Honey Drip // Danny Wagner

IV

In the morning all I wanted was to stay in bed for possibly an eternity, but my alarm rang from underneath my pillow, jolting me awake. I sat up, turning off the alarms with my eyes still half-shut, and forced myself to get out of bed. Danny stirred but didn't wake and, before I went into the bathroom, I tried to remember the image of him face down and sprawled out on my bed, tan muscles and dark hair floating atop my sheets.

I only rinsed myself off, taking a few extra seconds to rub myself down with soap, and then quickly tried to throw on some makeup, all in an effort to make my still-flushed and slightly puffy face less so.

As I got dressed Danny stretched and then propped himself up, sleepily looking around the room. He sat up when his eyes landed on me, crossing his legs in front of him, and rubbed his eyes.

"Good morning," he mumbled.

"Morning," I replied, tugging on a pair of jeans. "How'd you sleep?"

"Well, I was very warm."

I laughed. "Tell me about it. You're seriously a furnace."

Danny looked up at me. "You have class?"

"Josh and me, yeah. I don't know why I ever thought an 8 am lit class would be okay," I said and turned to look in the mirror, letting my hair down and running my fingers through it. "Danny, just do me a favor and lock the door when you leave. You guys can all stay as long as you want."

He smiled but laid back down. "Have fun."

In the living area Jake was still on the couch but he had ended up face up, his mouth open and the blanket huddled around his chest and arms, his feet bare with his legs tucked in. Sam had migrated to the other end of the couch, looking quite peaceful with his cheek cradled in his hand, long, dark lashes laid out beneath his closed eyes.

I nudged Josh's shoulder. He tried to turn away, clutching the blanket tighter, so I nudged him again, his whole body curled up on the chair.

"Gotta get up," I said. "We have to go soon."

He groaned and then yawned. "Sleep," he muttered.

I sighed. "I'll buy you coffee."

Josh turned to face me, barely opening his eyes. "Not library coffee."

I rolled my eyes. "Fine, not library coffee. Come on."

He got up but still held the blanket around his shoulders. He looked at his brothers then back at me and asked, "Is Danny still here?"

"He went back to sleep."

Josh giggled and I rolled my eyes again.

With both of our Starbucks coffees in hand, Josh and I headed off to our respective classes. I adjusted my backpack over my shoulder, the weight of all the novels and books of poetry making it almost unbearable, and struggled to take a sip from the Styrofoam cup.

"What's going on with you two now?" Josh asked as we walked.

"Who?" I replied, thinking about the paper I still hadn't finished.

"You and Danny."

"Oh. Well, nothing."

"Nothing?"

"Well, we had sex, if that's what--"

"I gathered that much, but did you guys talk?"

"About what?"

"You know--your feelings."

I shot Josh a glaring look but then softened. "There's nothing to say right now," I told him. "I wanted to ask about Alexis but that seemed--needy."

"But you're jealous?"

"God, Josh, it's a little early."

Josh left it at that and I was grateful--my head was pounding a little from dehydration, my body was sore from sex, and I couldn't spend another day getting distracted by Danny. Our walk together ended inside the liberal arts building, with Josh having to walk to the very back and up to the third floor, while I had to stay on the first floor.

"When's your break?" I asked Josh as we began to split up.

"11:30," he replied, walking backwards.

"Meet in the library?"

Josh shot me a finger gun and grinned in response.

When I got back home around 1:30, the door was unlocked. I sighed as I turned the knob, expecting my apartment to have been looted, but nothing was amiss. Instead, Danny was at the coffee table holding a plastic grocery bag and putting empty beer cans inside of it.

"You're still here," I said, resting my backpack on the small table that sat outside the line of kitchen tiles. "I'm glad--I thought I was going to walk in and see my TV gone."

Danny laughed. "Yeah, no, I uh, slept in pretty late so I figured I'd clean."

I bent over to pick up a stray beer can from the floor and popped it in the bag. "And I take it Sam and Jake didn't stick around to help?"

"Jake's excuse was that he bought the beer," Danny said. "Sam--well, he didn't have an excuse."

"You really didn't have to do this," I said. "But thank you."

"It's the least I could do after probably ruining your sheets," he replied, picking up a can that was left on the coffee table, walking to the kitchen sink and dumping out its remains. "From uh, sweating so much."

"Speaking of, did you shower?"

"No, actually, can't you tell?"

I laughed. "If you want, you can shower here and then we can go get lunch. Or dinner, whichever seems more appropriate."

He paused in the kitchen, the bag still in his hand, then asked, "Did you finish that paper?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I did."

Danny shrugged. "Okay."

I always loved driving with Danny--whether it was him or me behind the wheel, we almost always listened to Led Zeppelin while on the road. He and I had gone through the band's entire discography during our car rides alone and it never got old.

Danny flipped through my CD case and removed Led Zeppelin IV from its slip, sliding it into the car stereo, and Robert Plant's voice rang through the car.

Hey, hey mama said the way you move

Gonna make you sweat, gonna make you groove

I thought for a moment about that paper I had indeed technically finished, knowing I still needed to thoroughly proofread it before submitting it, then about the British literature paper I had to start. It felt never-ending--I couldn't blame Danny for not being into school.

"Wait," I said. "Didn't you have class today?

Danny took a second to answer. "I had a class at 11," he told me. "And one at 1:30."

Hey, hey baby, when you walk that way

Watch your honey drip, I can't keep away

"Why didn't you go?" I asked, trying to not sound accusatory.

"Honestly, I slept until like, 11:30 anyway," he said, looking out the window. "And then I just felt it was pointless."

I considered that before saying, "I get that. But I also feel like--if you don't wanna go, it's better to drop out than just fail."

He sighed. "I don't know what I wanna do yet."

"Well, you know you can always study with Josh and I," I said. "Or just me. I took the same lit class you're taking now. Feel free to use my notes."

Danny smiled a little and I felt my heart flip. "I might take you up on that."