Espresso--Fourth Installment
Well, it took a little longer than I thought, but here's the fourth part of my romance. Yeah, at this point, you must surely doubt my choice in calling it a romance, but trust me on this. It's weird and silly, but that's just the way this is going to work out. As usual, comments are quite welcome, as is productive criticism. I will ask, though, that you would pose a suggestion in addition to the criticism, because unless you can tell the builder how to build better, it doesn't do him any good to tell him his building lacks definition. You know what I mean? Thanks! Love ya. Go.
I waited on the steps outside the student union for Kieran to pull up. He'd sounded sleepy when I called for the ride, like he'd just woken up. I'd swear that he never really did anything, but he still managed to pay the bills and he was allegedly a student here as well.
It took a while, but his car eventually slid up to the curb. I hopped in and Kieran greeted me with a light punch to the shoulder. "Hey punk."
"Hey."
"Work go alright?" he asked as he started driving home.
"Not too bad, I guess." I paused for a bit, then added, "well, it was a little awkward for a while, you know. But things are sorted out--I mean, I hope they are."
"Yeah man, I know." Another moment of quiet. "You know the rules, though. Sex with co-workers is a no-no." He laughed, but when he noticed that I didn't think the joke was so funny, he stopped. "Sorry, man."
"Eh."
Kieran drove on for a while before he spoke up again. "So, you had class today too, right?"
"Oh, uh, yeah."
"Didn't you say you were watching a film today? How was it?"
"It was--er, not too bad, I guess."
"You guess?"
"I don't remember. Not really."
He laughed. "What, did you fall asleep during it or something?"
"Heh. Yeah, you got me." I turned to look out the window. I wasn't quite embarrassed by my little adventure, but I knew Kieran would never let me live it down if he found out about it. He let the subject die, to my satisfaction.
We got home a few minutes later, and after taking a much needed nap, I got to work on the paper I had due the next day. Kieran was off in his room doing whatever he did when no one was watching--homework? Either way, the relative quiet made it easy to get my work done. Nearly as soon as the last sheet of paper left the printer, my phone rang.
"Hey Sarah, what's up?"
"Not a lot. I was wondering if you wanted to watch a movie or two with me." She raised her inflection at the end of her sentence, which marked her as unsure.
"Oh? Why?"
"Well, I still feel bad about...you know. I just wanted to hang out as friends and get back on good terms."
"Alright. I mean, I'm willing to give it a shot." Or, I at least hoped I was. "What movie?"
"Well, I was thinking about this one. It's supposed to be a horror movie, but everything about it is like, ridiculous and over the top. And people don't know if it's on purpose or not. How's that sound?"
"Good, actually." It seemed like she had the same taste in movies as I did, at least. "You remember how to get to my place?"
"I think so. I'll be over soon."
"See ya then."
Of course, now I was left to ponder over the situation. It felt a lot like I'd been living in fast-forward and that things were only just coming back down to regular speed. Sarah seemed genuine in her attempts to have me as a friend, though whether or not she had feelings for me was something I wasn't quite sure of. I, for whatever consequence would come from it, was the trusting type. It wasn't too hard to forgive her--after all, I could have stopped her, but I didn't. She technically started it, but I couldn't be mad because she probably would have stopped if I'd asked. Best not to dwell on things past, though.
But there was still Kieran to deal with. He'd been a little suspicious lately, and really nice, but he was hard to read. He probably felt sorry for me, and maybe awkward about having kissed my cheek. He had, after all, been leaving me alone this afternoon, so that had to be the case. He'd be over it soon.
I let myself fall gently onto my side, bouncing a little on the couch cushion. "Ugh," I sighed, talking to myself to break the silence, "can I have my normal life back now?"
"Shazah! Your wish has been granted little one!" a voice said, booming from behind me. I yelped and fell off the couch. From the floor, I heard Kieran roaring with laughter.
"Wow! Sorry, dude! Didn't mean to scare you that bad!"
I jumped onto the couch and sprung off it, tackling Kieran to the ground. "You jerk! What'd you mean to do, then?" I pinned his arms by his sides and put my weight on him.
"Well, I wanted to spook you a little, or make you laugh, but not to make you fall on your ass!" He was still laughing.
I grabbed his shoulders and slammed him against the floor once. "Well it wasn't that funny! Don't do it again, Kieran," I growled.
