Disclaimer: The following is a fictional adaptation based on Choices The Freshman. I do not work for Pixelberry Studios, the game developer or own the rights to the characters Chris Powell, Zig Ortega, Tyler, Abbie, Kaitlyn, Zack or the location Hartfeld University. All other characters, the story line and events were originally developed by me.
Author’s Note: Contains mature situations and language. The following is an adaptation of The Freshman. The events and timeline will differ slightly from the game play.
Holding Her + Loving You
Part 2 (NSFW)
There was no need for her to speak a single word. Her eyes said everything Chris needed to know. MC’s unrelenting stare communicated her pain, her bitterness, her resentment for his abandonment, for letting the love they built together collapse. He felt like she was not only looking at him, but through him.
The towering and commanding football player, with the bulk and build of his muscles, suddenly feels as small as a pigmy mouse.
MC’s eyes travel to the blonde shifting awkwardly from one foot to the other in the uneasy silence. Her eyes scan the blanket she clutches over her breast, shielding her nakedness from view. She pays only brief attention to Chris’s female companion, her eyes shifting back to his in slow, seething contempt.
“Um,” Tori says, “if you’ll excuse me.” She clears her throat and steps out into the hall, giving an uncomfortable chuckle as she tip toes around MC. She regrets the nervous tick as soon as it escapes her mouth but the anxious habit could not be controlled.
“Door at the end of the hall,” Chris says to Tori, his gaze still locked with MC’s. Tori nods and scurries to the bathroom, opening the door and peering back at MC as she steps inside, shutting the door behind her.
MC’s lips part, the avalanche of words she wants to say to him sequestered on the tip of her tongue. What would be the point? She thinks to herself. Chris watches as her shoulders drop dejectedly and her stoic face crumbles. She turns away from him, shaking her head in awe of his insensitivity and opens the door to her bedroom next to his, shutting the door quietly behind her without glancing back.
Chris turns and sits on the edge of the bed. His head drops to his hands and he gives a deflated sigh. He runs his hands over his face, silently berating himself.
“What are you doing Chris?” he asks himself softly. Lost in his own self-pity, he does not hear the bathroom door open or Tori’s bare foot steps as she moves to the doorway.
“Is that her?” Tori asks softly, realizing the conversation will likely be overheard.
Chris drops his hands from his face and looks up at her from the bed. “Yeah…” he nods and tucks his lips as the thinks.
“I figured,” Tori replies. “It…felt tense,” she winces some, twisting the top of the blanket still wrapped around her.
“Yeah….” Chris repeats mindlessly looking away from her.
“I’m going to dress and get going,” she says walking into the room and shutting the door. “But…Chris,” she crouches down in front of him, her face below his, looking up at him with imploring eyes. “I had a good time tonight. I really did. Studying with you, hanging out and…well, the sex was awesome,” she admits. “I’d like it if we could hang again, you know?”
Chris looks back at her feeling uncertainty swirl like a tornado in his brain. Tori is everything any guy would be looking for: she’s cute, loves to laugh, sweet, considerate, smart and generous. She’s right; they had a great time together this evening. Chris found himself temporarily forgetting about his breakup with MC for the first time in days as he sat across from Tori in the library. Sitting with her didn’t feel awkward or forced. He was comfortable with her. She was clearly very into him, why would he not want that?
Because, he thinks to himself, she’s not MC.
As he looks down into Tori’s pretty face, there is hesitation on his lips. He compares everything about her features to MC. There is nothing about her that is lacking. She is beautiful, stunning even, in a uniquely Tori way. Every part of her face seems to reflect the personality within, as if God took each detail, customizing it to mimic every aspect of her thoughts and emotions. This did not make her more beautiful in Chris’s eyes than MC, simply different. Still, MC’s face was the one that he could not tear his eyes away from the very first night on campus. MC’s face was the one he dreamed about on many nights as he fell deeper in love with her. Her face still haunted his dreams even though she was no longer his. In the last week, he woke up many mornings, angry that his mind had tricked him into believing she had returned to him again, only for the sun to rise and bring him back to the reality of her departure.
