by Marie Cole
I went into the kitchen and pulled out half of the trash. I was glad her trash bags were white and not see through. I threw the bag in there and then covered it, burying the evidence. I padded back into the guest bedroom and grabbed up my jeans. I slipped them on, wincing because I was already sore from his girth. I pulled the tank top off. It was dark and Kent was asleep so I didn't bother hiding my body.
I went towards Jen's bedroom but thought better of it. I was too low to go in there. I was a home wrecker. A cheater. A hussy. I went into the living room and put the tank top on the couch arm. I put my bra back on and grabbed up my sweater from the chair where it had been drying. I pulled it on and then went back out into the living room.
I wrapped my arms around myself and looked around feeling terrible. So angry at myself for doing what I'd just done. I packed up my stuff slowly. The anger seeping from me in the form of hot tears.
Chapter Thirty-Five
I knocked on Kent's door the next morning, a box of hot glazed donuts balanced on my hand. I was wearing black sweat pants, my Doc Martens, and our college logo on the front of my gray sweatshirt. My hair was up in a messy bun, no makeup on my face. I was trying whatever I could to look as unattractive as possible. It was the punishment for doing what I did last night. And if I was going to face him I needed to be sure I felt as insecure as possible so that I wouldn't try anything else.
Kent answered the door and offered me a smile as his eyes looked down at the box on my hand. "Donuts?" I could smell the fresh brewed coffee coming through the door.
"Yes. Good junk study food, right? And it'll go great with the coffee I smell." I raised my eyebrows and made the donut box levitate up to his nose.
Kent nodded, "I believe you are right." When the donut smell reached his nose he inhaled deeply and closed his eyes. "Just bring them in already, tease!" There was a pause. "Wait, donuts?"
I took a step forward and then stopped. "Yes,donuts...what's wrong with donuts?"
"I tried to get you to bring sweet stuff over last night and you brought carrots and water, now you show up with donuts?" He moved out of the doorway to let me come inside.
"And I was keeled over before half time. I thought we'd try your approach today." I moved to the counter and plopped the box down.
There was a nod of his head. "Alright, fair enough. I got lots of coffee and a frozen pizza in the freezer we can have later if you want." Kent shut the door and went to the kitchen. He got two coffee cups out of the cabinet.
"You want a cup to start with?" He asked as he poured a cup for himself and sat it on the counter. "We got a lot more to cover to get through it all tonight."
"Sure, I'll have some." I unpacked my stuff, my back to him. "Did you talk to Jen this morning? I'm curious how the move is going."
"She hasn't replied to my messages. So I guess she's doing alright." Kent said as he poured another cup for me and brought them both to the table. His stuff was right where we'd left it.
I resumed my seat next to him. "She probably heard through one of her groupies that you had a girl over last night." I sipped the coffee slowly not wanting to burn my tongue too badly if it was too hot. I was waiting for him to bring it up. To bring up that I'd left without saying anything. To bring up that we'd had sex last night and that he remembered. Anything. "So, where were we?"
"Groupies? That's a high comment for her." He pulled his seat in a little. "You passed out when we started on Cubism."
But he didn't mention any of that. He just pushed forward as if it had never happened. And so I'd do the same.
"Cubism?" I pinched my forehead. "Did we even cover that in class?"
He nodded again. "You were snoozing a little that day. Doodling. I figured we'd study sometime and we'd cover it. See. I'm good for something." Kent grinned.
"Of course you are. Studying and," I chuckled, "distracting."
"Distracting?" He flexed the muscles of his arm. "I had no idea." He laughed as he picked up his highlighter.
I rolled my eyes at the arm flex. Jesus, why did he have to be so tempting? Was he flirting with me on purpose or just doing a normal amount? My mushy brain couldn't tell anymore. "I wasn't talking about your body, you nerd. I was talking about your video gaming and stuff."
"Forgive me, Miss Sexy Ass." He said with a chuckle and highlighted a large passage in his notebook.
