Kissed By Moonlight (9 page)

We'd gotten to the main entrance to her dorm when I saw the shadows coming up the walk. For a second, my heartbeat quickened. I thought it was him. But then I remembered that he was alone, and there were two coming towards us.

Then Eric and Joseph stepped into the light.

"Hey there,
lesbo," Eric said. Joseph smiled at the insult.

"Hey,
Steph, it's little dick and his best buddy, micro penis. Let's get inside," Jenn said, fishing for her keys.

Eric kept looking at me, though. I didn't like it at all. His eyes were hungry and cruel, and I could feel them trying to penetrate through my clothes. Why did some people have to be such huge assholes? Didn't they know how it made other people feel?

"So you've lezzed out now, too? That's a shame. Isn't it, Joe?" Eric said.

Joe made a "V" with his hand and licked the gap. Jenn snorted behind me.

"And that's the closest thing either of them are ever going to experience to actual sex. Come on, Steph," she said, putting her hand on my shoulder and tugging me back towards the open doorway. Light and heat spilled out of the dorm around me.

"Shut up," Eric said, "You still haven't showed up at the frat house for that party,
Stephie. Why don't you come over? The guys can show you a better time, if you know what I mean."

"Come on, let's go in..." Jenn
said, her tugging becoming more insistent.

It was too much. I hated the way they seemed to fight over me and make me the center around which all their little jokes and insults revolved. Eric wanted me for himself, but Jenn just wanted the same damn thing.

It seemed that neither of them had really stopped to think about what I could possibly want.

"Just go away, all of you!" I said, shrugging Jenn's hand off my shoulder.

"Whoa, a little bitchy," Eric said.

"Maybe it's that time, you know?"
Joseph said, apparently proud of himself for finding something to add. He practically preened himself when Eric giggled at what he'd said.

"Yeah, why don't you two lovebirds get lost?" Jenn said, apparently not understanding my meaning.

"No, Jenn. I don't want to go with you, either."

"Ouch!" Eric said.

"You don't mean that, Steph..." Jenn said.

"I do! Why don't you all just leave me alone?"

I had to shrug Jenn's hand off me again. Adrenaline shot through my system, cutting through the haze still lingering over my mind from Jim's party.

I rushed past Eric and Joseph, ignoring Jenn's calls for me to come back.

"Don't worry; you know where I'll be when you're ready!" Eric called out after me.

His voice chased me through the darkness, its tone holding an awful, promising certainty.

I made it about halfway down the block from his residence when I turned back. Dumb and Dumber were gone, probably back to one of their aforementioned frat parties.

The look of hurt on Jenn’s face refused to leave my mind, and my body chose this moment to remember that sweet, soft kiss we’d just shared. It made my body tingle, the heat within warding off some of the chilly evening air.

Back in my building, my room would be cold and lonely.

So walked back over to Jenn’s building, the soles of my shoes clicking, sending echoes off into the darkness. Inside, I could see the pale, ghostly light from the fluorescent bulbs illuminating the foyer. It was quiet in there, too.

My fingers started to shake, but I still managed to bring up Jenn’s contact info and call her.

“What?” she said, the anger in her voice clear.

“Can I come up? I’m at the front door, now,” I said. When she didn’t answer, I continued, “I… I don’t want to be alone tonight, you know?”

Jenn’s silence stretched to infinity, and then the line went dead. That hurt and frustrated me at the same time. I touched my hand against the cold metal of the doorframe for a moment,
then turned around to go.

“
Steph? Wait. I’m sorry. Come up, please,” Jenn said, holding the door open for me.

Her hall was quiet, and I figured everyone must be out at parties or studying or gone home. But her room was warm. She’d taken out the compact fluorescent bulbs and replaced them with incandescent ones, their orange glow lending more heat to the space.

Jenn tossed her leather jacket over her chair and then sat on her bed. The skin on her arms looked so soft and smooth. I shivered then, my body prickling with gooseflesh.

“What? What is it?” she said.

Again, my heart started slamming in my chest. The room felt too hot, then. Boiling, even. I shrugged out of my jacket and let it fall to the floor by my feet.

“I don’t know how to say it,” I said, my eyes trying to find anywhere in the room to focus on but Jenn. If I looked at her, I’d lose all control. I shifted on my feet, uncomfortable in my own skin. I’d never felt this way for another woman, before. It terrified and excited me.

