9.6: Lust and Intrigue

NOTE: There are a few references, pixelated Sim nudity, some slight "bad" word usage, you know.

   "Now don't think just because we're roomies we can do sunrise yoga together. The class is strictly for my sorority."

   "All I said was thanks for showing me where the gym was…" I paused, wanting to add how wit technically wasn't her sorority, because he technically wasn't in it, but I refrained. 

   "Well you were thinking it!" She pouted, having to be the one who was correct. I didn't bother informing her that I was not, in fact, obsessed with being her BFF sorority sista, like she seemed to believe. "Now, second floor is yoga and treadmills, first is the desk, just have them scan your student ID- it works like a membership- and a few machines, basement is showers, third is the track. Now leave me alone!"

   "Fine." I grumbled, wandering off to the desk to have my ID scanned. "Good morning." I murmured to the attendant, who was rather thin, tall, with silky black hair down to her tailbone. 

   "Ello, come for a program or just a general workout?"

   "General workout."

   "Alrighty, I'll scan ya in." I must have looked puzzled, because she elaborated. "We keep track off how many people attend each class, or are just going for their own purposes, so that way we know what's popular and what we need more of."

   "That's neat."

   "Yep, is this your first time here?"

    "Yeah, I'm a newbie freshman who wanted to explore the campus." I shrugged. "How long does it take you to memorize it?"

   "Took me until November, but I'm horrid at memorization. This is only the second week of the semester; I'd say another two weeks, you'll have it."

   "Ah, thanks." I smiled, then glanced around at the crowded first floor. I wasn't a gym rat; I hadn't ever used a treadmill or weights machine or elliptical, so if I was going to make a fool of myself, I wanted to do it around the least amount of people possible, therefore I decided to head up to the second floor. 

   I slowly walked up the stairs, glad to see that the second floor was much emptier, provided you disregarded the yoga class. Treadmills didn't seem too difficult to use. Press the on button, pick your elevation, pick your speed, press go. I climbed onto the one closest to me, used the default settings, an began running.

   There was something surreal about  stationary running. You were going so far, yet stayed in the same place. It was a bit like the public education system, you could move ahead, be the best in your class, but unless you were in honors courses or AP, no one cared, you were the best regular kid or the best dumb kid, but you were still with the dumbs and the regulars. My thoughts turned from my school to my brother's.

   Anderson excelled at preschool, according to Delilah. He could already count to twenty-six and name nine colors- black, purple, pink, blue, green, yellow, orange, red, and white. When he was handed the phone, he sang the cleanup song over and over and over, he said he had friends, two to be exact, Celeste and Benedict, and that they painted together. Tomorrow the class was going on their very first field trip, to the zoo. He was enjoying himself and I was thankful for that, we both loved school.

   "This is easy." I murmured to myself, deciding to speed up the machine. I hit the button a few time, feeling the increase. This was fast, maybe a little too- "Gah!" I screeched, my cheeks turned bright crimson. I'd fallen down, luckily nobody seemed to notice, except for the shirtless man in the corner who was snickering. I rolled my eyes, ignoring him, and climbing back onto the treadmill.

   "I hope yore better at maths than you are at exercise." I hear him call out.

   "I'm afraid not." I said. That was an odd statement.

   "That'll mean a lot of work for me." He sighed. 

   "Huh?" I kept jogging, waiting for an explanation.

   "Aren't you Phoebe from the math study group?"

   "Yeah..." How did he know that, we hadn't met yet. "Who are you and how do you know my name?"

   "Asher and I looked at your ID. I remembered your name from the sign up sheet, there was only one spot left and luckily I nabbed it, and figured Phoebe Janes couldn't be that common of a name. Also, we have maths together, along with the rest of study group, which meets tomorrow."

   "You're observant."

   "And you're attractive, lucky for me, so study group should be okay. At least my eyes will have something nice to as I want to stab my brain with a pencil and the overpriced math book."

   "Wait... What? Attractive?" I smiled to myself, not sure I'd fully comprehended the first part of his sentence. 

   "I thought we were stating the obvious." He shrugged. "I'm observant, you're butt's great, we're both bad at math."

   "I…" I wanted to feel offended and joyous at the same time. I'd very rarely received positive statements concerning my body from males, yet I didn't know him. A stranger had been staring at my low back. I turned off the treadmill and climbed off, turning to face him. "I…"

   "I know. I'm so hot I leave the hetero woman, homo men and whoever else is attracted to men speechless."

   "You're not at all vain." I sarcastically replied. He was attractive, his muscles were very defined, he had a cunning grin, and a direct approach that I couldn't determine if I appreciated or not.

