Chapter Seventeen

Ben I lay down on the bed, playing on my phone. I had my ear out listening in the shower. I didn’t really have to worry that Angela would need my help, and she’d had all day today to recover from last night, but still. It was Sunday afternoon, almost time for us to leave, and she’d insisted on us taking separate showers.

Some of my friends had sent me messages since I’d disappeared the whole weekend. We didn’t hang out together often, but I was usually around, and there was some big party yesterday, so they were surprised when I hadn't been there. No doubt, there would be a rumor spreading around about it. Sandra had texted me, too, but I just dismissed her messages. I made things clear to her already the last time we met.

When the door to the bathroom opened, I put my phone away and looked up.

“I thought you’d be naked,” I said with mock disappointment, eyeing her bathrobe. I tilted my head and considered. “Although, that still looks good on you.”

I smirked, remembering that first night I showed up on her doorstep.

She frowned at me, but couldn’t hold the look for long, breaking down in a laugh.

“Don’t even think about it, Ben. We need to go soon. I’m going home alone, and you’re heading to the dorms. It’s school tomorrow.”

I groaned and dropped back onto the bed. “I only have a single class tomorrow, but there isn’t anything important going on, so can't I skip it?”

Angela rolled her eyes at me. She walked over to the bed and sat on the edge of it as she dried her hair with the towel draped over her shoulders.

“It might not be my class, but you shouldn’t be skipping in your final year. Even if you can keep your grades up, the school takes attendance, you know? And even if you do skip, I can’t, and I’ve got classes to teach tomorrow.”

She stood up and slipped off the bathrobe. I watched her body appreciatively as she pulled on her clothes.

“Can't we stay for a little longer at least?” I pleaded.

“No,” she said immediately. “Ben, come on. It’s not like we’ll never see each other again.”

I knew she was right, but I didn’t want to go back to school, where I had to act like she was just my professor, not to mention I’d have to deal with my friends asking where I was the whole weekend. I rarely missed parties, so they’d expect an explanation, and if I refused to give one, they’d keep bugging me about it.

Angela was right, though. We had to leave at some point, and I would be going to her place tomorrow night. I slipped off the bed, grabbing my phone as I went, and wrapped my arms around her waist. I kissed her softly, enjoying her weight against my chest as she leaned into me.

“I had a good time,” I admitted, kissing her forehead, then hugging her to me. “It would be so nice if we could just stay like this…”

“I know,” she said, voice quiet. “But it’s not that simple. We can come here again, though, if you’d like.”

“Yeah. I guess I could always go back to catch up on my sleep.”

She huffed, warm breath washing over my chest through my shirt. “I need some of that, too.”

I pulled away to look down at her. “Why? You were mostly sleeping the whole weekend.”

“That’s because I was exhausted,” she rolled her eyes, but softened it with a smile. “And it was your fault, anyway, so you can't complain. I’ll be leaving first, and you can leave a little later. I booked it until tomorrow, anyway.”

“Then why can't we leave tomorrow?”

She glared. “Because neither of us brought a change of clothes. Which was fine since we didn’t need the clothes once they came off on Friday, but I can't lecture looking like this.”

“Fine,” I agreed with a sigh. “But only because I don’t want you showing off this dress to anyone. You already have one puppy after you, who knows how many more will raise their heads?”

“If you’re talking about Kevin, he’s completely harmless.”

“He has a crush on you, though,” I said glumly.

It was easy enough to see. Almost every single time, when class was over, he would go up to talk to her before anyone else. I’d noticed before and hadn't paid much attention, but now that Angela and I had gotten closer, the behavior bothered me.

“Are you sure you can't stay?” I asked.

“Are we really still talking about this?” She countered, looking surprised.

Talking about Kevin was enough to make me want to spend some more time with her, so I could reconfirm it for the both of us that she was mine. Besides, we didn’t get to do anything today at all. We did have quite a bit of fun yesterday, though.

“Won't you at least eat with me tonight, then?” I offered. “There’s a restaurant downstairs. Or, if you’re worried about someone recognizing us, there are plenty of restaurants in this area.”

She chuckled. “There’s a reason we didn’t step out of here. The school is still close to here. If anyone sees us together outside, it would be a disaster. I could lose my job, and you could get into trouble… only you never get in trouble, so it’s just my job in jeopardy here.”

I frowned. “How far are we from the end of the semester?”

She lightly smacked me on the shoulder, pulling away from my hold. “That’s something you should know. There’s still more than a month, nearly two. You’ve got exams soon, and you must have some assignments. Focus on those. Also, aren’t you supposed to be on the swim team? When do you even get the time to go for practice?”

I kept quiet about missing a lot of practice recently. It was just a formality at this point, though knowing Angela, she’d be irritated that I was skipping practice to spend more time with her.

“Anyway, I need to go home and catch up on my rest. I’ve got plenty of work tomorrow, and my body still feels exhausted. It doesn’t feel like I relaxed for a whole day after yesterday.”

She glowered at me, and I had the grace to look sheepish, even though I regretted nothing. I knew she wasn’t going to stay, no matter how much I begged, so I decided to stop. Also, since she’d mentioned it, I was starting to feel guilty again. I’d exhausted her on Friday night, but yesterday was so much worse. We both woke up late, and after eating breakfast, lazed around the room, then we had lunch. We switched to other, more enjoyable activities after that, paused for dinner, and continued to early morning when we finally fell asleep.

Angela went to pick up her phone, looking it over before she put it away in her purse.

“I should get going now,” she said. “You can leave sometime after I do, I already dealt with the payment so just drop the key card at the front desk when you leave.”

She winced when she leaned down to put on her shoes, and I hurried over.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

I went down on my knees to help her pull on her shoes, and she smiled wanly at me.

“Yeah, I’m just not as young as I used to be.”

I rose up and pulled her into a quick hug. “You’re not as old as you seem to think you are, either. Now, hurry up and go before I’m tempted to lock you in here for another night.”

She smiled up at me, then gave me a peck on the lips before she hurried out. I watched her go, then went to sit down on the couch. I could hide for a couple of hours before I had to go back to the school.