Chapter 5: In Her Room

Standing at the front doors of the Barton Residence, Dillon breathed steadily and purposefully to keep himself in check.

“Fuck man, why am I getting so worked up about this!?”

Another snapshot image of Suki’s toned thighs flashed into his mind and he shook his head to rid the thought. At any other time he would have entertained the vision and conjured up as many delicious scenarios involving those legs as possible, but now was NOT the time. He had to act as decent as humanly possible to get into her good graces.

Pushing open the front doors, Dillon made a beeline for the elevator. Tapping the buttons impatiently and fiddling with the shoulder strap of his bag, he glanced around nervously to see if anyone had spotted him.

“Why am I so nervous? It’s not like I’m here without permission, I have an invite! ... would people think she’s having a rebound if they saw me go into her room? Wait! They don’t know she’s single ... will they think she’s cheating? What if she’s NOT single and the boyfriend is still in the picture?”

A hopeful heart plummeted back into the depths from whence it came. Of course he wanted this beautiful stranger to be happy. But why did the thought of her still with her boyfriend make him so sad? He barely knew the chick so why was he so fucking attached already?

The elevator doors dinged open and he let go of the breath he’d been inadvertently holding when he saw it was empty. He didn’t know why, but for now he just didn’t want to be seen going to her room. Exiting on her floor, Dillon walked along the corridor looking for room eight. The heart within his chest thumping stronger with each step that drew him nearer.

4... 6... 8.

Pausing, hesitantly taking one last glance down the hallway, he gulped down his apprehension when he saw no one was around. Knocking sharply, his mouth ran dry.

“Yeah.” He heard a female call in acknowledgement of his presence. “Gimme a sec.”

Standing back, Dillon fiddled with his bag strap again, looking at the floor and wiggling his toes within his shoes. “C’mon c’mon c’mon,” he encouraged mentally, just wanting to be inside her room and out of the hallway already. Then, he heard the doorknob click as a hand twisted it from the inside before it swung open.

“Hey,” Suki greeted him bluntly. “Come in.”

Giving a nervous smile, Dillon slipped past her, his eyes widening with wonder as he slowly looked around her room. “So this is what it’s like in a girls dorm?” He drooled internally. Porn sure had lied to him; there was no dildo, bottle of lube or strip of condoms carelessly strewn across her bedside table. But this was so much better.

Suki allowed him to stand stupidly in the middle of her room for longer than she felt comfortable with before saying anything. There was a curious amusement surrounding his haphazard innocence. Surely a guy so brazen in his flirtations wouldn’t be so clumsily awkward? But right now was not the time to ponder the topic, Suki had shit to do - like bawling her eyes out in the shower - so she didn’t have time for him to stand there staring at her shit like an idiot.

“You right there big bird?” She poked sharply.

“Oh! Yeah fine, babe,” he replied, spinning around to face her with a stupid grin on his face.

Rolling her eyes as she crossed her arms, Suki released a contemptuous sigh. “What’s wrong with you? Have you never been in a chick’s room before?”

Bingo! She’d nailed it in one go, and Dillon laughed hollowly for a few seconds, waving her off dismissively before dropping the act. “Umm, yeah. First time actually,” he deadpanned and Suki cackled. She could use a good laugh right now, anything to release some of the tension that had built up inside her in the past hour.

“It’s not that exciting dude, it’s a room for god’s sake.”

“Yeah but it’s a ... never mind.”

“You’re pathetic you know that?” She said in a playfully condescending tone. “Anyway, let’s stop fart-arsing around and get to work.”

“Oh! Yeah right,” Dillon said, looking around for a place to sit.

“Just sit on the bed you pussy,” Suki moaned with exasperation as she watched him continue to flounder in the depths. Dropping his bag off his shoulder at her command without a second thought, Dillon sat down gingerly on the edge of the mattress. There is no way Seth and Damon could ever find out he was failing so miserably. Bravado around the boys, he had. Real world experience - he did not. If only he realised that neither of them cared less about it and were friends with him regardless, he might actually stand a better chance of turning his dreams into reality.

“Relax would ya?” Suki teased. Snorting at the stiffness of his movements.

“How can I when I’m sitting on the bed of someone as hot as you?” Dillon internally face-palmed. It wasn’t his intention to say something so overtly flirtatious and pathetic, but he was still learning to control his automatic verbal diarrhoea function. ‘Playing it cool’, now well and truly out the window.

Considering how stiff and awkward he was acting, Suki wasn’t expecting such a line to be thrown at her. Noticing her delay, Dillon leered out of the corner of his eye, waiting on tenterhooks for her reaction.

“I’ll throw you out if you’re not careful,” she warned, narrowing her eyes at him. Truth be told, she liked the attention. Who wouldn’t need a confidence boost after the absolute, ‘flat on the ass’ dumping she just got? But she also had integrity and never wanted to be one of those girls who just fell for any guy that paid them attention. She was better than that ... wasn’t she?

“Wouldn’t mind being thrown out of here if it meant you’d have your hands on me,” Dillon said with matter-of-fact coyness, even surprising himself at how smoothly the sentence left his lips.

A grunt and a bow of her head as she looked at him with two raised brows, was Suki’s response.