Chapter Six

Noah It was a Saturday, but instead of going out to have some fun, I was locked in my room. All my roommates were out doing one thing or another. There were Saturday classes, but I was free for today, and I stayed in.

I was in the middle of editing a paper when my phone vibrated on the table. I narrowed my eyes at it. Not that I didn’t have a lot of people to talk to, but I was very suspicious about who it was that would contact me right then.

Sara?

The person that jumped into my mind was, of course, the one person I couldn’t seem to forget the whole day. I picked the phone up, and I wasn’t even surprised to find a tweet from her.

“Would you like to meet up again?”

I set the phone down, braced my elbow on the desk and leaned my head on my palm, then tapped the fingers of my free hand on the desk. I stared at that message until my screen went dark a few seconds later.

You can’t, I told myself. I shouldn’t, I knew that, but it didn’t change that I wanted to.

“You’re not a virgin. It doesn’t count.”

In truth, she didn’t have to be a virgin for this to count. After all, I wasn’t in this to deflower virgins for fun. I was in it for the money. But I didn’t think a second date was a good idea, especially since I hadn’t been able to get her off of my mind all day when I was supposed to be doing assignments.

Last night was a huge mistake.

Because the fee was so high, I didn’t expect to have anyone call me more than once. It’s just sex. If someone wanted to have sex with someone else in college, then it wasn’t that hard. Parties were going on all the time where people got to mingle and hooked up. I’d done it myself as a freshman. So, unless they were shy, in which case they really shouldn’t be looking to a stranger, or conscious about their looks, only a few special cases would pay for sex in college. Yeah, I had done some research on it, so I knew. Not to mention, it was really risky.

The other virgins I’d met through the Sext Me line, just wanted to have it over and done with. They were more conscious about being virgins than being around a guy.

Sara could have fallen under that, but she was also the first person to ask for me a second time. It was a surprise, especially after how nervous she’d been before we started.

“Ugh,” I groaned, and leaned back in my chair as I closed my eyes.

In my mind, I could picture last night. After she’d fallen asleep in my arms, I had been tempted to stay. I’d almost fallen asleep with her. I wouldn’t have woken up until morning, and even if I could be up before she was and leave, the risk that others would notice me as I left her room was high. Reluctantly, I’d pulled myself from her warm bed and gotten dressed. I left her room and made sure the door was properly locked, before I went back to my own place.

When I woke up this morning, in my bed, alone, I’d felt so much regret I wanted to slap myself.

Sara paid me for sex, and for an hour at that. Not to play the part of her boyfriend. The bad part about it was that there was a part of me that wanted to. Play her boyfriend that is. I wasn’t in love with her or anything, I barely knew her. Sex also wasn’t the best way to start a relationship, but when I started to think about what it would be like to wake up next to her beautiful heart-shaped face, our bodies snuggled together in my bed and soft, morning kisses, I knew it was more than just lust.

Of all the times.

My phone vibrated again, and I practically jumped at it to check the message.

“Can’t you make an exception?”

My mouth twitched. “No.”

I put the phone down, but after a pause, I picked it up again. “Anyway, I’m retiring.”

“So soon?” She messaged back quickly.

I glanced back to my desk, where I had my laptop, and a bunch of books open so I could work, then back to my phone. I didn’t debate for long before I wrote out another message. She kept messaging back, and before I knew it, we’d started up a real conversation. When I did realize, I wanted to slap myself again.

Why am I doing this to myself?

I stared at her last message for the longest time. She wanted to know what was going on with me. I was debating whether or not to tell her. After last night, I wasn’t even sure that I could be calm and cool around her, so the idea I had in my mind was ridiculous. But, I wouldn’t mind spending more time with Sara, and I was not going to be getting any more work done.

“Let me take you out for a drink,” I messaged. “And I’ll explain everything.”

My heart thumped when I looked at what I’d written, but I still hit send. I got a reply back almost immediately.

Sara agreed.

Fuck.

I set my phone down and jumped up, only to remember to text her where we should meet. After I got that sorted out, I got up and went to have a shower and get changed. Twenty minutes later, I was getting dressed, then rushing out of my room.

