Chapter 36: Oh shit, I’m late.

Chapter 36: Chapter 36: Oh shit, I’m late.

Emiliana woke to a ceiling she didn’t recognise.

It took her a second, one groggy, unplaced second, before the room resolved into something familiar. Garrett’s room. The slightly crooked picture frame she remembered him fussing over the day before was still visible from where she lay. Still slightly crooked.

Then the rest of it arrived all at once.

Last night.

Heat crept up her neck before she’d even properly sat up. She pulled the duvet a little higher without thinking, staring at the ceiling as though it might explain how she was supposed to feel about everything that had happened. Then another thought landed on top of the first.

Shit. School.

She sat bolt upright.

"Garrett."

She shook his shoulder.

Nothing.

"Garrett."

Still nothing. She shook him harder.

"Garrett!" Louder this time.

He surfaced slowly, dragging himself out of sleep with the enthusiasm of someone who had absolutely no intention of waking up yet.

"Mm."

"We have school."

"...What the fuck?"

"School, Garrett. University. The thing we both attend."

One eye opened. It closed again. Then opened properly. Emiliana was sitting beside him, hair a mess, clutching the duvet to herself and looking at him like he was personally responsible for Monday morning.

His brain caught up in stages.

Emiliana. Bed. Last night.

His expression changed for half a second before he caught it.

School.

"What time is it?" he asked, mostly to buy himself another few seconds.

She grabbed his phone from the bedside table and shoved the screen toward him.

9:34.

Garrett stared at it.

"...Shit." He sat up. "That’s bad."

"That’s very bad."

"We’re late."

"We’re very late."

That seemed to be enough motivation for Emiliana. She scrambled out of bed, dragging the duvet with her like a makeshift shield.

"Where the hell are my clothes?"

"Bathroom." She stopped. Garrett rubbed a hand over his face, still trying to convince his brain that it was morning. "I hung them up last night. You were asleep. Didn’t want them on the floor."

She didn’t answer. She simply disappeared toward the bathroom with the duvet wrapped tightly around her.

"Emiliana."

"What?"

"You might want to think about how you’re actually getting to university."

"I’ll figure it out."

"That’s not really an answer."

"It’s the only one I’ve got right now."

The bathroom door closed. Garrett looked at the ceiling.

Great.

He reached for his pants. At least one of them had to pretend to be responsible this morning.

A few minutes later, the bathroom door opened. Emiliana stepped out dressed again, though barely. Her hair had been pulled back into something that was more decision than hairstyle, and she kept adjusting the front of her clothes as though she could somehow make yesterday’s outfit look like it hadn’t spent the night in his apartment.

She avoided his eyes. Garrett noticed. He decided not to make it worse.

"I need to go," she said.

"I know."

She picked up her bag from where she’d left it the night before.

"I’ll text Owen. He’ll probably be annoyed, but he’ll manage."

"Emiliana."

She paused at the door.

"We’ll see each other later."

She looked at him. "Right." A small smile appeared before she quickly looked away again. "Later."

The door shut behind her.

Garrett remained still for a moment, listening to her footsteps hurry down the stairwell. Yesterday, she’d walked into his flat without the slightest hesitation. Today, she’d escaped it like she’d been caught committing a crime.

Monday mornings were apparently powerful things.

He glanced down at himself. Then at the clock.

9:54.

His amusement disappeared.

"...I’m also late."

The flat went quiet the second the door shut.

Garrett stood there for a moment, staring at the closed door.

’were we intimate?’ He question landed in this head

That was the first thought that came to him. He thought about last night. The dinner. The conversations. Everything they’d done. He remembered how easily the evening had gone, the fun, the kisses and the especially, the plays.

And now she had left his flat in a hurry because they had university.

He almost smiled.

So this is what dating someone is like.

He wasn’t sure when they’d crossed that line exactly. Maybe it had happened somewhere between dinner and the actions afterward.

He looked at the bedroom for a moment.

’This actually happened.’

He let the thought sit there without trying to dissect it. There was no point. He could spend the next hour replaying every ordeal from last night, or he could deal with the more immediate problem.

He looked toward the clock.

9:56.

"Right."

University. He was late.

Garrett moved quickly, grabbing a clean pair of jeans from the wardrobe. He pulled them on, found a shirt that didn’t look like it needed ironing, and headed into the bathroom.

The shower went on. The water was still warming up when he stepped underneath it. He stood there for a few seconds, letting the water wake him properly before getting on with it. Shampoo. Rinse. Soap. Rinse again. Nothing complicated.

His mind still wandered back to Emiliana twice before he finished.

Her moans, her screams, her face when he ate her out, her vulnerable self.

He caught himself thinking about it again and shook his head.

"Later."

He had more important problems. Like being late enough to make his first lecture questionable.

After the shower, he brushed his teeth, rinsed his face, and stared at himself in the mirror while drying his hair. He looked tired. Not terrible. Just tired enough that anyone who knew him might guess he’d gone to bed later than he should have.

’It was worth it.’

The thought came naturally. He didn’t argue with himself about it.

Garrett ran a hand through his hair, decided it was good enough, and pulled on his shirt. He checked his socks. Different colours. He stared at them for a second. Changing them would take less than a minute. He didn’t have the minute.

"Good enough."

He grabbed his bag from the chair and slung it over one shoulder. Then he stopped.

His notes. He’d left them on the desk.

"Of course."

He walked back across the room, picked them up, shoved them into his bag, and checked the time again.

10:04.

"Fantastic."

He reached the door, then caught sight of the flowers sitting on the little table. The same flowers he’d bought for Emiliana yesterday. They looked slightly less fresh than they had the night before, but they were still there.

Garrett stared at them for a second. He remembered her smile when he’d given them to her.

Another small smile appeared on his face. He didn’t bother hiding it.

Then he remembered the time. The smile disappeared.

"University first. Feelings later."

He opened the door and stepped into the hallway.