Tori feels the hiccup, the mental stutter step he is doing as his eyes dart back and forth, surveying her face. Comfortingly, she gives a small smile, flashing her dimples effortlessly, the corners of her eyes suddenly lifting in contentment. “Plus, I am hoping next Friday night I don’t have to sit bored as shit in an empty bistro again. Maybe you’ll swing by and if you do, there will be another piece of cheesecake waiting for you, on the house,” she winks.
Chris chuckles at her words and when he sees her toothy smile, he smiles too. “I’ve got a lot going on but, I’ll need some time to work on student government stuff again. Sounds good. I’ll be there,” he nods.
“I’ll cut you a big piece, how about that?” she laughs as she stands.
“Even better,” he smiles. He reaches for a pair of sweat pants thrown over his desk chair and slides them on. Tori watches his abs crunch as he pushes each leg into the sweats, pressing her tongue against her lips.
“I’m going to let you get dressed. I’ll be in the kitchen. You want something to drink or eat?” Chris asks.
“Nah,” Tori shakes her head. “Could you uh…get my shirt for me though? I think it’s in the hall…or the living room? ”
“Okay,” he says with his hand on the door knob. He looks back at her and she smiles again. He doesn’t know why but he chuckles softly and smiles before he heads out.
When he heads up the hallway, he spots Zack sitting the in the common area on the sofa typing on his phone. When his suitemate lifts his eyes from his phone, his glare causes Chris’s steps to slow.
Chris says nothing, bending down to pick up his shirt before reaching for Tori’s. He walks into his room and hands her clothing back to her with a brisk thank you from her. He shuts the door behind him.
As he heads up the hall, he slides his own shirt over his head, sticking his tongue in his cheek with a huff as he avoids the daggers Zack throws at him with his eyes. Chris feels slightly irked. Zack has always been closer to MC, even closer to her than Kaitlyn he believes. But he’s tired of the disdain in his friend’s eyes every time he has seen him since the breakup. It was never his choice to end it; it was hers.
Chris opens the refrigerator, propping it open as he determines what he wants to eat and drink. The light glows on his face as he looks at the scantly filled fridge. The air from inside cools his face and arms but his back feels hot. He knows Zack is eyeing him. He grabs the orange juice but sits it down when he hears his bedroom door open and turns to see Tori emerge in the hallway. Closing the refrigerator door, he steps towards her.
“Hi,” she says to Zack with a tiny hand wave and bashful smile.
She is met by silence before he slowly returns her greeting with an abbreviated “Hey.”
“Um, I was just gonna get going,” she says to Chris, fidgeting with her fingers slightly.
“I’ll walk you out,” he nods and she heads to the front door. Chris unlocks it before walking with her into the foyer.
“Rough crowd,” she says throwing her head back towards the door.
“You see what I’m dealing with then,” he sighs. “But hey, don’t let that bother you.”
“I won’t,” she nods. “So, hey later if you want to talk, or text, just whatever, holler at me whenever you want, cool? If you want to hang before next Friday, it’s cool too. You, uh, may need to get away long before then,” she winces as she looks back at the door.
Chris lets out a soft laugh, biting his lip as he looks at her. “I did really have fun,” he says honestly.
“Yeah, me too….”
He steps forward and she rises up on her toes, pressing a kiss to his lips before smiling against them.
“Text me and let me know you make it home okay, alright?” Chris asks.
“You got it, Stretch. Later Chris,” She says and playfully punches at his chest.
“Later,” he nods.
He watches as she walks away and out the door of the building before he returns to the suite, locking the door. As soon as he enters the room, he feels the thick, suffocating essence of a lecture coming.
“Who was that?” Zack asks standing up and putting his phone down on the coffee table.
“Tori. She’s a sophomore, really sweet girl, you didn’t have to be rude to her just now,” Chris replies.
“Rude? I said ‘Hey’ what else did she want? A fanfare?” Zack lifts an eyebrow.
Chris lifts his hands and turns towards the hall. “Alright Zack, fine,” he concedes. He does not want to argue nor deal with this right now. He had been having a good night until 10 minutes ago.
“She heard you,” Zack says from behind him.
Chris stops, looking back at him over his shoulder. “What?” he frowns.
“She. Heard. You. We both did,” Zack says. “We heard you with that girl.”
