The TA.

Fun & Games

"Lannie, there's a guy here!"
I lean through the doorway and peek over to where Julie stands in her pyjamas in the doorway, facing off with Nathan.
"Hi."
"Hey," I reply, blushing. "I'm not quite ready yet. Wait out there for five minutes?"
"Sure," he says.
Julie closes the door on him and turns to me.
"He's dishy."
"I know right!"
Julie laughs and climbs back onto her bed, pulls her laptop close to her crossed legs.
She waves a hand at me, "Girl, get dressed."
I turn back to my own bed and look over the outfit I have picked. Red lace, leaf-pattern panties. Leather ankle boots with no zips and a four-inch heel. A black ripped denim skirt with a hole across the right side of the hem. A plain red crop top that's tight as a second skin when it's on.
I dress slowly, carefully, applying deodorant, perfume and a light coat of lip balm.
My heels are quiet as I step through Julie's room and I find Nathan leaning on the wall as I step out into the hallway.
He's wearing slim-fit jeans and Vans, a t-shirt and a blazer, with the sleeves rolled back to just below his elbows.
I lick my lips but can't quite find adequate words to compliment him.
He takes hold of me and slides a hand around the hem of my crop top. He leans in close, his lips to my forehead.
And he whispers, "No bra?"
I blush, shift on my feet, push against him.
"It's a tight top. I didn't think I'd need one."
He groans, just for a moment, and kisses my forehead.
"You're killing me."
He pulls back, offers me his hand, and we start walking. We walk across campus and onto the steep, winding Frat Row. I notice how Nathan smirks as we walk up to the door of Pi Zeta, his tongue between his teeth.
The guy on the door extends his palm and Nathan slaps his palm into his friend's. His friend pulls him close and slings an arm around his shoulders for a minute. And then they both turn to look at me.
Nathan nods to me, "Lannie, this is Jay."
Jay is also curly-haired and has a sweet smile.
"Jay and I go back to freshman year."
"Cool."
"You guys have fun tonight," Jay says. "There's still a table free if you want to play."
I notice he also has an English accent and I wonder if they knew each-other before or met here.
Nathan takes one of my hands in his again and tugs me into the house. We weave through the first floor rooms to a grotty door marked with a downward arrow. Like all good parties, it's in the basement.
The basement is scruffy with a dusty concrete floor and three pong tables in the larger second room.
Nathan takes my elbow and drags me to the bar in the corner. He holds my shoulders as I take a seat on one of the stools. Nathan talks over me and happily receives two cups from the guy behind the bar. He leans over and whispers in my ear as I start to drink my beer. I try not to spit it out when he makes me laugh.
He puts his mouth to my ear and I shiver under the brush of his lips as he asks, "Shall we play some beer pong?"
I nod and push back against him. He slips his hand into one of mine and drags me through to one of the tables. It's quiet yet, five people on the dancefloor and four at the table on the other side of the room. We use cans from the crate at the back of the room to fill our cups. Nathan hands me the smallest paddle he can find and then rushes to the other side of the table, shouting trash-talk at me with a smile.
He serves quick and hard, the ball flying across and skipping over the rims of the cups before it drops into the second to the last on the right side of my triangle.
"Not fair!"
"Drink up, pretty girl," he shouts over.
I lift the cup to my mouth and gulp down the beer, wishing I could see over the rim of the plastic to the look on his face.
When I throw the cup away, he smiles for me and stands in a dorky ready stance as I serve the ball.
I hop around parrying the ball back to him.
I can't believe he's good at this.
"You put in a lot of practice at this, huh?"
He shrugs and violently returns the ball, grins as it goes flying off the table and hits the corner before skittering around the room. I chase the ball down and serve again and somehow the ball flies straight to the back row of cups and sinks to the bottom of the one in the middle.
I point my paddle at him, "Ha!"
He downs the cup with ease and crushes it before dropping it to the floor.
After the better part of an hour has passed, we reach a stand-off, one cup each.
Nathan's eyes track down over my face and land on my chest. When I glance down, I can see how my nipples are peaked against my thin top.
Nathan clears his throat, "House rule is to strip and stay stripped until one of us wins."
I gape across at him, "But -"
He smirks, wiggles his eyebrows.
"Strip or forfeit, freshman."
I bite my lip, wish I had a shot to throw back, something to shore up my mettle.
I cross my arms over my stomach and lift the hem of my top. Nathan puts a thumb between his lips as I drop my top to the floor. Someone on the other side of the room gasps. Someone else whistles. I feel heat creep into my cheeks as I resist the urge to cover myself up.
Finally, Nathan pulls his shirt over his head. He's pale. Slim with a hint of definition in his abs.
He is quick to serve and I watch the ball bounce across the table slowly. I hit it back, trying not to move too much, cringing as my breasts bounce even with the small steps. And thankfully, Nathan's next strike bobbles across the table and nudges against my last cup.
I pull my shirt on before I take the cup in hand and down the beer.
Nathan mumbles something, "...view's ruined."
I start to step around the table but bang my hip off the side of it and yelp.
He rushes over and slips his arms around my middle.
"You're a good sport," he tells me.
"You're hot."
And I can't take the words back.
I lift my hands and watch them flounder around his neck and shoulders. I am almost surprised he doesn't shake me off.
I look into his green eyes but the moment I want is spoiled by the strobes flashing across the walls.
My knees feel weak. My feet feel unsteady. I blink back gas and nausea.
I gasp when Nathan's lips brush across my ear.
"You okay?"
"I think," I can hear a gentle slur in my voice. "I think I might be too drunk."
