When he pulls away, Mason whispers in my ear, “You want to get out of here?”
God, I really do.
We end up in the med student locker room. It’s not a supercomfortable place to have sex—we’re stuck doing it on the floor. But we both want each other so bad, it doesn’t matter. Mason’s fingers are shaking so much as he unbuttons my shirt that he accidentally dislodges a button—he nearly rips my blouse open. I guess it’s been a while for him. Me too.
When it’s over, we collapse against the cold locker room floor, still half naked. This is going to sound dumb, but I sort of feel like I want a cigarette. I look over at Mason, who is still breathing hard and has a line of sweat beads along his hairline.
He grins at me. “That was really great.”
After a moment of hesitation, he kisses me on the cheek.
Itwasreally great. But he’s already got an inflated ego, so I just say, “It’s a nice study break.”
He doesn’t seem disturbed that I haven’t showered him with praise.
“Maybe we could take another study break in the future,” he suggests, looking at me in a way that makes me think he’d like to take another study breakright now. I can’t imagine why he desires me so much, but it’s clear he does.
I’ve never been with a guy like Mason before. Every man I ever dated has been humble, meek, and plain—the diametric opposite of Mason. He’s not my type at all. But I can’t deny that I am incredibly attracted to him.
Even though I still hate him, of course.
81
I stop droppingthe dopamine capsules in Mason’s coffee after that. Considering he’s sort of my… well, he’s not myboyfriend, but he’s definitely something to me. Anyway, I just can’t do it anymore. As much as it pains me to see his amazing score on the first big anatomy exam, he earned the grade.
Also, there’s a very tiny chance I’m starting to fall for him. Just a tiny bit.
Don’t tell anyone. My sisters would never let me hear the end of it. I was never a girl who was taken in by a handsome face. But Mason’s not just handsome, he’sreallyhandsome. Okay, that sounds bad. But I can’t help myself. I’m really into him. I even find it endearing that he’s not amazingly skilled at sex for a twenty-two-year-old, probably due to lack of experience. It just shows he hasn’t spent his life chasing everything in a skirt. He tries, though—he really does.
He’s not a bad guy either. He never buys me flowers, but he always holds the door for me when we go to anatomy lab together, he’s never too busy to spend a few minutes chatting with me at the library, and he’salwaysup for a little funin the locker room. We’re never going to have a bona fide “relationship,” but there are worse people to be hooking up with.
Of course, then Mason has to go and ruin things.
After Mason has some meeting with Dr. Conlon, hewill not shut upabout the anatomy practical. He keeps telling me, “I’m the first person to ever get a perfect score on the practical. Can you believe that?”
Yes, I believe it. Now stop talking about it!
“Dr. Conlon practically offered me a TA job for next year,” he goes on.
And that’s the part thatreallypisses me off. I’ve been hoping to be an anatomy teaching assistant next year. That would look great on my transcript. If Dr. Conlon is making a short list of possibilities, I want to be in the running. So at the next opportunity, I decide to pay a visit to Dr. Conlon’s office.
I show up at the end of the day, at around six o’clock. It was a half-hearted attempt, and I didn’t expect Dr. Conlon to still be there, but there he is, working hard at his computer, and he doesn’t look like he’s leaving anytime soon. I feel a little bit sorry for my professor—I don’t think he’s married or has a family, and his work is probably all he has. But he seems to love what he does, at least—a lot of people can’t say the same.
Dr. Conlon flashes me a wide grin when he notices me at the door. “Hi. Can I help you?”
“Can I talk to you a minute?” I ask.
“Of course! Come in, uh…” Dr. Conlon frowns, and it takes me a second to realize he’s fumbling to think of my name. It’s a huge slap in the face—Dr. Conlon knowseveryone’sname. He certainly wouldn’t be struggling to come up with Mason’s name.
“Sasha,” I finally say after giving him another second to try to come up with the name on his own.
“Right, Sasha,” he says in an apologetic tone. “Sasha Zaleski. Sorry, Sasha… I got a poor night’s sleep last night. Now, how can I help you?”
“I just…” I squeeze my hands together. “I wanted to let you know that I’m interested in being an anatomy TA next year.”
“Oh…” Dr. Conlon looks taken aback. “Well, I applaud your enthusiasm, but I’m not thinking about that quite yet. It’s still very early in the year.”
Right. Except that he already practically offered it to Mason. Well, I shouldn’t be too surprised.