Chris gives a weary and apologetic sigh before groaning. He looks at the ceiling, his head tilted back but he closes his eyes. His shoulders and neck tense.
“I thought you guys would be out later,” Chris says shaking his head. He looks to Zack, his honest eyes pleading for understanding. “Really, I thought she and I would be alone here and she’d be gone before you got back.”
“Kaitlyn ditched us to go hang with The Gutter Kittens and Tyler and Abbie are out doing whatever it is Tyler and Abbie do together. MC said she was tired and wanted to come back after Abbie’s art showing and so we did. We walk in and hear all this moaning and-“
Chris waves his hand to cut Zack off as he frowns and rubs his forehead. He shoves his hands into the pockets of his sweat pants as he looks down at the floor.
“You should have seen the look on her face,” Zack says pointedly.
Chris lifts his head, staring Zack directly in the eye. “Believe me, I did.”
“Look,” Zack begins, “I can’t tell either of you guys what to do but…this, you bringing another girl here, you and MC breaking up, it’s hell on the rest of us too. I don’t want to sound selfish but everything around here has felt tense and being nice feels so forced. I hate it. I hate seeing my friends this way.”
“I’m sorry,” Chris says sincerely. “This is what I didn’t want to happen. I’ll…I’ll make it better, I promise.”
Zack quietly nods as Chris takes an energizing deep breath before he turns and heads up the hall. When he stands in front of MC’s door, he notices there is no light coming from the crack underneath. He gives pause but raises his fist and lightly raps against her door.
“Yes?” She calls from within. She believes it is Zack checking on her.
When the door slowly opens on squeaky hinges, she can make out the familiar silhouette in the doorway immediately. She rolls over from her side, rising to one elbow and sitting up slightly in the darkness.
“MC?” Chris asks softly. “Could we uh, could we talk?” his conciliatory tone offered like an olive branch between them.
MC internally debates if she wants to have this dialogue now or later. She knows she is emotional. As soon as she entered her room and stripped out of her clothes, she sank into the comfort of her pajamas, not bothering to wash the makeup off her face out of fear of going back into the hall and seeing Chris with that fake blonde again. She folded into the comfort of her bed, turning out the lights but did not find the refuge she sought. Her mind raced as she relived the moment of entering the suite and hearing the blonde’s passionate cries and Chris’s name shouted from her lips. MC had always been quiet when they were together, never wanting to disturb their roommates or inconvenience them with the sounds of their love making. Sharing a space was already awkward enough.
Hearing Chris bring another girl to the that level of impassioned response and climax broke her heart in a way she did not think was possible. Zack had convinced her not to run out the door.
It had been just over a week since their breakup. This girl was surely no more than a rebound right? A place holder in his bed? But was that the kind of guy Chris Powell was? MC never took him for the type. Maybe now was the time to find out the answers to her questions.
“Sure,” she says softly and reaches over and turns on the lamp next to her bed. Chris closes the door and takes a seat beside her on her bed. There was a time when he would enter her room, this very way, sitting beside her and leaning over to kiss her lips. Those kisses always led to more. As Chris reflected, he realized he couldn’t remember the last time he and MC had been together. He had become so consumed with his role as president that he realized he had not even shared a bed with the woman he loved in weeks.
“Look, I want to apologize for earlier,” he shakes his head and folds his hands in his lap. He makes eye contact only briefly before his gaze falls to the floor and away from her face. If he looks at her, he knows every ounce of heartache he has felt in the last week will come flooding back. “I thought the place would be empty for a while. I never intended to bring someone here to disrespect you in any way. Okay?” he asks peering up at her briefly again before looking away.
“Okay so, you are sorry you brought her here but not sorry that you slept with her?” MC questions slowly. Her forehead creases slightly as she stares at his profile.
Chris freezes before frowning deeply. At her question, he turns to face her no longer worried about heartbreak. He feels his temper rising but tries to mentally talk himself down.
“MC, I don’t know what you want from me here,” he says, his face twisted in confusion. “We are broken up. You broke up with me. We aren’t together anymore, that’s what you said you wanted. So, I’m free now to date or see whoever.
