Page 11 of The Night We Met

“She’s with her newest hookup for the night. She won’t be around until her class tomorrow morning.”

When Sarah moved in she claimed that the school was like her buffet. I don’t shame the girl for having a healthy sexual appetite as long as she stays safe. On nights she plans to spend with her hookups, she dutifully texts me and grants me free reign of our dorm.

Once my books and supplies are put away, Liam takes my bag from my hands and slings it over his shoulder. With a hand on my lower back, we walk out of the library and towards the pizza place.

We talk about the random things that have made our friendship the way it is. Laughing at his bought with hormonal acne and me getting my first period at school. Our stroll down memory lane is fun as we relive our embarrassment that it never strays to anything serious. Because at the end of the day Liam and I have a friendship that cannot be broken. We talk about the fictitious future where we’re both sitting on hypothetical millions. Knowing that some dreams have the fortitude to succeed and some dreams fail, make the future we’re both working towards somewhat daunting.

Although I have no clue what I want to do when I get older, Liam knows he wants to play in the Major’s. Something that does terrify me is the after school part. School is where I’m supposed to know what and who I want to bewhen I graduate. But what happens after those four years when I still have no clue?

“So how has conditioning been? I feel like we’ve barely seen each other these last few days.” I say as we walk towards my dorm room with pizza in hand.

“Did you miss me?” Liam asks cockily.

Nudging him in the ribs with my elbow. “Shut up.”

Throwing an arm over my shoulder and pulling me to him, Liam calms whatever anxiety I had about the reality of me missing him a little too real.

“I missed you too.” He tells me with a kiss on my temple.

I preen as if I have a right to. Him telling me he missed me. It’s silly, really. We’re just friends that have sex.

If I keep repeating the wordfriendin my head over and over, maybe it’ll stick.

We pass by several co-eds on the sidewalk on the way to my dorm and I don’t miss the appreciative looks Liam gets. Because I truly get how hot my best friend is. Some days I still can’t wrap my head around how good puberty was to him. Tack on his training with baseball and my best friend is hotter than hot.

“I felt like I never worked out a day in my life.” Exhaustion is present in his response to my question.

“Really?” I ask him, surprised.

The hallway in my dorm is relatively quiet. I still haven’t gotten to know a lot of the girls on my floor. It’s not that I’m not a girl’s girl, but it’s just a lot harder for me to make female friendships. Playing sports growing up, there was this competitive streak that was hardwired into me and the girls I played with. It didn’t make for a longstanding friendship when we all left the sport. Apart from Sarah and my best friend Emily from back home, they’re the only twoI’ve trusted enough. We make it to my room without too much more gawking that occurs when Liam is here.

Once in my room, Liam places my bag on my desk and moves to grab plastic plates and napkins from the little kitchenette before moving to sit on my bed. “You know those videos my dad would show me? As a preview to how hard collegiate athletes workout.”

I get us both water bottles from the mini fridge and have a mental flashback to watching those and shudder. “Oh yeah. I remember walking in on one of those videos. And I think that’s when I decided I would never become a Division 1 athlete. I don’t think I’d ever heard your dad laugh so loud.”

“We really need to work on your poker face, Kam. But even I’ll admit that those videos looked easy compared to what I endured. I think it was the strength and conditioning coach's way of preparing us for the actual baseball season training.” He explains to me as he divides up two slices on each of our plates.

I pop in a DVD from Netflix before picking up my plate and taking a bite. “No regrets though, right?”

His response is muffled from the food in his mouth. “None. This was always my plan since I started playing baseball.”

The fictitious future comes up again when I ask Liam if he could play for any MLB team, what team would it be for? The look in his eyes as he dreamed of playing for Atlanta, it gives me chills. At eighteen, it’s easy to see how passionate he is about going all the way. At eighteen it’s easy to dream bigger than your talent. He has the drive and the talent to go far. So I know when he makes it, it’ll be the happiest day of his life. And I can’t wait to be there when it happens.

Our conversation comfortably lulls as we finish off the box of pizza. Liam places the empty box on the floor before settling back on my bed and pulling me against his chest. My back to his front. My head resting against his shoulder. Is this position too intimate for our new arrangement? Maybe. But we make do with college twin size beds.

As the movie drones on, Liam’s fingers trail paths up and down my arms. Whether intentional or not his fingers hit the sides of my breasts. I anticipate it happening again, when one hand continues up and wraps around my neck. The other hand trails down my abdomen, landing on the button of my jeans.

My breath stalls and with the flick of his fingers, the button on my jeans pops open followed by the lowering of my zipper. His hand slides down inside my jeans and settles over my underwear.

I haven’t taken a breath in what feels like a minute when Liam says, “Pay attention to the movie Kam.”

“I can’t,” sighing out, my eyes flutter closed at the sensation.

I’m vaguely aware of the high-speed car chase happening on screen when Liam’s finger starts rubbing me from entrance to clit. Gathering moisture and applying just enough pressure that has me pushing into him. The friction of my underwear rubbing my clit is enough to get my heartrate up. My arms have snaked over his thighs and curled under to keep from moving too much.

Liam slips my underwear to the slide before applying dizzying pressure to my clit with his thumb while he plunges two fingers into me.

“Oh god.” I throw my head back and Liam licks a trail up my neck before sucking on my earlobe.

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