Laundry

It is, by the smell of your sheets, about time you did your laundry.

You’ve never done it at college before, and truth be told, it was usually your parents that did it back at home (well, except for the times when you’d made certain… messes, and needed to remove evidence of them). So, you decide to head over to the laundry room first to check it out.

The machines turn out to be pretty simple to use—a cursory examination of the knobs tells you everything you need to know, and you suddenly feel a little silly for not just bringing your sheets with you. After a quick trip to your room and back, you drop your bedsheets into the tank, plop in some quarters, and start up the washing machine. A minute later, you repeat the move with your hamper full of dirty clothes.

Right as you’re about to head out, you spot a dark-haired girl curled up in a chair by the back, watching something on her laptop.

“Hey Jennifer,” you say, and she jumps a little in her seat, before she hurriedly pauses her video and pulls out her earbuds.

“Oh! Um.. hey Alex,” she says, looking a little self-conscious.

“Did I just catch you watching anime again?” you ask, and she nods guiltily. “It’s nothing to be ashamed of,” you laugh. “It’s pretty smart, really. In fact, it’s such a good idea that I might just head up to my room to do the same.”

“But didn’t you just put your sheets in the washing machine? You wouldn’t be able to watch from your bed,” she says.

“That was silly of me,” you say, snapping your fingers. “How about you? Are you doing your sheets too, or just clothes?”

“It’s just my clothes in there,” she says, a little uncertain of where you’re going.

“Oh, then we could use your room and watch together, couldn’t we,” you say, and her eyes light up from the suggestion.

“Yes, yeah! I mean, if you’re cool with it being a little messy and all…”

“I’m sure it’s no big deal,” you say, and gesture for her to lead the way to her room.

The room is, to be frank, a little bit of a mess. There’s clothes strewn everywhere (wasn’t she supposed to be doing her laundry?), and you can see bras and panties poking out between skinny jeans and print t-shirts. She blushes a little as she steps over the piles of clothes and brushes a bunch off the side of her bed, clearing a space for the two of you. She climbs under her sheets, puts up a pillow to lean back against, props the laptop up on her legs, and then looks at you curiously. You get onto the bed too, sliding under the covers and then, after a moment’s hesitation, you snuggle up close to her.

She lets out a soft sigh as you do so, and with a hand that shows the slightest hint of a tremble, she starts up the next episode of **** Note that you were on.

The first half of the episode progresses without too much incident, the two of you mostly watching the show in silence, but when a sudden bit of action strikes, she jumps in the bed, gasping. You put a calming arm around her shoulder, and she looks at you, embarrassed.

“I’m not sure why I did that, I’ve seen this show before,” she says, looking up into your face. You return her gaze, eyes roaming over her beautiful face—the moonlike curve to her cheeks, the smoothness of her skin, the delicate touch of lipstick over her lips, her black-brown irises that seem to have drifted down to your lips, and you lower your head just slightly as she raises hers, your lips connecting with those soft ones.

It’s a gentle, quick, thing, so fleeting that you’ve separated before you can form a second thought, and then she looks away, face flushing again, the sound of Light Yagami yammering on in the background drowning out any semblance of rational thought. You gently tug on her with the arm wrapped around her shoulder, and she looks back at you, and her breath hitches as you lean down again, kissing her once more.

She seems to sigh into your mouth this time, lips brushing against each other and parting just enough for that exhalation to play across your own lips. You can feel her warmth, and your savour the kiss, until she breaks away. The episode’s just ended, the credits rolling.

“I should… we should move our stuff to the dryer,” she mutters, and she hurriedly gets out of the bed, and almost runs out of her room to the laundry room.

You sit in her bed, shocked by what just happened. Did she not like that? Were you just misreading things? Or was she just nervous? You hurriedly pause the show on her laptop, still playing the end credits song, and then step out of her room, letting the door shut behind you. You go use the bathroom before heading to the laundry, the same thoughts still racing through your head.

You thought you’d handled the situation well, but… maybe not? You can still feel the softness of her lips against yours, and you touch your lips slightly (after washing your hands; you wouldn’t want to contract some disease). You head over to the laundry room then, wanting to talk to Jennifer to talk things through, but when you get there, you see that her dryer’s already going, and she’s nowhere to be found.

You hurriedly dump your clothes and sheets into a dryer and start it up, and then rush back to her room, knocking on the door. There’s no answer, and you listen for half a minute, but hear nothing from inside. It looks like she’s gone, and you’ll just have to get your answer the next time you see her.

Jennifer +15