Naivete

Chapter 5


Make up your mind


The test was frustrating.

The test was maddening.

The test was hair-pulling and eye-gauging.

But finally, the test was over. Filing out of the room one by one, Karen, Paul, and Sam trudged into the hallway, their faces dull and listless. Sam’s hand was aching from the last essay, which she’d had to write frantically in fifteen minutes. She was positive she’d failed. The three merely stood and looked at each other, silently agreeing to spend a little more time studying and a little less time chatting the next time they got together.

“Hey, guys! How’d we all do?”

Sam couldn’t speak for Karen and Paul, but the chipper sound of Mike’s upbeat voice made her want to throttle him with his own large intestine. Apparently, Karen and Paul felt the same way, since all three of them shot Mike a look that would almost certainly have killed a normal human being. However, as he had demonstrated over and over in the course of the last week, Mike was almost certainly NOT a normal human being.

“Oh, perk up, compadres! I know I was prepared for that test, and the only studying I did was with you guys. So you must have been ready too, right?”

Met with only disdainful stares, Mike shrugged. “Are you telling me I need to find another study group?”

There was another long silence as Mike glanced innocently between his three friends.

“Are you telling me that if I don’t shut up you’re going to – “

He was promptly interrupted by all three of them squabbling at once over what, precisely, they were going to do to him if he didn’t shut up. He held up his hands and backed away a step or two, a large grin spreading across his face, looking pleased with himself. Mission was, apparently, accomplished.

“Okay, okay. So what are we doing now?”

“I have a class…” Karen glanced at her watch. “Right now. Gotta go.” She quickly took off down the hall.

“And I need to get some sleep,” Paul droned wearily before turning and shuffling off towards the exit.

Mike exhaled a satisfied-sounding smile and slowly and slowly wrapped an arm around Sam’s shoulders. “Looks like it’s just you and me, baby cakes.”

Sam rolled her eyes, but couldn’t hide her smile. It disappeared, however, when she looked at her own watch.

“Oh, what?” Mike asked, exasperation creeping into his voice as he removed his arm. “You got a class too? You’re gonna leave me to consume my coffee and pastry all alone?”

“No, I don’t have class for another couple hours…”

Sam pursed her lips as she struggled with a decision. What she really wanted to do was spend that time hanging out with Mike. But what she thought she probably should do was call Brent and try to make up for the mini-argument they’d had the night before.

“So…” Mike said encouragingly after a short silence.

“I don’t know.” Sam said distractedly. “I think maybe I should call Brent…”

Mike shrugged again and began to head in the other direction.

“I guess I was wrong about you then,” he called over his shoulder.

“What’s that supposed to mean,” she called back, a bit offended.

Mike stopped to look at her sideways. “I thought you were the kind of girl who decided all by herself how she was going to spend her time.”

Sam opened her mouth to protest, but was cut off by Mike’s quick explanation.

“Don’t get me wrong…if you’d really rather call Brent than come get coffee with me, that’s fine, and I understand. I mean, you are dating or something, right?”

Sam nodded hesitantly, chewing her lower lip as she considered his words.

“That’s fine, then. Spend the time with your boyfriend. But don’t do it because you should. Do it because you want to.”

When Sam still hesitated, Mike rolled his eyes a little and smiled, turning back towards the exit.

“I’ll see you at study group tomorrow night, right?” he called over his shoulder.

Sam was unsure why she felt so bad. Did she feel bad because she was blowing off Mike, or because she was considering blowing off Brent to spend time with Mike? She pondered the situation for a moment, leaning against the wall by the classroom door.

She didn’t really find Mike attractive. Certainly he was outgoing, charismatic, and interesting, and she could definitely see the appeal, but she was also definitely more interested in being his friend than anything else. Her friends had always been important to her, in most cases more important than the person she was seeing at the time. Boyfriends came and went…she sighed. She didn’t want to think about Brent in that way, though. Pessimism was never a natural thing for her when she was beginning a relationship, and she let herself sink into the feeling that Brent gave her for a few minutes.

