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  “I can tell.”

  Darren shook his head. “I just can’t risk getting caught,” Darren said. “I can’t ruin my life for one stupid mistake.”

  Jack leaned forward. “We won’t get caught, but the risk is all but eliminated,” Darren sighed.

  Jack sat back. “Why don’t you just sleep on it. Let me know tomorrow what you think.”

  “I suppose that's fair.”

  “Audrey sounded interested in going.”

  Darren nodded. “She did.”

  “Maybe she’d reward you if you went.”

  Darren rolled his eyes.

  “Hey, I didn’t say she’d fuck you or anything like that.”

  “No, I guess you didn’t.”

  “A BJ would still be a good reward though.”

  “I just met her, I’m not about to start sleeping with her.”

  “I doubt Rachel would be happy about that anyways.”

  “I told you I was planning to-”

  Jack threw his hands up. “I know, I was only taking one last crack at you.”

  Darren shook his head and turned to look toward the window. Jack can really be an ass sometimes. Though he was right, he should have broken up with Rachel before pursuing anything with Audrey. But it was too late now. As long as Rachel didn’t find out about him kissing Audrey before he had a chance to talk to her, all would still be good. She’d be mad if she knew he had dumped her for another girl, but he couldn’t do anything about it now. He wasn’t going to break up with Rachel because of Audrey, but he couldn’t deny that Audrey was still a factor in the final decision.

  “I’ll think about it tonight, but I’m not going to get your hopes up. I’m still leaning towards no.”

  “No pressure,” Jack said. “I’ll understand either way.”

  “Will you?”

  “I’ll understand. I may not be happy, but I’ll understand.”

  “At least you’re honest.”

  Jack smiled. “That’s why they call me honest Jack.”

  “They call you that because everyone thinks you’re going to own a used car dealership within the decade.”

  Jack frowned. “Really?”

  Darren shook his head and stood up. “I need to get to bed,” he said. “It’s been another long day.”

  “Make sure you’re all rested up for tomorrow.”

  Darren sighed. “Tomorrow is going to be a thousand times more frantic. Got to deal with Rachel, the tunnel, date with Audrey-”

  “Date?”

  “Yeah, after we’re done with the tunnel.”

  “Most people kiss after the first date, not before it.”

  “Call me unique.”

  “Oh, I call you a lot more than that.”

  “I’m sure you do.”

  Darren gathered up his bathroom supplies and turned back to Jack, already re-engrossed with his computer. “One thing,” he said.

  “Yeah?” Jack said without looking up.

  “What do you think is down in that tunnel?”

  Jack paused, hand still on the mouse. “I’m really not sure.”

  “No guesses?”

  Jack shook his head.

  “I’m out of ideas myself,” Darren said. “If it isn’t for maintenance, I have no idea what else it would be for.”

  “We’ll find out.”

  “Tomorrow though?”

  Jack shrugged. “I can’t see the future. Wish I could though.”

  “I don’t know if I want to see my future.”

  “Why not?”

  “After tomorrow, it might not be very pretty.”

  Chapter 18

  Darren rolled over in bed, groaning with the tightness engulfing his left arm from laying on it. He raised it into the air and shook it out, noting that the sunlight was a bit brighter than usual this time of morning. He rolled his head over to see the alarm clock, and jumped to his feet.

  Class started in ten minutes.

  He slept in.

  He was late in meeting Audrey.

  In a frenzy, Darren jumped from the bed, threw on fresh clothes, poured a mouthful of mouthwash between his lips and ran out the door, only to turn around before it shut and grab his backpack. He ran down the stairs, passing a few people limping their way through the morning air, all the while checking his hair with his hands to make sure it wasn’t sticking up all over the place. It was too late to do anything about it if it was a mess, but he still wanted to know.

  Darren hit the ground floor, realized he forgot to grab his jacket, but still pushed out into the crisp air. His skin tightened in an instant, the top layer feeling like it froze the moment his foot hit the ground running. His breath steamed in front of him as he picked up to a jog and weaved his way through the other late stragglers toward the next dorm over where he had dropped Audrey off last night.

  Twice last night.

  The place where he kissed her. Twice.

  Darren held the straps of his backpack tight against his shoulders to try and dull the thumping of its weight against his spine. It worked, but his balance was now off and he felt himself veering slight amounts from side to side. He kept his eyes looking ahead of him, scanning each face that he saw to be sure it wasn’t Audrey in search of him. He ran along the path stretching around Audrey’s dorm, cut across a section of grass, and ran full out to the place he said good bye to Audrey last night.

  She wasn’t there.

  Darren skidded to a stop, spinning in circles, trying to see each glance nearby for Audrey, but she was not there. Either she was running just as late as he was, or she had already given up waiting for him and left.

  Darren doubted that she was running late. Even Jack was gone from the room when Darren woke up, so there wasn’t any sort of global reason to wake up late, Darren just forgot to turn on his alarm clock. Wouldn’t be the first time, but it was the first time he did it knowing that he had an important rendezvous in the morning.

  “Darren!”

  He spun toward the voice calling his name. His body tensed when he saw the source, and he wanted to run in the opposite direction, but she was too close. He must have looked right at her in his search for Audrey, but didn’t connect the image with the person.

