A Little Coffee, a Little Love, and a Lot of Work

6: Finals Week

The most dreaded point in the undertaking of a college freshman had arrived in my life.

Finals Week.

It was two weeks before Thanksgiving vacation and I was stressed beyond all comprehension.  The fact that it was finals week for every student in the entire city of Boston posed an issue as far as relationships went.  Sarah and I were avoiding eachother because the first time we'd both had tests on the same day was like Parade of the Bitches.  It was our first and last fight, and in order to combat finals week, we had gone ahead and decided that avoiding eachother was the best decision.  However, while Sarah was really Queen Bitch during troubled times, I wasn't.  I was more of a comfort-seeking, depressing sort of stresser.

Unfortunately, because I could no longer rely on Sarah to deal with my exam-offness, Sean received an unusual wave of it.  Ever since our first kiss after finals club (which had quite thankfully been followed by lots and LOTS more) we had had a more balanced relationship.  We trusted eachother to do things with other people and didn't have to spend all of our time together to stay comitted.  

Sean and I were meeting up today, the day before finals, to have a relaxing movie-watching make-out session (hopefully).  I was going over to Harvard because I was sick of the MIT campus after all of my studying.

- - -- - - - - - - - - - --- - - - - ---- - - - -- - - -- - - - -- --- --- --- - -- - -- - -- -- -- -- --- - -- -- - -- -- - --- -- --- -- -- - ---- 

"Hey!" I yelled as I saw Sean come down from the hall and run in my direction.  He laughed as he arrived, grabbed my waist, and picked me a few inches off the ground.  

"Long time no see," he said.  

"It's been 3 days," I answered, laughing.  "You know what I mean,  we've both been so stressed about exams that last time you jumped me"  I blushed.  My response to stress was physical. very.physical.  

"Whatever," I shrugged, "Let's just watch this movie!"

"What are we watching?" he asked.  I had no idea.  

"I thought you picked out the movie?"  he said.  I shook my head.  

"What?!  It's a natural stress reliever!" I argued.  Sean just smirked and gestured towards the door to his dorm.  As I was entering, he snatched me by the waist and pushed me against the wall, burying his head into the crook of my neck.

"You smell good," he said.  I giggled as he began to kiss the side of my neck and moved onto my jawline, his hands secured around my waist.  "So do you," I managed to breathe out as his lips neared my own.  I pressed my forehaid against his and attacked his mouth.  One of his hands hitched my leg around his waist as the other slipped up the back of my sweater.  It was the most physical contact we'd had in a while.

"BEEEP!!!" His phone beeped loudly as he got a text message and we immediately broke apart, panting.

"Ladies first," he said, smirking.  I walked in to hear the TV set on the news. In his dorm, there was a central room with an attached bathroom and four attached bedrooms.  After ridding it of a physics textbook and a couple of food wrappers, I threw myself into the comfy red couch in front of the TV in the middle of the room.  It smelled a little like Sean and a lot like ink and coffee.  Probably the conjunction of the four guys in the dorm room.  I picked up the remote and began to change the channel, unable to absorb the words ensuing from the Newscaster's voice.

"Stop!" yelled Sean.  I looked over at him.  He had just shut the door, but he still had his coat and shoes on while he listened intently to the newscast.  I looked at the screen.

"Several student killings have been reported in the Boston area, namely Harvard students.  Our most recent victim was Robert Smith, a first year Undergraduate student at Harvard University.  His body was discovered abandoned on the side of the pier.  Our forces are doing..."  I zoned the blonde-news reporter out as I looked at the picture on the TV and then at Sean again.  All the muscles in his face were tense.  His eyes were glinting.

"Sean!" I yelled, trying to snap him out of his trance.  He didn't pay any attention but continued to watch the newscast.

"SEAN!!" I screamed.  He glanced in my direction furiously, the anger evident on his face.  Slowly it melted away as he became expressionless. 

"That was my roommate," he said.  My mouth fell open, I didn't even know what to say.   Even though we'd been dating for a while,  I had yet to meet his roommates though I heard a lot about them.  Luke, Robbie, and Tom, were what he referred to them as and shockingly I hadn't made this connection.   

His expressionless mask broke as a bit of pain and stress shone through; he walked over to the couch and sank into the seat next to me, his face buried in his hands.  I watched him silently as his hands ran furiously through his hair for about thirty seconds.  He picked up his phone and re-checked his text messages while pacing back and forth accross the room.  Suddenly, his phone rang.

Barely glancing at me, he strode into his bedroom, "I have to take this."  I sat on the couch.  It was a sick twist on our exam-forgetting session, school definitely wasn't on either of our minds.  It was hard to believe that his roommate, someone indirectly close to me had DIED.  I felt horrible, like someone had numbed me.  It was a unique feeling; I had never felt like this before. 

"her?  Okay," I heard as Sean's voice was no longer muffled by the opening door.  He returned to the room and looked at me.

"We need to go," he said, pulling on his coat and shoes and grabbing his wallet and keys.  I looked up at him questioningly, "What?"  

He handed me my coat, anxiously glancing at his watch.

"We need to go,"  he said, again.  I frowned.  We couldn't go anywhere and we didn't need to.  A few student killings didn't mean that we had to go out and do things, even if one of the dead was his roommates.  I looked at his tense face and impatient expression.

"Sean...what are you talking about.   If you need to go somewhere, that's fine.  I can always just wa-"

"No, seriously.  You need to come.  I'll explain on the way. We're both in danger,"  he said hurriedly, his hand on the door.  The once perfect Sean was acting a little crazy.  I knew there had to be something wrong with him, but  I didn't think it meant that he was really delusional.

"Sean, just because there were a few student killings, doesn't mean that one of us will die,"  I said, frowning.  Sean sighed and began to open his mouth when his phone rang again.  He looked at me and returned to his dorm room, shutting the exit door.  I could hear his muffled conversation.

"private detail....yeah....this happened....killings...no....I'll be here....break...increase...ok....they'll be together....vulnerable.....right...ok"

He re-entered the room, a slightly apologetic look on his face.  "Sorry, Lena, I think I'm going to have to cancel on our non-stress date.  This whole episode has got me going a little nuts.  Robert and I were really close and I need to talk to his family and the headmaster and stuff,"  he said.

I released a mental sigh of relief.  "So...what now?"

"I'll walk you back to your dorm and then I have a few things to take care of.  I probably won't see you until after vacation sweetheart, sorry,"  he answered.  Even in a situation like this, when he called me sweetheart I melted on the inside.  

We left his dorm room and the walk back to my campus was unusually quiet.  I wanted to give Sean some space and some time to recover from Peter's death.  He seemed to be taking it particularly hard, his expression was closed and he seemed to be focusing on specific things.  When we reached my dorm, he cupped my face with his hands. 

"Stay safe and keep in touch please," he said, a worried look in his eyes.  I nodded, "of course, Sean.  Are you alright?"  What a stupid question to ask.  of course he wasn't.

He laughed morosely, "not particularly, I'll see you later."  He gave me a hug and a quick kiss on the forehead before turning around and walking back towards his campus.  I sighed and watched his retreating back disappear behind buildings and people.

 What a way to begin exam week.