MC sits up in the bed, her own temper swelling. “It’s barely been seven solid days Chris and you are already sleeping with someone else? Whether we are together or not it feels like you don’t care about how I feel! MC’s gone,” she waves her hand fleetingly, “welp, time to get a new one!”
“Oh come on, that’s not fair at all!”
“Fair? Fair!” MC’s voice rises. She throws the covers off her lap, swinging her legs off the bed and stands. She leans forward, bitterness in her narrowed eyes and furled lip. “Let’s talk about what is and isn’t fair Chris! What isn’t fair is that for weeks you were too busy to even study with me nevertheless sleep with me and now suddenly you bring some girl I’ve never seen in my life into the place we live and you are sleeping with her? What wasn’t fair was that I went to the movies by myself more than once all while I had a boyfriend, because he was too damn busy, or so he said, to give up two hours to sit down with me!”
Chris watches as a tear rolls down MC’s cheek before a torrent begins. Her voice is thick and heavy with sobbing as she continues her verbal rampage. Her body begins to heave as she yells at him with the force of a person trying to hold back their own nausea.
“What isn’t fair is that James is getting ready to leave Hartfeld to move to the other side of the country, Kaitlyn is all wrapped up in her band and I needed you! I needed my boyfriend to talk to and to tell me things were going to be fine even if they weren’t! I just needed you for one hour to spend time with me and you couldn’t even do that until it was too late! You abandoned me!”
MC throws an arm over her face, trying to hide the tears that won’t stop coming. Her body is purging her pain, forcing her to say and feel what is in her heart. Forcing her to say everything she tried to break so gently to him the week before. She had tried to be as friendly as possible when she told him it was over, realizing they still had weeks left to live together. She realized she had done herself a disservice by trying to protect his feelings.
“MC, sweetness,” Chris whispers. He stands and rounds the bed, stepping towards her but she moves away from him, wiping her face on the sleeve of her shirt.
“It’s too late for that now,” she shakes her head. “It’s too late for you to stand there and act like you care. You let weeks go by where I had no idea if you still did anymore….” She says through strained breaths as she tries to breathe and stop her tears.
“I’m sorry, I…I know I did wrong. I’m sorry I hurt you tonight but…I’m not the only one who looks like they have already moved on MC. That’s what I meant about what you said being unfair. You think I didn’t see what was going on with you and Zig?” He frowns. “That I didn’t know my girl was falling for another dude?”
“Falling for him?” She scoffs and sniffles, laughing lightly as she does. “Oh Chris. Chris, Chris, Chris. Zig is my friend.”
“Don’t give me that. I saw you talking to him the other day, him tucking your hair behind your ear. Friend’s don’t do that shit,” Chris retorts. When MC looks back into his face, she sees his anger has returned.
“He flirts, yes, and I’ll admit, I like the attention. The attention you weren’t giving to me,” MC says. The tears have stopped and though her face is splotchy from her outburst, her back straightens as she faces him.
“Tell me you aren’t attracted to him,” Chris throws the goad at her emotions. “Tell me you weren’t attracted to him the first time you saw him,”
“I-“ MC begins but he cuts her off.
“Don’t forget MC, I was standing right there. I saw how you looked at him and I heard what you said!”
“You mean the way I used to look at you?” She spits back at him. “Before you ended us!”
“I ended us?” he blanches. “I’m sorry I don’t think I broke up with myself that night at Gabriela’s! You want to point the finger and put all the damn blame on me, fine, whatever helps you to sleep at night MC. But you had already given up on us and were already moving on. I take responsibility for my wrongs, it would be nice if you did the same.”
“Wrongs? I’ve done nothing wrong! Nothing has happened with Zig! We hung out one night and when he came on strong I told him I had a boyfriend! Now I guess all bets are off by your standards, huh? It’s been a week so I can call him now if I want and say hey, let’s get it!”
“This is going nowhere. This was a mistake,” Chris throws his hands up and turns away from her towards the door. “I can’t talk to you right now.”
“Why because you don’t want to hear the truth? You’ve already made up how things will be in your head so anything I say is just a lie, right?”
“You are lying if you expect me to believe you don’t want to be with him,” Chris spins and faces her. MC expects to see anger in his eyes but instead his face is stoic, emotionless, void of whatever he is feeling inside.
