Crosbie and I exchange wary looks. “Is it?”
He turns to Crosbie. “Dane said they’re going over to prank the Kappa Deltas tonight, and we need to be there. In fact, we need to go right now, to help prepare. Come on. You walked over, right? I’ll drive you back.”
Crosbie’s flush is deepening and I see his chest rise and fall as he takes a calming breath. “Right now?”
“Yeah, right now. You can talk to Dane and get those numbers for me. Let’s go.” He snatches up the notebook and tosses it into his room, where it flutters to the floor like a bird dying of sexual frustration.
I stare miserably at my hands, twisted on the table to stop myself from lunging at Crosbie and dragging him into my room, shouting at Kellan that the deal’s off, feel free to bring any girl he wants back to the apartment.
“Actually…” Crosbie says tentatively. “I’ll follow you over in a bit. I wanted to ask Nora to look over my English paper. She said she wouldn’t mind proofing it before I turned it in. It’s just a few pages.”
I’ve never agreed to proofread this paper, because it doesn’t exist. But Kellan doesn’t know that and I’m more than willing to play along. “You finished it?” I say. “That’s great. Of course I’ll take a look.”
Kellan’s frowning. “Can’t you just email it?”
“I brought a hard copy,” Crosbie says. He reaches into his bag and passes me a stapled sheaf of papers. It’s a bunch of recipes for protein shakes to help build muscle faster.
Kellan grabs his jacket from the couch and pulls it on. “Okay, whatever. Will it take more than fifteen minutes? I have to get gas, so we’ll just run over, fill it up, and come back to pick up the paper—is that enough time? I know you’re both trying to keep your grades up, but tonight is really important. Last year the Kappa Deltas covered the Alpha Sigma Phi house in toilet paper. Dirty toilet paper. Remember that?”
“Er…” Crosbie and I exchange tortured looks.
“Why don’t you get gas and stop here on your way back?” Crosbie suggests. “I don’t want to come to the gas station.”
“Why not?”
“The, uh…fumes. They make me sick.”
“They do? Since when?”
“Since always.”
“Geez, man. I never knew.” Kellan looks a bit incredulous, but then just shakes his head. “Fine. I’ll get the gas and swing back here to get you. Think you’ll be finished in time?”
We both freeze. I speak first. “If I work fast.”
“I don’t think it’ll take that long,” Crosbie adds. “The paper is really ready to go.”
Kellan stares at us like we’re morons, then shrugs. “Okay, fine. Whatever. I’ll text you when I’m back.” Finally he puts on his sneakers, grabs his keys, and leaves.
The door’s been closed for exactly one half-second before Crosbie’s on me. “Oh, thank God,” he mutters. He snatches the papers out of my hand and hurls them onto the floor before hauling me in for a frantic kiss.
“Finally,” I mumble against his lips. “I’m dying.”
“You’re dying? I’ve been dying for days.”
“I bet I died more.”
“I bet I died harder.”
We fumble to our feet and I feel his erection against my belly. Hard is the perfect adjective. “You win.”
“If we do this right, we’ll both win.”
I moan into his mouth as his fingers carefully unbutton my shirt. He doesn’t even bother to unhook my bra, just shoves down the cups and fills his hands. “Crosbie,” I pant. “Faster.”
“I want this all the time,” he says, pulling back long enough to look at me, his fingers tugging lightly on my nipples. “I think about you every day.”
He’s wearing an old concert tee over a long-sleeve shirt and I pull off the top layer and throw it on the floor. “Me too.” I stand on my toes to kiss him again. “It’s not enough.”
“No,” he groans. “It’s not.”
The rattle of keys has us lurching apart. I clutch the front of my shirt together and dash into my room, trying to fix my bra. I hear Crosbie curse, then his T-shirt sails past me and lands on my bed, a very weak stab at hiding the evidence.
I keep my back to the room as I hear the thud of Kellan’s feet climbing the stairs. “I forgot my phone.”
“Oh. Right.” Crosbie sounds hoarse and annoyed.
“Are you guys done already?”
My body spasms unhappily at the possibility of this being over before it even begins.
I turn around to find Kellan looking at the floor where Crosbie’s “essay” sits, discarded. Hastily I pick up random papers from my desk and wave them to distract him. “I thought it’d be easier to read in here,” I lie. “So Crosbie wouldn’t be breathing down my neck the whole time.”
Crosbie crosses his arms, making his biceps bulge. “I just want to make sure you do a good job.”
“Nora always does a good job,” Kellan replies, oblivious. “And she’s fast, too.”
Oh God. “I’m going to get back to work.”
“Right. I’ll be back soon. Don’t give her a hard time,” Kellan adds, pointing at Crosbie. “She’s doing you a favor.”