As though she could sense what I thought, Jenn stood and took my hands. Her fingers were soft and dry, and the glossy black nail polish she had on glittered.

“Then don’t say anything. You don’t need to say anything,” she said.

Her thumbs lightly massaged my hands, urging my eyes to her. When I looked at her, my mouth went dry. She leaned in for another kiss, and I could feel the heat coming from her, smell the sweetness of her breath. I shied back, just for a moment. She stopped.

When I could resist those lips no longer, I closed the distance myself. Just like before, her lips were soft and hot against mine.

Except now there was no one around to mock us, to call our feelings into question.

Our kiss turned insistent, her tongue pushing through into my mouth. Her arms wrapped around me, pulling me closer. Our hips touched, and our breasts. My body responded with a tingling heat. My hands gained a mind of their own and began exploring her body.

Her fingers began a similar journey, working their way up the back of my shirt. I pulled back and gasped when she unclasped my bra.

“Don’t you want this?” she said.

Her shoulders heaved, and a flush of desire added some color to her skin.

“Yes,” I said.

Smiling, biting her bottom lip for a moment, she grabbed my hands again. Instead of pulling me close, she threw me on her bed. Then she was on me.

My hands found her bottom, squeezing the firm flesh there even as we kissed again. Her lips made their way down to my neck. My body squirmed beneath hers. I couldn’t believe how much I needed her to touch me, to be with me. I couldn’t believe the heat inside me, and the tingle low in my stomach.

She was even more eager than I was. Her hands shaking, she tore off my shirt and bra, letting my breasts fall free. My nipples were the object of her desire, and she wrapped her lips around one.

“Oh, yes!” I said, my fingers wrapped in her hair, pulling her mouth closer. Her tongue licked around my sensitive flesh even as she sucked me.

Then she nipped me, sending a lance of pleasure and pain through my body.

When I could no longer take it, she switched to the other nipple and gave it a similar treatment.

Except this time, one of her hands traced its way down my bare stomach. Her fingers deftly undid my jeans, pulling the zipper down. It was the sexiest sound I’d heard in a while.

Then those same fingers pushed down beneath my panties and found the heat she’d been stoking there.

“Jenn, oh, Jenn!” I said as her finger slipped into me.

I was tight, but she was gentle. Her fingertip tickled my walls for a few moments, teasing me before sinking deeper.

“Do you like it?” she said, looking into my eyes and pushing my bangs off my face.

“Yes,” I said.

She knew just where to touch me, just how to get me to relax around her. When she pulled her finger out of me, wet and glistening with my juices, I wanted her to put it back right away.

But instead she sucked my juices off her finger, letting her lips trail back along it seductively. Then, crawling off the bed, she stripped off my boots and socks,
then pulled down my jeans and panties.

I lay bare on her bed, her eyes eating my naked body up. She didn’t even need to touch me. Just her gaze walking up and down my thighs, climbing my breasts, looking at my neck, was enough to set me trembling.

“You’re so beautiful,” Jenn said, “I wanted you ever since the moment you sat down next to me.”

“Well, tonight I’m yours,” I said, some impatience leaking into my voice. How could she leave me hanging like this?

“I better make it count, then, right?”Jenn said, doing that sexy thing where she let her bottom lip slip out from between her white teeth.

She went down onto her knees beside the bed. Before I could ask what she was doing, she grabbed my thighs and pulled me over so that she knelt between my legs.

The feel of her hot breath on my burning sex was maddening.

“You smell so good,” Jenn said, running her lips and nose along my inner thighs, letting the heat of her breathing tickle me.

“Good…” I said, rubbing at my face. My body writhed on her sheets. There was so much pent up energy and desire within me, looking for some way to get out.

“I wonder how you taste…?” she said.

When she put her mouth on me, my back arched up. I grabbed handfuls of her comforter. But she gave me no rest. No, she was relentless.

The tip of her tongue made its way up and down my sopping slit, pausing at my love button to lap at it.

The light in the room took on different shades. Every time she gave me another stroke of her tongue, balls of color exploded against the back of my eyelids.

It felt like I was about to float off the bed, or that I might actually manage to fold myself in half, my back arched so much. It was almost too good.