  “Wait up Darren!” Rachel called. She was picking up her pace into a jog, coming toward him from the path he just came down himself. Her hair-and chin-bounced back and forth with each step she took, and her jacket did little to hide the jostling of her stretched skin.

  Darren felt himself cringe as she neared, and he had to resist the urge to run away from her. “I’m in a hurry, I’m late for class.”

  Rachel stopped in front of him, panting with her mouth hanging open. “Don't you have just a minute to talk?”

  “I’m late for class,” he said. And Audrey was already gone, he had to catch up to her.

  “I really need to talk to you.”

  “I need to talk to you too, but not now. It’s not a good time.”

  “When then?” she said, her face tensing.

  “I don’t know,” Darren said. “I'll call you when I can later.”

  “But what if-”

  Darren turned and started down the path toward his statistics class. “I need to get to class, I’ll call you later.”

  Darren picked up the pace to a jog, surprised that Rachel neither tried to follow his, or even called after him again. He expected her to demand to reach a resolution between them now, and he knew he had to tell her what he wanted, but now wasn’t the time. He needed to find Audrey.

  Darren ran away from the dorms, toward his class that was about to begin any minute. Audrey was probably sitting in her usual chair, wondering why Darren had stood her up this morning. She would figure out that he slept in, wouldn’t she? She couldn’t think that he had ditched her on purpose, not after last night. He hoped not at least.

  Darren passed by the few straggling students outside of Rosch Hall, and sprinted out the glass doors. He was struggling to get his breath caught up t
o his body, but the cold, thin air wasn’t doing anything to assist him. The only reason he wasn’t sweating was because he had no jacket on, but had it been ten degrees warmer, he would have been dripping from the armpits like a soaked sponge.

  The glass door swung open as another student stepped out, and Darren wiggled his way past them and inside of the building. A short sprint down the hall to the first intersecting corridor left him at his classroom at the corner. The door as still open, so Darren stepped inside, still panting to catch up with the new found oxygen in the room.

  Professor Coleman glanced up at Darren, then continued unpacking what he needed from his briefcase. His chalk covered sleeves looked a bit cleaner than they did on Wednesday, but nowhere near new.

  Audrey sat in her usual seat, a smirk on her face as she looked up at Darren. Her wardrobe shrank, letting more skin on her chest show, and a tighter grip on her calves. Darren couldn’t help but glance at the new found cleavage her purple shirt displayed, but he was afraid to let her catch his wandering eyes. He would have taken a seat beside her if there was one available, but both of her sides were already taken, so he gave her a smile, and made his way back to his seat beside Jack.

  “Why are you so late?” Jack asked as Darren collapsed into his chair.

  “Forgot to turn my alarm clock on.”

  Jack shook his head. “Your new toy asked where you were.”

  “She did?”

  “I told her you were sleeping like a baby when I left.”

  “Why didn’t you wake me up?”

  “I thought you were sleeping in for a reason.”

  “I never sleep in.”

  Jack shrugged.

  “Well thanks for telling Audrey at least,” Darren said as he pulled out his statistics book from his backpack.

  “That’s what friends are for.”

  “Yeah, sure.”

  “She seemed to think that it was funny,” Jack said. “She’s got a cute smile by the way.”

  “You’re telling me.”

  “I’d do anything to have those lips on-”

  “Hey, watch it now. She’s taken.

  “You can’t have two.”

  “Nor do I want two.”

  “Can't I have one of them?”

  “You can have Rachel.”

  “She wasn’t the one I wanted.”

  “Well, I’m keeping the other one.”

  “Oh well, I gave it a shot at least.”

  Darren looked over to the waves of dark hair laying across the back of Audrey’s head. “This one’s a little too special to share.”

  “Then you’re one lucky man.”

  “I’m not yet. After I talk to Rachel I will be.”

  “Are you sure you can go through with it?” Jack asked. “I thought you still loved her?”

  “It was more an echo of love. The real thing disappeared when we got here,” Darren said.

  “Well, good luck anyways.”

  “I hope I don’t need it.”

  “She may not be a willing participant in a breakup.”

  Professor Coleman began to write out a series of equations on the board, dragging his sleeve through the chalk as he moved, down the board.

  “You might be surprised,” Darren said.

  “We’ll see, but I don’t think it will be as easy as you think.”

  “Either way it has to be done.”

  “I suppose so.”

  The professor turned back to the class, looking across the room, hovering with his eyes on Darren for a moment before moving on. “Looks like we have our usual Friday half-a-class.”

  Light laughs echoed across the room.

  “Don’t worry though,” he said. “I’ll go easy on you.”

  Class moved on, the professor writing from one corner of the board to the opposite side, filling the entire surface with numbers and variables before erasing it and starting over. Darren tried to pay attention and take notes, but he had other things distracting him. And the girl of his dreams not too far away was the worst of those distractions.

  Professor Coleman never glanced in Darren’s direction for the remainder of class, but Darren didn’t think too much about it. That man knew what happened to Troy and why there was a tunnel below the surface of the school. He wouldn’t admit it to his own son, but Darren could tell that the man was holding something inside of him. Something big.

