “Where are you going?” Britt asks.

  “To grab a green vest.”

  She nods in understanding. “Locked yourself out again? You are the most password-illiterate person I know.”

  I roll my eyes and walk over to the desk where all the lab techs in green vests congregate, just waiting to make fun of people like me.

  “Yes?” The guy sitting front-and-center doesn’t even look up at me as he waits.

  “I need my password reset.”

  He sighs. “I’m just about to go on break.”

  I glance up at the clock. It’s only ten after nine. “What about one of them?” I nod at the two other green vests sitting there.

  “They aren’t assigned to passwords today.”

  “But they know how to reset them, right?”

  He sighs again and it immediately pisses me off. It must be my red hair. I have the shortest temper on the planet.

  “Is there anyone else who can help me? Your boss, maybe?”

  “He’s busy. You can wait until I get back from break.”

  “Brandon.”

  The kid jumps to his feet as another green vest walks out from the breeding ground of green vests. Holy shit. I know that mullet. I almost don’t recognize him without the thick glasses and don’t know why I wouldn’t. It took us twenty minutes this morning trying to wrangle the damn contacts into his eyes.

  “Ryan?”

  “Hi, Emma.” He turns to Brandon. “Go check the paper in the printers.”

  Brandon’s shoulders slump as he’s assigned shit duty. Without a word, he stands and shuffles off. The other two green vests behind the counter make themselves scarce.

  Ryan turns his attention to me and my stomach flutters. I can’t help liking the way he told Brandon what to do. I like a guy who isn’t afraid to show a little dominance. “What can I do for you?”

  I suck in my lower lip and bite down to stop myself from asking him to sneak into a closet with me. There is no rationale for why I’m acting like a horny slut with a lady boner for him. He’s my protégé, nothing more. “I need my password reset.”

  “I can help you with that.” He pulls up a chair and sits down at the computer behind the desk. “What’s your username?”

  “ERAE69ME.”

  He lifts his eyebrows as he looks at me, a wicked glimmer in his eyes. “Interesting username.”

  “You should hear my password,” I tease with a wiggle of my eyebrows. We both laugh.

  Typing like a ninja on crack, his fingers flying across the keyboard, he then gives the monitor a nod. “There you go.”

  “Thanks.” I turn to go back to the lab.

  “Wait. I want to talk to you about—” He stops as a girl from my class walks up and leans on the counter, shoving her boobs into his face. He colors to his ears and drops his attention to the monitor. “What, uh… How can I…um… Yes?”

  “Hi, there.” She leans down even more. If she’s not careful, her girls are going to pop right out of that ridiculously tight shirt. “I guess I don’t remember my password. Can you help me?”

  What’s with the baby talk? What is she, fourteen? I grit my teeth to stop myself from saying anything when something interesting happens. I’m watching Ryan as he stumbles on the keyboard. Seconds ago he had no problem typing, now it looks like he’s stuttering as bad as he talks.

  To girls.

  It clicks. No wonder he’s single. And a virgin. The poor guy can’t even talk to a girl. He stuttered when he first talked to me and everything came out wrong. Only after he got to know me did he relax enough to actually act like a normal human being instead of the spaz I first met. I realize I’m going to have to do a lot more mentally than I am physically with him. We fixed the eyes. Tonight I plan to tackle the hair. Next, wardrobe.

  The girl thanks Ryan and swings her butt as she walks away. Ryan stares at it, his jaw on the desk.

  “Close your mouth,” I snap at him, irritated that he’s so obvious about staring at her ass.

  “What?” His act of innocence is nowhere near convincing.

  “Do you want me to come back later? Give you a little time alone to think about Miss Boobs A-plenty?”

  “I don’t get why you’re mad at me. Aren’t players supposed to gawk at pretty girls?”

  “I’ve never once caught you gawking at me.” And, goddamn it, it pisses me off.

  The twinkle in his eyes catches me off-guard. “That’s only because you’ve never caught me.”

  Chapter Seven

  Emma

  He’s so good at saying something that makes me like him again. Knowing he gawks at me when I’m not looking has me all tingly. And I love the way he looks at me, like there’s no one else in the world that can hold his attention when I’m talking to him. “What did you want to talk to me about?”

  “Are you coming over tonight?”

