Page 9 of Still Here Without You

Pulling my lips into my mouth, I try to hide the smirk begging to break free. “Get on the bike, Del.”

“But I don’t have a helmet.”

Dylan walks over from his truck at that moment, holding my spare, before the words are even out of her mouth. “I just realized I had this,” he says, handing it to her.

I can’t help but grin. “Got any more excuses?”

“My short skirt?”

Dylan and I both look at her skirt—okay, her legs—and cringe. Yep, that’s going to be problematic. But the thought of her behind me as the skirt rises…nope.

“Come on, I’ll quickly drop you off,” Dylan says, motioning to his truck. With a relieved “thank you,” Delilah follows with a smile. Great. Those two are going to talk shit about me for sure.

I head straight inside as soon as we arrive at my place, leaving the door wide open for Delilah to follow. She makes herself at home as soon as she’s entered, dumping her bag by the door before opening the fridge and taking out a bottle of water.

“By all means, help yourself,” I say sarcastically, but I strangely enjoy that she feels comfortable around me.

She smiles in response as she walks through to the living area and falls down onto the couch with a dramatic sigh. “Let’s get this over with so I can be on my way.”

“Aww, I honestly thought we were bonding.” I pout.

“That’s cute.” She grins and then pats the empty spot on the couch beside her.

We’re thirty minutes into our study session when Delilah starts wriggling around, trying to get more comfortable. She crosses her legs, then uncrosses them. Leans back into the seat, then sits upright. Uses the arm rest, moves her arm away. This goes on for a minute or so, and I can’t seem to take my eyes off her every move. After a couple more positions, she tucks her legs up underneath her and then relaxes, seemingly finding her groove. That is until she notices, at the same time I do, that the move caused her skirt to rise even higher, revealing a pair of blood-red panties.Fuck! I look away quickly before she realizes I’ve seen and notice out of the corner of my eye her lower her legs back down again. Standing, I exaggerate a shiver, pretending to be cold,in summer, then grab a blanket from the floor beside the couch, widening it enough to cover us both. Delilah offers me a thanks and then gets back to studying, immediately pulling her legs back up now that she’s protected by the blanket. Little does she know—the image of her red panties is already ingrained in my mind.

“So, is it just you and Dylan here?” Delilah asks after we’ve been at it for another twenty minutes.

“Living here, yes. But Dylan’s girls are always over.”

“Girls?” Delilah’s eyes widen and her mouth falls open slightly.

I laugh at how that must have sounded. “Sorry, that came out wrong. Dylan has his girlfriends over often, but he only has one girlfriend at a time. They just change often, hence girlfriends, plural.”

“Oh, he’s a serial dater?” she says, nodding her head in understanding, like it’s totally normal. I bark out a laugh because that is a perfect way of putting it, and exactly what he is.

“He sure is. And I’m stealing that term because it fits his situation to a tee. Jokes aside. It’s just Dylan and me here. We roomed in the dorms during freshman year but hated it, so we decided to find our own place this year.”

Delilah’s eyes bounce around the room. “Looks like a nice place and great location.”

“Thanks, we're pretty happy. Are you in the dorms or off campus?”

“Dorms, unfortunately. I’m in a double with a cellmate who’s rude and judgmental”

“Cellmate, huh?”

“Sure feels like that sometimes.”

“What’s she got to be judgmental about?”

“That I’m a cheerleader.”

I dramatically roll my eyes before face-palming. “Of course, I totally get that. I’m team cellmate all the way.” I smirk.

Delilah slaps me in the chest with an expression full of mock horror. “You’re lucky I don’t believe you.”

“Oh, so you think you know me now?”

Her brows furrow as she bites her bottom lip. “Not at all. I just knowthat.” She gazes away sheepishly, until I squeeze her thigh through the blanket.

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