I put my head to his shoulder and let him gently sway me from side to side.
"Let's go get some food and hang out somewhere else."
I let him lead me through the bar and up the stairs into the house proper. In the living room, a group of twenty is gathered around pizza boxes. We come to an abrupt halt and Nathan leans into the room, still clutching my hand.
"Is there a slice going spare?"
Someone shouts yes.
I totter across to the pizza boxes and take a slice with only a little pepperoni. I hold it aloft with one hand and eat it slowly, eyes crossed as I follow Nathan out into the night air. We stand still on the porch as I eat the last bite of the pizza and reach out to hold him as I waver on my feet, shivering.
He shrugs me off, takes off his blazer and turns to face me. He drapes his blazer around my shoulders and I slide my arms into the sleeves. The hem of his blazer is almost lower than the hem of my skirt and suddenly I am all too aware of how much of myself I have shown off tonight.
"Oh God, what am I doing?"
His mouth lands on my forehead.
"Being young, having fun."
I look up into his face, blinking back a tear.
He smiles, "Don't worry, everyone gets their nips out at Pi Zeta at least once."
I take a breath and nod.
The late night food stop is far too bright and official. I feel the staff watching me and my loose footsteps carefully, feel the sharpness in the looks they give Nathan. But I can't even pretend to be sober so I stay quiet and let Nathan talk to them. We come away with fries, mac and cheese bites and two bottles of water.
"Can we go back to your room?" He asks as we step into my building.
"Julie will be up. Is the common room okay?"
He nods and lets me lead him into one of the dark common rooms. We turn on one soft lamp and then spread out on a sofa. He keeps the food cartons in his lap and smiles to himself as I lean on his shoulder and try not to brush his thighs as I reach down for fries.
He opens one of the bottles of water and holds it out to me. I take it, feel the weak plastic buckle under my fingertips. The bottle crinkles as I take a long drink, almost emptying it.
"Better?" He asks.
"A little."
"Have you ever been drunk before?"
I blush and giggle.
"Yeah, but not this bad."
He stuffs a mac and cheese bite into his mouth and nods, blushes as I watch him chew.
I dig around my back pockets for my phone, then remember I left it upstairs when I went out.
"Nath, can I call you Nath? I've been calling you Nath in my head. Is that okay?"
He laughs yes.
"Can we put some music on?"
He hands me across his phone, open to Spotify, and I cue up a handful of my favourites, turning up the volume. I set the food aside on a table with the bottles of water and drop my head into his lap. He clears his throat. I push my hair out of my face and tap my feet to the music.
And when the song starts, with a soft doo-dum flourish on the drums, it's a shock. I pat his chest as I sing along quietly. His knees bob my head as he taps his feet.
Romeo loved Juliet,
Juliet she felt the same,
When he put his arms around her he said
"Julie baby you're my flame, thou giveth fever"
When we kisseth,
Fever with thy flaming youth,
Fever, I'm on fire,
Fever yea I burn forsooth.
Nathan starts, leans forward, looks down at me.
I laugh, "What?"
"Fever yeah I burn forsooth."
I wonder what he means for a moment but then the penny drops.
"Oh, the clichés."
He laughs.
"Well, it's a total bop, it gets a pass."
He shakes his head, smiling.
He puts a hand to my head and gently teases his fingertips through my hair. I hear myself sigh and press my thighs together. I take long breaths and tell myself not to say anything stupid, or anything at all.
Eventually he says, "Come on, let's get you up to bed."
He nudges me up and I groan as I straighten. A headache is settling over me. My stomach feels upset. I put my hands to my face.
I listen as Nathan moves around the room, throwing the leftovers in the trash, turning off the lamp.
I giggle as his shadow comes back to me and takes hold of my hands. He gathers me into his arms and I wrap my legs around his waist as he walks us to the elevator.
I cup his face as the doors close behind us and meet his eyes.
"Earlier when you said I was killing you..."
He looks away and gently pushes me back. I put my feet back to the floor and steady myself by grabbing his shirt. He puts his hands around my wrists.
"You're a pretty girl, smart, funny."
"I am?"
He looks at me.
"Don't give me that, you know it."
I giggle but I don't believe him.
I peel my top away from my neck.
"It's hot in here, isn't it?"
He shakes his head.
The elevator dings and we step out, creep along the hall to my room. I shrug off his blazer and hand it back to him. He folds it over one arm. I lean on the wall.
"Well, good night."
He smiles for me, "Take care of yourself tonight, okay? Put some water by your bed."
I nod, hair shaking about my face.
He starts to step away but I grab his hand.
He looks back at me.
"Nath, kiss me."
His jaw drops a little but he doesn't say anything.
An uncomfortable moment passes.
"Please."
His tongue teases across his teeth.
"Fuck, you don't need to beg."
His lips crash onto mine. I take his shirt in fistfuls and press against him. His tongue dances around mine. One of us moans. I part my legs, press against his thigh, put my arms around his shoulders.
He pulls away first, gathers his blazer from the floor and puts it on. He shakes his lapels flat.
"Right," he says, grinning. "You need to sleep."
"Aw. You won't stay and take care of me?"
He shakes his head.
"That's not how I do things."
I feel my eyebrows furrow.
"Not when you're this drunk. I don't want something to happen if there's a chance we'll regret it."
He starts to walk away, shouts back, "Sleep tight," before he turns the corner.
I cross the hall to the bathroom and stumble about my business, bump into four things on my way into bed, laughing to myself, shouting an apology to Julie. I leave my shoes, socks and skirt on the floor and fall into bed.
I'm asleep before I realise I'm tired.