He was so sultry, so gorgeous, so sweet and charming. He was attentive, that was certain, and she felt very safe around him, as if nothing could ever happen to her as long as she was in his arms. She smiled a little. It hadn’t even been a week since they met, but already she was feeling giddy when she thought about him. She felt like they were really starting something big, and she’d never become quite so attached to someone so quickly. The phone call the day before had been difficult, true, but the more she thought about it the more it seemed to just be the result of his desire to be with her, and not, as Sarah had suggested, anything more than that.

‘He likes me,’ she thought, a dreamy smile passing over her lips. ‘He likes me, and I like him.’

Her face crumbled into one of confusion again, however, when she thought about Mike. The more she thought about it, the more she wondered if they knew each other outside of the bar Brent worked at. It seemed like they had some sort of history. She resolved to find out soon.

Glancing at her watch, she realized that she had wasted almost ten minutes trying to decide if she was going to end up doing what she really wanted to do. She shook her head, smirking at her own indecision.

‘Why can’t I have both?’ she thought to herself. ‘Who says I have to choose between my friend and my boyfriend? I’ll spend the first hour with Mike, and the second hour talking to Brent. It’ll be fine.’

She hurried out of the building, hoping to catch Mike at the student coffee shop.


Sure enough, there he was, sitting alone in a booth, munching on a Danish and reading the paper. When Sam approached, he lifted his eyes to meet hers, and Sam thought she detected a flash of something – whether it was elation or annoyance, she couldn’t quite tell. It was gone before she could decide and masked by that lazy grin he sported so well.

“Blowing off the boyfriend for the guy friend, huh? Dangerous territory, princess.”

Sam rolled her eyes and sat in the booth across from him. “I’m only here for an hour, then I have to call him.”

Mike held up his hands in defeat. “Fair enough. Go get something to eat, and we’ll talk all about it.”

A few minutes later, Sam was settled with a blueberry scone and a hot tea, and the two were discussing the headline of the paper.

“Look, all I’m saying is I think he’s making a mistake by trying to strike a deal with North Korea. History tells us that they’re sneaky fucks who back out on promises with the United States.”

Sam shook her head, her eternal optimism providing the force behind her argument. “But look at the power we have right now. Don’t you think that frightens them just a little?”

Mike smiled at her suddenly, a strange, happy smile, and shook his head a little.

“What the hell are you smiling at?” Sam asked, closing her eyes in frustration.

“You,” he said, smirking a little as he continued to gaze at her affectionately. “You are so naive it’s almost cute.”

Sam wrinkled her nose in disgust and focused her attention on her scone. After a few moments of comfortable silence, she gathered her courage and took a deep breath.

“So, do you and Brent know each other…from before he started working at the bar?”

Mike looked down at the table, apparently unsure how to approach that question. His hesitation pretty much confirmed any suspicion Sam had, but she waited patiently for him to respond. After a moment, he looked up again and smiled.

“Put it this way:” he began, looking as though he were about to launch into a detailed description of nuclear physics. “I don’t give a shit about Brent.”

Sam’s eyes widened and she sat up straight, a bit taken aback by the bluntness of his answer. He seemed not to notice as he continued.

“I do, however, give a shit about you. I give a shit about our friendship, and I don’t want to see an asshole like Brent hinder that at all.”

Sam stuck out her lower lip in exaggeration of the surge of sentiment she felt from Mike’s rare moment of sweetness.

“Aww, are we friends now, Mike?” she asked, putting on her best puppy dog face.

“Are we not?” he asked, genuine concern painting his features.

Sam smiled at him and shook her head slowly in disbelief. She opted to change the subject before things went any further in that direction. “So, what else do you give a shit about?” she asked.

He visibly relaxed and placed his elbows on the counter, resting his chin in his hands as if he were thinking very, very hard.

“I give a shit about Karen and Paul, and their beautiful blossoming relationship.”

Sam giggled. “So you’ve seen hints of that too, huh?”

Mike gave her an incredulous look. “One would have to be living under a rock. I give ‘em a month, two tops before they’re fucking like rabbits.”

Sam laughed outright then, and Mike seemed pleased with himself.

“Let’s see…” he mused, tilting his head to the side and gazing up at the ceiling. “I also give a shit about our class, and whether or not I’m going to be the only person in our study group who manages to pass. I can’t believe you guys freaked out over that test.”

