She thought about it again and swayed back and forth while trying to decide. “Let’s keep going, I’m fine.” Before I could say anything else, she took off running ahead of me.
We ran the second mile as planned and got back to her building at around eight. I almost offered to carry her up the stairs, but she insisted on finishing on her own. She took her keys from her pocket and handed them to me as she leaned against the wall outside her room, panting while she waited for me to unlock the door.
“Oh, God. I think I’m gonna die,” Sam said as she collapsed face-first on her bed. “Who would’ve thought someone could sweat so much while it’s so cold outside?”
After I took my coat off, I removed her shoes and tossed them to the floor. She reached back and pulled me onto the bed beside her.
“I don’t know how you do that every morning.”
“You get used to it after a while. It was hard for me, too, at first. You’ll get the hang of it.”
“Uh…no I won’t; I’m done. Never again,” she asserted I smiled.
She rolled onto her back, moving as little as possible, and unzipped her coat. A few strands of her hair were matted to her forehead, so she pulled her shirt up, revealing the dampened skin of her body to me for a moment while she wiped the sweat from her face.
While I stared, she sat up. “I need to get in the shower. Like…..now.”
I stretched my back and then stood. “Yeah, me too,” I replied, already preparing to leave. “I’ll come back in about an hour. Maybe we’ll get breakfast,”
The pleading look on her face was most likely not meant to be so obvious when she asked, “Why don’t you just use mine?” Apparently she didn’t want me to go, so I nodded, letting her know that I’d still be here when she got done.
“Good,” she said with a smile, hopping up to get in the shower.
The moment I heard the water start, I pictured her in there naked and glistening wet. While driving from Westwood, I’d made up my mind that once I got to Charleston’s campus I’d let at least an entire 48 hours pass before Sam and I would have any sexual contact; however, that vow was already being put to the test. I didn’t want her to think that I’d be expecting sex all the time just because we were living so close and wouldn’t have her parents around to supervise.
Maybe twenty minutes later, she came out of the bathroom in nothing but her towel. Her wet hair hung down just past her shoulder blade and a few drops of water streamed down her arms and the insides of legs. She bent over to take something out of her bottom drawer and I had to turn away if I was going to behave.
“You know what we should do today?” She asked innocently, unaware of the thoughts I was having about her.
“What’s that?” I replied, still fighting the image in my head.
“We should stay in bed and watch movies all day. I’m sure Deanna won’t be back any time soon; if she comes back at all today.”
“Sounds good to me,” I replied as I stood to walk toward the bathroom.
“Don’t forget to lock the other door. I forgot to when I was in there,” Sam called out from her room. I turned on the water, crossed the narrow bathroom to her roommates adjoining door, and turned the lock. After stripping out of my clothes I stood under the hot water and let it run down my back. I should’ve opted for cold….
The thought of lying beside Sam all day in bed would have been the perfect idea if I wasn’t trying to be good. I mean, it wasn’t like we’d discussed any rules or anything, but I also knew all too well how quickly she could decide to close up shop. I didn’t want her to think that I’d be expecting it all the time and start feeling any particular way. I sighed and tried to focus on something else. Anything else.