Glass Jaw

Chapter 5

"I'm never doing this again," I grumbled as I peeled myself off the mattress and stretched.

The idea of communal showers had scared me enough to sneak into the bathrooms late at night so I could have privacy. It wasn't necessarily being naked around others with just a curtain to separate us that bothered me. If there was one thing I had become accustomed to at my Aunt and Uncle's, it was privacy. I hadn't had to worry that I was being too loud or obnoxious—well, that's not completely true. But in the shower at least, I was always truly alone. I could sing, cry, or act out my daydreams and no one knew or cared.

But of course, last night, my procrastination had taken over and I'd decided to wake up early instead.

The halls were quiet with everyone and the sun still asleep. I snuck to the farthest corner of the showers and pulled the curtain closed. As the hot water hit my skin, my sleep-stiffened muscles relaxed, and slowly, so did I.

I had just finished my second rendition of "Jump" by Kris Kross when the conditioner ran clear from my hair and footsteps caught my attention. Someone walked into the showers, whistling under their breath as they turned on the tap.

It wasn't until that moment that I realized it was a little bit about being naked around strangers.

In a flurry, I turned off my own water and snuck my arm out of the curtain. I patted around until I found my towel and clothes on the bench and snatched them up. I heard the stranger pull their curtain closed as I dried off and slipped my clothes on. Their whistling continued while I scurried to the mirror and brushed out my tangles as I tried to calm my heart. The deeper tone clearly belonged to a guy and I wanted to get away before he came out.

"I'm not going to barge out there naked if that's what you're rushing for," a voice filled with humor called over the curtain.

I paused for a moment and wondered if I'd just met my first mind reader. Well, the first one who'd outed themselves.

"Can you read my mind?" I challenged him without thinking first.

He laughed and then the curtain pulled back enough to reveal a soapy face. Dallas smirked at my surprise and said, "No. Dropping your brush three times was a decent tip-off that you wanted out of here."

The water that dripped from the tips of his auburn hair and trickled down to his shoulders distracted me and my eyes followed the water as it slid. I blinked rapidly to break from my perusal of his body and tried to focus on his words.

Apparently seeing a partially naked man was all it took for me to become a full-on creep.

"I have an early morning class?" I lied. My feet shifted nervously as we both clearly heard the tell-tale lift in my voice at the end.

"Whatever you say," Dallas laughed as he stepped back behind the curtain. "You've got about thirty seconds while I rinse to escape."

My attempt at a response came out as a jumbled mess, so I saved myself any more embarrassment and left quickly. The barest glimpse of Dallas's wet chest had almost made my throat close up completely. Any amount of butterflies I'd felt reading romantic books had not come close to being a few feet away from an actual naked man.

The jitters from my encounter with Dallas bounced around inside my stomach for most of the morning. Thankfully, the second helping of waffles I had in the cafeteria settled them before my first class.

I would be lying if I didn't say that a part of me registered for Geomorphology only because it was fun to say. I had to take a science course in my first year anyway and I liked the idea of natural sciences rather than the kind where something could explode if I made a mistake.