14. Chapter 14
Krystal perched on the desk chair, one leg curled up, the other dangling on the floor in a posture she normally found comforting.
Normally.
But normally she didn’t wake up in the middle of the night lying next to Cethlenn O’Malley’s naked body after they’d both passed out from exhaustion brought on by hours of defiling each other…enthusiastically.
Krystal rolled her eyes at herself.
Defiling.
At this point, she hadn’t stepped foot in her old church in years.
She held onto a loose, abstract belief in God, and she highly doubted whoever They were cared in the slightest whether she used vulgarity or not.
But even on her worst days, she still couldn’t bring herself to say words like f-u-c-k-i-n-g.
She heaved a sigh and stared at the screen of her laptop which she had inexplicably opened after getting out of bed and throwing on a tee and her sleep shorts.
The clock in the lower right hand of the screen informed her it was three forty-five in the morning, but it offered no other helpful information.
Like what in the world she was supposed to do with herself after a night of wild f—Well, after a wild night.
Even if she were comfortable with the f-word, she wouldn’t have found herself using it to describe tonight. Being with Ceth had been so much more than that. At least it had been to her. Probably not to Ceth, but she’d known that going in.
What she hadn’t known was how amazing, how unhinged yet tender, how hot and sweet and breathtaking and exhilarating having sex with Ceth would be. It had been so much more than her boldest dreams or fantasies could have captured.
And none of those dreams had prepared her for the softness and warmth afterwards.
For the way Ceth had tucked Krystal into her side and the way it had made cozy tingles explode in her chest. She’d felt like she never wanted to leave from that spot, curled up beside Ceth.
And she’d felt like she wanted to do this whole thing all over again: the next day and the next day and even the day after that.
She squeezed her eyes shut in the light of her laptop screen and released a groan. What the heck was she going to do now?
“Krystal! It’s almost four in the morning. Are you okay?”
She jumped, then spun the chair around to face Ceth, who was still lying in bed but had propped herself up on her elbow to look at Krystal.
The sheet had fallen down at some point, and Ceth’s bare chest was exposed.
With a speed even she knew was absurd, given everything they’d done a few hours ago, Krystal averted her eyes.
“I’m sorry I woke you. I was having trouble sleeping. ”
Ceth rolled out of bed, leaving Krystal torn between looking away again or shamelessly staring, but she didn’t have long to debate before Ceth grabbed a tank top and pair of shorts from her suitcase and slipped into them.
She dragged over the room’s only other chair to place it beside Krystal’s desk chair and sat facing Krystal.
“Hey, you can tell me if something’s wrong. Did I…hurt you?”
The worried, vulnerable look on Ceth’s face tugged at Krystal’s heart. Without thinking, she reached up to cup the side of Ceth’s face. “Ceth, no! Of course not.”
Ceth’s eyes closed for a second, and Krystal dropped her hand and looked away. “I…uh, well, I was asked to present on my regional team’s performance tomorrow morning.”
The concerned frown on Ceth’s face transformed into a smile. “Krystal, that’s great! Wow, your team must really trust you.”
A small flush heated Krystal’s cheeks. “I don’t know about that, but I want them to, so I’m hoping to be as prepared as possible for the presentation.”
She nearly jumped when Ceth reached over and traced her thumb down Krystal’s arm. “I’m sorry if I…kept you up too late.”
A burst of heat shot through Krystal’s entire body. “I wasn’t complaining. It was my idea anyway.”
“Yes, it was.” Ceth’s eyes were fixed on her, and she wanted to squirm under the intensity and weight of whatever was hanging there between them. A question? Regret? A need to acknowledge last night had been a fun, one-time thing that they both needed to move on from immediately?
It’s probably what Ceth would have liked, but Krystal couldn’t bring herself to come right out and say it yet. It was still too recent. Too close. She wanted to cling to the echoes of that passion and intimacy a little while longer.
Krystal looked away. “Anyway, I created the slides weeks ago and practiced with them a bunch. But tonight I woke up anxious and overthinking it. That’s all.”
Ceth kept looking at her for several seconds before finally relaxing her posture. “Would it help to get another opinion on the slides?”
Krystal’s jaw loosened, and she gaped at Ceth.
“I meant I could give you my opinion, if you’d like.” Ceth flashed her a playful grin. “It’s still kind of early to go wake up anyone else to look at them.”
