“I love you,” I hummed.
“I love you, too.”
“Gawd you guys are sickening,” Robin drawled.
Gwen giggled and elbowed Robin in the ribs. “Hey, if YOU’D spent all of last night in Ben’s bed, I’d bet you’d be just as syrupy the following morning.”
“Morning, maybe,” Robin sighed. “It’s after lunch!”
Dawn just giggled and then stepped back from me, comfortably ignoring her friends’ banter. She turned and hooked her arm through Gwen’s. “Lay off her. If YOU didn’t have Steven you’d be just as bitter.”
Gwen sighed dreamily, thinking of her new boyfriend. “Yeah...”
Robin rolled her eyes. “Just think. This may be the first Finals Week when Ben ISN’T fucking your brains out!”
Gwen swiveled her eyes slyly over to me. “Well ... Finals aren’t over yet.”
Dawn cracked up and tugged Gwen away from me. “Come on. You don’t want to be late.” Dawn had a Monday afternoon final in the only class she didn’t share with me, and so did Gwen. Robin and I were free, so I was heading back to the house while Robin would be diverting to her place along the way.
I smiled and waved to my departing girlfriend and the hot dirty-blonde on her arm. “Bye. Good luck, ladies. Have fun.”
“No,” Dawn flashed me an impish look over her shoulder. “YOU have fun.” And then she and Gwen headed off.
Robin looked at me with eyebrows raised. “What did she mean by THAT?” She actually looked a little scared that I might club her upside the head and drag her off to my cave to have my way with her.
I chuckled and shrugged. “I dunno.”
Not sure whether to be relieved or disappointed, Robin nodded and fell into step alongside me. Together, we chit-chatted until we hit Bancroft; and then we went our separate ways.
Adrienne was in the living room and smiled brightly, a naughty grin on her face. I arched my eyebrow in surprise but she merely hugged me and greeted me before turning back into the living room. Paige, perhaps feeling like she was dragging thirty extra pounds around her waist, just waved.
Nonchalantly, I just went into my own room, unshouldered my pack, and started pulling out my keys, wallet, and cell phone to drop onto the dresser. I’d even started pulling off my shoes before I realized my room was already occupied.
“Venez à moi, mon ami...” Monique St. Claire purred, crooking a finger at me. The statuesque French babe reclined back against my pillows, clad in an eye-popping set of lingerie. Her curly bottle-blonde hair fell to her shoulders over a black bra that was so sheer as to be almost entirely transparent, putting her pale pink nipples on display. Black garters and similarly-transparent panties and stockings covered her long legs, ending in four-inch stiletto heels. She reached a hand back and ran it through her hair, an inviting smile on her face.
“Uh, Monique?” I arched an eyebrow in question while my eyeballs ogled her body. “What are you doing here?”
It turned out, there was an envelope on the pillow behind her. She finished reaching through her hair, snatched it, and then flicked the hard rectangle at me like a frisbee. Reacting quickly, I trapped it between my hands and then hurried to pull out the single sheet of paper folded inside.
In Dawn’s handwriting, it read:
I felt bad for the way things turned out last Friday, what with all the relationship issues we were both going through. But none of them were Monique’s fault, so I’m charging you with making it up to her. I’ll be stuck in my final until at least 5pm, so she gets to keep you for at least that long. I promised her you’d do your best to show our appreciation for her understanding. In short, if she’s not passed out from pleasure when I get home, I’m going to be very mad at you. =)
Love, your Dawn.
In mild shock, I dropped the letter to the floor just in time to see Monique step in front of me and then grab hold of my collar with her right hand. Her eyes were on fire as she started tugging me back to the bed. And hearing movement behind me, I looked back just in time to see Adrienne’s naughty grin as she closed my bedroom door, shutting me inside and alone with the scantily clad French babe.
“Venez à moi, mon ami...”
“Hey, guys. You got a minute?”
“Hmm?” I looked up from the couch in front of me. Finals were over, and as usual, my house was about to become party central. As a thank you of sorts to the graduating seniors, my crew offered to set up tonight’s party and let them concentrate on saying their goodbyes.
Bert and I were moving furniture. Dawn, Gwen, Robin, and Paige were setting up elsewhere. And Adrienne was standing right in front of us, looking pensive as she repeated her question, “Got a minute?”
I glanced at Bert and we simultaneously turned to Adrienne, replying “Sure” at the exact same time. Bert and I then grinned at each other and Adrienne just giggled at our synchronized reactions. Then she turned to head for her bedroom while Bert and I followed.
Turned out, Dawn, Gwen, Robin, and Paige were already assembled in the room, looking perplexed. We all figured Adrienne had some big announcement to make, and for a brief second I panicked, thinking she was going to announce that she was pregnant or something. But no way would Adrienne tell me something like that in a public forum like this. She had something to say to all of us, and now that I thought about it, I wondered if it had something to do with the “professional” stress she’d been feeling a couple of weeks ago.
Dawn noted my momentary concern as I approached, reaching her arm up to me as I joined her in sitting on Adrienne’s bed. “Relax,” my girlfriend said with an otherworldly calm, and I arched an eyebrow questioningly.
“Do you know what she’s going to say?” I asked.
Dawn nodded.
I frowned, feeling hurt. Adrienne had talked to Dawn, but not me?
“I didn’t want to distract you during Finals,” Adrienne said gently while looking straight at me. “I knew you’d take this kinda hard.”
“Take what?” I asked indignantly. This was the second year in a row that Adrienne was hiding something from me during Finals Week, supposedly out of concern for my emotional stability. Last year, she was waiting to tell me she was breaking up with me and planning to separate herself from my family. What could possibly be on that level?
“It’s good news, really.” Adrienne took a deep breath and looked right at me, seeming sad. “The only downside is that I won’t be coming back to school next year.”
My eye popped wide open and my jaw dropped. “Wait, what?”
Clenching her teeth and balling her hands into fists, Adrienne struggled to take a deep breath. But she calmed herself down and looked at me apologetically. “I’m sorry, Ben, but this is too good an opportunity to pass up. I hope you’ll be happy for me.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Me, too. Now just what is it I’m supposed to be happy about?”
Adrienne took another deep breath. “I’ve been offered a full-time contract with Ford Models. One of the first gigs they’re getting me is the Frederick’s of Hollywood catalog.”
My eyes went wide again. Over on the daybed, Gwen and Robin gasped. Bert mumbled, “Whoa...”
But Paige just looked at us in confusion and asked, “Uh, I know Frederick’s does lingerie. But what does Ford have to do with it? Are you gonna be one of those hot girls standing next to all the new cars?”
Adrienne barked a short laugh, which relieved a lot of her tension. She shook her head and said, “No, Paige. Ford Models has nothing to do with cars. They’re one of the top modeling agencies in the country, and it just so happens that their name is ‘Ford’. And Felicia’s checked out everything along the way. It’s legit, and she’s really proud of me. A little jealous, even.”