Chapter 20

"Hey."

"Hmmpf."

"Raaaaannndy."

"Hmm?"

"It's 7:30. I'm going to go take a shower. I want to be out of here by 8:30 so my roommate can come home. Okay?"

I opened my eyes to a vision. Kendall was standing over me wearing a calf length robe, cinched together at her waist to form a v shaped opening with her cleavage peeking out at the top. Her hair was disheveled; her eyes were bright and shining.

"You mean you want me out of here," I blurted. I was still sleepy enough that my resentment at being hidden from her dorm neighbors just popped out. I looked up at her quickly, but she didn't seem bothered. Instead she reached down to stroke my cheek affectionately.

"No ... I thought we'd go to breakfast together."

Her saying that meant I couldn't maintain my grumpy demeanor. I wasn't being hurried off like a thief in the night. I perked right up.

"Okay then," I said cheerfully.

"Good. I'll be back in a few." She lowered one knee to the floor and leaned over to kiss me tenderly.

"Hurry back."

"Can't promise that. I want to look good this morning."

"You look good now."

"Thanks. You look like you were run over by a sex crazed coed."

"Hmm. I think I was, actually."

Unfortunately, at that moment I looked over her shoulder and was surprised to see the picture of Paul and Kendall back on display, the two lovers smiling back at me. When my smile faltered she turned to see what I was looking at.

"Oh my goodness!" She grabbed the photo and hastily threw it into a drawer.

"It's okay," I said. I'm sure my smile looked as forced as it felt.

"I cleaned the place up, I shaved everywhere, I put perfume in places I've never put it before, and then I leave that picture up. Idiot!" she said in frustration.

"Don't worry ... I'm sure you'll find a way to make it up to me," I said to break the tension.

She gave me a kiss full of promise. "You can count on it."

We shared another kiss, and she was off to the bathroom.

I tried not to brood over Paul's now hidden picture. The realization that Kendall was only putting the picture away when I was visiting was sobering. As I pulled my clothes on, I pushed away my resentment and looked around the room for something to distract my mind away from it.

I scanned the non-school books on her bookshelf. Seeing 'Fear of Flying' again made me smile. She had 'The Collected works of Eudora Welty, ' next to a similar collection from Flanery O'Connor... 'Burger's Daughter' by Nadine Gordimer, Ayn Rand's 'Atlas Shrugged, ' and many more.

I didn't think I should commit time I didn't have to recreational reading of a new story. I sighed and pulled down the textbook from our chemistry class, opening it to the next assigned chapter. I couldn't use a highlighter on her copy, so I looked in the tummy drawer of her desk for some notepaper.

I found a spiral-bound notebook and flipped it open, thumbing through it to get to the unused pages. I gripped the first clean page I found to tear it out. Without really thinking about it, I glanced at the sheet opposite. Yesterday's date was written in the upper right hand corner.