He grinned and flipped me over, with what seemed like ease for him. He pinned my wrists by my head and sat on my chest. "Or what?" he growled back, playfully.
I blushed. Dammit.
He might not have noticed, because right then the door buzzed. Kieran hopped off me and answered the buzzer.
"Hello," he sang.
"Hello? Is that you, Kieran?" It was a girl's voice, and I doubted Kieran recognized it as Sarah's.
"You know it, babe. Come on up."
I got up off the floor and brushed myself off. Did you even know who that was?" I asked in a frustrated tone.
"Yeah. Sarah. I know her from class."
"You actually go to class?"
"Sometimes," he said, a grin spreading across his face. He opened the door and Sarah came in. She looked at the two of us and raised an eyebrow.
"You two get in a fight or something?"
"No," I answered matter-of-factly.
"Not really," Kieran said at the same time.
Sarah smiled, but her skepticism was obvious. "You boys want to start the movie?"
"Sure," Kieran answered for me. "I'll put it in." He took the movie from her and fed it into the DVD player. After grabbing the remote, he took a seat in the middle of the couch. Sarah sat to his right, and I to his left. He started the movie, leaned back, and stretched his arms around each of us.
"Cut it out, Kieran," I said, trying to pry his paw off me.
"Relax, Chess," Sarah laughed. "We're all friends, right? There's nothing wrong with sitting close."
"But..." I sighed. "I guess not." I relaxed and let Kieran pull me closer to him. He tugged me over a little so that I leaned on him, matching Sarah. He was surprisingly warm and soft, so I didn't put up any fight; instead, I snuggled in--just a little.
We watched the movie like that, with Sarah and I both pulled close to the cheetah. It was just like Sarah had told me: the movie was too ridiculous to believe. The acting was awful and always over the top. It didn't take long before we were glad to see each stereotyped character die. We rooted for the monster-- which was some kind of swamp man that they never bothered to explain or introduce--even though his pursuits were laughably stupid in their tact. By the end of the movie, when the last one left (the blonde, of course) was screaming her head off, we were roaring with laughter. The monster actually punched her head clean off her shoulders before trudging back to the lake.
At length, our laughter died down and we settled into a light snuggle on the couch. It was more comfortable than I would have expected.
"So did you call that guy, Chess?" Sarah asked, killing said comfort.
"Yeah, I did."
"Oh?" Kieran asked, giving me a nudge. "You didn't say anything about that earlier. Have you met again yet?"
"Er, yeah. We did."
"Where?" Sarah asked.
"He, uh, came to my class." Kieran tensed up a little and I knew my cover was blown.
"I knew it! You got down and dirty instead of watching that movie, didn't you?" He started laughing, and Sarah leaned around Kieran to scrutinize me.
"You two made out in the middle of class?" she asked, mild shock coating her voice.
"Well, we--yeah. Made out."
"You totally did more than that! Look at you!" Kieran said, pointing out my blush.
"Okay, fine! He went down on me during it."
Before I could add anything else, Kieran interrupted me. "You little perv!" He kept laughing.
"Really?" Sarah asked, unsure if we were joking.
I could only nod, but my burning face was enough of a confirmation. Sarah's jaw came loose and Kieran just laughed louder.
"I'm a little surprised at you, Chess," she said after she had collected herself.
"Hey, it's not like I planned it, you know! I thought we'd talk or something, but he had other ideas."
"Are you sure he's not just interested in sex, then? Or is that fine for you?" She posed the question easily enough, but the look on her face told me she wasn't okay with that kind of thing. At least not for me.
"You're getting ahead of yourself. I'm gonna see him again soon and we'll probably go on a real date." She looked skeptical, so I amended myself. "Did you expect me to tell him to stop?"
She shook her head dismissively. "Boys."
Kieran turned to Sarah. "Speaking of which, wanna come talk in my room for a while about something?"
I scoffed, but she got up with him and followed him to his room. I turned and watched, mouth agape as Kieran waved to me before closing his door. Listening intently, I could hear their voices--Kieran's low and resonant, Sarah's hushed with interest. After a couple of exchanges, I heard Sarah giggle, but after that, things got quiet.
I couldn't do anything but watch the door in disbelief. "I surprised you?"