I clenched my jaw tight and started writing the large portion that he highlighted. Kent commenting on my sexy ass was not something I wanted to think about, especially since he jizzed all over it last night. My cheeks started to blush as I remembered the night we'd shared. I tried so hard to push it out of my mind and focus on the studying at hand.
We covered a lot of things in the next few hours. Kent's damn near perfect notes were sinking into my brain with the help of coffee and a little bit of sweets.
I groaned and put my pencil down. I shook my hand out and let out a whimper. "I've never written so much in my life! Can we take a break now?"
He slowly put his pencil down. "More coffee?" He stood up.
"Yeah."
"Let me get rid of the old coffee first," he said, moving to the kitchen.
I went to the bathroom and then into the living room. My back was sore from bending over the table all morning so I stretched, grabbing my calves one at a time, my body bending in half.
I stood up straight, stretched out my arms and back and then rejoined him at the table. I took the donut from his hands just before it reached his mouth and then put it to mine. "Yum!"
"Dah hell?!" He turned his eyes on me. "I'm going to get that back."
I took a bite and talked around my chewing. "Mmm, 'o 'ood!"
Kent smirked. "I'm warning you. I'm going to get it back."
I stuffed the donut in my mouth as quickly as I could.
And I had most of it in my mouth when he pounced on me. An arm tucked around me and pulled me against him and he stood up so my feet dangled. His other hand was trying to get the rest of the donut out of my hand before I got all of it in my mouth. I screamed as best as I could and tried to keep the donut away from his hand, holding it out.
"Mmm!"
"Gimme the donut, woman!"
He grabbed my arm and tried to pull it down. I kicked at his knees lightly with my toes, not really wanting to hurt him and stretched upwards with all my might to keep the donut away from him.
Finally having swallowed what was in my mouth I retorted, "Never! It's my donut now!"
"I don't think so!" The grip around my waist slipped and I slid down against him an odd number of inches so that my face was almost across from his.
Because of what happened last night my composure started to slip as the memories of him pumping into me invaded my mind. I stilled in his grasp. I shoved the remaining bit of the donut in his mouth and then pushed at his chest so he'd release me.
"Fine! Have my sloppy seconds, I don't care," I retorted, trying to sound much more badass than I felt.
He let me down quickly. There was a moment that his eyes weren't looking at me, but they shifted towards me as he smiled. "Vic'ory!" came from his full mouth.
I rolled my eyes and then sat back down, I ate most of a donut so I wasn't going to get another one. I couldn't clock an extra at the gym at the rate the studying was going. I sipped my coffee and picked my pencil back up.
"Barely," I muttered to my notebook.
Kent picked up his cup of coffee to help get the rest of the donut down. "I was going to win and you know it!" He reclaimed his seat next to me.
"By cheating, of course, just like you always do." I sniffled once like I always did when I wanted to show that I was better than him.
A smirk showed on his face as he picked up his highlighter. "Just remember who's helping you ace this final, Elly."
"I haven't aced it yet."
"But you're going to," Kent started highlighting things again.
I grabbed his highlighter and stuck it under my thigh. "I need to catch up. Hol
d on a minute."
Kent's hand rested on his notebook as his eyebrow raised. His eyes shifted to where I sat and the leg his highlighter was under. His eyes closed as he got some more coffee.
"Fine, fine."
I wrote slower now that I was in control, a small smile of victory on my lips now. Kent took a sip of coffee and then smiled at my antics. I started to hum, waiting to see how long it would be until Kent said something about my new, much slower study approach.
He let me write like that for a few minutes before he spoke up. "You know, today is the last day we have to cram stuff."
"Mmmhmm. I'm well aware." I didn't look up from my turtle-slow pencil.
The muscles of his jaw tightened. The fingers of his hand thumped on the table. His hand hesitated.
I noted his body language and had hidden enough things from him over our lifetime that I knew he was about to reach for it. I grabbed the highlighter and sat on it, only the very end of it visible under the crotch of my sweatpants. I smirked, no way was he going to go for the vag.
