Young Lust

Dark again. No moonlight this time. Just dark.
Will can’t sleep again. He is in agony. He’s tried sleeping pills. He’s tried getting up and exercising. Nothing works. The pain and agony goes on.
It has been a week since his run-in with Scarlett. His feelings for her have not grown any lesser. They have intensified, compounded by the fact that Scarlett has not been in class since he ran into her.
Did she drop? If so, did he cause it? What did he do? Was he too forward? No, he couldn’t have been, that wasn’t right. What, then? Was she ill? Was it bad? She’d looked healthy when he last saw her. More than healthy. She must have dropped. But why? Was it something he did?
The thoughts go through his head over and over again. He can’t stop them. Once or twice, he slips close to dreamland, but then he starts awake again. Tomorrow he may see her again. If so, what will he do? What will he say? He’d better make it better than last time. But what if she wasn’t there? Had she dropped?
Will sighs. Whatever happens, he needs his sleep. He rolls out of bed, drops to the floor. Push-ups usually tired him out quickly. Maybe they would this time.
Slowly, he lowers himself to the floor until his chin almost touches it. Slowly, to burn as much of this endless energy as he can. Then, just as slowly, back up.
This is boring, he thinks. His mind turns, inevitably, to Scarlett.
Down he goes, then back up. One, two, three. Scarlett. One, two, three. Scarlett
His arms are burning, but he is no closer to sleep than before. He feels like he has just drunk a red eye from Starbucks. Slowly, he keeps on.
After the thirtieth, he collapses. He can go no longer. His heart is beating a mile a minute. Her name resonates with every thump.
After a minute or so, Will climbs back into bed. He has yet to try one more thing…
Instead of trying to keep his mind off of Scarlett, he focuses on her more intensely than he has ever before. He calls to mind her smile, focusing on her lips, the curve of her chin, her beautiful neck. He sharply visualizes the curve of her breasts, the slight cleavage she had shown a week ago. Mentally, he dives into her eyes for the hundredth time.
He imagines, ever so delicately, passionately kissing her. He pictures his hands moving slowly down her back, caressing her in every movement. Slowly, his hands move under her shirt, feeling her slim belly and hips. More quickly, he removes her shirt.
She is getting into it. He pictures her tugging at his jeans and up his T-shirt. But he is determined to get her there first. He moves his fingers around her back and undoes her bra. He kisses her on the lips once more, then slowly, slowly, moves his lips down. He kisses her chin, then her neck, then her shoulder, then works his way to her breasts. Then, ever so slowly, he keeps moving down…
He is back in the bed, now, and his hands are indeed moving down. Under the boxers, gripping tightly.
His hands move quickly, despite the still-lingering burn in his arms. Quickly, up, quickly, down. One, two, three. Scarlett. One, two, three. Scarlett. One, two, three. Scarlett! One, two, three. SCARLETT!!!
He gets up and goes to the bathroom, stark naked. He cleans himself off. He stumbles back to the dark bedroom. His mind spins no more. He knows exactly what to do. Of course Scarlett will be there tomorrow. This time, he’ll ask her for her phone number. This time, there will be no agonizing wait. No sleepless nights wondering what she’s doing. He’ll call her that very night…no, that’s too soon; he can wait. Whatever. He’ll just take it from there.
He can now think of nothing but sleep. He is exhausted.
Will falls asleep in a pool of his own sweat. He dreams of the girl of his dreams.
The girl of his dreams, however, has been asleep for hours, and has not been dreaming of him.







Morning. The sun is not so bright today. A few clouds obscure the sky. A light mist hugs the ground.
It is still infinitely brighter than last night.
Scarlett is up. She has already showered, and is just about to go downstairs, when her phone rings. Who could this be, this early? she thinks. Should I pick it up, or just let the machine get it?
She decides on the former. “Hello?”
“Hello, this is the general office of the City College. May I please talk to Scarlett?”
“Speaking.”
“Hello, Scarlett. We have been looking over your records, and you haven’t been at school for a while. Are you dropping your classes?”
“Oh, no! I’ve just been out of town. My b…brother had surgery. I had to go see him.”
She has no brother. She simply filled the word in because it was the first word that came to mind that started with a B.
“Oh, I see. Well, I assume you will be at class this morning.”
“Of course.”
“Excellent. Thank you for explaining yourself, Scarlett. The professor has a test scheduled this week. I assume you have a friend you could call to get the make-up work?”
Shit, Scarlett thought. She had invited the only friend she had in that class to Tahoe with her that week. Both had brought their boyfriends along.
“Of course I do.”
“Good. See that you do. Goodbye, Scarlett.”
“Goodbye.”
Well, she thought, maybe that nice guy that had knocked her over had been there for the week. What was his name?