ONE SATURDAY NIGHT

Chapter 2

First step, lock your door. I pulled myself to my feet, moved to the door, and snapped the deadbolt closed. I cleaned myself up, threw on some clothes, and sat at my desk to ponder my options.

None of them seemed good.

My study guide caught my eye. There was something new written on it in red. "Ty, thanks for sharing this and always being so helpful. It's great to have someone like you in my life. Tori"

I smiled before remembering the gigantic pile of s**t I was in, and threw the papers to the floor.

I've got to talk to Tori. I will meet her at the library and maybe she'll agree to not ruin my entire life.

I held onto that sliver of hope as I grabbed my bag and left the dorm.

--

The library was only a 10-minute walk, giving me a few extra moments to kill before Tori would arrive. I certainly didn't want to beat her there. No, I'd let her get settled in before I arrived a few minutes late. It would be better if she'd already unpacked her stuff. Far less chance of her sprinting out of there when she first saw me.

It wasn't hot, and I wasn't walking fast, but I was sweating like crazy. Whatever moment of contentment I'd found earlier was long gone. I felt worse than I had all week.

I did a couple of laps around the quad, then a few more after the chimes sounded to note 9 o'clock's arrival, and finally headed to the library. It was largely a ghost town at this time on a Saturday morning. I gave the desk clerk a nod as I headed to the study table area.

Tori was in our usual spot by the windows, her back to me, books already stacked in front of her. I was barely breathing as I approached. What the f**k, Tyler, are you trying to sneak up on her?

I cleared my throat, announcing my presence, as I closed the distance.

"I was starting to wonder if you were bailing on me," Tori said without looking up. "Thought you'd found something more interesting to occupy your time." Now she looked up and gave me a straight-faced stare before bursting out laughing. "I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself!"

I chuckled in response and felt myself relax as I slid into a chair. "Tori, I'm really sorry about earlier. I just-"

"Dude, what? You have nothing to be sorry about, OK? I'm the one who invaded your privacy. You're not going to tell anyone, right? I don't want to be the girl who creeps on people."

SHE was afraid I was going to tell people about HER?

"Um, no, of course not," I said. "You aren't going to tell people about it, right?"

"Of course not! My God, I was so embarrassed!"

"You were embarrassed? I thought my life was over!"

She looked at me like I was crazy. "Huh?"

I shook my head. "I dunno, I thought you'd tell everyone I was some kind of freak and I'd have to change my identity."

"Wow, Tyler," she said, trying to hold in her laughter. "That's quite the spiral."

"I know, I know, it's just-"

"Listen, I am the one apologizing to YOU. I shouldn't have opened your door. Frankly, I'm jealous of the solo-room situation you have going on. You don't need to schedule your, ahem, extracurricular activities around a roommate's life."

I exhaled. "So, we're cool?"

"We're totally cool," she said with a smile, before turning serious again, "Daddy." She broke out in laughter again. "I just never pegged you for a 'daddy porn' guy."

"Alright, alright, very funny. I wasn't watching that, OK?"

"Hey, I don't kink shame."

I placed my head in my hands. "I still think I need to look into changing my identity."

She punched my shoulder. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm just giving you a hard time. But that's not cool and I'll stop, OK? Seriously. Let's just move on."

"Gladly," I said, unpacking my books and settling in. I'd never been so happy to study.

--

We studied the rest of the morning, just like we had many times before. The fact she'd caught me with my d**k in my hand was becoming a distant memory. Things were normal between us, and normal between us was good.

Around 1 my stomach began to grumble loudly. Tori chided me for not having breakfast, but was also ready for a break herself. We packed up and parted at the library door, planning to meet again Sunday morning.

I found a few of my other classmates in the dining hall, and we shared lunch and commiserated over the miserable exam experience. Based on shared conversations it seemed no one was feeling all that great about things, which obviously helped us all if Professor Benson truly graded on a curve.

With as awful as the day began, everything was looking up. I got back to my room a while later, turned on some college football, and tried my best to zone out. The place had come alive with activity, people buzzing around, popping in and out of rooms, catching up, and making plans for the night. Around dinner a few of us went in on a pizza delivery, and as evening turned to night things started to quiet down as my floormates began their slow and steady march to various parties.

I received a few invitations and politely declined. I was still feeling the effects of the last week, and Tori and I had planned to meet at the library around 9 again tomorrow. Studying is bad enough. Studying with a hangover is torture.

