Week 4: Taking Risks

The music was loud, but that was to be expected. There were still a few weeks until Midterms, so my friend group had decided that Friday that we would head out to Rooster Shot, the local student dance club. Olivia and Carisse were both out, along with another dozen or so people in our varied circle, and I’d danced dirtier than I ever had before with both of them though nothing untoward happened.

Most of my night, however, was dominated by Amber. We danced, we bought each other drinks, we went out for air together. A couple of my buddies, and three of the girls not in the class, surreptitiously asked me if we were dating. I told them no, though I added an ‘at least not yet’ to the guys that had them grinning and slapping my back.

“Hey,” Amber said, coming back over to me and a few of the others carrying a beer in both hands. She handed me one and, seeing no place to sit around the table we’d occupied on the ‘quiet’ side of the bar, she pivoted and sat on my lap, grinning as I helped pull her across a little more so she had a secure seat.

“Thank you,” I said and tapped plastic cups with her before we both took a swig of the amber ****.

Amber leaned into me a little, cupping her hand close to my ear as if she was saying something to me over the music but all she did was suck on my earlobe, making me flinch and little and snort a laugh.

“Hey you two,” Carisse said, coming over from the direction of the dance floor and leaning over so she was sort of blocking the view of the rest of our friends at the table. She lowered her voice a bit. “Do you guys want to come over to my place at the end of the night, get some studying in?”

I raised my eyebrows - so far Carisse hadn’t been partnered with us in class.

“Sure,” Amber said with a bright smile, glancing at me. I nodded.

“Sweet,” Carissa said. “Come find me when you’re done with those drinks. You know what Sinclair says; Arousal starts early, so let’s get some more dancing in.”

I was having another threesome outside of class. And this time with sexy as fuck Carisse and her bodacious volleyball ass.

“You’re OK I said yes, right?” Amber asked. “I-”

“Yes,” I interrupted her. “Absolutely yes.”

“Good,” she grinned. “I’m looking forward to later.”

“Me too,” I chuckled. “Me fucking too.”

I set the binder down, letting out a huff of frustration.

“What is it?” Amber asked.

“Just… class stuff,” I sighed. Mindfulness seemed like it should have been easy, but I didn’t even have a clue if I was getting close or not.

“Which class?” Amber asked. “Maybe I know someone who took it, see if they can give you some insight.”

“It’s technically a non-credited research class,” I said. “Garringer thinks I should do a Thesis course next year.”

“Whaaat,” Amber said, looking hurt. “I thought we were in this together?”

“We are,” I said. “I swear. This is pretty much a bunch of extra shit that I feel like I don’t have time for, and I don’t know if it will even go anywhere. If he does decide to open up a Thesis class, I’m telling him about your ASMR and Sexuality theories and will tell him he should be your supervisor too.”

“Aww,” Amber crooned, giving me a happy-sad face. “Thank you, babe.”

“You are more than welcome,” I said.

Eric and Susanna had both left us after our Psych 3000 study group in the library, and we’d both pivoted to other classes as we made use of the space before our scheduled time ran out. When another group showed up looking to take over the room, we packed up our stuff and headed out.

I opened the main library door for Amber and she gave me a smile as she went through, then waited for me to follow before looping her arm through mine as we went down the stairs.

“Hey. Amber,” I said, feeling my words trying to stick in my throat, which was kind of ridiculous considering we were fucking pretty much every other day. “Do you want to go out on Thursday after class?”

Amber stopped, looking up at me with a raised eyebrow. “Like… go out, go out?”

I could feel the ‘we’re just study buddies’ or something like it coming, but I nutted up. “Yeah,” I said. “I was thinking of dinner and then we could go to that Gallery the Art department is putting on this week.”

“That sounds awesome,” Amber said, biting her lip cutely as she grinned up at me. “It’s a date.”