“When I’m around Zig, it does feel nice to have someone to talk to,” MC says slowly “Someone actually listening when I speak and not distracted by student government policies or having to get to the weight room. I talk, he listens. He lets me open up.”
“Did you talk to him about us? When we were having problems, did you talk to him about me?” Chris asks resentfully.
“Yeah, and he thought it was a shame. Said a girl like me deserved better,” MC says and cocks her head to the side.
Chris casts his eyes to the floor, his blue eyes darkening. When he looks back up, his voice is pained. “He’s right, you do.” He nods and gulps.
He turns away from her. She takes a step after him but he closes the door behind him before she can reach for him.
MC buries her face in her hands as tears soak her palms.
Zack is standing in the hall. He had heard the entire exchange. Only the dead couldn’t have heard it given their shouting. Chris shakes his head at him. He does not want to talk or face questions or hear from anyone else about everything he is doing wrong. He goes into his room, pacing back and forth and trying his best not to scream in affliction. He sits on his bed and closes his eyes, thinking of her words, the tears on her face. He had wanted to hold her, to apologize, to beg for another chance but was that possible? There was so much anger between them, so much spite, would they be able to get past it?
After a few minutes and deep breaths, he takes out his phone. There is a text message from Tori.
Made it home safely. How are things with the Inquisition?
Chris laughs when he reads her words, understanding the reference at the end.
Brutal. He types back. I’d rather be sacked than deal with this right now.
He watches as his the ellipses at the bottom of the screen begin to jiggle and her reply flashes onto the screen.
Need 2 get away?
Chris stares at the question for a long time. He feels like he is suffocating in the suite. MC’s very presence, Zack’s helicopter-dad act, and the negativity he feels anytime he is at home lately is too much. He knows he shouldn’t. In his heart, he knows that he should tell her everything is cool and bid her a goodnight. Chris knows it.
But he chooses something other than what feels right just for MC’s sake.
Like 5 minutes ago he replies.
Her text comes almost instantaneously. 4276 Charnwood Apt. 209. University Place Apartments. Only if you want.
He gives it one more thought and stands as he types and grabs his gym bag. On My Way
***
Tori was glad she hadn’t washed off her makeup yet. It was way too early in whatever was forming between her and Chris Powell for that level of a reveal. Hell, she wasn’t that comfortable with hardly anyone other than her family and her roommate, Michelle.
When Tori opened the door, she was wearing a tiny pair of shorts and a camisole. She immediately let her guest know Michelle was already soundly asleep, whispering to him with a smile. She gingerly closed and bolted the door as he followed her quietly to her room. She turned off lights in the apartment on their way and once inside he placed his bag down on the floor next to her bed.
“Nice room,” he said in a hush.
“Thanks,” she responded just above a whisper.
“Tori, I uh…” he said looking around anxiously. “I’m not really a guy that just pops up at girl’s places.”
“I know,” Tori smirked. “That’s why I offered. If you were an asshole, you don’t get an invite. Chris, I know things are weird for you right now. I felt it when I was there. I just thought that if you needed a break from the BS, you could crash here. You can stay in here or on the sofa. I’ve got plenty of blankets and extra pillows.” She puts her hands on her hips as she looks back at him expectantly.
He surveys her neatly decorated bedroom. A paisley print comforter with purple accents covers a full-size bed with white sheets and purple throw pillows. A poster on the wall says “Live, Love, Laugh” and Chris can think of no better mantra to fit Tori. She seems to love hard and laugh hard, two qualities that attracted him to her.
Her furniture is all in white and a single lamp next to the bed glows to illuminate the room. Above her desk is a cork board with photos of high school friends and family pinned all around it and a dry erase board with reminders for herself. A note is scribbled in red about an upcoming Speech/Comm project due next Monday. Chris looks over the text books stacked on her desk.
Tori’s eyes follow the direction of his gaze. “Oh yeah, class work. What we are here for. Boo,” she jokes and he laughs lightly. “I think my Business Math book is over there if you want to take a gander and see if you feel motivated,” she teases.
“Relentless,” Chris shakes his head and they chuckle softly, still speaking in hushed tones. “Were you about to study?”
