I woke up the morning after the party, my back to Dale and his arms wrapped around me. His breathing was quite steady and his hand kept fidgeting so I assumed he was awake. I rolled towards him onto my back. ‘Morning.’
‘Hello.’ He replied, kissing me.
‘Mmm,’ I replied dozily, kissing him some more. He ran his hand up and down my side under the oversized shirt he had lent me and we began to kiss with more urgency. It wasn’t long though before I began to feel a bit drowsy again. I looked over at his alarm clock. 6:48. I groaned internally. I was so tired. Consecutive nights staying up doing work had left me completely shattered. Our kissing slowed down Dale pulled away for a second.
‘Still tired?’ I nodded, running my hands through his hair. He leaned down and kissed me on the forehead before resuming his position next to me. I turned towards him and he wrapped his arms around me as I fell back asleep with my head resting on his chest. This seemed familiar. To be honest, intimacy with someone you’re just sleeping with and with someone you’re dating isn’t all that different. Just because you have no formal plans for seeing someone again, it doesn’t make their affection somehow less affectionate. Though Al and I only connected in bed, it didn’t make the fact that we were physically compatible any less real. It was nice having the other side of it too, though.
I’ll skim over the details of why I didn’t want to have sex with Dale at that precise moment, but it has to do with something that happens every month and I’ll leave it at that. As far as Dale knew though, I was ‘taking things slowly.’
We slept some more, woke up and snogged some more. He made me tea and we stayed in bed, talking and laughing all morning. We eventually got up and he walked me back to my room.
‘I can walk myself back, you know.’ I had said.
‘I know. But I like walking with you. It’s nice. And it’s pretty much the only time of day I get to go outside. Aside from walking to the department and all.’
‘Me too. I’m about to go lock myself in the library all day.’ And write about this. I left out the part about my busy blogging schedule, naturally.
‘Sounds fun.’
‘Oh, yes.’
‘Well, I’ll speak to you later, yeah?’
‘Yeah,’ I said and we kissed goodbye.
I walked into my hallway and as I approached my door Goodge opened his door and stuck his head out. ‘You’re back late.’ I stuck my tongue out. ‘Good night then?’
‘Yeah it was pretty good.’
‘Did you …’ he made a circle with one hand and whistled as he poked his finger from the other hand through it. ‘You know.’
I laughed. ‘Not that it’s any of your business, but no I did not.’
He raised his eyebrows. ‘Really?’
‘Really. Don’t act so shocked.’
‘You like this guy then?’
‘Yeah, he’s sweet.’
‘Awww,’ Goodge said, and then immediately made a farting noise. ‘Alright, I’m off.’
‘Later, bender.’
‘Laterrrrss.’ He said effeminately.
I went into my room and pulled out my notebook and books I’d borrowed from the library the day earlier. I tried to focus and study but I couldn’t think properly. A few hours of procrastination later my phone buzzed. It was Dale.
How’s your day been? Get much work done? xx
My day’s been extremely unproductive, I’ve resolved to going to sleep and getting up early to study tomorrow xx
Solid plan, speak to you tomorrow xx
Night xx
The next afternoon, around midday I texted Dale.
Today is no more productive than yesterday. Things are not going well xx
I’ve been reading all day but I’m knackered. What are you up to later? xx
Nothing planned. You? xx
A bit more studying, want to grab a drink later? Xx
Sure. Meet at the gates around 8:30? xx
It’s a date :-) xx
See you then xx
I sat around doing nothing until about 8:00, at which point I got up and changed out of my hoodie and pajama bottoms into something more acceptable for public appearances. I took the previous day’s makeup off and applied a subtle layer of makeup.
At 8:30 I was scrambling around my room, looking for my keys.
‘Bollocks!’ I whispered to myself. I am always late. I found my keys in the pocket of the coat I had been wearing earlier and ran out the door. As I sped walked towards the gate I wished I had grabbed some gloves. I got to the gate at 8:36, but luckily Dale wasn’t there either.
Two minutes later, Dale appeared, out of breath. ‘Sorry!’
‘It’s okay, I just got here.’
‘Oh, good.’ He paused to regain his composure then looked at me. ‘Hi.’ He leaned down to kiss me.
After we kissed I replied, ‘Hi.’
He took my hand and we began to walk. ‘Where do you want to go?’ He asked.
‘Not bothered.’
‘There’s a really wicked pub down the street.’ He told me the name of it.
‘Hm, never been.’
‘What?! Oh, well you are in for a real treat.’
I laughed. ‘Sounds good.’
We got to the pub and as we approached the bar the bartender extended his hand to Dale. ‘Alright, mate?’
‘Hey, yeah mate. You?’ Dale said, shaking his hand.
‘Can’t complain. What can I get for you?’
Dale turned to me, ‘What would you like?’
‘Umm,’ I said, looking past the bartender to see what was in the fridge. ‘I will have …’ I’m quite indecisive when it comes to choosing things. ‘… theee … um … Magners. I mean Bulmers!’
‘Pear or apple?’
When would the decisions end?? ‘Pear. Wait, no. Apple.’