  When class was over, everyone cleaned off their desks and loaded their backpacks as the professor cleaned off the board one final time, covering his sleeve in white chalk. Darren loaded his backpack as fast as he could so that Audrey wouldn't sneak out on him, but he knew she wouldn’t do that. She’d wait until he was good and ready, even help him if he needed it. That was just the type of person she was.

  “I’ll see you at history,” Jack said as he stood up from his desk.

  “Yeah, see you then.”

  “Give my best wishes to Rachel.”

  Darren shook his head and stood up, hefting his backpack onto his shoulder. “Give them to her yourself.”

  “Maybe I’ll do that,” Jack said. “She’ll be a wreck after you’re done with her.”

  “Come on man, you’re not making this any easier.”

  Jack smiled. “I know.”

  Daren shook his head and looked over to see Audrey approaching, toe to heel, squeezing her hips between the desks to make her way toward him. She had already slipped her jacket on, but she didn’t zip it up yet so Darren could see into the shadow lying deep into her chest.

  “I’ll see you later,” Darren said to Jack.

  “Okay,” Jack said, walking away. “Good luck anyways,” he added before stepping out into the hallway.

  Professor Coleman rushed out behind his son, leaving Audrey and Darren alone after the last few students followed out behind him.

  “So,” Audrey said, her smile growing. “You must have been having quite a dream.”

  “I think I’m still dreaming.”

  “That so?”

  “I’ve never seen someone so beautiful in real life before.”

  “Mmm,” she said with a small nod. “Next thing I know, you’re going to invite me for a pizza and a fuck.”

  “That hadn’t crossed my mind.”

  Audrey raised a sole eyebrow. “It crosses every male’s mind.”

  “Well, I didn’t mean ‘that,’ I meant inviting you out.”

  “You don’t want to invite me out?”

  “That not what I meant.”

  Audrey laughed. “I know,” she said. “Let’s have our date tonight before we start thinking about pizza and ‘that’.”

  Darren smiled. “Sounds like a plan.”

  “So,” Audrey said, moving to Darren’s side and wrapping her hand around his elbow. “Think you have time to walk me to class?”

  “I can manage that,” Darren said. “I was going to skip theatre class anyways.”

  “Skipping classes already?”

  “I didn’t exactly have time to properly wake up and get ready this morning.”

  “Ahh, that explains the smell.”

  Darren pulled away from her. “I smell?”

  Audrey laughed. “I was just joking,” she said, pulling Darren back toward her. “All I smell is what I think is Old Spice.”

  “Close enough.”

  “Come on,” she said. “Grab your jacket and let’s go before I become as late as you.”

  Darren started to walk her toward the door. “I don’t have one today.”

  “You’re going to freeze.”

  “I made it here without turning to ice.”

  “I guess, but make sure you grab it before lunch.”

  They stepped out into the hallway and headed toward the exit, merging into a long line of students making their way across the building.

  “Hold on a second,” Audrey said, pulling Darren out of the flow and to the side of the hallway. “Mind if I stop to take a quick pee break?”

  “Not at all.�
��

  Audrey reached upwards and kissed Darren on the lips. “Don't wander off on me now.”

  “I won’t.”

  “And don’t fall asleep out here either.”

  “I won’t do that either.”

  Audrey reached up for one more kiss and slid her backpack off, setting it against the wall beside Darren. “Watch my backpack too.”

  “I’ll guard it with my life.”

  “Well, don’t kill yourself for it,” she said. “It’s only textbooks.”

  “Okay, but I’ll still guard it to the best of my ability.”

  “Such a gentleman.”

  “That’s me.”

  Audrey smiled, spun around so that her jacket billowed open, and headed into the door a dozen feet away.

  Darren backed up to the wall beside Audrey’s backpack and let out a sigh. He wished he could see Audrey every morning. Now that they’ve evolved into an item so fast, he should be able to. She was more willing to spend time with him than Rachel had been since arriving to the campus.

  The density of students lessened and Darren’s breathing room expanded into a more comfortable zone. He stretched out his shoulders when the women’s restroom door flung open and Audrey’s head poked out, eyes wide.

  “Darren,” she said. “Get in here.”

  Darren looked at the passing students. “I can’t go in there, that’s the women’s.”

  “It’s empty, just grab my backpack and get in here.”

  Darren tried to avoid looking at the other students as he picked up her backpack and followed her into the bathroom. Why could she want him in here? She looked rather distraught when she stuck her head out the door.

  Darren stepped into the tiled room and stopped on the other side of the door, looking at Audrey. The bathroom was cleaner than any men’s room Darren had ever been in, but he figured that was a common occurrence when the users of the room weren’t pissing on the floor.

  “Why’d you bring me in here?” Darren asked.

  Audrey said nothing, only lifted an arm and pointed across the room, toward the toilet stalls.

  “What?” Darren asked. “Is there something in the toilet?”

  “God no,” Audrey said. “Look at the floor.”

  Darren followed the white tiles across the length of the room, his eyes stopping when they spotted what Audrey must be seeing. “Is that what I think it is?”