“No actually, I was about to head to bed. Just freshened up and…well I’m a little tired after tonight,” she says with a coy smile.
“Really? Hmm, what took your energy?” He questions.
“Some guy I picked up off the street. Ed was his name I think,” she presses a finger to her chin. “Or was it Bart?”
“Bart sounds like a sexy guy,” Chris replies.
“The sexiest.”
Chris laughs lightly again. “Well don’t let me keep you up. I’m pretty tired too.”
“Well then, make yourself at home,” she says motioning towards the bed.
Chris stares at it for a moment then looks at Tori. This entire experience feels foreign to him. There was his one and only girlfriend in high school that he had shared a bed with, a few brief nights with Becca and then of course MC. All of those situations had developed over time, not hastily within a matter of hours.
He rethinks it again, but Tori pulls the comforter back and folds back the sheets before sliding in. She looks up at him still standing unsure of himself at the end of the bed. Slowly he sits down and takes off his sneakers. He puts them by his gym bag before looking at Tori and sliding into the vacant spot beside her.
Tori reaches over and turns out the lamp, shifting back into the bed and fluffing her pillows before resting her head on them. Her curls fan out around her head.
Chris lies rigidly beside her. He is not sure what he is supposed to do. Does she want him to hold her? He’s not ready for that. Should he at least take her hand? What if she rolls over and wants to cuddle?
Chris’s laundry list of questions scroll through his mind. Tori is the one again to put him at ease.
“Get some sleep Chris,” she says and reaches over and pats his hand under the covers. “Goodnight,” she says before rolling over and facing away from him.
He looks at the mass of blonde and black curls and smiles slightly to himself. “Goodnight Tori….and…thank you….”
“No problem,” she yawns.
***
He is awake before her alarm goes off. Chris is accustomed to getting up early and heading to the weight room for a workout. His car is parked downstairs but he feels ditching Tori now would be unfair. Much to his surprise, he slept that night. He lay awake for almost an hour, reliving the fight he had with MC. Each time he tried to push it from his mind. What was done was done, what had been said could not be taken back. After that, he fell into a deep sleep.
Still, he hoped things could be set right with MC, at least remaining friends. He couldn’t imagine they would ever be this way. He loves MC, that has not changed. He wants to respect her wish to move on but he also never wanted to let her go in the first place.
As a new day begins, he finds himself reflecting once more on MC. He shifts on the bed and rolls over and finds the face of the woman at his side just inches from his own. Tori is curled in fetal position in the bed, her face to Chris, her cheek nesting against her pillow. A blonde curl dangles over her face and her lips are slightly parted. He can hear the slow rhythm of her breathing. A ray of sunlight shines in from the window near the desk and casts itself across her cheek.
Chris finds himself unable to look away. He reaches up and pushes the curl hanging near her eye back away from her face, tucking it behind the others. When he does she stirs slightly, a deep sigh and her eyes open just barely to see his hand in the air. He smiles a little and she closes her eyes, taking another deep breath before stretching her legs out under the covers. Her eyes open slowly and peer back at him.
“I wasn’t drooling was I?” she asks with a groggy voice.
Chris chuckles. “Not that I saw.”
“It’s been known to happen,” she mumbles and puts a hand over her mouth as she yawns. “How’d you sleep?” She asks as she rolls over and stretches her arms out.
“Really well actually,” Chris says still surprised. “I…I would have thought I would have more trouble falling asleep.”
“New place or new girl?” Tori looks over at him and lifts an eyebrow.
“Both,” he nods. “But…I feel really comfortable around you Tori. I know that probably seems crazy but, I just do. It feels like I’ve known you for years and not just a week.”
“I’m glad to hear you say that. I’m even more glad to see you smiling lately. When we met, you looked pretty down on life,” she says rolling back over and facing him.
“I think I have you to thank though for helping me out of that,” he says. “Really. You’ve been a good…” he trails off.
“You can say friend, I won’t punch anyone before 8 a.m.,” she offers and he chuckles.
“See? You keep me laughing and smiling and I like that,” he says looking at her.
“I like that I make you smile,” she says gently and reaches out and puts a hand on his chest. He looks in her eyes and the playfulness dissipates. There is something much more wanton in them now and Chris feels a tingling, and a heat rising in himself as well.
