Chapter 30

"Ally..." Ben tried to catch her attention between labored breaths, but it was no use. She just continued attacking his mouth with a searing passion. "Allison... ?" Her eyes were shut as she enjoyed life in her own little world. No guy in his right mind would willingly put a stop to such a tongue bathing, except this was Allison he was dealing with here. Once she realized what she was doing, she might just freak out on him. And there was another little problem... If she didn't stop turning him on, she was going to get treated to an erotic shower. After all, a guy could only take so much...

She moaned as her hands started traveling from his neck down to his chest.

God, no, not there, Ben groaned as she twisted strands of his dark, coarse chest hair in her fingers. Soon, her tongue was exploring his chest as well, settling on one of his nipples. Ally marveled at his responsiveness to her as she laved him in all the right places.

Swallowing the lump in his throat, Ben did everything within his power to regain his composure. The last thing he wanted was for Ally to regret her actions where he was concerned. He cleared his throat and then took a step back. "Allison, we need to slow down a bit."

She paused with a smile. "Isn't that supposed to be my line?" she asked, giggling and tossing her hair back behind her shoulders.

Holy shit, his innocent girl was turning into a world-class flirt! "I'm serious," Ben insisted, placing a hand on each shoulder to keep her at a safe distance before he combusted on the spot. "Let's go back to your room." He resisted the temptation to add 'and talk', but he figured saying that would have been almost as romantic as calling her a friend.

Ally looked upset for a brief moment, and then reached for her towel. "I guess that makes sense," she conceded, sounding sad and hurt at the same time. He doesn't want me. I'm not good enough for him...

They no sooner entered the dorm room when it was as if someone had flipped a switch on Ally's back. Without warning, Ally had gone from the flirtatious, fun-loving vixen in the shower to her uptight old self. Sure, he loved the innocent side of her, too, but the side of her he had seen in the shower was... wow!

"It's getting late," Ally commented, rifling through her drawer for a clean nightshirt. "We should get ready for bed." She added a yawn to underscore her point.

Kaija looked puzzled. "Is it just me, or is there a terrible draft in here?"

"Oh don't worry, everything's just fine." The bite of sarcasm in Ally's voice was unmistakable as she slammed the drawer shut.

Eyebrows raised, Kaija looked at Ben, wondering what in the hell had happened in that shower stall after she left. She had only been gone a few short minutes for crying out loud!

Ben could only shrug. He was just as confused as Kaija. Maybe even more so. Cinching the towel that was wrapped around his waist to make sure in was secure, Ben walked up behind Ally, who was standing facing the back of her closet. Her lower lip was quivering, but she quickly pulled it into her mouth and began worrying it. She'd be damned if she let him see how upset she was! Tentatively, Ben placed a hand on her shoulder. She spun around, with fire in her eyes, until his hand fell back to his side.

"Don't bother," Ally said through gritted teeth. Her whole body was shaking now. At last, Kaija saw what was happening.

"Let me handle this," Kaija suggested, reassuring Ben with a faint smile.

He shrugged. "Okay."" He grabbed his pile of clothes and reached for the doorknob. "I'll be in the lounge when you're ready for me." The door click shut behind him, leaving the two girls alone.

Kaija scrunched up her face in confusion. "Hey, what happened back there, girl?" She tilted her head, waiting for her friend's response.

Slowly, Ally turned around to face her. She looked like she was about to burst into tears. "It was horrible, Kai. Things were going so well. You'd've been so proud of me. I was totally taking control of the situation and loving every minute of it. But then..." She sniffled. "Then..." Tears slid down her cheeks. Ally plopped down on her bed, blowing her nose. "God, Kai, I'm so humiliated... He brought everything to a screeching halt." Tossing the tissue into a nearby wastebasket, she blew out a sigh and offered a watery smile. "Ben doesn't want me, Kaija. I guess my best wasn't good enough..."

