me and I nod. I barely hear him because I am too focused on his glistening body in front of me. He rubs the white towel against his hair, leaving it sticking up all over his head, then wraps the towel around his waist. The towel hangs so low on his hips he looks like pure sex. It feels like the temperature in the bathroom has risen twenty degrees. Bending down to open a cabinet, he pulls out a hairbrush and places it into my hand.
“Come,” he says and I shake my head, trying to clear the dirty thoughts from my mind. We walk down the hall and turn the corner as a tall blond guy almost runs into me . . . I look up at his face and my bones chill.
“Haven’t seen you in a while,” he purrs and I feel nauseous.
“Hardin,” I squeak and he turns around; it takes him only a moment to remember this is the same guy who tried to make a move on me before.
“Get away from her, Neil,” he barks and Neil pales. He must not have seen Hardin before he turned the corner. His mistake.
“My bad, Scott,” he says and walks away.
“Thanks,” I whisper to Hardin. He wraps his hand over mine and unlocks his door.
“I should just beat the shit out of him, yeah?” Hardin says as I take a seat on the bed.
“No! You shouldn’t!” I beg. I can’t tell if he is serious, but I don’t want to find out. He grabs the remote off his dresser and switches the television on before opening the drawer and tossing me a T-shirt and a pair of boxers.
I remove my jeans and pull the boxers on, rolling them a few times at the top.
“Could I maybe wear the shirt you wore today?” I don’t realize how weird it sounds until the words are out.
“What?” He grins.
“I . . . well . . . never mind. I don’t know what I was saying,” I lie. I want to wear your dirty shirt because it smells good? That sounds strange and crazy. He chuckles and picks the shirt off the floor and walks over to me.
“Here, babe,” he says and hands it to me. I am glad he didn’t embarrass me further, but I still feel a little silly.
“Thanks,” I chirp and pull my own shirt off and remove my bra, then slip his shirt on. I inhale and find it smells just as amazing as I knew it would.
Catching this, his eyes soften as he looks at me. “You are beautiful,” he says and looks away. I get the feeling he didn’t mean to say the words out loud, which makes my heart swell even more. I smile at him and take a step toward him.
“So are you.”
“Enough of that,” he says with a laugh as his cheeks flush. “What time do you need to be up in the morning?” he asks and sits on the bed, browsing through the channels.
“Five, but I will set my own alarm.”
“Five? Five in the morning? Your first class is at what, nine? Why do you get up so early?”
“I don’t know, just to be prepared, I guess?” I rake the hairbrush through my hair.
“Well, let’s get up at seven; my body doesn’t function before seven,” he tells me and I groan. Hardin and I are so different.
“Six thirty?” I try to compromise.
“Fine, six thirty,” he agrees.
We spend the rest of the evening watching random television shows before Hardin falls asleep with his head on my lap, my fingers running through his hair. I slide down and lie next to him, trying not to wake him.
“Tess?” He groans and his hands move in front of him as if he is reaching for me.
“Here,” I whisper from behind him. He turns to his other side and wraps his arm around me before falling back to sleep. He says that he sleeps better when I am around, and I think that’s true for me as well.
THE NEXT MORNING, my alarm goes off at six thirty and I rush around to try to put yesterday’s clothes on and get Hardin up and dressed. He’s so hard to wake up. I feel flustered and unprepared, but we make it to my room by seven fifteen, giving me plenty of time to change and brush my hair and teeth again. Steph sleeps through it all, and I prevent Hardin from pouring a glass of water on her head to wake