Miss XXX-pendable♡

Ch. 1: The Morning After

Sometimes life really isn't what you expect it to be. Opening up with a cliché no-brainer like that is to be expected, but the quote in and of itself is profoundly and utterly true. 

That's the kind of shit that runs through your head at 6 am in the bedroom of a stranger- no, not a stranger, more like a boy you met at a party once upon a time and will irregularly hit you up during ungodly hours of the night. Tonight he chose 4 am, and like a fish on a line, I answered his text for a well-past midnight tryst. 

"Do you need this?" he asked me, holding out a towel. He was naked and glistening with beads of sweat, glorious tokens of our love-making. 

"No," I replied quietly as I watched him clamber into his bed and turn off his desk lamp. He yawned and looked out his window, the sky slowly turning from purple to some kind of peach glow. 

"I really should be going to sleep," he said mid-yawn, "I have a genetics class at 10 am." 

I have a 4-hour lab starting at 7:45 am but I didn't say anything. He wouldn't have cared anyway. Yet, my feet remained planted in his room. I was standing like an idiot and half-expecting him to walk me out to his hall or even drive me back to my dorm like he used to after his earlier rendezvous with me.  But he didn't, and after I started hearing the muffled snores emitting from the rising and falling lump under his comforter, I sighed and walked towards the door. As I turned the knob, I looked back at him for what could very well be the last time before he forgets about me and moves on to the next one. 

The golden glow from the rising sun found my raw, bare skin when I emerged from his building. I decided to just wear shorts and a tank to his place; I thought he'd find me sexy and then after the sex, suggest for me to borrow one of his sweaters because it would be cold outside at 6 in the fuckin' morning.... but no. 

Lonely girls like me can only be lonely and restless for so long, and the one-mile trek back to my dorm in the bitter morning mist reinforced my perpetual and insatiable desire to simply be held. By the time I got back it was nearly 7:10. One of my roommates was already up and getting ready for the day... we have the same 7:45 lab.

"Hey Stacey," my roommate, Elizabeth, whispered while I walked into the dark room. Our other roommate Melissa was still sound asleep. Sometimes I envied communication majors; they didn't have a demanding workload and their classes were lax as fuck. They couldn't fathom the stress that science majors like Elizabeth and me have to go through. 

"Were you studying? I didn't see you in your bed when I woke up," she asked me while I hopped into my bed and caressed the tantalizing quilt I bought at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. 

"Yeah," I replied weakly. "I, uh, I was studying." I didn't want to tell her I totally threw my dignity out the window and answered a horny upperclassman's text to come over, a guy who hasn't talked to me in months so I simply had to hop on this opportunity. 

"Well I'm about to go get some coffee before lab. I'm going early to ask Dr. Howard about what grade I have to get on this practicum to get an A or B+ in his class. Do you wanna come so we can walk together?" 

My head was spinning and I honestly just wanted to pass out on my quilt. I didn't want to deal with a 4-hour lab right now. "Um," I struggled to sit upright to give Elizabeth the respect she deserves while speaking to her. "Actually, I'm gonna take a quick 15 minute nap right now. I'll meet you in class though."

"Do you want me to wait for you?"

"Oh no, it's ok I'll be fine! I'll just catch up to you in a bit." I set my phone alarm to vibrate at 7:30. 

"Ok," Elizabeth said before she walked out the door, a slight tinge of sympathy and concern in her  voice. "See you in a bit." 

..... 

I woke up with a jerk and looked wildly around the room. The sun was fully up by now, bathing the room in it's daylight, and Melissa was no longer asleep in her bed. Shit, what time is it.... I grab my phone from under my pillow and gasp. It was 1:46 pm. 

The door opened. 

"Oh my god, you're finally awake," Elizabeth said upon walking in. "I thought you were like sick or something, I was going to call the campus nurse. Are you ok, you missed lab and you were completely knocked out when Melissa and I tried to wake you up." 

"I'm fine, just tired," I muttered. Then my heart sank. I missed lab. I missed lab. Oh my fuckin' God, I missed lab. 

"The practicum!" I leaped out of bed and start to pace the room. "Fuck, I skipped the practicum, oh my God." My numb fingers found my scalp and raked through my hair. "It was worth 70% of our final grade."

Elizabeth looked terribly uncomfortable, as if she didn't know whether to lie to me by comforting me and telling me everything's going to be fine... or if she should just tell me the truth and that I'm pretty much fucked in the ass. 

"I texted and called you, Stace..." her voice trailed off. "I'm sorry. I don't know what to say...." 

"It's fine," I took a deep breath. "I'll talk to Dr. Howard about it. I'm pretty sure he won't throw my grades under the bus, I mean, he's a mild-mannered and reasonable guy right?"

To the same God who allowed me to fall prey into the snares of a fuckboy, I hope so.