Chapter 15. The next couple of months continued on in similar fashion

The next couple of months continued on in similar fashion. School was, well it was school. I wasn’t studying anything that I felt particularly passionate about, so it was hard to get too excited about it. Evie helped to keep me focused and motivated and we made it through the first round of exams with A’s and B’s. She finally went to the doctor about her headaches that had increased in occurrences and learned she needed glasses. She pulled off the hot school girl look amazingly. Dylan and I continued to text and talk during the week. He began picking me up on Saturday afternoons so that we could have a dinner date before going to the weekly get-together. Physically, he was taking things very slow, painfully slow actually. When we kissed it was passionate and occasionally he would allow his hands to caress my body, but when I would respond by pressing my body up against his and moaning in want, he would separate us and tell me that I needed to stop before he couldn’t control himself. I didn’t want him to control himself and when I told him as much, but he would just chuckle and tell me I wasn’t ready. It was actually starting to piss me off and combined with platonic, friend-only Saturday nights/ Sunday mornings I spent with Ash my sexual frustration was building to an inevitable explosion.

During the one night a week that Ash and I spent together, we had the best time talking and just hanging out. We discussed everything under the sun, played music for one another, and laughed at each other’s ridiculous jokes. The only physical contact we had was when we slept. Despite how we would fall asleep separated from one another, we would always wake up a tangled mess of limbs. Most mornings his undeniable erection would be pressed against my belly or back and it took all of my resolve to not reach out and touch him, but I refrained, scared to screw up the comfortable relationship that we had settled in to. Instead I would just sliver my body out from under his and kiss his forehead goodbye. We would text occasionally during the week, nothing consistent though, and I never texted him unless he initiated the conversation. I was determined not to be the pathetic girl that pined for the boy she couldn’t have.

Evie and I never discussed my nights spent with Ash again. I didn’t flaunt that I was doing something that she didn’t approve of in front of her face, and she refrained from chastising me for making a bad decision. I knew how she felt about the situation, she had made her concerns quite clear, but I also knew how I felt when I was around Ash. At the time, our friendly arrangement seemed to be working. I got used to seeing him make out with a different blonde each week at Jacob and Nathan’s, and I actually kind of liked that it was never the same girl. It would’ve bothered me more to know that he was interested enough in a girl to bring her around a second time. He seemed to accept the idea of me being with Dylan as well, he never said otherwise if he didn’t. Neither of us asked each other about our romantic/ sexual relationships, past or present. It was the one subject we didn’t approach. Other than discussing Dylan, I wouldn’t have had too much to talk about anyways, and I was scared that he could’ve talked continuously for days and still missed some of the girls he had been with. While at the party, we would often catch each other staring at one another, but I always broke the gaze afraid Dylan would catch us. He was already suspicious of Ash after the way he acted so possessive the first night I had met them both, and even though Dylan and I weren’t exclusive, at least not that we had discussed, I didn’t think he would appreciate the fact that each Saturday after spending the evening with him, I went straight to Ash’s bed. Even though it wasn’t like that, it probably still wouldn’t settle well.

One Thursday afternoon in early November, Evie came bouncing up to me on the sidewalk as we met after class to walk to our dorm. The weather had started cooling down and the oppressive humidity was dissipating; it had become quite pleasant and refreshing to walk around and spend time outside. She had a huge smile plastered across her face and I knew she was dying to tell me her good news.

“Tomorrow night we have a book boyfriend challenge and it’s going to be awesome,” she sang. I raised my eyebrow in interest.

“Go on, you’ve got my attention.”

“Mina invited us to go with her to listen to her boyfriend’s band play!” She squealed in excitement. “They are playing at some warehouse where there’s supposed to be like three or four different local bands performing. I am so excited!” Unable to contain her enthusiasm for a chance to meet a sexy musician, she then started doing a ridiculous dance on the sidewalk and I pretended like I was trying to escape her embarrassing antics by running away. She chased after me and tackled me to the ground. People around us stopped to make sure we were just playing as we rolled around in the grass, but we soon couldn’t move due to our uncontrollable laughter. I laughed until tears were running down my face and my side hurt and I had to walk the rest of the way hunched over on one side with black streaks marking my face.

“You know, you really need to get laid,” I told her once I caught my breath. “How long has it been now?”

“Way too fucking long,” Evie snarled her lip up in disgust. She had met a few guys around campus and at the Saturday night shindig, as we had started referring to it as, but no one that she was interested in seeing more than a couple of times. Her sexual encounters had been about the equivalent of mine since we had been in Houston, except for the fact that I slept in bed with Ash once a week. Even though there was never anything sexual going on when we did, it was rather intimate and I knew it was something that Evie missed. “But don’t you worry, I plan to take care of that problem tomorrow night.” She gave me an wicked look and continued, “I’m just going to go ahead and let you know now that unless you plan on giving up your V-card to an absolute stranger at this thing tomorrow, you have no chance in winning our contest. You may as well plan on buying me breakfast Sunday morning because I will not be denied. I am going to strain a muscle in my wrist soon from gripping my damn vibrator so tight. I went ahead and bought a multi pack of those batteries that it takes. The woman that checked me out kept looking at me like she knew what I was buying them for… of course she knew, what else takes that damn size battery? Nothing, that’s what! They might as well just call them ‘vibrator batteries’ on the package and come with a sticker that says ‘Needs a Good Fuck.’”

I couldn’t help but laugh at the rant she had gone off on. “It’s okay, Evie. Calm down. We will go and find you a sex stud tomorrow. You really do need to get some and get it out of your system. I’ve noticed your book selection as of late have been moving further away from young adult and closer to pure erotica, so I figured you were looking for some good material.”

The following 24 hours crawled by as Evie and I anxiously awaited our big night out. I wasn’t quite sure what to wear to something like this so I allowed Evie to dress me; however, I retained veto power over her selections. She was finally getting to wear her red and black striped hoochie momma dress which she paired with knee high black heeled boots. She looked even more amazing than usual with her jet black hair piled in a messy bun held together with black chopsticks. I wanted to wear pants so she dressed me in distressed skinny jeans paired with a sheer black top and my black and red lace bra underneath. Evie and I argued over what shoes I was going to wear. I wanted flip flops, she wanted stilettos. We compromised with sparkly black ballet flats. I kept my hair down and straight, I felt a little less vulnerable when it was down, almost like it was a layer of protection of sorts. I was a little apprehensive about the rather provocative way in which I was dressed, but Evie assured me that I looked great and that we would fit in just fine. I had no choice but to trust her. At 9:00 sharp, we headed out the door and were off to pick up Mina.