Kent watched me shift around and stared at my crotch. "You think it's safe there?" The muscles of his jaw tightened.
I paused in my writing and studied his face, narrowing my eyes. My own jaw clenched. I grabbed the highlighter out, turned my back to him, shoved it up my shirt and under my bra, safely nuzzling it against my right breast. He'd have to touch it to get the marker back.
"There. I think Jen would be pretty upset if I told her you groped my breast." I smiled smugly.
His lip twitched which happened when he got agitated. "That's nice. Using the girlfriend against me. You know what. I don't think you will." His hand moved from the table as he went for the highlighter.
I grabbed him by the wrist and held him back, two inches from my boobs and looked him in the eye. "You really think that's wise?"
I knew I shouldn't stare him down this way and have the undertone of what happened last night be out in the open but he was playing with fire. My fire. And I didn't appreciate it. Sure, I'd kind of started it but he should be backing off, not trying to grope me.
His eyes looked into mine as I held his wrist. The muscles of his jaw tightened and loosened and finally he spoke. "Whatever..." He pulled his wrist from my hand and stood. He moved towards the bathroom.
I exhaled a held breath after he was gone from view. I pulled the highlighter out and hid it under his book and then I started writing at super speed again so that I would be caught up when he came back.
Kent was gone for a little while. About fifteen minutes passed and he finally came out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel. He moved towards Jen's room to get a change of clothes.
I caught sight of his towel clad body and heat stirred between my thighs. I pressed them together and cleared my throat loudly,
"What the hell, Kent? Had to clean the image of you touching my boobs out of your mind?" As soon as I said it I knew it hadn't come out the self-degrading way I'd meant it to come out.
Kent looked at me for a moment and stuck his tongue out at me. I felt my body relax, he had taken it the way I'd intended.
"Not hardly. I needed a shower. I figured it would give you time to catch up."
I nodded, "Carry on then."
I looked down at my notes and put my pencil down. I was caught up and had even moved ahead a little, copying the things I knew for sure he'd highlight. I wasn't dumb. I didn't even really need to study with him I could've just borrowed his notes for a few hours. I got up and refilled my coffee. I wrinkled my nose at the taste and decided to brew a fresh pot.
Kent came out a few minutes later with fresh clothes on. He raised his eyebrow at me, leaning against the counter. "I guess you caught up then."
"And then some." I turned so my butt was pressed up against the counter behind me, "Want your highlighter back now?" I put my hands on the counter too and arched my back, my breasts, small as they were, puffed out.
Kent's eyes were drawn to my breasts which were poked out now. His eyes shifted away from them as his cheeks started to show a blush. "It's not there. I can see there's no outline like before."
I looked down at my chest and then at him, frowning. "How can you make out the outline of anything under this huge sweatshirt?"
"Because when you shoved it in there earlier you could see the way it was held under the strap of your bra." So he apparently was checking out my breasts.
"You need your girlfriend to come back so you can get laid. You're a little pervy." I turned my back on him as I refilled my mug with fresh, hot coffee.
I couldn't believe I was shoving my boobs at him. He wasn't the only one who needed to get laid. I was acting like a dog in heat. I needed to reign it in.
He closed the distance between us after he emptied his mug in the sink and forced his way to the coffee pot with a bump of his hip. I jumped back as the coffee sloshed out of my mug.
I held it out just in time to avoid a burn, "Jerk!"
I went back to the table and on my way I grabbed a wooden spoon from the jar of utensils on the counter and slapped his ass with it. The sound of the spoon cracking against his pants echoed in the kitchen.
Kent jumped. "OUCH!" He put the coffee cup down and his hand moved to rub the place I'd hit. I bit my lower lip, wondering if maybe I'd gone too far as I eyed him from the safety of the chair I'd run back to. Kent turned half his body and his hand pulled the back part of his shorts down. An red angry welt in the shape of a spoon stared at me.
"I'm surprised you can see it so well through all your ass hair." I pressed my lips together, trying not to laugh.