She runs her hand over his chest a few times, continuing to stare into his eyes. She runs her hand back and forth before sliding it down over his stomach and over the waist band of his sweat pants.
Chris sucks in a breath when she grips him. He is already slightly hard, not unusual for first thing in the morning, but her touch has sent shockwaves through his limbs. She squeezes and rubs the bulge in his pants, feeling his length grow and harden in her palm, the cotton of his pants and boxers suddenly a binding barrier between her hand and his pleasure.
Tori pushes the bed covers back and Chris watches. She grips the waist band of his sweats and his boxers together and he lifts his hips and she works them down his thighs.
She takes him in her hand again, wrapping her slender fingers around his hot member. It is red and swollen with his anticipation and Tori pumps her hand up and down as she moves closer, leaning against his thigh. She watches her own hand at work before looking up into Chris’s half shut eyes. He is breathing heavily, his mouth open. He breaths out a cuss word or two before biting into his lips. He raises his head slightly but it falls back against the pillow as she brings him closer to ecstasy.
She squeezes him tighter and he looks down at her. Tori’s smile is filled with devilment when she lowers her mouth towards him. Chris watches in wide-eyed wondered, moaning deeply and loudly when he feels her warm, wet mouth sink down over him.
“Tori,” he grunts. He reaches down and runs his fingers into the tumble of curls swirled around her head, pulling gently as her mouth moves up and down, her head bobbing slightly. The wet smacking of her lips, the pulse of pleasure racing through his groin and thighs, send him into overdrive. He carefully thrusts his hips in small movements up towards her eager mouth as she continues to suck, wrapping her hand around him, now stimulating him with both her hand and her mouth.
“Ugh!” Chris grunts. “Tori, I’m gonna…wait, wait,” he says trying to give her the chance to pull back. She doesn’t. She takes him deeper into her mouth, his eyes clinch shut and the grip on her hair tightens as his body tenses then releases as he spills himself into her mouth.
Tori groans as she takes his offering, sucking hard once more and drawing a shiver from his entire body before she pulls her lips away. She smiles as she looks down at him, lying spent and elated beside her. He moans once and then lets out a pleasurable laugh.
“Oh….you….” he looks at her from under heavy eyelids before he laughs happily again. “That’s one way to start the day.”
Tori laughs and wipes at the corners of her lips before leaning on a hand and staring at him. “Good?”
“Great!” he smiles. “But… I gotta hook you up too,” he says opening his eyes fully to gauge her response.
Tori shakes her head no. “I wanted to do that for you.”
“Maybe I want to do something for you?” He says. He looks down as his softening member rolls against his thigh. He reaches down and pulls his boxers and his sweat pants up.
“Some other time,” Tori nods. “Deal?”
Chris pauses and smiles. It means they will have to see each other again after this moment. “Deal. But, at least let me make you coffee and bring it to you or something,” he offers.
“Now that, that is pampering I can get with this morning because I’ve got a 9:30 and I’m going to be struggling. Coffee is in the cabinet in the kitchen,” she advises.
“Coming right up,” he smiles as he moves off the bed. He heads out of her room and shuts the door. The coffee maker is plugged in next to the stove and he powers it on to heat up the water. He opens a few cabinet doors above the stove but finds only cereal and flour.
The door to a room across the hall from Tori’s opens as Chris bends down and continues to search the lower cabinets. When he hears the pop of the door springing free, he stands up and peers down the hallway finding a young brunette standing baffled in her doorway, wearing just an oversized t-shirt and blinking repeatedly.
“Hi…” Chris says with a gracious smile.
She blinks again before spinning on her heels and opens Tori’s door without warning. She rushes into her room, slamming the door behind her, leaning against it and gripping the door knob for support.
“Our quarterback is in the kitchen,” she says robotically to Tori.
Tori sits up in bed and grins at her frazzled roommate, Michelle.
“Why is our quarterback in the kitchen? Why do you not seem surprised by this? Why, if you aren’t surprised, did you not warn me before I just stood in front of him half naked without makeup on?” She says in a rush, waving her hands as she speaks.
“Chris is cool, trust me, you’ll like him,” Tori says.
