Is there anything else you want to eat?

“Is there―”

There is a loud knocking at the door that makes both you and Alice turn your heads.

“I’ll get it,” she says, walking fast out of the kitchen.

What was I thinking there! Alice thinks to herself, eyes wide. Is there anything else you want to eat? She felt her insides tense at the words that had almost left her mouth just now. What was that supposed to mean? She could feel her face felt like it was on fire right now.

The knocking at the door started again.

“Coming!” she says, moving fast out to the living room.

Alice opened the door, surprising Kathrine and herself into stunned silence. There’s a long pause as the two women collect themselves, exchanging dazed looks.

“Hey, uhh,” Alice says, stiff as a board, “Kamila?”

“Hi Alice,” Kathrine replies, “it’s Kathrine,” stiff as a two by four.

“What are you doing here?” Alice asks, glancing around behind Kathrine suspiciously.

“My brother lives here?” Kathrine replies, looking around behind Alice at the inside of John’s apartment just as confused.

“Oh, yeah,” Alice replies with a **** laugh, “right.”

“And what exactly are you doing in his apartment?” Kathrine askes, “and where is he?”

“Oh hey Kathrine, how’s it hanging?” you ask, standing up and feeling the chicken noodle soup sloshing around inside your belly.

“Hey, John,” Kathrine says, leaning past Alice at the door to give you a look, “where were you today at lunch?”

“I slept in,” you reply, dropping down on your couch, gut sloshing again, “come in, come in.”

Alice gives you a deferential nod and holds the door for Kathrine.

“What do you mean you―” Kathrine halts half way across the living room as if struck. She is hit with a terrible case of vertigo and her head full of the musky smell of something noxiously sweet, earthy, and alluring.

Alice meanwhile sits down on the couch opposite you.

Kathrine’s nose twitches once or twice, and then she looks at Alice. There’s a moment of wordless communication between the two women in your apartment.

“What’s up?” you ask as Kathrine shuffles and drops down next to you on the couch, blinking.

“You just didn’t go to class today?”

“Well,” you say, scratching your still wet hair, “I had a bit of an accident while working in the archives last night, and didn’t wake up from my alarm clock this morning.”

“Oh?” Kathrine says, full on glaring at Alice, “what kind of accident?”

You see Alice bristle at Kathrine’s gaze, her own eyes flicking from the floor to you and back again.

“I fell off a ladder,” you say flatly, belly full of soup, “I’m feeling much better now though.”

“You fell off a ladder,” repeats Kathrine, searching your face for details, “and just slept it off?”

“Yep,” you say and give a little burp.

“Sure,” Kathrine says, sighing.

“And Alice was kind enough to give me a ride afterwards,” you add, hazarding a smile, “and come back and check on me too.”

“I see,” Kathrine replies, her face becoming redder, and her chest rising and falling faster, “but, ah,”

“But?” you reply, noticing that she’s looking increasingly unfocused, her chest rising and falling faster.

“So, uh, John,” Alice interjects, forcing a smile, “did you ever tell me your sister was going to Poly State?”

You shrug your shoulders, “don’t think so,” you sigh and then look at Kathrine, “sorry that you never came up in conversation.”

“No complaints,” Kathrine says, looking down at the ground, face red.

“Are you doing alright, by the way?” you ask, scratching your face.

“What do you mean?” Kathrine asks, eyebrows furrowed but eyes increasingly unfocused.

“I dunno,” you reply, “your face is super red right now.”

Kathrine mumbles something under her breath.

“What?” you ask.

“I―” Kathrine starts and then, and then pauses to breathe, “don’t take this the wrong way, but it smells really rich in here?”

“Rich?” you ask, cocking an eyebrow.

“Yeah,” Kathrine replies, “like, do you mind, if I open a window?”

“No,” you answer.

“Please,” adds Alice. You give Alice a look, and she gives you a little apologetic shrug.

Kathrine, feeling increasingly lightheaded, went to the living room window and slid it open, getting a single breath of fresh air before the musky smell invaded her nose again.