Sam gaped openly. \"I can\'t believe you didn\'t!\" she exclaimed. \"It was ridiculous! What the hell did you put for that second essay?\"

Suddenly, all mirth fled from Mike\'s expression, and his eyes widened. \"Essays?\" he asked, his tone disbelieving.

Sam laughed, assuming he was joking, and took a sip of her tea. Mike\'s eyes widened even more, and panic began to register on his face. Sam stopped mid-sip and stared. When he made no gesture to indicate that he was only kidding, she set her cup down hard on the table.

\"Holy shit, Mike...\" she began, but trailed off when she caught the slight twinkle in Mike\'s eye. Soon, the effort proved too much for him, and a grin spread across his face. He began to giggle uncontrollably at Sam\'s angry glare. She continued to glare at him while he tried to get control over himself.

\"Oh, Christ,\" he said, wiping an imaginary tear from his eye. \"That was so cute how you got all worked up on my behalf, Sam.\"

\"You sure are finding a lot of things to be cute today,\" she muttered into her mug as she took another sip. She soon found his laughter contagious, however, and she began to chuckle in spite of herself. Before she could move onto another subject, however, her cell phone began to ring.

\"Uh-oh,\" Mike intoned ominously. \"I can\'t even imagine who that must be.\"

Sam just rolled her eyes and whispered, \"Jealous\" as she pulled the phone out of her purse and answered it.

\"Hey,\" she said happily. \"I was just thinking about you.\"

\"Hey, Sam,\" Brent murmured into the phone sleepily. \"Sorry to call so early, but I just woke up a while ago, and I haven\'t been able to stop thinking about you. I wanted to apologize for freaking out on you last night.\"

\"Don\'t worry about it,\" Sam replied distractedly, turning ninety degrees so that Mike couldn\'t see the goofy smile on her face. He was currently making loud gagging noises, and she pressed a finger to her other ear and focused in on Brent. \"And it\'s not that early...it\'s already eleven. I had an early class this morning. My test, remember?\"

\"Oh yeah,\" Brent answered breezily. \"How did that go?\"

\"Pretty good, I guess,\" she responded. \"Actually, that\'s a lie. It was terrible.\"

\"Oh, so all that studying you did last night was pretty useless then, huh?\" Brent asked in a teasing voice.

Sam furrowed her eyebrows. \"No, it just means that I\'m going to have to work even harder next time. So what are you up to?\"

\"Nothing, just thinking about you, missing you. Wondering how someone I\'ve only known for a few days and kissed once can have such an impact on my life.\"

Sam glanced over at Mike, blushing, and realized that he had grown tired of teasing her and had gone back to reading his paper. She smiled and turned back, closing her eyes and leaning into the phone a little.

\"Are you still there?\" Brent\'s smooth voice brought her back to reality and she giggled a little. \"Yeah, I just went somewhere else for a minute.\"

\"Oh,\" he murmured. \"Was I there?\"

\"Oh yes...\" Sam responded, causing a raised eyebrow from her coffee companion. Without thinking, she shot him a glare and said, \"Shush.\"

\"Is someone there with you?\" Brent asked.

\"Yeah, I\'m just grabbing coffee with some people from class,\" she answered quickly, again deciding that mentioning Mike right now might make the moment sour. This, of course, illicited another odd look from Mike, but she ignored it and returned her attention to the phone.

\"Well, would it be terrible of me to try to tear you away from that for a while?\" he asked. She could practically feel his warm breath on her skin as he spoke.

\"Not too terrible, no...\" she answered. \"I\'ll come to you.\"

\"Oh, I hope so,\" Brent muttered passionately, causing a tingle to go up Sam\'s spine. Never had a man had such a physical effect on her just by talking. She shivered again and quickly got directions to Brent\'s apartment. When she hung up, she looked at Mike apologetically.