‘You sure?’ Dale asked, amused.
‘Yes. Final answer.’
He laughed and ordered a bitter. Gross, I hate room temperature beers. The bartender handed me my drink. ‘Glass with ice?’
‘Glass, no ice, thank you.’
He handed me the glass and Dale his drink. ‘Cheers, mate.’ Dale said as he paid for the drinks. He turned back to me. ‘Want to sit?’
‘Sure.’ We took the only available table as the place was packed. ‘I can’t believe I’ve never even seen this place.’
‘It’s wicked, I come here all the time. Do you like it?’ He looked at me expectantly, as if my opinion on this pub would make or break the date.
‘Yeah, it’s really good.’ And it was; good atmosphere, good beers on tap, good games. What more could you want? Good company? Check.
We had two more drinks at the pub before Dale asked, ‘Want to watch a film at mine?’
‘Sure.’ I said without hesitation. We had spent most of the previous nights at his, watching films and hanging out. I didn’t have an excuse not to sleep with him anymore, but I was still nervous and slightly unsure that I wanted to do anything beyond kissing with him yet. I knew I eventually did, but secretly I was worried that he would be bad in bed. Oh God, what if he’s terrible? I thought to myself. I also worried that I would compare him to Al. What if Al is better? What if Al tries it on with me again? What if –
‘You’re quiet.’ Dale said, squeezing my hand. ‘What are you thinking about?’
I snapped back into reality. ‘Oh, nothing.’ Get it together woman! Oh God, what if he finds out that I’m mental?
We walked through college holding hands and ran into pretty much everyone I knew along the way (at least that’s what it felt like). Good thing Grey wasn’t at my college or else I’m sure he would’ve popped up just then. I had forgotten the feeling of being a couple. It was nice and as I walked hand in hand with Dale I couldn’t remember my life any other way.
Finally making it to his room, we kicked off our shoes and de-layered out of throngs of coats, sweaters and scarves until he was down to jeans and a t-shirt and I was down to jeans and an oversized sweater. We got on the bed, as that’s the only place to sit in the rooms of our college aside from the stupidly uncomfortable desk chairs they provide us with. I’d rather sit on the desk itself.
Dale pulled his laptop onto the bed and without opening it asked, ‘What do you want to watch?’
I looked at the ceiling as I was lying there on my back, contemplating the cinematic possibilities. ‘Well—’
Dale bent down and kissed me. I ran my hand through his hair as we kissed, becoming more sure about Dale and less sure that I gave a toss about any movies at that precise moment. I rotated towards him and pulled him even closer – as if it was possible for two people to be anything but close in a single bed. Soon my leg was wrapped around him and he was angled on top of me. Our kissing became more urgent and every time he ran his hand up and down my side it was if an electric current was pulsing through every bit of skin he touched. He slid his hand underneath my sweater and ran his hand up and down my back. It was soothing and yet quite arousing at the same time. He ran his hand down, pulling the sweater up and over my head as his hand came back up. I really wish it was as graceful as that sounded just then, but really I got stuck for about two seconds before emerging, shirtless, at the other end. We laughed and he sat up to pull his shirt off in a slightly less complicated manner before lying back down on top of me and resuming our kissing. After another ten minutes of kissing and a few more awkward removals of clothing, followed by inevitable laughter, we were down to our pants.
Any and all hesitations about Dale had gone out the window the moment we began kissing, along with every other thought and voice in my head. I had only one thought, which I voiced immediately.
‘Do you have a condom?’ He nodded and then started kissing me again.
That question typically implies ‘go get it’, but we continued kissing for another few minutes before he pulled back and said, ‘Should I go get it?’ I nodded and we kissed some more before he got up and crossed the room to his wardrobe. He rummaged through things for a while before he finally turned around, smiling with the condom in hand as if he had just found the final item on a scavenger hunt.
I laughed and he got back into bed. ‘What?’ He asked, smiling at me.
‘Just you.’ I said, laughing still. He dropped the condom on the bed, wrapping both arms around me and rubbing his hands along my back. I locked my arms together as they rested behind his neck.
Finally, between kisses, he asked, ‘Should … x … I … x … put it … xx … on?’
‘xxxx’ I replied.
The subsequent minutes, hours, days? I have no idea how long it lasted, but it was a word that doesn’t even exist. Great would be an understatement.
We were lying in each other’s arms and I exhaled all the anxiety and relief that had built up over the previous weeks. He kissed me on the forehead. We stayed in our embrace for a while before I looked up at him and asked, ‘Film?’
He smiled. ‘Sure.’
We only made it halfway through the film before commencing with our activities under the duvet.
We fell asleep shortly after round two and the next morning I felt him wake up suddenly. Startled, I sat up. ‘What? What is it?’
‘Nothing.’ He said, relaxing. ‘I just misread the clock and thought I was late to my lecture.’
I fell back onto the pillow. ‘You scared me.’
‘Sorry,’ he said, leaning over to kiss me. ‘I do need to get up soon, though.’ He said, kissing me again.
‘How soon?’ I asked raising an eyebrow.
He laughed and we went for round three before getting on with the day.
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