“Is it really that bad in here?” you ask, watching Kathrine suck in fresh air like her life depends on it.

“It’s just a little stale, you know?” smiles Alice.

Kathrine wandered into the kitchen room and repeated the step, opening the window, sucking in another breath of fresh outside air.

She goes to open your bedroom door, and is hit by the smell so hard it makes her flinch backwards. Her head is dizzy, and her stomach hot. She blinks and looks to the window in your room, cracked open just enough to let in a little air. The heat in her stomach is spreading fast, and she forces herself into the bedroom, holding her breath the whole while, until she can throw the window wide open.

She breathes again, doing her best to only do it through her nose, but she catches a whiff of something different and unfamiliar. Not the earthy smell that permeates the whole room, but one that she can’t quite place, something like ammonia or squid perhaps. She sniffs the air, her knees growing weak, following it without knowing it, zeroing in towards your hamper.

She feels her mouth start to salivate, her insides pulsing in an unfamiliar way, one which is at once calming and exciting.

“Are you good in here?” you call from the living room, finally brings her back to the mortal realm, and she hurries out to the less fragrant air of the living room and sits down on the couch beside you, trying to compose herself.

“Was it really that bad?” you ask, watching her staring at the floor.

“What?” Kathrine asks.

“Was it really that bad?” you repeat, stretching your arms over your head, suddenly feeling very tired.

“Was what?” Kathrine replies, blinking at you.

“My room?” you ask.

Kathrine stares at you a long second, face red, chest still animatedly heaving.

“Yeah,” Kathrine finally offers, “you should really clean up in there.”

“Noted,” you sigh, leaning back, inadvertently making the bulge in your shorts even more painfully prominent. Kathrine and Alice both avert their eyes and quietly gulp.

“So what are you up to today?” Alice finally asks, eyes locked on your face.

“Eh,” you say, “I’m still not great yet so probably hang out, take it easy, you know?”

“Sure,” Alice says.

“What are you up to today?” you ask.

“Oh! I’m―”

“I have readings for class to do.” Alice and Kathrine answer you simultaneously and then look at each other.

“It’s Friday,” you reply to Kathrine, an eyebrow cocked.

“And midterms are in a few weeks,” Kathrine shots back at you, “what’s your point?”

You shrug defensively and then look at Alice, whose lips are pursed in a pout.

“Uh,” you start, “and what are you doing today?”

“I’m going to go home and enjoy the weekend,” Alice replies with a huff, “and you should too.”

“Oh?” you ask.

“Yeah, no more archives until the start of the next week,” Alice says, looking at the floor with a soft smile.

“Well thanks,” you reply. You feel Kathrine’s eyes boring into you for some reason.

“Least I can do,” Alice says, glancing at Katherine and then back at you, “I’m glad to see that you’re, uh, doing better.”

“Thanks for heating the soup up,” you reply.

“No problem,” Alice replies and stands, “let me just grab my bag and I’ll be going now.”

“Me too,” Kathrine says, shakily getting up from the couch, “studying won’t do itself.”

“Alright,” you say while standing, feeling the soup sloshing around in your stomach once more, “I’ll see you out.”

You walk Kathrine and Alice to the door of your dorm and wave them off, watching them walk down the stairs one after the other through the peephole for a moment before yawning hard.

“Ah man,” you say, fighting down another yawn, “I’m already tired again?”

You walk into the kitchen, picking up your bowl and spoon, and the soup pot and putting them in the dishwasher, before moseying into your room. You pause, suddenly cold, and close your bedroom window.

Even if it may stink in here, that’s no reason to freeze yourself you think and then look at your inviting bed. You weigh the cost and benefit of hitting the hay already. You know you probably could go out tonight and hit the town on a Friday night, maybe even hit a home run and get lucky, but do you really want to that in this state? Your legs are heavy, your body still sore in places, but your cock is still awkwardly throbbing in your pants, the impromptu pad of toilet paper nearly soaked through. You stroke your chin, gazing at your closet, and then out the window at the afternoon light.