I leave early on Saturday morning, and it’s not a moment too soon—I can’t wait to see my boyfriend. When I get back to the dorms, I barely take a second to throw my bags in the room and glance at my reflection in the hall mirror. I’m wearing a tight tank top and a pair of straight-cut blue jeans, which seem good enough. I suspect Abe would be okay with it if I showed up wearing a potato sack.
I kick off my boots and slide sandals over my bare feet and hurry upstairs to Abe’s apartment. Usually, we meet at my apartment because his is truly disgusting. A few weeks ago, I walked into the living room, and there was a dead roach lying right in the middle of the floor. I pointed it out, and to my surprise, Mason and Abe seemed to already know it was there.
“It’s a warning to other roaches,” Mason explained. “So they know what will happen to them if they come in here.”
Abe just looked embarrassed and scooped up the roach with a paper towel.
Anyway, roaches or not, I’m too excited to see Abe, and I don’t want to wait around downstairs. I knock on the door, and Mason answers.
So here’s the weird part: Mason always seems really put together, but right now, he looksawful. His hair is sticking straight up, and it looks like he hasn’t washed it in weeks. He’s wearing a DeWitt Med T-shirt that has a big brown stain on the front of it, and it smells worse than my hair. He’s got several days’ worth of stubble on his face, and those gorgeous hazel eyes are bloodshot.
“Mason?” I say.
I almost ask him if he’s drunk.
Or on drugs.
Mason blinks at me a few times, like he’s trying to place me. I practically expect him to ask me my name. Then his eyes narrow.
“What do you want?”
I’ve never known anyone in my life who was on drugs. But when I look at Mason, that’s my only thought:This guy is definitely on something.I’ve never been so sure of anything in my life.
But it’s none of my business.
“Uh…” I squeeze my fists together. “I just came to see Abe.”
Mason frowns for a minute.
“Oh.” His shoulders sag. “Right. Of course. He’s in the shower.”
“He is?”
The bathroom door is just off to the right, and there’s a puff of steam wafting out from underneath.
“Yeah,” Mason says. And then he adds, sounding very much like his usual self, “But I’m sure he wouldn’t mind some company.”
He smiles at me then, and before I can question his appearance any further, he slips out the door to the apartment.
Mason had an intriguing idea. How hot would it be if I get into the shower with Abe? Of course, it would be a bit of a surprise, but what guy wouldn’t get turned on by something like that?
I’m going to do it!
I go down the hall, gently opening the door to the bathroom, and silently slip into the room. Once inside, I blink several times as my vision clouds with steam. The mirrors are completely fogged over so that I can’t even make out my own reflection. Abe’s voice echoes from behind the white shower curtain, softly humming a tune. It sounds like Journey.
I pull my shirt over my head and wiggle out of my jeans, accompanied by my panties. I then unhook my bra. Finally, I’m totally naked in the middle of the bathroom, the steam curling my hair, becoming very aroused by the idea that Abe is naked, too, just beyond the shower curtains.
And then I happen to look down.
I hadn’t noticed Abe’s blue scrubs lying on the floor of the bathroom when I came into the room. But I get an eyeful of them now. They look different from the way they do in the anatomy lab.
They are covered in reddish-brown stains, which are still slightly damp.
Whatisthat? It looks like… well, likeblood. But it couldn’t be. If Abe had that much blood on his clothes, he’d be dead.
Or someone else would be dead.
I crouch down, trying to get a closer look at the stains. But I knock my elbow into the sink, and although I manage to stifle a cry of pain, the sound alerts Abe to my presence. He opens the shower curtain and discovers me standing there.
