Breathless (6 page)

Georgia and the girls and I headed back to the dorms a
little while after that, and we parted ways from the other girls on our floor.
“We should get some reading done,” Georgia pointed out, and I had to agree. We
sat in the common area of the room, our books out, talking about our classes
while we took notes and went over what we could remember from our classes. I
could barely remember anything; my whole brain was still consumed with the
sight of Johnny—not just the shock of seeing him talking to the other girl, but
also the way he’d been so nice to me when I’d literally run into him, when he’d
found me lost and wandering around campus. I flipped through the chapters I’d
been assigned in the textbook for the first couple of weeks of American
Literature and tried not to think about him.

Eventually, it was too much for me to stand. I got up
out of my chair and put my books aside. “I’m going to grab a shower before I
turn in,” I told Gigi. She shrugged.

“Sounds good to me. I just want to finish this
chapter.” I went into my bedroom to grab my towel and went immediately into the
shower half of our split bathroom. Technically, my bedroom should have been
private enough, but the walls were paper-thin, and I didn’t want anyone to know
what I was up to. I plugged in the dock for my iPhone and put the phone in the
base. I started up the shower and gave it a couple of minutes to warm up while
I scrolled through my music; I didn’t want anything that would be loud enough
to get us in trouble—it was quiet hours in the dorm—but I wanted to cover up
any noises I might make.

I finally settled on an old TLC album and stripped my
clothes off, beginning to think of what Johnny had been wearing earlier when
he’d helped me make it to class. He’d been in jeans and a t-shirt, standard
college guy fare, but the jeans had fit him perfectly—not sagging, not overly
tight. The tee shirt had given me a decent view of his broad shoulders and the
muscling of his chest and arms without being obvious.

I stepped into the shower and pulled the curtain shut
behind me and started to imagine what he must look like under those clothes;
his skin was a little less pale than mine, I could remember that easily. I
pictured him in my mind, taking his shirt off, and bit my bottom lip, my hands
staring to wander over my body, touching my breasts, giving them a squeeze. I
imagined what it would feel like for Johnny to be doing it instead of me, how
his strong hands would feel, and I played with my nipples, rolling and twisting
them until a hot jolt shot from my breasts straight down to my pussy.

In my head, I imagined reaching down and unzipping
Johnny’s jeans, tugging them down over his hips. I pictured what his chest must
look like, the deep v of his hips; did he have a happy trail? I closed my eyes
and put my head under the shower, letting my hands wander downward until I came
to my hips. I spread my legs a little bit and reached down between them,
licking my lips and feeling my body heat up under the water while I thought
about Johnny. What it would be like to have him right there in the shower with
me, kissing me, touching me,
teasing
me. I started to
rub myself slowly, working my way in between my labia, stroking lightly at
first and then harder as I got more and more turned on.

I knew I shouldn’t even be thinking about it; Johnny
probably hadn’t given me a second thought as soon as he’d walked away from me
after leading me to my class. But as I started working myself, touching and
rubbing and stroking my clit, moans starting to leave my lips, I couldn’t help
but imagine going down on him or having him playing with me like I was playing
with myself. I thought about him pinning me down on my bed and kissing his way
down my body, coming to my hips and teasing me with that sparkle in his eyes
until I was ready to beg him to stop—until I was ready to beg him to go on.

I slid one finger inside of myself, biting my bottom
lip to keep from making too much noise as I thought about what it would be like
for him to finger me, for him to work me with his hand until I couldn’t stand
it anymore, and then finally what it would feel like to have him inside of me.
I slid down to the floor, the water pouring on my head, down my breasts, beating
on my shoulders while I worked two fingers in and out, my thumb pressed against
my clit, my hips moving with a mind of their own. I could only imagine what
Johnny looked like naked, what he would feel like, how big he was underneath
his clothes. I knew I would probably never get anywhere near enough to find
out, but in my head, I imagined him pressing me up against the shower wall and
holding me there, thrusting into me slowly and then faster and faster. My
fingers mimicked what I was imagining until I was gasping and shivering,
moaning at the thought of him.

By the time I was finished, the hot water was almost
exhausted, and I had to hurry to wash my hair before it went completely cold. I
stepped out of the shower on unsteady legs, shivering until I got the towel
wrapped around me, and made a beeline for my room; Georgia had apparently
finished the chapter while I was in the bathroom, and the lights in the common
area of the dorm were out—she must have gone to bed.

I got myself dried off and climbed into my own bed,
thinking about everything that had happened in such a short time. I shook my
head; it had been so stupid to get myself off thinking about him.
How many other girls were probably doing the
same thing at the same time?
Even if Johnny had been a total jerk, he was
hot—and he definitely wasn’t a jerk. He’d been so nice to me, but it was stupid
of me to even think of anything happening between us. He was just a nice guy
who was being friendly to a freshman girl. I knew I was cute, but I didn’t
think there was any way I could compete with every other girl on campus. I had
felt better while I was in the shower, but that wasn’t enough.

I turned onto my other side in the bed and told myself
that it didn’t matter that a bunch of other girls—practically every other
girl—was hot for him. I was just being silly; I just had a crush on a nice, hot
guy. It would pass, and then I’d move onto someone I actually had a decent shot
with. In spite of my pep talk, I couldn’t help but feel a little depressed, and
as I fell asleep, I thought that if I was going to let some stupid guy
completely screw me up after nothing more than a couple of conversations, I was
a total idiot.

Chapter
Seven

By the next morning when I got up, I had resolved to
put Johnny out of my mind completely. I mean, how hard could it possibly be to
stop thinking about him? I probably wasn’t going to run into him again—the two
incidents where we had ended up speaking were total flukes, and I had a much
better idea of where I was going on campus. I would find my own way around, and
I was almost determined to not draw any attention to myself whatsoever—the
better to avoid risking having another run-in with Johnny that would twist my
thoughts around in circles yet again. The less attention I paid to him, the
better off I would be.

