Afterglow (BWWM)

Chapter 17

I used to like Mondays.

They were predictable. A fresh start. This Monday was not one of those days.

My gaze roamed the University food court, which was crowded and noisy as usual, but it didn't bother me today. Not as much as the staring did.

It's been happening all day. Everywhere I went, I could feel their eyes on me. People I'd never me before, before were saying hi to me, or smiling as I passed by. I felt like I was in an alternate universe. I'd give anything to have my old predictable Mondays back where most people ignored my very existence and I didn't care. Sadly, thanks to my very public fiasco with Drew last Saturday, I suspected those days were long gone.

To make matters worse, Lindsay has been staring at me for the past twenty minutes. I wished she would just ask what she wanted to ask and get it over with, instead of studying me from across the table. 

I knew Lindsay suspected something was up. It was all over the school what happened at Franky's. Not to mention, I haven't exactly been myself lately. It was a testament to our friendship that Lindsay hadn't mentioned the sight of me changing and then washing my bed sheets. She knew after that  spider attack in our building's basement a few months back, I avoided using our laundry facility for as long as humanly possible, and I never went down there without backup. I knew she wanted to, but she didn't say anything about it. So neither did I.

So, here we were. In a silent battle of wills.

I dipped my fry in ketchup and took a bite, seriously rethinking my decision to meet my roommate for lunch. I had a hunch she invited me because she was hoping I'd talk. Too bad for her. I wasn't ready. Not when I didn't know how Drew would feel about me talking to my roommate about our sex life. What if he wanted it to be a secret so he could keep playing the field? I'd die if Drew found out I'd told and assumed I did it to brag about getting him in bed. Even though, many of the girls at this school would happily wear their experience with Drew like a badge of honor, I personally didn't see things that way. There meaning in sex. I would never use it as a status symbol.

Ugh, I didn't want to think about sex right now. I just wanted to eat my food, and be left alone. I didn't want to think about seeing Drew in class for the first time post-orgasm. I still didn't know how I would react when I saw him again. Should I hug him? Kiss him? Pretend like the other night never happened to prevent potentially embarrassing us both? I hated that he left without a word, pretty much ensuring out next meet up would be awkward.

"You have to talk to me eventually," Lindsay said, disrupting my thought chain. I was grateful for the interruption.

"I'm not, not talking to you." Using double negatives was my go-to way to confuse my ditzy roommate.

Lindsay made a sound of exasperation. "Don't give me that. You know what I mean," she said.

I sighed. "If I had something to tell you, I definitely wouldn't do it in the middle of the food court."

Lindsay gave me a dirty look.

Just then I heard distant giggling and it steadily grew louder and louder, piercing through the subtle rumbling of the food court. I turned toward the noise and reflexively rolled my eyes. Avery, Natalie, Sofia, and Olivia, Lindsay's cheerleading teammates, were headed in our general direction.

Please don't come this way. Please don't come this way.

As they got closer, Avery's blue eyes zeroed in on me with increasing interest and in that moment, I knew my pleas had fallen on deaf ears.