And then she put her finger into me again. She found my spot right away, the pad of her index finger rubbing against it insistently.

That, combined with her tongue, pushed me over the edge.

“You can scream if you like. There’s no one around,” Jenn said, taking her mouth from me for a moment. Her cheeks glistened with my wetness.

A second finger entered me, my slick walls stretching out to accommodate it.

All that pent up energy, all that desire, all that frustration, it all contracted into the smallest, tightest little ball low in my stomach.

And then it burst. I ground myself against Jenn’s tongue, my hips bucking. But she held on and kept licking all throughout my climax.

Hot waves of pleasure slammed through my body, every muscle in me alternating between concrete and spaghetti. Some sweat dripped down into my eyes, stinging them, but I didn’t care.

In that moment, I felt cleansed, felt perfectly in the moment.

But then the tide of my climax receded from me, leaving me limp and shaking on Jenn’s bed.

She crawled up beside me, pulling the cover down over me. She panted, and
a sheen of sweat covered every patch of bare skin. Her lips kissed my forehead, then trailed down to my mouth. I could taste myself on her.

I realized then how selfish I was being. “Do… Do you want me to…?” I said.

“No. I think that’s enough. For tonight, at least. Let’s just go to sleep,” she said. She got up and turned off the lights, making sure the door was locked. I heard her rustling in the darkness and realized she was taking off her clothes. That excited me, but my sore body cried out in protest.

Jenn crawled under the covers with me, her bare skin pressed against mine as we spooned.

It didn’t take long for her breathing to settle into the rhythm of sleep. But I lay awake for a time, looking at the shadows in her room.

Despite how good she’d just made me feel, I found myself wanting. A face came into my mind, and it took me a moment to remember the name.

Adam. Adam Arnold. I couldn’t stop thinking about him, even as sleep pulled me away from the world.

Chapter 13

"Why don't you stay over tonight?" Jenn asked.

Her eyes whispered their silent plea to me. I felt this longing to say yes, to just step through her door and be there with her the whole night.

She looked so cute with her plaid skirt. The top two buttons of her blouse were undone, showing an expanse of smooth, cream-colored skin.

But I had that midterm tomorrow. Professor Hackett seemed like a nice enough
guy, but the practice quiz he'd handed out was a nightmare. My brain was full of dates, names, and places. If I dreamt of nothing but the Revolution tonight, it wouldn't surprise me.

"I want to..." I said.

I leaned against the open doorway to her dorm room. She used this desk lamp that cast a soft, warm glow over everything. And it was beginning to get cold out at night.

But my scholarship depended on me maintaining at least a 3.25 GPA. I couldn't let it slip.

Not even for the warmth of her room, or the warmth of her arms.

"So stay," she said, her tone pleading.

"I can't... I have to go study. But I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" I said, reaching out to grab her hands. Her palms were hot, and her fingers trembled. My body ached for me to just go back in, but again I found myself sacrificing my immediate desires for the good of my future, whatever that turned out to be when it came into focus.

So we hugged, our hips touching as she held me close. I patted her on the back twice, the universal signal to end an embrace. She withdrew slowly, her fingers trying to get a hold on the light sweater I had on to fight away the chill on the walk back to my dorm.

She closed her door, waving at me until the gap closed up, leaving me alone in the hall. I wiggled my toes in my flats, trying to urge my feet into carrying me forward. It was like a heavy weight hung down from my heart into my stomach. I couldn't believe I'd managed to deny her.

Maybe this school thing wasn't so bad after all, I figured. I pulled the cuff of my sweater back, checking my watch. About quarter past ten.
Jeeze, I was going to up be until three or four, I knew.

It was times like this that I really found myself missing the big city. Pushing open the door to the stairs, I made my way down. The rail was smooth and cool to the touch, and I lifted my hand periodically to avoid the little brackets that connected it to the white-painted cinderblock wall.

Back in Pasadena, I could go grab a triple-shot espresso from any open convenience store. I had done so many times, in fact, working doubles at the diner.

Even though I'd only been here almost two months, Pasadena and California felt like a lifetime ago.

As I pushed open the door marked "Exit" on the ground floor, I decided to give mom a call after the midterm. I needed to hear her voice again.

"Ah!" I said, stepping down onto the walk, pulling my sweater around me and hugging myself.

