Midnight walk

For whatever reason, neither Mark nor Winter could get to sleep that night. They both tossed and turned a bit, unable to drift off into a peaceful sleep.

He had bunked in her dorm room this evening after their adventures in the spa and sauna room with Miranda. Something he was still elated about, certainly something that a few months ago, he thought would never ever happen.

Now he was snuggling with Winter, trying to get some sleep.

“Mark, are you still awake?” Winter quietly spoke, rubbing his bare chest.

Mark just made half of a groaning noise in response to her question. His body was exhausted but his mind was still too awake.

“I can’t sleep,” she whispered to him.

It turned out Winter was feeling the same way, unable to shut her mind off at night.

“Want to come for a walk with me?” she then asked him.

Mark sat up in the bed, grabbing his phone. He squinted at the bright screen seeing the time of 2:47am, “Winter, it’s almost 3 in the morning…”

“I know,” she said, still snuggling up to him, “But I think a little walk might help both of us get some sleep.”

He sighed, not sure he had anywhere near enough energy to get out of the bed. Despite that, Mark reluctantly got out of the bed with Winter, throwing on enough clothes to go for a walk.

As expected, the grounds were fairly empty at this time of night on a Thursday Night. Both in jumpers and track pants, they walked slowly, hands in pockets, surprised by just how nice it was outside at this time.

“Remember our first year here,” Winter said to him.

He nodded, “Of course, how could I forget.”

“Remember when I told you I was happy for you to get with any girl you liked except for Miranda?”

He chuckled, his mind going back to the multiple conversations they had about that issue. At the time, he didn’t know anything about their history, he really believed it was just a petty personal issue they created on the spot due to jealousy and competition.

“Isn’t it funny all this time later, we had a threesome with her,” she then added, “A fucking threesome?!”

“Oh my god Winter, if you told me that all that time ago, no way would I have believed you,” he laughed again.

She joined in, “Times change huh?”

“They sure do.”

They continued their walk, doing a minor lap around East Hall and the other nearby rooms around and small buildings around it. He was so tired that he wasn’t really thinking about creating conversation.

Catching him off guard, Winter through a pearler of a question at him.

“Can I ask if you’ve got a date for the prom?” she then asked him, certainly driving the bulk of the conversation.

What could he say, where was this going to go?

The answer was no but was she expecting him to ask her or could she be about to ask him herself, he pondered those questions as he prepared his answer.

“Can’t say I do yet,” he said, wording it carefully, “Why’s that? Have you got someone to go with?”

“Not trying to pressure you or anything,” she told him, “I thought maybe you would go with Tiffany considering you probably wouldn’t have a chance to do a college prom with her ever again.”

She raised a good point but in an interesting way. Mark couldn’t tell by the tone if that was Winter encouraging him to ask Tiffany to the prom or if she was just trying to work out his true feelings and intentions.

Mark sighed, “I don’t really know, to be honest, I haven’t thought about it a lot.

A lie.

Subconsciously, Mark had wondered quite a bit about who he would end up taking to the prom in a couple of weeks. The date was closing in quicker than ever and he still hadn’t decided what he was going to do.

“Maybe we should head back,” she then suggested, turning them back around.

He didn’t move, standing on the spot, looking at the concrete pathway below him.

“Are you mad at me?” Mark suddenly asked her.

She stopped too, trudging back to stand in front of him out in the courtyard, “Why would I be mad at you?”

“I just feel like you really want to go with me and because I haven’t given you an answer yet… I dunno… thought it might get on your nerve or something.”

This time, looking into her eyes, he realised she wasn’t really mad.

“You don’t have to… you don’t have to pick anyone if you don’t want to and if you pick someone else and on the night, you then change your mind… there’s always a free space on the dance floor next to me.”

He smiled, remembering just how considerate this girl was. She would continuously go out of her way to look after him, something he may take for granted at times.

“You are just something else,” he muttered to her.

Winter flashed him a smile as she leaned all the way in and kissed him softly on the lips. He returned that kiss, enjoying her full lips.

After all they had been through earlier that night, this was a different type of kiss. When they eventually broke away, he considered just asking her to the prom right there and then. But for whatever reason, he just couldn’t.

They went back to bed after their walk and this time fell straight to sleep, Winter in his arms.