“Why didn’t you wake me sooner?” I yell at him as I run past to pee and brush my teeth. After a quick face wash and even quicker swipe of tinted moisturizer, I’m back in the living room, panting and grabbing my books to put in my bag.
Arden is just standing in the kitchen watching me run around like a tornado. “Your alarm went off a few times,” he shrugs. “I figured you were sleeping in a little.”
“Waiting until 8:04 to wake up for an 8:15 class is not ‘sleeping in a little’,” I huff. Throwing my backpack over my shoulder, I stomp over toward him in the kitchen. “Just for that, you’re giving me a ride to campus.”
Arden smiles, holding up his car keys and a travel mug full of hot coffee. “Already planned on it.” He hands me the mug before stepping around me to leave the apartment.
As we walk to the car, I recap the events of the morning.
Not only did he make sure I was awake before he left for work, he made a coffee so that I wouldn’t have to stop and be even more late.
Would he have done that if we weren’t hooking up now?
A question to ponder if I get bored in my lectures.
After a quick and relatively quiet ride to campus, I’m ready to bolt out the door and make a break for my class. Hopefully I’ll get there in time to grab a seat not in the front row. Way too exposed up there.
Pulling my backpack out of the back seat, I whip around to close the front door and I am immediately startled by a biker passing by way too closely. The coffee Arden made me goes pouring straight down my white shirt, thankfully not scalding my skin.
“Ah, shit!” I yell, pulling the shirt away from my body so it doesn’t burn me too much.
“What?” Arden asks from the driver’s seat. Leaning down into the open door, I show him the state of my shirt. “Ah, shit.”
Without a second thought, he pulls the red flannel shirt jacket shirt he’s wearing over off his shoulders and hands it to me. “Take this.”
I don’t have time to protest. Or even time for modesty, not that that’s stopped me before. Pulling my shirt over my head, I quickly slop up the rest of the liquid on my chest and stomach and then throw the shirt into Arden’s car.
Buttoning Arden’s shirt quickly, I shoot him a thank you before looking both ways–twice–and then running to class.
“And now I have to get through this lecture without any caffeine,” I mutter to myself as I run. With a minute to spare, I slide in the door and get a spot in the back of the room, sending a quick text to Gemma, who’s sitting in the middle looking around for me. Once she spots me, she gives me a questioning look but I give the universal ‘I’ll explain later’ look. She nods before turning toward the professor. Class has begun.
After an hour of reflex arcs and sensory pathways with no coffee to keep my eyes open, I’m about ready to take a “bathroom break” and head to the cafe. Arden’s text comes through just as I start to close my laptop and make a run for caffeine.
ARDEN: Come outside. Just for a sec.
Isn’t he supposed to be working?
I’m not quite sure what he wants, but I figure I should probably go see. Glancing toward the professor, I wait until she turns her back to write on the board to run out the door.
In the hallway, Arden is standing with a coffee in one hand and a brown paper bag in the other.
“Sorry, I couldn’t get away sooner than now,” he says, handing me the coffee. “I also got you a cinnamon bun. Everyone buys them so I figure they’re good and you must be hungry from skipping breakfast.” My mouth waters at the sight of it all. The coffee. The pastry. The boy. I could kiss him right now.
But that’s not what friends with benefits would do.
But that’s what fake girlfriends would do.
But there’s no one around to put a show on for.
But–Fuck it.
Reaching up, I give him a quick but firm kiss on the lips before grabbing the bag and turning around. “Thanks! I owe you one!” I cheer before heading back inside. Maybe I’ll actually survive another two hours now that I’ve got someone looking out for my needs.
It actually feels pretty nice to have someone think about me…besides myself. It seems like all my life, no one has really thought about me but me. But Arden thinks about me.
Yeah, he thinks about hurting people for you.
This littledevilon my shoulder needs to shut her trap. Because she’s right and I don’t want to hear it. Arden is as volatile as he is thoughtful. He could snap at the drop of a hat. I’ve spent my childhood hiding from that. I refuse to do it as an adult.