   "I'm only like this when I'm trying to pickup woman."

   "You're trying to- me? I-I, sorry. I don't want a boyfriend."

   "And I don't want a girlfriend."

   "But you-" He, Asher, if that was his name, was rather befuddling. "Oh. Friends with benefits? Really? Me? You? Two strangers who just met? Are you really suggesting that?" I tried to sound cool as I blushed, hoping my virginess wasn't obvious. My mind turned to Xavier, he was a kind, sweet man, and I felt a certain degree of caring ness when I was around him, around he man is just met, Asher, there seemed to be this wanting I didn't want to admit existed.

   "Think about it. That's all I'm saying... And not friends, really, study group members, more. The offer's open." 

   "If I every become that type of girl, I'll let you know." He smiled, about to turn around, before I thought of something. "Just because we're in study group you asked?"

   "I picked a study group girl because it was my first time trying I convince a hookup. I figured might as well pick one who cared about we education."

   "Got it…" He left, leaving me pondering the offer. I'd never considered myself to ever, ever do something like that. It would be oddly casual, where was the commitment? The romance? I wanted something grand and glorious, not whatever Asher, from the gym had to offer. I felt an odd feeling, as I glanced at him using the weight machine, sweat glistening off his abs, his rock hard abs, his silken hair, his- Perhaps it wouldn't be so odd; this weird feeling, this overwhelming horny lust, needed to be satisfied.

______________

   "So, are we all here?" A girl wearing glasses asked, I think her name was Yasmin.

   "I think so." A guy, Ross, with ridiculous facial hair replied.

   "Good! I just want to get started." Claire Hannibal exclaimed. Claire was the leader of the group, I decided. She was trying to keep us all together, on track. We'd had our first quiz, an unexpected pop quiz, today and I was feeling rather nervous about it. "So how does everyone feel about the quiz? I think we should cover quadratics and finish the essay about how you solve and graph them together."

   "That was the bulk of the quiz." Asher interjected. "And the quiz was easy. Right, Phoebe?"

   "I…"

   "Ignore her guys, a side effect of y handsomeness is the freshman being speechless."

   "So you two have met, outside of class, I mean?" Yasmin asked. 

   "We chatted a bit, nothing much." I said. "So, first meeting, we only have five people?" I quickly altered the subject, not wanting to linger on the conversation I'd had with Asher.

   "Small's better." Claire said. 

    "That's what she said." Asher muttered.

"You're all freshman, right?" Ross asked. There was a chorus of yeses, which he greeted with a, "Dammit."

   "No foul language in study group!" Claire shrieked.

    "Chill, Clarissa." Yasmin rolled her eyes. 

   "Claire."

   "Sorry, chill Claire."

   "Now, on topic, what do you guys want to cover?" Claire repeated. "I think quadratics-"

   "We heard." Ross said. "I don't even know why I'm here; I was hoping for some older babes, but…" he sighed, looking at the over anxious, overly prepared, overused of day planners Claire, the plump, much more relaxed, glasses wearing Yasmin, and me, the quiet, nervous, blonde who just wanted to pass her math class. "What the hell, might as well stay."

   "Bad word!" Claire squealed.

   "What, hell? No it isn't."

   "Yes it is. Right?" She looked at Asher, Yasmin, and I for confirmation.

   "Dunno." I shrugged.

   "I agree with Phoebe." Yasmin said.

   "Hell, hell, H-E-double hockey sticks, hell." Asher shouted. "Everyone still alive?"

   "Wha-you-I-rules!" Claire, flustered couldn't complete her sentence. "We need to get things done."

   "I think we established that we can say hell without the world imploding. That's something." Yasmin interjected. 

   "Well, I have to get good grades! I'm not sure about you, but I like my full ride scholarship. Maybe you guys can afford to go to college and good off, but I care."

   "I care!" I glared at her; how dare she assume I didn't, just because we wanted I good of a bit.

   "Well, Phoebe, I wasn't talking to you, I was talking to Asher. I know his parents are dirt poor and he's only here because of a scholarship and his parents had to work two jobs each to fee him. He should care… Or maybe he doesn't give a hoot about his parents." Asher paled an called his fist. He looked like he wanted to explode, but he didn't, instead he calmly stood up, gathered up his belongings, and looked her dead in the eyes.

   "My family's financial situation isn't your business. Now, I have class to go to, isn't you, Yasmin, Phoebe, and Ross, as well?" We all nodded and stood up, leaving Claire sputtering behind.