Sara was already waiting for me when I arrived at the agreed spot. I’d been rushing, but I slowed down when I saw her. She was in another dress, knee length with long sleeves and flats, her hair falling around her shoulders. She had a purse thrown over her shoulder, her head down as she played with her fingers. She would occasionally look up and glance around, and once I got close enough, she noticed me. Her body straightened out, and she sent an awkward smile my way.

“Hey,” she murmured.

“Should we go?” I said, acting calm even though at that moment, I was anything but calm.

She nodded, and we made our way off campus. There were more people around than usual since it was a Saturday, but I didn’t see anyone I knew on our way out, which was good. My roommates didn’t know about the whole Sext line thing. I had gone to great pains to make sure it wouldn’t become school gossip and was ready to abandon it if that happened.

Lucky for me, I didn’t have to wait long. If Dad was going to pay me back, then this was fine.

It was the middle of the day, and Sara wasn’t 21, so we didn’t go to a bar. Instead, I led us to a café not too far from the school. We stood in line to give our orders, then I paid, and we found a table to sit where we wouldn’t be around too many people. The place wasn’t too crowded, thankfully.

After a moment of nothing but awkward silence, while we sipped our coffees and nibbled on the pastries, Sara cleared her throat and spoke.

“So, you wanted to explain to me about… why you’re quitting?”

Her cheeks were a little pink, and she wouldn’t look right at me, but I thought it was cute. I didn’t allow myself to smile.

“Yeah,” I murmured. “I mostly just did it because I needed money. I’m working to pay my tuition, it’s my last year, and I found myself with zero funds. I found a part-time job, but the pay wasn’t good enough, so it just started.”

I grimaced at the pathetic explanation. Sara had even managed to look right at me, eyebrows arched, like she didn’t understand. Thinking back, I can’t remember why I thought the whole male escort thing had ever been a good idea in the first place. I needed money fast, and I was desperate. I couldn’t get it through other means like stealing and gambling, but the Sext Me line was okay, I could handle it. I just started it up one day, didn’t even think someone would find it when I got my first message, and then got paid. I kept it up for weeks until Dad’s call. If Sara hadn't messaged me before I decided to stop, I would have just said no.

Of course, I was very happy that I decided to meet her last night.

“You did this because you were short of money?” She asked with a frown. “Couldn’t you have found other ways to get the funds? I don’t know, like borrowing loans or something?”

I sighed and took a sip of my drink. “It’s not that easy. The problems aren’t that I didn’t have money before. I lent it to my dad, and I thought he would pay it back. Only he’s always getting into trouble, and he dragged me into it this time. He gambled the money I lent him and lost everything. Getting the kind of loan,I need isn’t something so easy either, you know?”

If it had been, I would have gone that route before I started doing this.

“Do you no longer need the money?” Sara asked.

I would have assumed she was skipping over the story about my dad if I couldn’t see her face. She was shocked as if she was wondering what kind of father would gamble away his own son’s college money. I’d wondered the same thing when I heard it.

“If he’s to be believed, then there’s no need,” I said with a shake of my head, answering her question. “He called me up, just yesterday in fact after I got your tweet. He’s marrying some rich woman, and he’s paying me back.”

There was nothing yet, but I decided to believe in him for another couple of days. If nothing happened, I’d call him up, and we would see.

We sat in silence for a while, drinking and eating. I kept glancing at Sara, but she didn’t raise her head for the longest time. I couldn’t tell what she was thinking, and I slowly started growing anxious. Then, after she’d finished her coffee and pastry, she looked at me from underneath her lashes. Her face was still flushed, but her expression had changed. It made me stiffen, and my attention perked up, in more than one way. Her lips glistened from where she’d licked them, and her eyes almost seemed to burn.

“That’s a shame,” she said, her voice low. “I was going to pay double what I paid last time.”

For a moment, I was shocked. Then, I was turned on. I let out a quiet groan, and shifted in my seat, a little surprised at myself. All it was, was a look and some words, and I was already half hard in my pants. Either Sara wasn’t as innocent as I’d thought she was yesterday, or something about her was just that interesting to me.

I figured it was the latter.

“I had a good time with you, Sara,” I confessed. I hesitated, for about a second, before I gave her a slow smile. “You know what? I’ve closed the shop already, but if you want, I’ll do it for free.”