“You’re hooking up with Please Pound Me Powell!” Michelle exclaims.
“Shhh!” Tori sits up straight, making a shushing motion with your hands. “He can probably hear you, shutup!”
“Why have you not told me about this?” Michelle drops her voice to a whisper but still screeches. Tori and Michelle had attended every home game of the Hartfeld Knights football team in the fall. Part of it was out of their sense of school spirit. The other part was the guys. Especially when Darren Taylor, already eye candy enough, was replaced by the hot freshman Chris. They were part of his unofficial fan club Michelle declared and they cheered for Chris every Saturday from that game on.
“Because we just started hanging out like yesterday,” Tori said. “I didn’t want to say anything in case he never called me. We met like a week ago but then yesterday, wham! He called.”
“And you already slept with him?” Michelle exclaims again, her voice bellowing.
“For fuck’s sake, lower your voice!” Tori scolds. “It’s complicated okay. We’re just friends.”
“If you are just friends then….” Michelle looks around. “Why is there a bag here and his shoes next to the bed? That says more than friends to me!”
There is a knock at the door and both women freeze.
“Uh, ladies,” Chris cracks open the door. Michelle’s wide eyes greet him first but she tries to wipe the shock from her face and gives a fretful smile that looks more like a grimace.
“Hi!” She says with too much cheer.
“Hi,” Chris says trying to hide his amusement. “Uh Tori, I didn’t find the coffee in the cabinets, sorry,” he explains looking at her.
“Oh, I moved it to the pantry,” Michelle explains. “Sorry, second shelf.”
“Okay, I’ll get it. Would you like a cup too?” Chris offers her.
“That, would be so pleasant. Thank you. Thank you Chris Powell,” Michelle utters.
Chris smirks again. Tori tucks her lips to keep from laughing.
Chris turns to leave the room but pauses.
“Did you refer to me earlier as ‘Pound Me Powell’?” He cocks an eyebrow.
“Oh god,” Tori groans and drops her head into her hands.
***
Chris went back to avoiding the suite. For the next 48 hours, he tried to be anywhere but there. He did not want press Tori to say another night at her apartment again, already feeling the line being blurred of their so-called friendship. He had no idea what was happening with this girl. They texted periodically throughout the day but Chris went back to work on his efforts to hammer out the details of the Second Chance Scholarship.
He had recruited his vice president, Arjun, to help him hammer out some of the details. Arjun was at work on the PowerPoint and Chris was reviewing policy that might contain a loophole to allow the university to admit those with criminal records.
Staring at policy after being in class all day was about as thrilling as watching paint dry. He was tired and had stayed up late at the library until he was sure the suite was quiet before heading back. He was exhausted. That mixed with conditioning for the football team had drained him.
He needed a pick me up.
The campus bistro was on the other side of campus and he already knew Tori wasn’t there today. If she had been, he might have been willing to walk the distance to enjoy some coffee and conversation while they both worked.
He had not been back to the coffee shop since MC became whatever she was with Zig. Friends, that’s what he said. Chris wanted to believe her words. Since their argument, he also wondered if Zig was the type of friend to MC that Tori was to him.
He gave himself a mental pep talk. He could go in, grab the java, get his caffeine fix in hand and bounce rather quickly. There was no need for idle conversation and there was also a chance that Zig was not at work. Maybe this wasn’t his shift.
Chris crosses the street, his backpack bouncing as he hurried before the crosswalk signal ended. He pushed open the door to the coffee shop. Roasted coffee beans provided their sweet perfume to the small café and the smell aroma was already making Chris feel better.
The good vibes faded when he looked behind the counter. He steadied himself before approaching and placing his order. No one was ahead of him.
“Hey,” the tall, almond skinned man behind the counter greeted. His white t-shirt hugged his biceps and revealed a portion of a tattoo underneath. Dog tags hung around his neck. A white apron was around his waist. “You’re Chris, right?” he asks tossing a towel over his shoulder.
When he spoke, his words were slow and casual, as if he had all day to carry on a conversation. He was so laid back, so cool, Chris could see them being friends if he weren’t after his girl. His ex-girl he corrected himself mentally.
“Yeah,” Chris nodded.
“MC’s told me a lot about you,” Zig replies.