  I hate the way my heart flips at spending the night with him again. Maybe we’d make it past hand jobs this time. “Isn’t that what girlfriends do? Practically live at their boyfriend’s place? We can’t use my place. I live in a dorm with a nosy roommate.” Besides, I didn’t really want to be seen with him like that. This is just an act. His mod gives us more privacy to pretend to be boyfriend and girlfriend, while having a little fun together. As friends. Only friends.

  “Emma? Shouldn’t you be working on your lab?” Nancy approaches, her stinky coffee cup in hand. Facing Ryan, I roll my eyes and pretend to stick my finger down my throat before turning to her.

  “I was just getting my password reset.”

  “You’ve been up here for ten minutes.”

  Ten minutes, my ass. “What is this, high school? You’re not the hall monitor, Nancy. Nor are you the actual instructor.”

  She bristles at first, but then her gaze narrows in on me with pinpoint precision. “Get your ass back in the lab or I’ll mark you absent.”

  “Yeah, but I’m already here. And, with Ryan’s help, I can log back in.” I push away from the desk.

  “See you tonight Emma,” Ryan calls out loud enough for everyone in the entire fucking computer center to hear. I turn to face him and shoot him a glare.

  “Are you and HP…” Nancy lets the rest fade as she darts a shocked look to me, then Ryan, then back to me. Her eyes round and I die a little inside. I’m so going to kill Ryan for this. But, then again, this is exactly what I’d agreed to.

  Time to put on my big girl panties. “Ryan and I are dating.”

  “Ryan?” Nancy blinks at me.

  “HP was his boy’s name.” I flip my hair and make a big production of it. “Now that he’s a man, he’s going by a man’s name.”

  Nancy’s attention bounces to Ryan and right before my very eyes, something transforms in her expression. She no longer looks at him like he’s a bug she wants to squash. She has interest in her gaze and even licks her lips.

  I shudder. Gross. She’s mentally fucking him. I hurry off before I witness anything else that will make me want to vomit. The minute I sit down and sign into the computer, an instant message pops up from Ryan.

  Ryan: Why did you leave like that?

  Me: You just embarrassed the shit out of me! Do it again and our deal is off.

  Ryan: What did I do? You’re the one who said we were dating. Like it or not, that’s our deal.”

  “You fu—”

  “What’s got you so pissed?” Britt cuts in, stopping me from dropping the F-bomb in the middle of the computer lab. Not that anyone would have cared.

  I’m not ready to reveal my big secret to Britt yet. She calls all my boyfriends ‘Project Em’s Way’ which is both catchy and irritating. I don’t only date guys that need to be groomed into what I want. Well, except for Ryan, but he doesn’t count since we’re only fake dating anyway. “I hate this class.”

  “You and me, both. Nancy is a Nazi with coffee. I bet the professor didn’t even change the due date. She did it just to make
us suffer. We should kill her,” Britt declares. “I bet Mike would help.”

  “As tempting as a murder rap sounds, I think I’ll pass.” I spend the rest of class staring at random letters and numbers, wondering how in the hell I’m ever going to pass this fucking lab.

  “Yes!” Britt exclaims at the end of class, scaring the shit out of me. I’m so into creating Java classes and objects that I literally jump. Then I blink out of my delirium as I realize I’m actually getting it. “Guess what?”

  “You finished your midterm and are planning to help me.” I smile sweetly and hope I’m right.

  She waves off my comment and holds up the cell phone in her hands. “Not even close. Mike just texted me to tell me that he found my panties.”

  Oh, sweet Jesus. No doubt the mouth-breather behind us heard that. The ticking of his keys came to an abrupt stop.

  “You’re going commando?” I whisper fiercely, shocked she left the dorm without underwear.

  “I had to leave something there for him to find and have an excuse to text me,” she defends and rolls her eyes as if I’m the crazy one. “Come on, Em. It’s classic one-night stand 101. If you want to see the guy again, you casually leave something at his place and wait for his text. If you want to forget the night ever happened, you leave no evidence of the crime and lose his number.”

  “You’re a true master.” I turn back to my computer.

  Britt’s cell buzzes and she practically squeals. “It’s him.” After she reads the text, she holds the phone to her heart.

  And, just like that, Britt is moving at her usual speed of light toward her next heartbreak. Of course, we’ll have to find a new bar since Mr. Heartbreaker will be the one serving the hefty dose of her favorite breakup cocktail.

  “He doesn’t work tonight and asked me if I want to hang out.” She reads her message aloud as she thumbs it. “Let me check if I already have plans.” After she sends it, I look at her. “What? I don’t want him to think I’m too easy.”