I roll a blanket into a log on my bed and rest the crook of my knee over the towel, bending my knee slightly, balancing the bag of ice over my leg.
I’m flat on my bed, phone held up over my face, thinking about Kennedy’s fucking mojo list for the hundreth time when I hear the unmistakable sound of Adrian and the girl he has over moaning. I’m sure he’s into it, but to me, the moans sound fake and I hate fake moans from a girl. She’s practically screaming,like she’s auditioning for porn or something. If I’m going to be subjected to the sounds of Adrian having sex, I’d at least like the sounds to be enjoyable–this is borderline torture complete with shrill screaming and over the top exclamations. I toss an arm over my eyes and contemplate my next move. My knee feels really good right now, resting over the blanket with ice, but my headphones are in my backpack. In order to get my headphones, I’d have to move from this position and I really don’t want to move because for the first time in a weeks, I’m getting some relief.
The moans continue and I decide that for now, the knee is more important than the headphones in my backpack. So, I reach behind me to grab my pillow and pull it over my head to try and muffle the fake pornstar moans coming from the room next to mine.
As the minutes go on, I’m more than a little disappointed in myself when I start getting a semi.
I actually need to leave, knee be damned. Maybe I’d feel less disgusted if these noises weren’t so fake, but as it stands right now, I’m questioning things. It’s got to be the fact that I’ve been in a bit of a dry spell lately, it's making my body desperate.
Will:Going to the library if either of you want to come?
Miranda:UGH why do you have to be such a good student? You’re making me feel like I should actually do my work
Kennedy:I’m actually already at the library–third floor
Will:Come or dont come Miranda, I don’t care
Miranda:I’ll come asshole, but I’m not happy about it
Will:No one is making you come to the library with me
Kennedy:Are you guys fighting
Kennedy:It's hard to tell with you Taylor siblings
Will:No
Miranda:Yes
I run a hand down my face and sit up. Why did I invite my twin to go to the library with me? Oh yeah, because for some reason, ever since my party, Kennedy’s been haunting my every thought and it would have been weird if I only invited her and not Miranda. But Miranda is the worst person to study with. She always wants to talk instead of doing any real work. She tends to treat it as a social hour rather than a study session. I’m not sure how Kennedy and Miranda are able to work together with how disruptive Miranda is.
Kennedy, though, I know studies intensely.
An excessively loud “Yes!” wafts through my walls and I decide for sure that even not studying with Miranda is better than staying here and being forced to listen to the performance happening next door. I gather my things and stuff them into my backpack before heading out. The sounds from Adrian’s room are somehow still getting louder and even more over the top. The girl lets out what I can only liken to the sound of a yowling cat–staying here for the next few hours is out of the question. I’ll fulfill some of my mandatory hours and not be subjected to Adrian and the porn star girl he has over. And maybe, I admit to myself, a small part of me wants to hang out with Kennedy. I know I hang out with her all the time, but this feels different.
The elevator dings and I step off onto the third floor, bouncing from table to table looking for Kennedy. I don’t see her at any of the tables in the center of the floor and head to the right in order to walk the perimeter. It doesn’t take long to spot her. She's at a table by herself, with a text book and a backpack in front of two chairs, reserving them for me and Miranda. Her hair is pulled into a braid that runs down her back, and she’s wearing a tank top that exposes her upper back and shoulders.
She startles when I pull out the chair next to her and take a seat. One hand is over her chest, eyes big before she realizes it's me and replaces her look with a smile on her face. “Youscared the shit out of me,” she whispers. I scoot my chair in and lean over toward her, bumping her shoulder with mine and shrugging at her.
“Sorry,” I mumble, pulling out my materials from my backpack and placing them on the desk in front of me. Kennedy reaches over me to grab the textbook she placed there to save my seat, brushing her arm against mine.
“How’re you so warm? It’s not natural,” she says so quietly I almost don’t hear her.
I turn my body toward her and hold my palms open, “Give me your hands.” A flash of surprise moves over her face before she goes back to a neutral expression, one eyebrow raised. She doesn’t protest or make any comments, instead she places her hands in the cradle of mine. I curl my fingers around hers and she’s right, her fingers are like icicles. A quick image of her ice cold hands rubbing over my knee floats through my mind, shocking me, and sending a pulse to my dick.
I squeeze her hands a few times before dropping them, “Better?”
“Much. Thank you,” she says, turning away from me and back to her work. I feel a little frozen in place, body turned toward her, looking at her profile as she situates herself in her chair. Kennedy faces forward and looks intently at her textbook, but I spot pink creeping down the side of her neck, and feel the edges of my lips curl up. Making Kennedy blush is too easy and I like it, I always have.
“Why are you looking at me?” she snaps over her shoulder, shooting me a look.
“I’m not,” I say, feeling strangely caught, jerking my body forward. “I was thinking,” I say, heat now creeping up the back ofmyneck. And I was; thinking about her hands rubbing up and down my legs andother places.
I close my eyes and shake my head, attempting to literally shake this crazy thought out of my head. Kennedy is objectively very attractive, yes, butI’mnot attracted to her, I remind myself.
She rolls her eyes, “Mmhmm,” and luckily for me, drops it.
Not even a full minute after I arrive, both of our phones light up with a message from Miranda letting us know she’s not coming to the library after all. A strange satisfaction at Miranda canceling washes over me and through my chest. I like the fact that Kenny and I are hanging out alone. It's not like we never hang out alone, we have. But that was before, when we were younger and didn’t have significant others. When I think about it, we really haven’t hung out alone much since we came to college. I had a girlfriend who seriously did not like it when Kennedy and I hung out, period, even with Miranda there, and then Kennedy dated Carter, and then she stopped hanging out with anyone for a while there.