Kaija's mouth fell open. "What are you talking about?" She couldn't imagine Ben being turned off by the enthusiastic way Ally was taking control. Obviously something major had happened after she left them alone. "What happened anyway, did you freeze on him or something?"

Her tears turned into sobs, making her look even younger than her almost 18 years. She shook her head tragically. "No, that's my point. He was the one to put on the brakes and insist that we come back to the room."

With a sigh of relief, Kaija reached over and hugged Ally. "You really believed that?" she asked, smoothing her room mate's hair. Ally nodded, a single tear falling onto her towel. "Oh honey, it wasn't that at all," she cried out. "In fact, it was just the opposite. Ben didn't want you to feel rushed... to make a move you might regret later. That's why he called the time out."

Ally's eyes brightened as she rubbed her tears with the back of her hand. "Really?" Her lower lip quivered like that of a scared child.

"Absolutely," Kaija responded with conviction. "And if you don't believe me, just ask him yourself." She walked to the door and called Ben back to the room. "Sorry about having to kick you out like that, Ben," Kaija apologized. "But I think you'll be happy to know that I got to the bottom of this little misunderstanding."

Ally felt like she should be the one doing the apologizing and explaining, but Kaija was handling it so well, she almost hated to stop her. She relaxed on her bed as if the conversation had nothing to do with her when in fact it had everything to do with her.

Ben looked over at Ally, concerned. "So... are we alright?"

Kaija paced the room, preparing to deliver an oversimplified explanation of what had happened. "It was a simple misunderstanding. That's all it was. In fact you'll get a good laugh out of this, Ben. Ally thought you were rejecting her when you slowed things down in the shower."

He rushed over to Ally's side and reached for her hands. "You couldn't be more wrong," he smiled at her. "But you have to realize that you're different from most girls. You have a values system that can't be rushed. You need to feel good about the decisions you make, and that can take time. And any guy who won't give you that time or respect those values doesn't deserve you." It was a sweet thing to say to her and he did mean it. But by the same token his words curdled the acids in his stomach much like those sickeningly sweet children's shows did.

Ally patted his knee, offering a tacit truce to their misunderstanding. It was then that Kaija noticed the tenting of the fabric near the crotch of Ben's pants. That had to hurt, Kaija groaned to herself, sympathetic to his body's unmet needs and desires. Why hadn't he done something about that while he was out changing? Something definitely needed to be done about that...

"And Ally, if there's even an inkling of doubt in your mind that Ben wants you, I can offer concrete evidence that he does in fact want you." Kaija laughed at her use of the word 'concrete'. Okay, so Ben may have been hard, but surely not that hard!

When Ally still didn't look one hundred percent convinced, Kaija grabbed her hand and placed it right where Ben needed it to be placed. The hard bulge started to throb with Ally's touch, something that caused both Ally and Ben to gasp in response.

Kaija grinned. "See, Al? I told you he wanted you!" Ally's cheeks turned a pale pink and heated with embarrassment. "And I'd be willing to bet that if you were wearing underwear, I could show Ben just how much you wanted him, too."

Ally yanked her hand away from Ben's penis and covered her face in pure mortification. "Jesus, Kai, don't even go there!" she shrieked in terror as the gathered her robe around her even tighter.

Kaija held her hands up in resignation. "Look, I'm sorry if the comment upset you. All I was sayin' was-"

"You've said more than enough already, thank you very much," Ally responded primly.

And with that, a flurry of laughter erupted in the room much like a summer afternoon thunderstorm.

"Well guys, I don't know about you, but I'm exhausted," Ally said as she stood up and stretched.

Kaija cocked her head and looked at Ally like she was the lone olive in the middle of a cheese pizza. How could she be all hot and heavy one minute, and then ready for bed the next? Kaija definitely could not relate to the hot-cold-hot-cold bit. Something told her poor Ben couldn't, either. Unfortunately after his noble speech about guys needing to respect her values and need for time, she doubted he'd say a word to Ally.