\"Go,\" he said dramatically, waving his hand in the air like a master dismissing a servant. \"Be at peace, my child.\"

Sam laughed and stood, gathering her backpack and purse. \"I\'ll see you tomorrow night, right?\"

\"I wouldn\'t miss it for the world,\" he said in a kingly voice, shooting her a genuine smile before returning his gaze to the newspaper spread out before him. Just before Sam left the building, she glanced back at the table, some part of her hoping that he was watching her leave. He wasn\'t.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Brent looked gorgeous. As far as she could tell, Brent always looked gorgeous. He opened the door with a wide grin, his hair wet from a shower and falling in his eyes. He wore blue jeans and an open white dress shirt. She swallowed hard when she saw the tight muscles of his abdomen, and suddenly had an urge to reach out and graze them with her fingernails. She fought this urge, however, and had her mind rather brutally focused on something else when Brent swooped forward, grasped her around the waist, and kissed her deeply. She wrapped her arms around his neck immediately and responded with great fervor. He moaned at her enthusiasm and ran his hands up her back, lacing his fingers through her hair and pulling her into the room. The door shut behind her and he pressed her back against it, moving his hands back down to her hips. She instinctively pulled him to her, and most of their bodies were pressed together. Already, she was feeling warm all over, and a bead of sweat rolled down her temple. Finally, after a few moments of impassioned kissing, Brent pulled back reluctantly.

\"Hi,\" he whispered between heavy breaths.

\"Hey,\" she answered, biting her lower lip and smiling a little sheepishly.

\"Come in,\" he murmured.

\"Okay,\" she responded. Neither of them moved for a moment. They just gazed at each other, drinking in one another\'s faces and expressions and scents - he smelled like sandalwood - for several more minutes. Finally, Brent laughed a little and backed away, holding both her hands in his own.

\"Come in, sit down,\" he insisted, leading her across the relatively unfurnished room to the single futon that sat against a wall. \"This is my living/bedroom, so make yourself comfortable. Very comfortable, if you want,\" he finished, eyeing the neckline of her shirt with a wicked grin.

Sam giggled and pushed him back a little. \"I\'ll make myself as comfortable as I want, when I want,\" she said in a forceful voice.

\"Ooh, a woman who knows what she wants,\" Brent said as he moved toward her again. \"I really...\"

He dropped a light kiss on her neck.

\"...really...\"

Another fell upon her collarbone.

\"...like that.\"

She sighed as he pressed his lips to hers again. This kiss was all about hunger, and passion, and it took her breath away. After a moment, she began to forget that they barely knew each other, and she completely lost herself in him. She felt his hands move to her abdomen, and glide upward. He began to cup her breast in his hand, then suddenly stopped.

He broke away, looking down at the floor and running his hands across his face. He gave her an abashed grin and scooted away a bit.

\"I\'m sorry,\" he said quickly, seeing her confused and disappointed frown. \"I just...I never go this fast with a girl I just met...I don\'t want to give you the impression that I just do this with girls, like it\'s nothing. Because it\'s not nothing,\" he said earnestly, looking at her adoringly. \"I...I really like you, Sam, and I don\'t want to screw anything u-\"

Sam interrupted his admission firmly. She practically tackled him against the arm of the futon and kissed him with great determination. She wanted him to know that she felt the same way, and knew that this would be the best way to get that message across. Brent scooted down so that his head rested comfortably against the pillow, and Sam slowly moved on top of him. Their kissing became fervent and frantic as hands went everywhere and shoes were kicked off.

Sam spread the open edges of his shirt apart and began to kiss along his collarbone.

\"Wait...\" Brent protested weakly. Sam raised her head to look at him. \"Don\'t you have a class soon?\"

Sam slowly moved back up until they were eye-to-eye, letting her breasts graze against his bare chest. Just before their lips made contact, she murmured, \"Fuck class.\"

He moaned in approval as she kissed him again, and his hands moved to the hem of her shirt quickly. He made very short work of pulling the obnoxious article from her body, and moaned again as Sam repositioned herself so that she was straddling him, his already very firm erection pressing against the inside of her thigh.

He grasped her on either side of her small waist, running them up and down her sides slowly. Sam lightly grazed her fingernails across his chest, illiciting a small gasp from him. She bit her lip as his hands moved over to her breasts. She could feel their heat through the thin, satiny black fabric, and her eyes closed involuntarily. When they opened again and gazed at him beneath her, she almost gasped.

The adoration and admiration in his eyes was astonishing. He appeared to be completely taken with her. She was extremely touched, and rewarded his attention with a gentle rock of her hips.