   "Who is that girl?" I asked, once we were out of the library and standing by the fountain. 

   "My dad is friends with her's, so we kinda grew up around each other. She's an overthinking, filterless person, but not a bad person. She just thinks belittling people will make them do what she wants."

   "Phft." Yasmin snorted. "This time it obviously didn't. Now I dunno about you guys, but I don't have any classes, wanna go do something? Go study someplace else?"

   "Sure. Minus the study part." Ross said.

   "We could go to the pool. Skinny dipping is always entertaining." Asher smirked, glancing at me. "What?"

   "The pool's closed. And really? Skinny dipping? Are you that desperate to see me naked?"

   "You're attractive." He answered, not denying, or explicitly confirming anything.

   "I…" I blushed once more.

   "I vote we go to the pool." Ross interrupted. 

   "Might as well." Yasmin shrugged.

______________

   "The pool is closed." I sighed, as Yasmin, Asher, and Ross stood befuddled, looking at the no trespassing sign. "Remember? I said that."

   "Eh." Yasmin shrugged. "It's only closed so the college has their butts covered in case someone drowns without the lifeguard on duty." 

   "I vote we swim anyway." Ross said. 

   "Alright, if you can find a way in." I gestured to the brick wall, feeling butterflies in the pit of my stomach. I'd never gone skinny dipping, not had I ever seen another person without clothes on. I wanted to be spontaneous and take chances, but at the same time, I'd have a fairly modest, if not borderline conservative, upbringing.

   "Hey look at that gate!" Asher exclaimed, pointing at the rusty metal gate, that was locked. "Bet I can jump it."

   "I know I can." Ross puffed out his chest, as if to prove he wasn't bluffing. He stood back a little and began running, barely able to jump it, even though it wasn't that high. "See?"

   "Unlock it." I asked, as he complied. The three of us who hadn't jumped filed in after him, as he stripped, leaving his clothes in a pile, before shouting cannonball and jumping into the water. I tried to avoid looking at his, ehem, lower parts, but I caught a glance, feeling my face flush. The first time I'd seen the thing outside of a  textbook in sex ed. Asher followed suit, as Yasmin stood, looking from him to Ross.

   "I think I'm going to hookup with Ross."

   "What?!" I exclaimed, looking at her, as she pulled off her sweater.

   "He's got that new age, skater boy, hot thing going on. It's appealing. Now are you going to strip or what? C'mon, have fun, let loose." She smiled, as she climbed into water, baring all.

   I looked down at my feet, Asher's clothes were to my left. Hm... This would be spontaneous. I discreetly bent down, picking them up, then I began walking towards the archway that led to the showers and vending machines.

   "Hey! Phoebe's got my clothes." I heard him yell, as I took off running. I heard him running after me, streaking. I glanced back and started laughing; he was hot and he was hilarious, trying to catch me. I stopped once I'd reached the building and smiled, triumphantly, as I dropped his clothes onto the floor.

   "Is this part of your plan to separate me from the group and seduce me?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. "Because if so, kudos."

   "It isn't." I smirked. "But I though about your deal and, I suppose maybe-"

   "Ohhhh! Babbbyy!" A groan from the pool interrupted me. 

   "Are Yasmin and Ross-?" I began to ask, glad when Asher interrupted me so I didn't have to finish.

   "It appears so."

   "I'm going to c-"

   "Oh gawd." I rolled my eyes, feeling embarrassed for the two of them. 

   "So..." Asher paused, looking me in the eye. "What were you going to say?"

   "I, I, nothing." I was going to tell him how I was a hormonal, virgin mess who wanted to let loose and maybe hookup with a stranger, however after the groans from my other study group members, I didn't feel like proposing we do such a thing in such a public place. Perhaps later; there would always be later, wouldn't there be? "Just, uh, I think, maybe I am, you know, that type of girl."

   "Really?" His face lite up, then he quickly tried to act nonchalant. "Alright, cool. Also, I'm sorry if I came off as a jerk at the gym. Afterwards, I realized how rude the whole encounter must have seemed."

   "Don't worry." I smiled, glancing at my feet, my eyes straying towards him. Apparently I'd gotten his hopes up. "Er, I think I should go."

   "Study group tomorrow?" 

   "Sure." I shrugged, keeping my gaze upwards, towards the very fascinating signage that stated the rules. "Goodbye." Was I in lust or just excitement from this new sensation? Was it Asher or just the fact a guy was interested? Thoughts swirled through my mind, as I walked away towards my dorm... I had wanted to let loose at college, forget about the past for a bit...