I made it to my first class of the day without a
hitch, following a bunch of other freshmen to the building and even managing to
keep up a bit of conversation with them before the professor arrived. I told
myself that I would make a decent showing in the afternoon math class I
had—that I would actually be focused instead of distracted and make up for the
fact that I hadn’t been paying attention at all the previous day when the
professor had been going over the introductory material. I participated in the
class discussion and got a few grins for my occasionally smart ass remarks. The
class was one of the Freshman requirements—and I thought to myself that if
there was any class that I could possibly sleep through and still manage to get
all As, it would be this one.

I was feeling much better about the situation as I
started to make my way across the campus, heading towards the dining hall to
meet with Georgia. She’d had a different first class—I thought it might have
been her Biology class, with the lab set for later in the day; but we had
Precal
together, so we had made an agreement that we’d walk
there every day, unless one of us got sick and had to stay behind in the dorm.
I was actually starting to look forward to my afternoon classes, thinking that
it would be so much easier to deal with everything without worrying about
whether or not Johnny knew I existed and who might be flirting with him. I’d
skip the party—and the crazy frat boys that would come with it—and find my own
group of friends, probably some of the girls from my floor of the dorm.

“Becky!” I heard a familiar voice calling my name from
behind me and turned just in time to see Johnny jogging up, looking out of
breath. I was surprised; had he rushed to catch up with me? I told myself he’d
probably been running for another reason, spotted me, and somehow or another
remembered my name. It was nothing. I wasn’t going to let him infiltrate my
brain the way he had before.

“Hey,” I said, putting on a polite smile as he came to
a stop next to me. Some of the people around us kept going, moving towards the
dining hall and the food it promised. My stomach was growling; I had managed to
grab some fruit and some coffee, but I was more than ready for more to eat than
that.

“How’s it going? Settling in all right?” I smiled in
spite of myself and nodded.

“Yeah, I actually managed to make it to my first class
of the day without having a meltdown or ending up on the completely wrong end
of campus,” I replied. Johnny laughed.

“See? I told you you’d get used to this place in no
time. You’re too smart to wander around lost every day of the first semester.
Who did you have?” I showed him my textbook for the Introduction to Academic
Life class and he grimaced with sympathy.

“I’m pretty sure I could sleep every day in that class
and still manage to get an A,” I said, shaking my head. Johnny nodded.

“Oh God, yeah, it’s boring as hell, and anyone with
half a brain could manage a passing grade on the tests. Banks isn’t too tough,
though. I heard—what’s his name—
Kircher
is a total
asshole when he teaches it; makes everyone write like ten essays.” Johnny
grinned.

“Ten essays wouldn’t be that hard,” I said. “As long
as I could stay awake to write them.” Johnny laughed.

“You know, I think that might be the first actual joke
you’ve told me! Congratulations, you are officially a full student here.” I
rolled my eyes.

“Oh, so everyone who wants to be a fully-accepted
student has to tell you a joke?” Johnny shook his head.

“Nah, but it shows you’re getting used to this place.
Not afraid of us big, bad upperclassmen anymore.” I gave him a playful shove,
and he responded by giving one of the braids I had put my hair into a playful
tug.

“How do you expect me to be afraid of you when you’re
so nice to me all the time?” Johnny smiled, and there was something in his eyes
I couldn’t quite read, but it made my heart start beating faster.

“Hey, I’m just doing how I do. It’s easy to be nice to
a pretty girl like you—but I’m still plenty capable of kicking ass and taking names.”
I rolled my eyes.

“I’ll believe it when I see it.” I could feel myself
blushing at the fact that he thought I was pretty and told myself to stop it.

“Who else have you got today?” I showed him my
Precal
textbook and made a face. Johnny groaned.

“God, I’ve only had one class with this guy and
already I’m hopelessly confused. Is he as uptight as he seems?” Johnny nodded.

“Every bit. I had him my freshman year, too, and I
swear, if you didn’t phrase things in your answers exactly the way he put them
in the notes, you were screwed.” I groaned and put my face in my hands.

“God, I’m screwed. I’m going to fail.” I sighed.
“Well, at least I know it now.” Johnny laughed.

“Well, there are lots of tutors, and if nothing else,
I’m sure he’s never changed the answers on his tests in all this time, so you
can ask me what you should write and I might even have the answer!” We were
both walking, making our way slowly towards the dining hall from the opposite
end of the campus, and in spite of my firm resolution to never even think about
him again, I felt myself smiling, reacting to Johnny, blushing, my heart
beating faster at the fact that he seemed to have wanted to talk to me
specifically.

He stepped in front of me, forcing me to stop as he
did, and tilted his head slightly to the side. “I have an important question
for you: do you like hockey?” I hesitated for just a second; I knew absolutely
nothing about hockey other than the fact that there were a lot of fights and it
apparently took place on an ice rink.

“I love it!” I lied. I felt my cheeks burning again—I
thought to myself that if he asked me what my favorite team was, I was going to
be totally screwed. I had better think of something. Hockey teams… what kind of
mascots did they have? What cities even had teams? And if I said the wrong
team, it would be just as bad as if I admitted I didn’t know anything at all
about hockey, but just wanted to say yes so that we could keep talking.

“Great!” Johnny’s face lit up, and he was beaming down
at me, looking as excited as I could imagine him ever looking. “That’s really
awesome, you don’t even know. There’s a game tonight; do you want to come
watch?” I felt my heart leap up into my throat—he was asking me to come to a
game with him! I took a deep breath as surreptitiously as I possibly could.