A surprised giggle escaped Krystal, and so did a measure of the tension that had been squeezing her chest. “It’s also too early to expect your help. I don’t want to ask you to give up any more rest. Didn’t you always used to say, ‘a good night’s sleep can fix anything’?”
“I did. But I think we’re past the good night’s sleep threshold anyway. And you’re not asking. I’m offering,” Ceth answered matter-of-factly. “Now let’s see it.”
Fuzzy warmth fluttered through Krystal’s belly. Ceth still had that frank, no-nonsense kindness about her after all this time.
Opening her computer files, she navigated to the presentation and opened it for Ceth to read. But her mind was back in the past again, revisiting the numerous times Ceth had offered a listening ear or her own brand of encouragement when Krystal’s overthinking had gotten the worst of her.
The first time had been not long after they’d moved into their apartment.
Krystal had been eaten up with nerves over an exam.
The morning of the test, she’d unloaded on an unsuspecting Ceth about all the things that could go wrong with the test and, by extension, the class, and her entire academic career and future.
Ceth had patiently listened and offered common sense counterpoints that would have worked with someone who hadn’t spiraled so far down the rabbit hole of anxiety that they were having a tea party with the rabbits.
But instead of brushing her aside with admonishment to pray more, as Krystal’s family would have done or dismissing her concerns as silly as Elgin was prone to do, Ceth had switched tactics.
“You really seem to have the worst-case scenarios figured out, but I’m not sure they’re bad enough.”
“Huh?” Krystal’s brain was slogging through worry and now guilt that she’d dragged her roommate into her issues and was probably frustrating the heck out of her, but Ceth’s words shocked it enough to go still for a second.
Ceth shrugged. “What if you choke on the test, turn it in, and then on your way out of the classroom, you trip on one of those old box fans some of the instructors have set up by their desks?”
Krystal raised an eyebrow and stared at Ceth, so Ceth pressed on.
“Then the cord has a short in it, so when it gets yanked out of the wall, it starts a fire in the lecture hall. The prof’s desk will be the first thing to go up in smoke, so you probably won’t need to worry about the test anymore because it’ll be a pile of ashes.
But you will need to worry about evacuating.
The smoke alarms and sprinklers will go off.
Mrs. Winston in the admin office won’t be too happy about that because her wig’s going to get ruined.
Then the fire department will show up, and—what’s so funny? ”
By that point, Krystal was doubled over at the kitchen table laughing her butt off. “Ceth, you’re ridiculous!”
A grin wider than any Krystal had seen from Ceth up to that point spread across her handsome face. “I just wanted to help you cover all your bases.”
Somehow, Ceth’s diversion had helped, and Krystal had felt more at ease while taking the exam.
As she was walking out of the building afterwards, her phone buzzed in her backpack.
It was Ceth. Instead of a greeting, Ceth just said, “Congrats! The test must have gone well. I didn’t hear any fire trucks. ”
They’d used the phrase I didn’t hear any fire trucks with each other many times after that. Krystal doubted Ceth would remember, but for her, it was a cozy memory that still cheered her up to this day.
“This looks great!” Ceth said, catching Krystal off guard. She must have reviewed the entire presentation while Krystal had been reminiscing.
“You think so?”
“I do.” Ceth nodded then scrolled through the slides again.
“The only thing you might consider is condensing this first section just a tad. I know this crowd, and they’ve got the attention spans of baby squirrels.
Your shiny graphics will keep them engaged, but if you get into too much exposition, you’ll lose them. ”
Krystal chuckled as she nodded her understanding. “That makes total sense. Thanks!”
“Yeah, of course.” But Ceth didn’t return Krystal’s smile. Instead, she watched Krystal quietly for a few beats, making her want to fidget with her computer or the resort memo pad sitting on the desk. When Ceth spoke again, her tone was serious. “Can I ask you something?”
Krystal swallowed, and her fingers clenched in the fabric of her sleep shorts. “Sure.”
Leaning in closer, Ceth asked, “What is it about this presentation that’s making you nervous? I wouldn’t think you’d have an issue with talking in front of a crowd since you used to sing in church and at recitals and everything.”
Krystal’s fingers relaxed, although her thoughts raced.
The fact that she’d been too chicken to admit she couldn’t sleep because of what she and Ceth had shared tonight was really coming back to bite her.
Who knew Ceth would take Krystal’s excuse about the presentation at face value and try to be helpful?