Second Arrangement

CHAPTER 11 - DINNER DATE

ELLIE

"Maybe ten, or eleven years ago?" Jasper tilted his head. "Was it our last semester or the semester before?" he moved forward and turned his head to face me. "I remembered it was our surgery rotation, wasn't it?"

"Yes," I gritted my teeth. "We were in the same group for our night duty. Along with six other people in our group," I stressed the last part, which Jasper intentionally left out. "It was a hectic rotation that we didn't even care who we slept under or over, since they only provided several bunk beds for us to occupy during our rotation."

"Wait a minute," Jackson interrupted us. "Pardon me since I have no idea about medical school at all. So, when you have night duties, you all sleep in the same room?"

"Yeah," Jasper nodded. "The hospital didn't pay tabs on who's on duty with whom. All they cared was there were some students on duties. They provided a place for us to get some rest while we were off duties, but they didn't necessarily put a restriction to separate the boys from the girls."

"So, both boys and girls can sleep in the same room?" he questioned again.

"Yes," Jasper answered. "But they only provided bunk beds, so we all have the bed for ourselves, so no bed sharing or anything."

"So, there was always someone else in the room, and not just a boy and a girl? Alone in the room?" he prodded further.

"Yes," I decided to step in. "Usually there were four of us on a night duty, so at least there are four people in the same room. As for me and Jasper, we had two other friends in the same room with us."

"So, it's not just the two of you?" he pointed to both of us when we stopped at the red light.

"No," I confirmed. Jackson seemed satisfied with our answer and I could see he became relaxed a bit. I made a mental note to kick Jasper on his balls when I saw him next time. How could he tell him this story? Not everyone could wrap their mind around the fact that the university didn't care enough to check whether their students were doing night duties with their opposite sex, nor the fact that they didn't provide separate room for both sexes? True enough, some were irresponsible and used the opportunity to sleep around, but some of us were too exhausted to play house and really used the bed for sleeping, literally.

Luckily, there wasn't any more surprise until we dropped Jasper off. Once he was out of the car, Jackson turned on his playful mode. "That was quite an interesting story that your friends told me earlier," he started. "I wonder, what other surprises that you have for me regarding your medical school days?" he tapped his chin, pretending to think while I slapped his arm.

"Do you think I'll go around sleeping with my friends back then just because they didn't keep tab on us?" I snorted.

"No," he smiled, "But it was interesting to see you sweat a bit when you tried to prove that you and Jasper didn't sleep together." There was a smug smile on his face that I wanted to wipe off his face badly.

"Just drive," I dismissed him. "We're going to have a dinner together, remember?" I reminded him of our fake plan.

"You owe me one," he turned his attention back to the road as he started the car again. "I didn't remember asking you out for dinner." He winked, but before I said anything, he interrupted me again. "But, I'm glad that you said we had a dinner plan since I've been meaning to ask you out on a date, but never had the chance to. So, I guess, this is my chance to take you out."

JACKSON

My heart dropped when I heard her friend's story. He was telling me that he considered himself close to Ellie since they've spent some nights together. The gears in my brain spun faster. I was sure she was a virgin when I made love to her back when she was still in Singapore. Did my brain fail me? But then again, she might be a virgin, but did something else. Sexual exploration wasn't just doing sexual intercourse. But, I was sure she was nervous when we did it, surely it was a sign that she never did nor try anything with anyone else?