Poseidon

Sleeping over and unfinished business

I felt disoriented when I woke and sat. The room was unfamiliar, the place I was sleeping. I rubbed my face in my hands and looked around.

Pretty spacious room with kitchen in one end, couch, tv.

"Fuck!" I whispered and shot up from the couch, only to get tangled in the blanket and land on the floor.

Thankfully, no messy boxers.

I got up and looked around. I was still dressed, and judging by the light, it was morning.

I sat down and picked up my phone. No texts or calls.

I looked behind me to the sound of an opening door.

Poe was wearing boxers as the only thing. His hair was all over the place, and he almost squinted at me. "You up," he said, his voice deep and rusty with sleep.

"I fell asleep here?" I asked incredulous.

That snapped him to a state of present-ness. "Yes?"

"I slept here?" I asked. My voice was shrill, and I wasn't even sorry about it. I didn't want to stay over!

"What's the big deal?" he asked. "You slept on the couch, sorry for not waking you?"

"Yeah," I said. "Sorry for not waking me." I grabbed my bag. "I'll see myself out."

"What the fuck, Athena?" he called.

I spun around in the hall. "What the fuck?" I asked. "We never talked about staying over!"

"It's not the end of the fucking world!" he shouted.

"Might as well be," I said and went outside. I slammed the door after me and jogged all the way down the street and didn't stop until I turned a corner.

I dragged precious air into my lungs and went back to the dorm.

Part of me wanted to go to the ocean, but I didn't want Poe to find me, and he knew I loved that place.

Tara was not in the dorm, not that I expected her to be. I changed into different clothes and went for lunch or brunch or whatever it was they served Sunday morning.

Back in the room, Tara was still missing, but clearly it was a good party.

I sat, crossed-legged, on my bed and opened my laptop. I had stuff to read, and papers to write. It was college, not some continuous party.

Tara came back after dinner and just went straight to bed. I had my little lamp on and watched a movie while texting with Sophia and Jonathan, just keeping up.

It was Thanksgiving soon, and boy was I looking forward to go home.

The week went by fast. Poe wasn't in class. I didn't notice him if he were, and I didn't check. So I didn't see him.

Daniel and I were thrown into yet another group project, and I could sense he was almost over his hurt feelings from my 'why are you asking me?'. It was a stupid question, really.

When the week came to the end, it was only a week from Thanksgiving.

I went to the drama department and helped out with the costumes. I also declined taking that paillette gown home. I wanted to take a break, not have any obligations.