Under Mr Nolan's bed

“The way I figure it…” She put both boxes up on the comforter and taking off the lids. There they were-hundreds of magazines and dozens of tapes. “If they come up here to have sex, they’ll have a little surprise waiting for them on the bed.”

I blinked, and then grinned. “Lucy, I don’t think Ricky is gonna like this.

You’re gonna have some serious ’splainin’ to do tomorrow!”

“Don’t worry, Ethel.” She smiled, hooking her arm in mine and leading me back toward the door. “Ricky will be so embarrassed at having a porn collection in the first place, that he won’t even mention it. Trust me.”

“Are you sure?” I whispered when we crept back to her room.

“Positive.” She shut the door and leaning against it. “He won’t say a word.”

“How do you know?” I pressed, shaking my head.

Erica came to sit next to me on the bed and cleared her throat.

“Because… he caught me masturbating in his room a few days ago, and just turned around and walked out and never said a thing to me.” I stared, my heart beating hard. “Oh my god. You’re kidding.”

“Nope.” She got up and went to her drawers, looking through and pulling out a t-shirt. “Here, you can sleep in this.”

“So how is putting his porn collection on the bed going to work?” I started to unbutton my blouse. “I don’t get it.”

Erica, wiggling her skirt down, rolled her eyes. “If he was that embarrassed catching me masturbating… and he’s so ashamed of having a porn collection that he won’t even talk to me about it… do you think he’s going to want to share it on his first night with Miss Easy down there?” I sighed, getting undressed. Somehow there seemed to be a hole in her plan, although I wasn’t sure where it was. It bothered me all night, while we tried to actually get some work done on our senior project, but every few minutes, I could hear the blonde laughing downstairs. She was really going overboard, I thought.

Erica fell fast asleep that night, but I rolled around on the floor in the sleeping bag, desperately wanting to know if Lucy’s wacky plan had really worked. I hadn’t heard them come up, at least, I thought I hadn’t. But I couldn’t hear them downstairs anymore, either. There was no more music, no more throaty laugh.

Had she gone home? Were they sleeping in his bed? The thought made my hands curl into fists, my nails digging into my palms. Finally, I couldn’t stand it. I got up and crept toward the bathroom. There was no light in his room. That was a good sign-I hoped.

I turned the bathroom doorknob, easing the door open and reaching for the other door-the one that led to his room. I had to know. I didn’t care if she was there, I just had to know. Okay, that was a lie, I cared, way too much, and I could feel how much in the way my heart pounded in my chest as I turned the knob.

“I’m not in there,” Mr. Nolan whispered, stepping out of the darkness and putting his arm around my waist, pulling me away from the door. I would have screamed in surprise, but his hand went over my mouth. “But that’s not what you want to know, is it?”

I gasped, whirling around in his arms. He must have been sitting on the edge of the tub in the darkness, I reasoned, my heart hammering in my chest.

“What are you doing?” I hissed as he shut the door quietly and turned on the nightlight over the sink.

“Waiting for you.”

I leaned back against the counter, staring up at him. I could see the truth of it on his face, raw and even painful.

“Did she go home?” I whispered, conscious of Erica sleeping in the other room.

He swallowed and shook his head. His eyes were pleading with me, trying to tell me something, but I couldn’t understand. “No. She’s sleeping in my bed.”

“Why?” I felt tears stinging my eyes and I willed them not to fall. “What did I do?”

He sighed, closing his eyes and running a hand through his hair. “Oh Leah… nothing. Everything. I don’t know.”

“Do you really like her?” I whispered, blinking fast and taking a step toward him. He didn’t move back, and we were almost belly to belly. “Is she… is she what you want?”

He opened his eyes and looked down at me, his arms hanging at his sides, his head down. He looked defeated. “No.”

“Then why?” I hissed, shoving at his chest with the flat of my palm. “You asked her out again! You cooked her dinner! You slept with her! Why?!”

“I don’t know!” He shook his head. “Why did you do what you did? Putting the magazines and videos on my bed? Was it supposed to scare her off?” I sighed, crossing my arms. “That was Erica’s idea, not mine.”

“Erica?” He frowned.

I shrugged, acting like I didn’t care if he believed me. “This isn’t fair.”

“No,” he admitted, moving forward a little, lifting my chin. “It’s really not.”

“I just want to know why.” I met his eyes. I could feel my chin quivering in his hand and tried to stop it, but I couldn’t. “Please just tell me why.”

“You want to know why?” His eyes flashed in the dimness, moving over my face. “Fine, I’ll tell you why. For the same reason I was sitting here at one in the morning, waiting for you.”

I stared up at him, my eyes wide.