It was only near the end of September, and already I could feel winter's bite in the breeze.

All those trees rustled their bare branches in agreement, like thousands of
finger bones rattling together.

"Time to get home," I whispered, again trying to urge my body faster.

But my legs didn't need the encouragement. They followed the curve of the road to the small sidewalk beside the soccer field. The posts of the nearest net loomed out of the darkness, but the rest of the pitch was dark.

Everyone else must have been studying right then, too, I figured. There was almost no one out. It was like I was in the midst of some old haunted town, the ghosts
always keeping just out of sight.

I walked faster, the loudest noise the click on my shoes on the pavement.

When I passed the soccer field I was halfway to my dorm. I could see the squat, three-floor building in the distance. Some people had their curtains drawn, while others had them open, letting white and yellow light spill out.

I could actually see a few people moving around there, silhouetted against their curtains.

I'd be there in five minutes. Less, even. I could snuggle up under my blanket, pillow tucked behind my back, and fight the desire to sleep as I re-read my lecture notes until my eyes bled.

"Hey, look, it's
Stephie!" said a voice behind me.

I'd been so busy anticipating getting back to my room that I hadn't heard the footsteps closing in on me. But there they were. From the sound of it, there were at least two.

And I recognized that voice, too. It was Fratboy Eric.

My feet carried me more quickly, and I didn't look back. If I ignored them, they might just shout a few choice words at me and head off to find easier prey.

"Aww, Stephie, come back! We need your help!"

The fear was hot this time, shooting out from my heart. I started running.

The guys, like wild predators acting on instinct, gave chase.

My skirt let me run freely, but they were faster. Strong fingers grabbed my arm and wrenched back so hard that the sharp pain in my shoulder took my breath away.

I stumbled, falling backwards. But they caught me, held me up.

"Why'd you run away? Didn't you hear Eric say we needed your help?" Joseph said.

He'd become more and more Eric's toady as the semester went on. He even looked the part, being shorter and stouter, with a peasant's flat, unremarkable face and a brow ridge that would do a Neanderthal proud.

I looked up at my dorm, only fifty feet away. The front entrance, with its nice, secured plate-glass doors, was so close. The light spilling out from the lobby nearly touched my feet.

"Guys, I really have to go study..." I said, my heart trying to bash its way out through my ribs.

I'd tried running. Now it was time for a different approach. Let them have their fun. I could take whatever they had to say.

Eric pursed his lips and ran his fingers through his hair. They both still wore their letterman jackets, and the big gold R on each of their chests glinted a little in the weak light coming from my building.

"I don't think you'll want to study. Or be able to for that matter. You got the list, Joe?" Eric said. He pulled me towards him, his fingers digging deeper into my arm. My fingers were starting to go numb, he gripped me so tightly.

"Yeah, right here," Joe said, pulling out a folded and rumpled piece of paper. He thumbed it open, "Just this and we can go turn it in."

"What... what's going on?" I said.

Should I scream? It felt like I should be screaming bloody murder, trying to catch the attention of one of those shadows moving behind the curtains in the dormitory.

"Well, we got a little scavenger hunt going. First team that hands in the completed list gets to keep rushing," Eric said, "Good thing you were out. I was thinking we'd have to break into one of the fresher dorms to find a nice first year co-ed."

The fear turned from hot to cold, working its chilly fingers into my flesh. My body went rigid in some protective instinct.

"Eric,
she's gonna..." Joe started.

I opened my mouth to scream, but Eric clapped a hand over it so all that escaped was a little squeal that didn't travel more than five feet.

"You hold her shoulders. When I'm done, you can finish her off," Eric said.

They started trying to force me onto the grass beside the walk.

My subconscious grasped what was happening before the rest of me did. It seized control. I struggled, lashing out with my arms and legs, trying to dig my nails into anything soft. I bit at Eric's hand, but then he just held my mouth shut.

Another spurt of wild energy shot through my as I felt my back press against the soft dirt. I landed a solid kick in Joseph's stomach. He swore, slamming my leg down.

No, no, no, no, I kept thinking. This couldn't be happening. Joe's hand started sliding up the side of my leg, under my skirt. I arched my back high in the air, my entire body rigid with the effort to free myself.

But they were just too strong.