He closed his eyes and gritted his teeth as she rocked again, this time allowing her hands to move to the button on his jeans. She carefully undid it, and pulled the zipper down. Reaching between them, she lightly took his penis and freed it from the confines of his boxers. He exhaled sharply, partially in relief and partially from the feel of her warm, soft hands holding him so gingerly. They didn\'t stray, either. Instead, she scooted back just a bit to allow her easier access, and began to slowly, excruciatingly, stroke him from top to bottom. He groaned loudly and endured the torture for a few moments before sitting up quickly.

Grabbing her face in his hands roughly, he brought her lips to his in a maddened kiss. She whimpered a little as he slid her bra straps off her shoulders and exposed her breasts. His fingertips lightly brushed against her nipples and she gasped and arched her back, breaking the kiss.

He lowered his mouth to meet one of her nipples, which he nibbled and lathed carefully, causing her to twitch occasionally and sigh often. She lifted her skirt and pressed herself against him, eager to feel his hardness against the fabric of her panties. He groaned and released her nipple, then gave her a lustful stare.

\"Be careful, Sam. A little more of this and I\'m just not going to say no.\"

Sam looked at him through heavy-lidded eyes and grasped the collar of his shirt. She fell back, pulling him with her. After a moment of adjustment to get all limbs going the correct direction, they kissed again. Brent\'s hands roved, moving from her breasts to her tummy to her collarbone to her hair and face, and finally to her clitoris. She brought her knees up around his hips and bucked into his hand, ecstasy painted on her face.

His skilled hands manipulated her clitoris in ways she\'d never imagined, and meanwhile his other hand and mouth were busy attacking the parts of her body above her waist. As he kissed her mouth, his tongue wrestling hers fervently, he removed his finger from her clitoris and slipped it under the waistband of her panties. A swift motion brought them down to her thighs, and she pushed them down the rest of the way. Once they were tossed aside, Brent moved to touch her again, but she stopped him with her own hand. Looking at him meaningfully, she took his penis in her hand and guided it toward her.

He gave her a questioning glance, and she answered by pressing his hardness against her deliberately. He took over from there, inching his way into her slowly. Her nails dug into his back and she ground her teeth together. Giving him another impassioned look, she thrust her hips toward him, causing him to very suddenly fill her completely. He groaned in surprise and lust, and her mouth parted in a silent cry of ecstasy. He didn\'t move for a moment, and she took that time to relish in the feel of him inside her, and his skin against hers. She bit her lip as he began to move backwards a bit, and groaned outright when he pushed himself back into her. She felt a shockwave through her body as her clitoris made contact with his body, and she gave a shuddering sigh.

His eyes were closed, and his breathing was erratic. He looked so nervous that Sam had to suppress a smile. Instead, in the hopes of easing his fears a bit, she leaned up until her lips were brushing against the shell of his ear.

\"Fuck me, Brent,\" she whispered. His eyes snapped open and he looked at her with trace amounts of concern and fear. But the lust in her eyes must have convinced him that she was serious, because his eyes narrowed sharply and he began to move faster within her. She brought her hips up to meet his with every thrust as he continued to speed up.

\"God, Brent...\" she said through clenched teeth. \"Harder, please.\"

Not wasting a moment, he slid his hands behind her back and grasped her shoulders from behind. Using them to pull her toward him with every thrust, he began to pound into her, grunting with every movement. She cried out each time she felt him slam into her, finding it difficult to believe that a human being could experience so much pleasure. Her cries grew louder as she neared her peak. Brent, sensing its arrival, varied his speed and rhythm, causing her cries to grow into screams. Just before she came, he pushed himself all the way into her and began to rock, their hips never breaking contact. Sam screamed as her orgasm came in shockwaves through her body. Her muscles contracting around him was too much for him to bear, and he released himself almost immediately afterward. He grunted, sweat pouring down his forehead, as he emptied himself into her, then collapsed on top of her.

Their heavy, erratic breathing was the only sound in the room for a long time as they lay there, tangled within each other\'s limbs. Brent gently kissed Sam\'s neck as they recovered, and she whimpered a little with each exhale. They lay like that for a long time before either of them said anything.


A/N: I know, this probably isn\'t the best place to break this off, but it was getting pretty long, and plus, why not make my loyal readers wait to see how Sam and Brent handle this little encounter. Will it be awkward and terrible? Will it be sweet and tender?...Actually, I\'m not even sure yet. We\'ll all find out tomorrow, won\'t we?