Chapter 37 Stay a whiile
The following Monday, Izabella was surprised to see a message shoved underneath her dorm room door. She quickly opened it, thinking it was from the same person who urged her to be quiet and who she was now suspecting was her brother. To her disappointment, as well as surprise, she realized it was from Renwick.
Raphael and I were thinking of hitting the Bunker tonight. Wanna come? Ren
Izabella folded the message. She’d already gone there with Hendrik and was trying to figure out if showing up with two other guys her second time there was in poor taste. Maybe she could just hang out with them somewhere on campus, without it being the Bunker. She put the message on her desk and went to take a shower. She washed her hair, then wrapped herself up in a small towel, which barely covered her breasts and butt, then walked out into the room, dripping wet.
When she walked into her room, she almost jumped with fright. Right there, on the bed, she saw Renwick and Raphael, chilling. Their eyes were glued to her.
“Whoa, now that’s a welcome!” Raphael whistled at the sight before him and she instinctively covered her breasts, even though they were half hidden by the towel.
“What the hell are you guys doing here!?” she hissed at them.
“Shut up, you,” Renwick playfully punched Raphael, “sorry, Lucy. We didn’t mean to scare you. We just figured, we’d wait for you to get ready and then just hit the Bunker.”
They were both laid back, not even trying to hide the fact that they were devouring her with their gazes. She stopped feeling insecure all of a sudden and, instead, only remained upset, but even this sensation was diminishing and she couldn’t resist their tempting smiles.
“How did you get in?” she wondered, a little more calmly.
“Your door was unlocked,” Raphael replied this time, with a mischievous wink in his eyes. “You were subconsciously inviting us in, you see.”
“Do you mind?” she rolled her eyes, pointing at her wardrobe.
“Oh, by all means,” Raphael nodded. “Just go ahead.”
“I meant for you to turn around,” she felt a sudden urge to giggle at their boyish mischievousness but managed to stay serious.
“Turn around,” Renwick instructed Raphael and they immediately did so.
Izabella rushed over to the wardrobe and got some clothes out. She quickly put them on, then went back to the bed but she didn’t sit down next to them. She remained standing, like a mother scolding her two boys who were up to no good.
“Okay, you can turn around now,” she told them.
“Not as nice as before but I can work with it,” Raphael winked at her.
“You really are a pig, aren’t you,” she rolled her eyes again and the guys both
laughed.
She couldn’t resist joining in.
“I don’t really have anything to offer you, guys,” she told them. “I could rush over to the machine in the hallway and get you some coffee.”
“We were actually hoping you’d agree to go to the Bunker tonight,” Raphael said.
“Oh, the message,” she remembered, biting her lip. “I’m kinda tired.”
“Oh, come on,” Renwick urged her.
“Yeah, come on!” Raphael repeated.
“Seriously guys, it’s been a helluva weekend and I’m beat,” she replied, changing her mind about the offered coffee.
“Well, we could stay here with you,” Raphael grinned. “Keep you safe from all harm?”
“I appreciate the offer but like I said, I just want to hit the hay.”
“The lady has spoken,” Renwick got up, “come on, pig.”
The guys laughed again. Izabella had no idea that the guys were such good friends. It was obvious from the way they treated each other. She had to admit, she was surprised to see two such different guys function so well together. She guessed that was why Renwick
was such a good advocate for Raphael when they spoke the last time.
“Are you sure?” Renwick asked again and the twinkle in his eyes sent goosebumps down her back.
For a second, she imagined his fingers leafing through her body like he leafs through one of his favorite books: slowly, passionately, with complete focus and interest. She felt a hotness arising from somewhere deep inside of her.
She looked at Raphael, then back at Renwick. She realized only now that she had a major crush on both of them. A crush on Renwick she could totally understand. He was everything she liked in a guy but Raphael was a complete mystery. She hated guys like that. She couldn’t stand them. She wanted them as far away from her as possible and, yet, his presence made her nervous, it made her palms sweaty, it made her heart beat faster and faster. She wanted him to talk to her dirty, just so she could pretend to be offended and talk back to him. It was so much fun but she’d never admit it, especially not to him.
Then, a scary thought occurred to her. What if he already knew that? What if he knew exactly how he made her feel and that was why he was pushing for this so hard?
She swallowed heavily, and thought about it for a second. One coffee. Could it really hurt?
The two of them there, with her - it felt right. Sure, Raphael was being his cocky self as always but she instantly remembered how they’d clicked last time they had a coffee together and how she thought she’d regret it. No such thing happened. She liked them both, that much was obvious and the guys were here for a reason, too. Maybe that reason
was the same?
“Okay then,” she shrugged her shoulders, pretending like she was indifferent to their presence, “I can go and grab us that coffee and you can stay a while.”