The branches of the trees swayed above me, their bony fingers clattering in anticipation of the show below. The cold white dots of the stars above blinked uncaringly as Joseph managed to snag the waistband of my panties with his thumb.

"
Shh, it'll all be over soon. At least when Joe gets to you. He's still a virgin, you know..." Eric said.

I squeezed my eyes shut, my hands clenching into fists and my legs still struggling against Joseph's strength.

I tried to think of my mother, of the day we'd spent at the beach watching the tide slowly swallow up more and more of the sand.

"Her skin's so soft," Joseph said, still trying to work my panties down.

"Whatever, you faggot, hurry up. It's too damn quiet out here," Eric said.

I crossed my legs, squeezing my thighs together as hard as I could. Hot tears started streaming out of my eyes, boiling down my cheeks and wetting my hair.

Joseph's fingernails scratched me, the sharp pain driving me into another round of struggles.

"If you don't stop it, I'll knock you the fuck out," Eric said.

He held my shoulders, holding me down awkwardly with one hand over my mouth. To emphasize his point, he used his elbow to hit the side of my head.

"You sure they can't see us?" Joseph said.

"They can't, dumbass. You forget how to use your fingers or something? Hurry up!"

"I'm trying, but she's got her legs together so tight."

"All right, since you're obviously too stupid, we're switching places. Ready?" Eric said.

Joseph started to say something, untangling his fingers from the waistband of my panties.

Whatever it was, it ended with a startled squawk that turned into a cry of pain.

"The fuck you doing?"
Eric said.

His hands left me. I opened my eyes in time to see someone jump over me, leather jacket flapping in the wind, as they tackled Eric to the ground.

"I'll bust you up, I'll break your damn... ungh!" Eric said. There was a grinding noise followed by a pop.

I didn't care about all that. I didn't care about Joseph lying awkwardly on his back by my feet, blood pumping from his shattered nose.

I just needed to get away, into the light of my damn. I crawled, grabbing handfuls of grass to pull myself along as the sounds of struggle continued behind me.

Finally, I managed to pull myself to my feet. I almost tripped every other step as I dashed towards the light.

"Hey! Wait! Are you all right?"

I saw the leather jacket from the corner of my eye as whoever it was caught up to me.

"Go away! Leave me alone!" I said.

"Don't worry, I took care of them," he said.

We reached the doors to my dorm at the same time. My lungs burned, and my heart pounded so hard that I could taste blood at the back of my throat. Grabbing the metal handle, I wrenched at the door. It didn't budge.

"You're
gonna need your key," he said.

I nodded, still not looking at him. Inside, I could see the bank of mail boxes, the empty reception desk,
the hall that led to the stairs.

I grabbed my key out of my pocket, but I couldn't get it into the lock. My hands shook too much. The bit of metal scratched the brown paint around the circular lock, leaving jagged silver lines behind.

"You're the girl from the party, right?" he said.

He grabbed the key between them and forefinger and guided it into the lock. He had long fingers. Two of his knuckles were bruised.

I looked at him finally. Yeah, it was the guy. A bit of stubble on his cheeks made him look a little older. He smiled at me, his green eyes searching my face. I didn't think it was possible to feel the way I did so shortly after... that almost happened. But my heart did a little dance when he smiled at me.

"I'm Stephanie," I said.

"Adam," he replied. He twisted the key in the lock and pulled the door open, "And I'll see you in class tomorrow for the midterm, right?"

I sniffled a little and wiped at my cheeks. I had to look horrible! How could he smile at me when I looked the way he
did.

He pulled my key from the lock and handed it back to me. I put one foot inside, but then hesitated.

"Thanks," I said.

He just nodded, "Yeah, good thing I was on my way to the library."

It was only when I got up to my room, turned on the light, and closed and locked the door behind me that I really thought about what he said. I leaned against the door and slid down it until I was sitting. I pulled my knees up to my chest and hugged them. My thigh still hurt where Joseph scratched me, and I thought I had to be bleeding.

The soccer field was on the other side of the campus from the library. It could
have been that he was on the way from his dorm to it, but the buildings here were girl only.

Had he been following me?

Chapter 14

The amphitheater-shaped lecture hall flooded with students. I wanted to stay near the double entrance doors, but that tide swept me up the stairs and into a seat near the middle of the third row.