Moments: A BWWM Short Story Collection

XIX. Escalation (Pt. 3 of 4)

I took my time answering Eric's insipid question, and not because his open robe displayed his broad chest for all to gawk at. Nor did I stall for time because Baby Black somehow managed to roll out of bed with perfect windswept hair that complemented his rugged five o'clock shadow. Not. In. The. Least.

"Phyllis." I said, snapping my finger as she stood at attention. "Please retrieve the special purchase I made yesterday evening for me."

Phyllis gave a "yes'm" and bowed out of the room, and crossed my arms in front of the gigantic mirrored folio. I kept noticing Eric's eyes would occasionally stray to the finer parts of my figure, which wasn't abnormal seeing as how my body turned heads wherever I choose to grace a room. What was abnormal was the calculating way his eyes zipped down the same three points, as if he was double-checking numbers.

Eric doing any sort of math never boded well for me, as I'd learned during senior year of college. I'd gone to the same university as him just to ensure he wasn't getting any ideas, and we soon fell into the same classes as we tried to one-up each other.

The Advanced Calculus final was where things came to a head between us. We'd both aced all the tests leading up to the end of the semester, so the only way to guarantee victory had been to sabotage the other's chances. I'd hired an amateur rock group to practice in the hallway outside Eric's dorm, and he'd paid off a janitor to "accidentally" set off the sprinklers in my room.

Long story short, we were both zombies by the time we got to Professor's Picklin's class, and it came down to who could stay awake the longest. Eric downed a distinctly unrecommended dose of wake-up pills while I drank about two gallons worth of coffee. Eric's meds didn't have the kick he needed, so he fell asleep halfway through the exam, but he still won because of one small detail:

I couldn't concentrate because my bladder was threatening to explode.

I tried everything to hold it in, every position and mental exercise I could think of to forestall the waterworks as Eric drooled onto his sheet. I couldn't come back because Picklin didn't allow us to re-enter once we left, and in the end, I decided the test wasn't worth countless years of Eric bringing up what would've happened otherwise.

He beat me by one friggin' point, and ever since then I stayed wary about any-

"Ms. White! Hello! Are you feeling alright in there?!"

I snapped out of my thoughts to find Phyllis standing behind me with a covered suit, and I blinked as I ran a hand through my decidedly unstupid hair.

"Oh! I was just... thinking about stuff." I said. Eric laughed.

"Thinking up excuses for when I kick your curvy butt, you mean?" he said.

I rounded on Eric and opened my mouth to shout back at him, only for my brain to catch up to his words. Instead of firing off a choice insult, I pursed my lips and titled my head, and Eric looked away with a hint of embarrassment.

"I mean... it is." he said after a moment. I rolled my eyes.

"What's the matter, Rick? Things not working out with Roshandra or whatever her name is?" I said with a smirk. "Not enough woman for your tastes?"

Eric breathed out as he stood up, and I heard Phyllis suck in a breath as Eric threw off his robe to expose his... kind of, sort of, built physique. There was a skip in my heart as he strode over to us, one I fervently pushed down.

"We decided to see other people." Eric growled as he took the suit from Phyllis. "Not that you have any right to decide who's woman enough for me."