The Absence of Olivia(3)
A woman wearing the instantly recognizable uniform for the campus café showed up with a mop and bucket. Obviously there to clean up the mess my soda had made, she shoved in between us with a huff and a few choice words about spoiled college kids. I stepped around her and gave him another smile.
“Well, thank you…oh, I didn’t catch your name.”
“I’m Devon,” he said, reaching his hand out.
I kept one arm wrapped around my middle, making sure his shirt stayed in place, and shook his hand. “My name’s Evelyn, but people call me Evie.”
“Nice to meet you,” he said, still shaking my hand, looking right into my eyes. He held on to my hand a little bit longer, all the while my stomach was doing a tumbling roll. When he dropped my hand, his smile grew larger and he put his hands in his pockets. That action must have reminded him he was shirtless because he suddenly became acutely aware of his naked chest and seemed uncomfortable. “Well, I better get back to my room and find a new shirt.”
“Are you sure you don’t want this one back? I promise I’ll wash it.”
He smiled again and I found myself smiling right back.
“Really, it’s okay. You keep it. Maybe I’ll see you around sometime.” He gave me a small wave and then turned around, walking out through the doors that led to the courtyard at the apex of all the dorm buildings. I watched him until he disappeared around a corner, then sighed, and started toward my own dorm.
My shoes squelched and squished the entire way, and with every step on every stair all the way up to the third floor I left footprints that I knew later would be sticky. Just another job for housekeeping, I suppose. I made it to my door and found it unlocked, which made me happy because it meant Liv would be home and I could share my embarrassment. I opened the door and with only two steps into my room, I was put in a situation even more mortifying.
There, on Liv’s bed, was another topless man, only I was pretty sure he was pants-less too as he was thrusting vigorously into my best friend. It took approximately three thrusts for him to notice me.
“Holy shit,” he said, startled, and then fell off the bed, pulling the blanket with him, leaving Liv naked and spread eagle, but thankfully, facing away from me.
“What the hell, Brandon?” Liv shrieked.
“It’s the middle of the day, Liv. And the door is unlocked.” I tried to sound surprised or shocked, but it was difficult, seeing as how this wasn’t shocking or surprising coming from Liv.
She turned her head sharply to see me, my hands on my hips, obviously irritated.
“Oh, hey, Evie. You’ve met Brandon, right?” she asked, as if nothing in the world was the matter. As if she were standing on the street, totally clothed, not mid-coitus. He was quickly finding his clothes and putting them on even quicker. “I think I introduced you at the Beta house last weekend.”
“Well, now that he’s wearing clothes, you’re right, he does look familiar,” I said, not trying one bit to hide my sarcasm.
He threw the blanket over Liv to cover her, and then slipped his shoes on his feet. “I’m gonna go. This is really awkward.” He leaned down and kissed Liv quickly on the lips, then walked right past me and didn’t even say goodbye.
“Liv,” I sighed, putting my purse down on my desk and sitting on the edge of my bed, facing her. “What are you doing? You don’t even know that guy.”
She shrugged. “I have my lit class with him. I’ve sat next to him every day for two months. Plus, he’s a Beta. I’ve seen him at all the parties and last weekend we hung out quite a bit.”
I tilted my head to the side and raised my eyebrows. “Oh, well then, obviously, sex is the next step.”
She shrugged again and then stood up and walked to her closet. “You don’t have to be in love with everyone you have sex with, Evie.”
This is where I was realizing, recently, that Liv and I differed on our opinions about sex. I wasn’t a virgin, hadn’t been for over a year, so it wasn’t that I thought everyone should save themselves for marriage, but I couldn’t imagine having sex with a guy I wasn’t in a committed, loving relationship with. Liv was more of the free love variety of girl, and usually, that was fine. Until I saw some random dude’s sex face.
“Your antiquated views of a healthy sexual relationship are setting the women’s movement back at least thirty years,” she said from behind the door of her closet.
“Antiquated? My views aren’t antiquated. They’re emotionally safe and your sexual relationships aren’t even relationships. They’re like, encounters, at best.”
I saw her head lean just around the door, her captivating and gorgeous smile beaming. “Conquests,” she said excitedly, her eyebrows moving up and down suggestively. I couldn’t help but laugh. Liv had been my best friend since we were fourteen and she had always been boy crazy. Living on our own during our first year of college, she seemed to take the bull by the horns and took her liberated stance on sex very seriously. In fact, she’d slept with more guys during our first term of college than I had hoped to sleep with in my entire life. The thing was, you couldn’t hate her for it. Sometimes, I was even envious. She had this confidence about her. She knew guys wanted her and that gave her some sort of power over them. And to be fair, it wasn’t as if she slept with just anyone. She was picky and usually chose guys who were respectful and nice. And some of them, I’m sure, would have loved to date her – like, for real – but she was never interested, always claiming she was too young to be tied down.