"What the hell are you talking about?" He said as he mooned me. "Look at that!"
I couldn't help it, a chuckle burst out, "I see it! Now put that thing away!" I held out a hand, trying to block his ass from my view.
Kent pulled his shorts back up as he grumbled on his way back to the table, coffee cup in his hand. He took a seat, wincing until he settled in.
I glanced down at the front of his shorts, maybe Kent was into that kind of thing. Kent looked at my face and saw where my eyes were pointed. He looked down.
"Is there something on my shorts?"
"Er...um, no!" My cheeks turned pink at being caught staring at his crotch. My eyes turned back to his notebook. "I'm just gazing off waiting for you to highlight some more."
Kent looked up at me as he saw my eyes shift. Kent shook his head and picked up the highlighter.
Several more hours of intense studying went by and then the front door opened and Jen came in.
"Hello?" She called as she closed the door behind her. She came towards the kitchen and smiled softly at the two of us, I knew I looked ragged and it probably pleased Jen to no end. "Still studying?"
Kent looked up from the notebook, smiled and nodded. "Yeah. Been at it for hours. There's some coffee, but it's not too fresh. There's a few donuts left too. How was the move?" He put the highlighter down to give her his full attention.
I stopped for the moment too, eyes on Jen. Jen looked flawless, as usual. She rolled her bag to the hallway that led the master bedroom and then removed her coat.
"It was good. Therapeutic for mother, I think. Are you going to be studying for much longer? I was hoping we could go out to dinner with Courtney and Reed tonight."
Kent looked down at the notebook. "We got a few more chapters to cover. You can maybe go out to meet them and I'll join you after we're done?"
She smiled softly and nodded. "Sure, darling."
She put her coat into the coat closet and then grabbed her bag and disappeared with it into the master bedroom. I hoped the blush didn't make me look suspicious. When I saw Jen my mind instantly went to the moments I'd shared with Kent last night and the guilt set in.
Kent watched her go into the bedroom with a raise of his eyebrow. There was apparently something on his mind, but I had no idea what. I cleared my throat softly and looked back to my notebook, resuming copying the notes. "I can probably just do the last
chapters by myself. I don't want to hold you up."
He looked back down to the notebook and picked up the highlighter. "No. We started this, we're going to finish it."
I couldn't be in the same room with them. I couldn't sit here and pretend that Jen wasn't in the other room. The Elly and Kent bubble was broken. If I stayed any longer I was likely to burst into tears because of what we'd done - what I'd done. As far as I knew he thought it was a dream. And that's how it would have to stay. A beautiful dream that would never be repeated.
I silently packed up my books. "Kent, my energy is depleted, I'm going to go back to the dorm and nap for a little while and then pull an all-nighter. I'll see you tomorrow at the final, ok?" I didn't look at him, not wanting him to catch my glossy eyes.
"But..." He tried to look at me but I kept moving so he couldn't catch my gaze. Kent sighed, shut his notebook and pushed it into the bag I was packing. "Take it. I highlighted the rest you'd need so you shouldn't have to pull an all-nighter."
I took it because I didn't want to argue with him. "Thanks. I'll see you later. Sorry for being a pain in your ass, literally." I zipped up my bag and quickly left, not giving him much of a chance to respond.
Chapter Thirty-Six
It was the first time in a long time that I was excited for Christmas. Kent had spent the past two Christmases somewhere warm with Jen's family but this year he'd decided to stay and participate in his usual traditions. One of them was spending Christmas Eve doing puzzles, watching horror movies, and eating junk food with me while our moms went to their annual Christmas party at Mrs. Frederick's house.
Mrs. Frederick had been throwing the same Christmas Eve party for the past sixteen years. She hosted the first one when she was a newlywed nineteen year old and it had grown from a single couple into one of the most talked about events in my mother's circle of friends throughout the years. My mother was upstairs getting dressed for the occasion, which she had been talking about ever since I got home on Christmas break, three days ago.