Instead, I played some video games and, when that got boring, put on one of my favorite dumb comedies as I settled into bed. I set my alarm for 8, just in case, and felt sleep begin to slowly overtake me.

Knock-knock-knock "Ty, are you in there?" Knock-knock-knock

I recognized Tori's voice and jumped out of bed, hurrying to the door. "Hey, what's up? Everything OK?"

"You mind if I come in?"

"Ummm, sure," I said, looking at my darkened and dirty room. I really needed to clean more often. "What's the problem?"

"My wonderful roommate went out to a party and brought one of your friends back with her...again," Tori said. "They're all over each other in there and I don't think he's planning to leave anytime soon."

"That sucks. What are you going to do?"

"I really don't want to listen to them f*****g all night," she said, "and then I thought how my awesome friend Tyler has a totally empty bed in his room..." She looked at me hopefully as she trailed off, and I laughed.

"You want to stay the night, in here, with me?"

"Please! I promise I don't snore or anything. You won't even know I'm here. I'll owe you one, big time..."

"You don't owe me anything. I'm happy to help. Just don't go advertising it, OK? I don't want to become the hotel for escaping hookups."

"Deal," she said, smiling, and jumped up into the empty bed.

"I changed the sheets after Adam dropped out, and no one has been in there, so they should be clean-ish."

"It's perfect, thank you, Tyler. This really saved me."

"My pleasure."

"So...what were you doing, anyway?"

"Oh, um, just watching a movie."

Her eyes went wide. "Oh, no, I didn't-"

"Oh my goodness, no, Tori, Jesus," I said with a laugh. "I was watching 'Office Space.' It's not like I'm constantly sitting in here by myself, well, you know."

"If I had a room all to myself, I'm not sure I could say the same," she said with a smile. "So, 'Office Space,' huh? I don't think I've ever seen this. Would you mind starting from the beginning?"

"Of course! You're going to love it!"

About 90 minutes later, through some laughs, the credits were rolling on 1999's cult classic comedy.

"I can see the appeal," Tori said, "but I don't think I'm going to be adding this one to my regular comedy rotation."

"It's an acquired taste," I said, "but I guarantee you'll find yourself quoting a line here or there over the next few weeks."

She laughed and then let out a yawn. "I'm going to try to go to sleep now, OK?"

"Sounds good, Tori," I said, shutting off the TV. "Sleep well."

"You, too."

It was well after midnight, and quiet in the hall. It wouldn't be long before the rest of our drunken floormates stumbled back from their nights out. I closed my eyes and tried to focus on anything other than the fact that Tori was in bed just a few feet away from me.

To say this day had been a wild ride would be an understatement. I thought back to how it all began, bumping into Tori in the hall, then watching her incredible ass in those running shorts as she walked to her room. Then deciding to rub one out for the first time in weeks, and Tori walking into my unlocked room and catching me in the act. And now, here she is, in bed in my room. I mean, not in my bed, certainly, but you get the point.

I'd been careful as our friendship developed to not do or say anything overtly s****l, but I certainly wasn't blind or immune to impure thoughts. Tori was the kind of girl any guy would love to be with. An athlete in high school, she kept in shape in college, regularly running and playing on different intramural teams.

She had black hair, green eyes, and a sexy, mysterious smile. Her body was the stuff of dreams, breasts that weren't obscenely huge, but would still definitely fall in the "big" category, and that ass, I mean, damn. It was sometimes painful to not look too long when I held a door open for her at the library.

And while I wasn't outright ogling her when she came into my room tonight, I definitely took notice of her sleep attire. A very thin, sleeveless shirt that revealed in the light from my TV she was not wearing a bra, her n*****s visible beneath the material. Her shorts were, well, if I thought her running shorts were short, I don't know what word to use to describe these. Skimpy? When she turned to jump into the bed, my heart nearly stopped.

The more I thought about her, the more difficult this situation was becoming, and I felt my c**k stirring in my shorts. I doubted she was looking at me, but just in case I shifted my leg to better conceal my growing arousal. I needed to get this under control, or else I'd be needing a quick visit to the shower tonight.

I tried to shift my mind to coursework, reviewing the pages I'd studied today, but of course that studying had been done with Tori, and that sent me back into a circle again. The way she teased me today, playfully saying "daddy" like the actress in that video. That wasn't the kind of porn I was into, but now all I could think about was how she said it and the look on her face when she did.